Danger Dust

Published: 17 May 2022

All these biomarkers were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and the results provided moderately high sensitivity and specificity for discriminating between ES silicosis patient groups and healthy controls. Our study reveals that some inflammatory biomarkers, easily available from routine blood analysis, are present in ES silicosis patients even several years after cessation of exposure to ES silica dust and they could help to know the progression of the disease.

Silicosis due to artificial stone (AS) has emerged over the last decade as an increasing global issue.

We report the first eight UK cases. All were men; median age was 34 years (range 27–56) and median stone dust exposure was 12.5 years (range 4–40) but in 4 cases was 4–8 years.

One is deceased; two were referred for lung transplant assessment.

All cases were dry cutting and polishing AS worktops with inadequate safety measures.

Clinical features of silicosis can closely mimic sarcoidosis.

UK cases are likely to increase, with urgent action needed to identify cases and enforce regulations.

Objectives : Autoimmune disorders are multifactorial but occupational exposures have long been implicated, including respirable crystalline silica (RCS). A modern epidemic of silicosis is emerging internationally, associated with dry processing of engineered stone with high (>90%) RCS content. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of clinical autoimmune disease and common autoantibodies in exposed workers.

Conclusion : The proportion of workers with detectable ANAs or ENAs was considerably higher than the 5%–9% expected in the general population. Some of the antibodies detected (eg, Scl-70, CENPB) have high sensitivity and specificity for systemic sclerosis. Long-term follow-up will be needed to estimate incidence. Rheumatologists should explore occupational history in new cases of autoimmune disease. Screening for autoimmune disease is indicated in workers exposed to RCS as these individuals need specialised management and may be entitled to compensation.

Mars Missions May Be Blocked by Kidney Stones

In searching for potential dangers humans would face on a long Mars mission, scientists are leaving no stone unturned—including the ones that show up at weirdly high rates in astronauts’ kidneys.

Healthy kidneys filter blood to balance the body’s water, salts and minerals, expelling waste as urine. When this process goes awry, painful kidney stones—hard accumulations of salts and materials such as calcium—can form in this essential organ. Researchers have theorized that astronauts are prone to kidney stones because bones degrade faster in microgravity, increasing calcium levels in the blood. But these stones’ surprising frequency among space travelers even years after they return to Earth suggests other factors are involved.

Environmental contamination by fluorinated chemicals, in particular chemicals from the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) class, has raised concerns around the globe because of documented adverse impacts on human health, wildlife, and ecosystem quality. Recent studies have indicated that pesticide products may contain a variety of chemicals that meet the PFAS definition, including the active pesticide ingredients themselves.

Given that pesticides are some of the most widely distributed pollutants across the world, the legacy impacts of PFAS addition into pesticide products could be widespread and have wide-ranging implications on agriculture and food and water contamination, as well as the presence of PFAS in rural environments.

We found that the biggest contributor to PFAS in pesticide products was active ingredients and their degradates.

Nearly a quarter of all US conventional pesticide active ingredients were organofluorines and 14% were PFAS, and for active ingredients approved in the last 10 y, this had increased to 61% organofluorines and 30% PFAS.

Another major contributing source was through PFAS leaching from fluorinated containers into pesticide products. Fluorination of adjuvant products and “inert” ingredients appeared to be limited, although this represents a major knowledge gap.

We explored aspects of immunotoxicity, persistence, water contamination, and total fluorine load in the environment and conclude that the recent trend of using fluorinated active ingredients in pesticides may be having effects on chemical toxicity and persistence that are not given adequate oversight in the United States.

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar (WCM-Q) have created an intricate molecular map of the human body and its complex physiological processes based on the analysis of thousands of molecules in blood, urine and saliva samples from 391 volunteers.

The data was integrated to create a powerful, interactive visual web-based tool called Connecting Omics (COmics) that can be used to investigate the complex molecular make-up of humans and discover underlying traits associated with various diseases.

The approach of combining genomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, proteomic and other forms of so-called -omics research is known as multiomics. This approach has emerged in recent years as a key strategy for biomedical researchers seeking to understand how the human body and diseases truly function, providing insights that could potentially enable the development of new drug therapies.

