Diagnosis and treatment of "chronic Lyme": primum non nocere.

Background: Approximately 10% of patients experience prolonged symptoms after Lyme disease. PTLDS (post treatment Lyme disease syndrome) is a controversial topic. It has been described as a source of overdiagnosis and off-label treatment.

Association of lipoprotein (a) with coronary artery disease in a South Asian population: A case-control study.

Introduction: Coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading cause of mortality worldwide, is characterised by an earlier onset and more severe disease in South Asians as compared to Western populations.

Methods: This is an observational study on 928 individuals who attended three tertiary care centres in Kerala, India from 2014-to 2017. The demographic, anthropometric, behavioural factors and the lipoprotein (Lp(a)) and cholesterol values were compared between the two groups and across disease severity.

Efficacy of Dabrafenib for three children with brainstem BRAF positive ganglioglioma.

Purpose: Children with unresectable brainstem-infiltrated ganglioglioma have poor progression-free survival when treated with conventional chemotherapy and radiation regimens. The BRAF mutation occurs in a large number of gangliogliomas, making them amenable for targeted therapy using mutation-specific kinase inhibitors. However, limited data exists on the effectiveness and best treatment duration of these inhibitors in this tumor setting.

Effects of nonfibrous particles on ceramic fiber (RCF1) toxicity in rats.

In previous investigations a reference test sample of prepared ceramic fibers called RCF1 induced lung tumors in a 2-yr inhalation study in rats. It was hypothesized that nonfibrous particles in RCF1 may have played a significant role. The objective of the present study was to compare lung retention and biological effects of another sample of ceramic fibers, called RCF1a, to the original RCF1.

Asbestos Fiber Type and Length in Lungs of Chrysotile Textile and Production Workers: Fibers Longer than 18 μm.

Excess lung cancer risk for a cohort of chrysotile textile plant workers was many times the risk observed in a cohort of chrysotile miners/millers. The latter had greater exposure to chrysotile/tremolite. A previous lung burden study confirmed this excess exposure in miners/millers and showed little difference in fiber length.

Particle Contamination in Experimental Fiber Preparations.

Two samples of refractory ceramic fibers (RCF1 and RCF1a) were tested in rats exposed by inhalation for 3 wk and followed thereafter for 12 mo. RCF1 and RCFIa have similar fiber chemistry but differ in the fiber size distributions and the contents of nonfibrous particles (2% for RCFIa, 25% for RCFli. For both test samples the target aerosol concentration was 130 fibers/ml > 20 µm but the RCF1 aerosol contained more short fibers (less than 20 µm long) and more nonfibrous particles.

Mesothelioma in Quebec chrysotile miners and millers: epidemiology and aetiology.

In a cohort of some 11,000 men born 1891-1920 and employed in the Quebec chrysotile production industry, including a small asbestos products factory, of 9780 men who survived into 1936, 8009 are known to have died before 1993, 38 probably from mesothelioma--33 in miners and millers and five in factory workers. Among the 5041 miners and millers at Thetford Mines, there had been 4125 deaths from all causes, including 25 (0.61%) from mesothelioma, a rate of 33.

Inhibition of human leukocyte elastase by mineral dust particles.

After isolation, purification, and radiolabeling of elastin from baboon aorta and lung, the rates of hydrolysis of both 3H-labeled elastins by porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE or by human leukocyte elastase (HLE) were compared. PPE (30 nM) degraded aorta and lung elastins at rates of 40 and 75 micrograms/h, respectively, leading to their complete solubilization. In contrast, the low rate of hydrolysis of lung elastin (10 micrograms/h) by HLE was paradoxically accompanied with a fivefold decrease in the Michaelis constant value and became negligible after 1 h of incubation.

Anti-benzo[a]pyrene diolepoxide--DNA adduct levels in peripheral mononuclear cells from coke oven workers and the enhancing effect of smoking.

The level of (+/-)-r-7,t-8-dihydroxy-t-9,10-oxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (anti-BPDE) bound to DNA of lymphocytes plus monocytes in 39 coke oven workers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and 39 non-exposed persons (controls) were investigated, each of the groups consisting of smokers and non-smokers. The adduct level was measured by an improved HPLC/fluorescence method (Rojas, M., Alexandrov, K.

Biopersistence of cerium in the human respiratory tract and ultrastructural findings.

For diagnostic purposes, mineralogical analysis was performed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue from a 58-year-old patient previously exposed to asbestos and rare earth dusts. No significant retention of asbestos was demonstrated in lung tissue by light microscopy (asbestos bodies) or transmission electron microscopy analysis (uncoated fibers). Particles containing rare earth (cerium, lanthanum) and phosphorus were identified in alveolar macrophages in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and cerium-containing particles accounted for 70% of particles observed in the lung tissue.

Biopersistence of man-made vitreous silicate fibers in the human lung.

There is now a substantial body of experimental data on the pulmonary biopersistence of man-made vitreous silicate fibers (MMVSF), but human data are seriously lacking. Our knowledge in this field is essentially limited to a few reports of measurements of fibers retained in lung tissue samples taken at autopsy from workers manufacturing these products. Three types of exposure were studied: fibrous glass, mineral wool, and refractory ceramic fibers.

