Background: Sodium metabisulphite (SMBS) is recognized as a potential cause of airway irritation and possibly occupational asthma, but awareness of its use in the fishing and fish-processing industry is low.
Aims And Methods: To describe three cases of occupational airways disease due to SMBS exposure and to review the literature.
Results: Three patients, one trawlerman and two prawn processors, developed work-related airways disease due to exposure to SMBS, one with irritant-induced asthma with a positive-specific bronchial challenge associated with very high sulphur dioxide exposures, one with occupational asthma and one with vocal cord dysfunction and underlying asthma. Of the nine cases recorded in the literature, most were non-atopic and responses to specific bronchial challenge when undertaken showed an immediate response. Exposures to sulphur dioxide in these settings are very high, in excess of 30 ppm.
Conclusion: SMBS should be regarded as a cause of occupational airways disease and its use in the fish and prawn-processing industry investigated further to better identify risks from exposure and handling of the agent in the workplace.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqn130 | DOI Listing |
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genetic variants robustly associated with asthma. A potential near-term clinical application is to calculate polygenic risk score (PRS) to improve disease risk prediction. The value of PRS, as part of numerous multi-source variables used to define asthma, remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
January 2025
Laboratory of Dynamic Immunobiology, Institute for Immunology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Inflammatory diseases are often chronic and recurrent, and current treatments do not typically remove underlying disease drivers. T cells participate in a wide range of inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis, Crohn's disease, oesophagitis and multiple sclerosis, and clonally expanded antigen-specific T cells may contribute to disease chronicity and recurrence, in part by forming persistent pathogenic memory. Chronic rhinosinusitis and asthma are inflammatory airway diseases that often present as comorbidities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Rhinol Allergy
January 2025
Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Henan Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China.
Purpose: Fractional nasal exhaled NO (FnNO), fractional exhaled NO (FeNO) and lung function tests were performed in children with moderate-to-severe persistent allergic rhinitis (AR) to investigate the significance of the above indices in the assessment and diagnosis of children with AR.
Methods: A total of 135 children with persistent AR were selected and divided into moderate-to-severe and mild groups; serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE), peripheral blood eosinophil counts (EOS), FnNO, FeNO, and lung function tests were performed.
Results: Children in the moderate-to-severe group had increased levels of FnNO and FeNO and decreased levels of forced expiratory flow at 75% of forced vital capacity as a percentage of the predicted value (FEF75%) and maximum mid-term expiratory flow as a percentage of the predicted value (MMEF%) .
Sci Prog
January 2025
Faculty of Medicine, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi, Tanzania.
Primary solitary extramedullary plasmacytoma is a malignant neoplasm characterized by the monoclonal proliferation of plasma cells outside the bone marrow. The tumor rarely occurs in the sinonasal tract, accounting for about 4% of all non-epithelial sinonasal tumors. Herein, the authors describe a rare case of sinonasal extramedullary plasmacytoma in a 33-year-old man who presented with a 3-month history of progressively increasing nasal mass, causing obstruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!