Full Study :-

A roadmap to the molecular human linking multiomics with population traits and diabetes subtypes

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-51134-x

Natural medicines from plants have been used to enhance human and veterinary health since time immemorial, as revealed in ancient tales, scriptures and other historical literature . This practice is experiencing a resurgence.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 80% of the world’s population uses medicinal plants (MPs) for their health and care needs .

Recent studies have focused on the potential to develop antioxidant and antimicrobial drugs from plants. These antioxidants, for example, reduce the incidence of many metabolic diseases . Antioxidants also reduce the incidence of chronic inflammation by reinforcing immunity, which would ultimately contribute to the efficacy of antimicrobial therapy. 

The results of this study, which examined the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Ceiba pentandra, Myrianthus arboreus, Ficus ssp and Milicia excelsa BCEs, plants are consumed by western lowland gorilla living in MDNP and used in traditional medicine by Gabonese healers, revealed some important facts. Indeed, all plant BCEs studied showed antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.

The asymptomatic nature of theses gorillas with regard MDR E. coli (DECs) could be explained by their consumption of the bark of the four plants tested. The scientific results obtained during pharmacological analyses could justify the use of these plants in the traditional pharmacopoeia against various human diseases.

These results show that the BCE of these plants could be used as an effective treatment for diseases caused by free radicals and diseases caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacterial strains. Then, all this founding could comfort the self-medication hypothesis of non-human animals, including great apes. The results of our study suggest that all plant BCEs studied could potentially be candidate improved traditional medicines (ITMs) in the application of new therapeutic protocols against infectious diseases of bacterial origin.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a deep learning (DL) model that they paired with a wearable patch equipped with a highly sensitive sensor that can automatically detect wheezing sounds. The deep learning model has the potential to classify respiratory diseases, which could speed up their diagnosis and treatment.

An Accelerometer-Based Wearable Patch for Robust Respiratory Rate and Wheeze Detection Using Deep Learning

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/14/3/118

A new report from the Nordic Expert Group (NEG) and the Dutch Expert DECOS committee has evaluated the health hazards and calculated cancer risk of occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS). Several experts from Karolinska Institutet participated in the report.

Two cancer risk levels were calculated:

• Four additional deaths of lung cancer per 100,000 workers after 40 years of occupational exposure at 0.0004 mg/m3 (low risk level, no extra protective measures need to be taken).

• Four additional deaths of lung cancer per 1,000 workers for 40 years of occupational exposure at 0.04 mg/m3 (high risk level that should not be exceeded).

These recommended risk levels are considerably lower than the current legal occupational exposure limits in the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Respirable crystalline silica

https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/83372

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19619996

The Wound Man is a surgical diagram which first appeared in European medical manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

The illustration acted as an annotated table of contents to guide the reader through various injuries and diseases whose related cures could be found on the text's nearby pages. The image first appeared in a printed book in 1491 when it was included in the Venetian Fasciculus medicinae, likely Europe's first printed medical miscellany.

Thereafter it circulated widely in printed books until well into the seventeenth century. 

The Wound Man has since become a recognisable figure in popular culture.

The Wound Man illustrates various injuries that a person might receive through war, accident, or disease: cuts and bruises from multiple weapons, rashes and pustules, thorn scratches, and the bites of venomous animals.

The figure also includes some schematic anatomical outlines of several organs within his unusual, transparent abdomen.

SAO PAULO (AP) — A major river in the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo is suddenly emerald green and clear skies this week turned from blue to grey. In the late afternoon, the sun’s rays filtering through the smoky haze exhibit the color of deep orange.

Brazil is enduring its worst drought since nationwide measurements began over seven decades ago, with 59% of the country under stress — an area roughly half the size of the U.S. Major Amazon basin rivers are registering historic lows. Uncontrolled, manmade wildfires — in the Amazon rainforest and other biomes across the country — have ravaged protected areas and spread smoke over a vast expanse, worsening air quality nationwide.

Residents of South America’s most populous city are complaining about both the smoke throughout the city and a putrid smell near the river.

For two consecutive days, smoke caused Sao Paulo, a metropolitan area of 21 million people, to breathe the second-most polluted air in the world, according to data gathered by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company. On Tuesday afternoon, the city’s air pollution was second only to that of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

'Shocking results'

Nicola Heslehurst, Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at Newcastle University, said, "We know how important it is for pregnant women to eat a nutritious and well-balanced diet for their own health and that of their developing baby.

