We examined the relationship between exposure to beryllium and the presence of beryllium sensitization (BeS) and chronic beryllium disease (CBD) in a cohort of workers in a beryllium precision machining facility. Twenty workers with BeS or CBD (cases) were compared with 206 worker-controls in a case-control study. Exposure for each job title was measured using cascade impactors placed in the workers' breathing zone to measure total beryllium exposure and exposure to particles < 6 microns ...

The authors conducted a nested case-control study of the association between lung cancer mortality and cumulative internal lung doses among a cohort of workers employed at the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado from 1951 to 1989. Cases (n = 180) were individually matched with controls (n = 720) on age, sex, and birth year. Annual doses to the lung from plutonium, americium, and uranium isotopes were calculated for each worker with an internal dosimetry model. Lung cancer risk was elevated ...

OBJECTIVE: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the foremost cause of serious lower respiratory tract infection in young children and infants. Because higher rates of hospitalization for bronchiolitis and pneumonia have been noted in high-altitude regions, we hypothesized that physiologic responses to altitude would predispose children to more severe illness from RSV infection. This study examined the effect of residential altitude on hospitalizations for RSV infection in ...

Previous case reports indicate that cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis and excited delirium share many similar features, suggesting that they may be different stages of the same syndrome. We tested this hypothesis by comparing data from 150 cases of cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis reported in the medical literature with data from an autopsy registry for 58 victims of fatal excited delirium and 125 victims of fatal acute cocaine toxicity. Patients with rhabdomyolysis are similar to ...

Cocaine potently inhibits serotonin (5-HT) reuptake in cell bodies and at nerve terminals and 5-HT has been implicated as a modulator of dopaminergic neurotransmission. Chronic use of cocaine may lead to a "serotonin-deficit" form of 5-HT dysregulation. We have examined the status of the 5-HT transporter (SERT) using ligand binding and autoradiographic methods in subgroups of cocaine overdose deaths. Quantitative autoradiography of [125I]RTI-55 was used to map and measure the effect of ...

There have been few systematic studies of the non-malignant health effects of alpha-particle radiation in humans. Animal studies and a report on plutonium-exposed workers from Russia suggest an association between high doses to the lung from plutonium exposure and the development of fibrotic lung disease. Prompted by a case of lung fibrosis in a retired plutonium worker, we tested the hypothesis that plutonium inhalation increases the risk for developing chest radiograph abnormalities ...

Deaths associated with injected street preparations of heroin increased substantially in the District of Columbia between April 1979 and December 1982. The 1981 population-based mortality rate (17.4 per 100,000) is possibly the highest ever reported. A case-control study based on toxicologic analyses of postmortem blood samples indicates that concentrations of both heroin and ethanol are substantial risk factors for heroin-related deaths. Analyses of the composition of street-level ...

Vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) is a poorly understood entity that is often misdiagnosed as asthma. We report eleven cases of VCD in which there was a temporal association between VCD onset and occupational or environmental exposure. We conducted a case-control study to determine if the characteristics of irritant-exposed VCD (IVCD) cases differed from non-exposed VCD controls. Chart review of VCD patients at the authors' institution produced 11 cases that met IVCD case criteria. ...

We describe an outbreak of deaths from cocaine-induced excited delirium (EDDs) in Dade County, Florida between 1979 and 1990. From a registry of all cocaine-related deaths in Dade County, Florida, from 1969-1990, 58 EDDs were compared with 125 victims of accidental cocaine overdose without excited delirium. Compared with controls, EDDs were more frequently black, male, and younger. They were less likely to have a low body mass index, and more likely to have died in police custody, to ...

Based on recent developments in occupational health and a review of industry practices, it is argued that integrated exposure database and surveillance systems hold considerable promise for improving workplace health and safety. A foundation from which to build practical and effective exposure surveillance systems is proposed based on the integration of recent developments in electronic exposure databases, the codification of exposure assessment practice, and the theory and practice of ...

BACKGROUND: In an early study of highly symptomatic patients with PI*Z alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AAT), tobacco smoking was identified as a risk factor by comparing the age of symptom onset in smokers and nonsmokers. Age of symptom onset has not been well studied in relationship to other environmental exposures.

METHODS: Environmental exposures were assessed in 313 PI*Z adults through retrospective self-administered questionnaire. Age of onset of symptoms with and without these ...