Evaluation of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) as an exposure or risk marker in three French coal mining regions.

Several studies have shown the crucial role of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) in the fibrosis induced by dusts containing silica and its role in the transition from simple pneumoconiosis (CWSP) to progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). To evaluate the nocivity of dust exposure among coal miners (n = 474) from different mining regions in France (e.g.

Influence of aluminum treatments on pulmonary retention of quartz in sheep silicosis.

Previous experiments with the sheep model of silicosis have demonstrated a reduction of the pathological activity of quartz after treatments with aluminum lactate (Al-lac), such as Al-lac pretreatment of intratracheally injected quartz or Al-lac inhalation of quartz-exposed animals. Preliminary data also suggested a more effective alveolar clearance of quartz treated with Al-lac. The present study was undertaken to fully document the effect of Al-lac treatments on the pulmonary retention of quartz.

Aluminium inhalation in sheep silicosis.

In prior studies, we and others have documented a significant reduction by surface chemistry modification in the biological activity of quartz. We further documented that aluminium lactate inhalation one month after quartz exposure significantly suppressed the silica-induced alveolitis, reduced the pathological process and decreased the retention of quartz in the lung tissue. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of aluminium inhalation in altering the silicosis process after disease was recognized by standard chest radiography.

Pulmonary dust retention in a silicon carbide worker.

This paper reports on pulmonary dust retention in a man who worked 42 years in the vicinity of an Acheson furnace of a silicon carbide plant and had a carborundum pneumoconiosis. Special attention is paid to the retained silicon carbide fibers in the lung parenchyma. The concentration of silicon carbide fibers longer than 5 microns is 39,300 fibers/mg dry lung.

Effects of phosphorylation of chrysotile on pleuropulmonary fibrogenicity and carcinogenicity.

As well as fibre size, fibre chemistry is a determinant of toxicity of mineral fibres. On these grounds, a few years ago, the asbestos industry in Québec developed a process to modify the surface chemistry of chrysotile asbestos by fixing phosphorous atoms. The pleuropulmonary fibrogenicity and carcinogenicity of the native and surface treated chrysotile, called chrysophosphate, were tested.

Biological markers as indicators of exposure and pneumoconiotic risk: prospective study.

This research is designed to evaluate a number of biological markers to estimate harmful exposure on coal miners from different mining regions in France and to relate the outcome to differences in prevalence of coal worker pneumoconiosis (CWP) between these regions. Eight epidemiological groups of active and ex-miners (smokers and non-smokers) have been selected in the French collieries (North, Lorraine and Provence) according to their occupational and pneumoconiotic status. The following biomarkers have been evaluated: cellularity of sputum, elementary analysis of particles in TEM/EDAX, plasma neutral metalloendo-peptidase elastase type (NMEP), leucocyte elastase (HLE), fibronectin (FN) and elastin peptides.

Pulmonary clearance of fibrous and angular SiC particulates in the sheep model of pneumoconiosis.

Both angular and fibrous SiC (carborundum) particulates can be emitted by SiC production operations. Carborundum pneumoconiosis is now recognized as an occupational lung disease with specific pathological features. These were previously reproduced in the sheep model of pneumoconiosis with fibrous SiC but not with angular SiC.

Ferruginous body counts in sputum as an index of past exposure to mineral fibres.

Previous work by our group among vermiculite miners exposed to fibrous tremolite demonstrated that asbestos body counts in sputum closely reflected intensity and duration of past exposure. In the present project sputum samples from nearly 600 volunteers from 11 cohorts of workers exposed to asbestos and other mineral fibres were found to contain much lower numbers of asbestos bodies than had been observed in vermiculite workers and these counts did not reliably reflect past levels of exposure. No evidence was found that occupational exposure to man-made mineral fibres led to any ferruginous body formation.

[Heart conduction disorders in long-term treatment with chloroquine. Two new cases].

Cardiac complications are exceptional in long-term chloroquine therapy; congestive heart failure and restrictive cardiomyopathy may develop, but disorders of conduction are more frequent. The characteristics of these disorders emerge from 12 cases in the literature and from 2 personal cases. The usual disorder is fascicular block which may become a complete, syncopal, atrioventricular block, as in one of our 2 patients.

[Atmospheric asbestos pollution in the urban environment: Milan, Casale Monferrato, Brescia, Ancona, Bologna and Florence].

The atmospheric concentrations of asbestos fibres were measured in 6 towns by long term sampling of air (3 weeks) and by counting at TEM both long and short fibres. Chrisotile and amphiboles were separately counted. For each town high traffic, low traffic and no traffic zones were considered as well as industrial areas and areas with possible and probable sources of asbestos pollution.

[Monitoring the air in the workplace: airborne particles].

A good monitoring of the exposition to noxious dusts are dependent on physical factors and regulations. They are reviewed, particularly those issued from the work made by the CEN. The main devices available on the French market are described.