"But when pregnant women experience food insecurity, it affects the quality of their diet because they can't afford increasingly expensive items such as fruit and vegetables, and, therefore, have to rely on cheaper poor nutritional quality foods.

"While we were expecting to see some health risks during pregnancy, the extent of those we found were quite shocking, especially for mental health, obesity, and pregnancy diabetes. These also have long-term implications, such as moms and their children being more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life."

Before COVID, fewer than one in 10 households in the UK were experiencing food insecurity. Now it is estimated that a quarter of households with babies and young children are food insecure, and almost half of all households with three or more children.

When people are food insecure, they go hungry, skip meals, or don't eat all day. Families can also experience financial problems that impact on bills, rent and heating costs, which further squeezes the household budget available for food.

Professor Heslehurst added, "If we look at more data from the UK, where there is a lack of support available and rapidly rising rates of food insecurity, we might find the risks are worse than we currently think, and the need for support even greater."

Food insecurity during pregnancy in high-income countries, and maternal weight and diet: A systematic review and meta-analysis

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.13753

Only the youngest and strongest villagers now brave the crossing of a vast, blistering stretch of sand where, in normal times, the waters of the mighty Madeira River flow in the Brazilian Amazon.

Experts link Brazil's historic drought to climate change. The parched conditions have fueled wildfires in the Amazon and elsewhere in the country that have clouded major cities in smoke pollution.

For much of the day, the dry riverbed becomes an inferno underfoot.

The roughly one hundred residents of Paraizinho "are tackling that beach on foot to transport the food and water we need here. It's a very difficult time."

Five community volunteers recently carried containers of drinking water barefoot from Humaita to Paraizinho that used to be easily transported on canoes across the river.

Faced with the water shortage, residents treat river water with chlorine to bathe and wash dishes or clothes.

Communities all along the banks of the Madeira River—an important route for the trade of soybeans, fish and fuel—are struggling. Some areas which also rely on Humaita have it worse than Paraizinho, residents of the village say, as they are even further away.

Intense fires elsewhere in the Amazon have also brought a haze of smoke to the village and surrounding locale.

Authorities blame human activity for most of the recent fires in the country, which are often linked to clearing land for agriculture.

The spread of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) has caused local outbreaks of dengue in France, including Paris, as well as Italy and Spain, spreading the virus by biting returning travelers who were infected while abroad and then transmitting it to other people in the area......

But the UKCEH-led advanced high-resolution modeling divides Europe as well as eastern Asia and North America into 10km squares, providing daily risk assessments for each area. The new research involves a more detailed study of the entire life cycle of a mosquito, examining the impact of local climate and competition for food on species traits such as how long it lives and the number of eggs it lays. This provides more accurate assessments of where, when and for how long there are likely to be local dengue cases.

The new modeling has already correctly predicted the locations of several towns that have gone on to have their first dengue outbreaks this year, including La Colle-sur-Loup, Baho and Montpellier-Pérols in southern France, and Vila-seca, in northeast Spain.....

So far, the French capital is the most northerly place in Europe where there has been a local outbreak of dengue fever, and it also had a locally acquired (autochthonous) case of chikungunya disease in July after someone was bitten by an infected Asian tiger mosquito.

Asian tiger mosquito eggs have been found in south-east England, but the species has not yet become established in the UK. However, the research team warns this is likely to change in the future as the UK feels the effects of climate change.

Role of vector phenotypic plasticity in disease transmission as illustrated by the spread of dengue virus by Aedes albopictus

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52144-5

Sweden is the first European country to see a fall in skin cancer among younger adults, for the first time in decades.

The risk of skin cancer is decreasing for people under 50, said Hildur Helgadottir, associate professor of oncology at the Karolinska Institute and lead author of a study published in the JAMA Dermatology medical journal.

The decline was most likely due in part to heightened awareness about sun protection and a drop in access to sunbeds, she told AFP.

While the researchers did not analyse the causes of the decline in skin cancer cases, several main factors were believed to have played a role.

In addition to increased awareness of the importance of sun protection, another factor was the introduction in Sweden of a 2018 ban on under-18s using sunbeds and a decline in public access to sunbeds that started years earlier.

Mobile phones and computers were also believed to play a role in the decline because children were now spending more time indoors and were therefore not exposed to as much sunlight these days.

Cultivation of maize for biomethane production has expanded rapidly, including on drained peat soils. The resulting soil CO2 emissions at the point of feedstock production are largely overlooked when assessing biogas climate mitigation potential. On the basis of field-scale flux measurements, we calculate that soil CO2 emissions from biomethane feedstock production on drained peat exceed embodied emissions for an equivalent amount of natural gas by up to a factor of three.

What happens to a dead body in an extremely cold environment? Does it decompose? How do these conditions affect how forensic scientists understand when the person died?

Estimating time of death, also called the post-mortem interval, is a complex task. It plays an important role in forensic investigations, as it can provide critical insights into the timeline of events leading up to a person’s death. This information can narrow down potential scenarios and suspects, aiding in the resolution of criminal cases.

A multitude of factors are at play at a death scene, ranging from environmental conditions to the individual’s health status prior to death. Historically, scientists have estimated time of death by observing post-mortem physical and biological changes in the body, such as stiffening, fluid collection and cooling.

These methods are limited, however, by their variability and dependence on external factors. Calculating the post-mortem interval became more precise with the advent of molecular biology. But it’s still a challenging task, especially in extreme cold weather conditions. There is often a lack of obvious signs of decomposition on a frozen body during the first months after death.

Out-of-body experiences, such as near-death experiences, can have a "transformative" effect on people's ability to experience empathy and connect with others, a scientific paper from University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers explains.

"Empathy is a fundamental aspect of human interaction that allows individuals to connect deeply with others, fostering trust and understanding."

How out-of-body experiences affect empathy

Weiler's paper examines the possibility that the dramatic increases in empathy seen in people who undergo out-of-body experiences may result from what is known as "ego dissolution"—the loss of the sense of self. In these instances, people feel they have been severed from their physical form and have connected with the universe at a deeper level.

Sometimes known as "ego death" or "ego loss," this state can be brought on by near-death experiences, hallucinogenic drugs and other causes. But people who undergo it often report that their viewpoint on the world, and their place in it, is radically changed.

Exploring the transformative potential of out-of-body experiences: A pathway to enhanced empathy

Highlights

• Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) have a profound impact on individuals’ lives.

• A persisting effect of OBEs is heightened prosocial behavior such as empathy.

• We propose that OBEs may engender these changes through ego dissolution.

• Ego dissolution fosters a sense of unity and interconnectedness with others.

• The temporoparietal junction and the Default Mode Network may mediate this process.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763424002331?via%3Dihub

Illegal mining for critical minerals needed for the global renewable energy transition is increasingly driving deforestation in Indigenous lands in the Amazon.

In recent years, these illegal miners, who are often self-employed, mobile and working covertly, have expanded their gold mining operations to include cassiterite or “black gold”, a critical mineral essential for the renewable energy transition. Cassiterite is used to make coatings for solar panels, wind turbines and other electronic devices. Brazil, one of the world’s largest exporters of this mineral, is now scrambling to manage this new threat to its Amazon forests.

Added pressure

When crackdowns on illegal gold mining took place in Brazil in the 1970s and ’80s, miners moved en masse to nearby Guyana and Suriname, taking their environmentally destructive technologies with them. Illegal miners of cassiterite are now following a similar pattern, showing that the global effort to reduce deforestation cannot simply focus on a single commodity as a driver of deforestation on the ground.

On its 150th anniversary, the crash will be remembered with a series of events and the dedication of a memorial plaque at Thorpe St Andrew. Beyond the anniversary, the disaster can also help us understand which people British society chose to remember, then and now, and how difficult pasts might be addressed.

The focus on the Thorpe crash obscured a deadly situation: working on the railways was far more harmful than travelling on them. In 1874, 211 passengers died on Britain and Ireland’s railways. In contrast, 788 workers were killed. This proportion continued deep into the 20th century. So why wasn’t more heard about staff casualties, at the time and since?

Some of the reasons why passenger crashes like Thorpe were such big news remain in effect today. They were undoubtedly spectacular, and often happened in publicly accessible locations, so people and press could get to the wreckage. They affected relatively large numbers of people at once. Crashes were also rare – railway travel was, and is, incredibly safe.

In contrast, railway worker accidents were not newsworthy. They happened daily, mostly in ones and twos and largely out of sight of the public. Though cumulatively far more numerous, they offered no spectacle.

Hopes that device may improve diagnosis and monitoring of conditions such as lung and kidney disease

Scientists say they have created a “smart mask” that can analyse the wearer’s breath and detect tell-tale signs of disease.

Researchers hope the device – which can beam its data to an app over Bluetooth – will offer an affordable and convenient way to capture and immediately analyse breath biomarkers related to respiratory and metabolic processes.

They say it has the potential to improve efforts to diagnose conditions such as lung disease early and to monitor conditions and support tailored treatment plans.

Improving indoor air quality is essential in preventing occupational lung diseases, especially in at-risk industries, through proper ventilation, protective equipment and strategic preventive measures.

How Air Quality Affects the Lungs

Poor air quality can negatively affect the lungs. Short-term effects can result in frequent coughing, difficulty breathing and wheezing. A toxic atmosphere can also elicit immediate symptoms such as chest pain and phlegm production.

Top Industries at Risk of Lung Disease

Due to air pollution in natural spaces, outside occupations are at risk of lung diseases. However, volatile organic compounds are more common indoors, with levels up to a thousand times higher than outdoors. This covers a variety of industrial spaces, including warehousing, administrative offices, hospitals and schools.

A study on adult asthma decided to investigate the occupations associated with three different subtypes. It first looked into atopic asthma, which is a condition triggered by allergens. Chemical industry workers have an increased risk of this subtype, along with food processors like bakers and waiters. 

Conclusions:  Silica dust exposure correlates with an increased risk of developing UC, especially in men, and the risk seems to increase with the duration and degree of exposure. Conversely, silica dust exposure correlates positively with the risk of developing CD in women.

Strengths and limitations of this study

• This case–control study includes anyone who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in Sweden in the years 2007–2016, and not just a selection.

• Sweden maintains high-quality registers that cover the entire population, together with unique personal identification numbers that can link patient data across different nationwide registers.

• The diagnoses were based on the data recorded in the national non-primary outpatient visits register, which is significantly more accurate than diagnoses based on questionnaires.

• This study lacks information on potential confounders such as smoking habits; however, cases and controls are matched based on age, sex and geographical area and therefore one could assume the distribution of these confounders among the cases and controls.

Silicosis is claiming thousands of lives in Tanzania. Workers in cement plants and those employed in the concrete blocks manufacturing value chain are particularly vulnerable to this deadly disease as many work without adequate safety gear.

Conducted by the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), the study emphasizes that cement manufacturing processes generate dust containing silica and other toxic materials that can severely impact the respiratory systems of exposed workers. 

In Tanzania, respiratory diseases rank among the top ten causes of death. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) accounts for six percent of deaths, while lower respiratory infections account for five percent, according to the report.

What was odd about H1N1 Russian flu pandemic

Here the story takes yet another turn. Microbiologist Peter Palese applied what was then a novel technique called RNA oligonucleotide mapping to study the genetic makeup of the new H1N1 Russian flu virus. He and his colleagues grew the virus in the lab, then used RNA-cutting enzymes to chop the viral genome into hundreds of pieces. By spreading the chopped RNA in two dimensions based on size and electrical charge, the RNA fragments created a unique fingerprint-like map of spots.

Much to Palese’s surprise, when they compared the spot pattern of the 1977 H1N1 Russian flu with a variety of other influenza viruses, this “new” virus was essentially identical to older human influenza H1N1 strains that had gone extinct in the early 1950s.

So, the 1977 Russian flu virus was actually a strain that had disappeared from the planet a quarter century early, then was somehow resurrected back into circulation. This explained why it attacked only younger people – older people had already been infected and become immune when the virus circulated decades ago in its earlier incarnation.

But how did the older strain come back from extinction?

A sobering history lesson

The resurrection of an extinct but dangerous human-adapted H1N1 virus came about as the world was scrambling to prevent what was perceived to be the imminent emergence of a swine H1N1 influenza pandemic. People were so concerned about the possibility of a new pandemic that they inadvertently caused one. It was a self-fulfilling-prophecy pandemic.