ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
PREVALENCE OF SEROPOSITIVITY OF BRUCELLOSIS AMONG OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED WORKERS
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of brucellosis among high-risk individuals, consisting of veterinarians, para-veterinarians, butchers and animal services workers. Methods: The present work was carried out at El Nil health insurance hospital, by using the recently developed indirect enzymelinkedimmunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibodies to Brucella abortus for high risk individuals with occupational exposure to animals (220) workers in addition to detailed history and clinical examination was done for included group. Results: seropositive group was in the age group of 20 up to 30, while majority of the negative group was above 40 years , with statistically significant difference in between. Seronegative group had longer work duration and shorter working hours compared to seropositive group with statistically significant difference in between . Animal services workers had thehighest prevalence of seropositivity among other groups, followed by veterinarians assistant or support workers. More than 45% of the studied seropositive cases were asymptomatic, while fever only found in 2 cases out of 35 seropositive (5.7%). Low back pain was the second most frequent symptom among the studied cases. Working inanimal services in addition to young age (less than 30 years) and working hours more than 5 hours per day were considered the most important independent predictors of seropoisitivity. Conclusions: younger age groups together with longer working hours correlated with seropositivity, Majority of seropositive cases were asymptomatic andthis necessitate routine serology for diagnosis among high risk workers . The highest prevalence of seropositivity was present among animal services and veterinarian support workers.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_683_9576e94f33b432cb38a83fc4e78990d1.pdf
2010-11-01
1
11
10.21608/ejom.2010.683
Keywords: Brucellosis
professional hazard
seroprevalence
indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Zoonosis
El Okda
E.
1
Community, Environmental and Occupational department Ain Shams University
AUTHOR
Hamed
M.
2
Tropical Medicine department Ain Shams University
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES IN EGYPT
Objectives: To measure degree of satisfaction of different customers as regard occupational health services in the form of preemployment , periodic medical examination and compensation committee. To find out risk factors responsible fordissatisfaction. Subjects and methods: The current research is a cross-sectional study at El-Nile health insurance hospital which serves factories of the East Delta region and el-Obour factories. The study was performed in 4 aspects: the first aspect includes all workers attending periodic medical examination clinic twice per week as external customers for one year, the second aspect includes: health care providers as internal customers and in the third phase of the study safety personnel in the studied industries were included. Interview questionnaire was used to find out different risk factors ofdissatisfaction of the studied candidates. The 4th aspect of the study includes Delphi questionnaire by mail to take consensus on the proposed plan for quality improvement of occupational health services. Results: more than 57% of the studied workers were satisfied by preemployment examination, while only 25.8% were satisfied by periodicmedical examination, and more than 46% of the studied workers were satisfied by the occupational specialist. But zero % of the studied cases were satisfied by the compensation committee and more than 77% of the studied cases were unsatisfied with this committee. Concerning the occupational committee about 13% of the studiedworkers were very unsatisfied with the occupational committee, and 2% were very unsatisfied by periodic medical examination. More than 48% of workers complain of,the unavailability of medications. More than 60% of them report that doctors consider this process as a routine procedure, while 55% were complaining of small number ofdoctors in comparison to the number of the workers. About 85% of the studied workers not satisfied with the results of laboratory data. Conclusions: It is concluded that major causes of dissatisfaction with pre-employment examination where, low number of doctors, rapid examination, routine procedure, factory delay and non specific examination. While major causes of dissatisfaction with occupational health specialist and periodic medical examination were, long time, inaccurate investigations, no explanation of diagnosis, and no enough chairs for waiting.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_684_05d3dbb4fcec40077fd204650db0956a.pdf
2010-11-01
13
28
10.21608/ejom.2010.684
Key words: Periodic medical examination
workers satisfaction
Delphi questionnaire
pre-employment examination
Kamal
AM.
1
Community, Environmental and Occupational Health Department Ain Shams University
AUTHOR
EL Okda
EE.
2
Community, Environmental and Occupational Health Department Ain Shams University
AUTHOR
Hakim
S.
3
Community, Environmental and Occupational Health Department Ain Shams University
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
CARDIO-PROTECTIVE ROLE OF HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN 70 (HSP 70) AMONG HEAT-EXPOSED WORKERS
Aim: This work aimed at studying the prevalence of ischemic heart diseases (IHD) among heat-exposed workers and the extent of having the high risk factors particularly dyslipidemia and hypertension among this group of workers. Besides, the cardioprotective role of heat shock protein 70 (HSP 70), as a molecular heat exposure biomarker, was clarified. Subjects: The study subjects consisted of a heat-exposed 29 bakers group employed in 10 manual bakeries and a matched heat unexposed group (n= 29). Methods: Every individual underwent occupational and clinical history taking,resting electrocardiogram (ECG), estimation of serum lipid profile parameters,{ total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), TC/HDL-C ratio, low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG)} and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). Results: Analysis of history showed significantly higher prevalence of heat cramps ( 27.5%) andheat rash ( 34.5%) among the heat-exposed group. Resting ECG revealed ischemic manifestations in 20.6% of the heat-exposed workers versus 13.7% of their controls (P<0.05). Marked significant increase in all lipid profile parameters was detected in the heat-exposed individuals with positive correlation with duration of work. The HSP 70 level was 2 times higher among the heat-exposed group. The individuals having ischemic manifestations had lower HSP70 level. Conclusion: Working in hot environments can induce unfavorable increase in blood lipids which predisposes workers to IHD. As HSP 70 which is known to have a cardio-protective role declines with age with consequent diminishing of its cardio-protective role, elderly workers exposed to heat would have higher incidence of IHD which necessitates avoidance of working under hot conditions.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_685_c3bed0cf72cb3cc7eadb9927b14dbe46.pdf
2010-11-01
29
42
10.21608/ejom.2010.685
Key Words: Heat
Heat illness
Heat Shock Protein 70
ischemic heart diseases
dyslipidemia
eCG
Farahat
SA.
1
Dep. Industrial Med. And Occupational. Diseases,Cairo university
AUTHOR
Samir
AM.
2
Dep. Industrial Med. And Occupational. Diseases , Cairo university
AUTHOR
Shaker
DA.
3
Dep. Industrial Med. And Occupational. Diseases , Cairo university
AUTHOR
Rashed
LA.
4
Dep. Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine , Cairo university
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
OCCUPATIONAL, COMMUTING AND LEISURE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE RISK FACTORS AMONG BLUE-COLLAR WORKERS
Background: The role of Physical activity in the protection from cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDr) is well known but the role of occupational and commuting physical activities is still controversial. Blue-collar workers constitute a group where the association of occupational and commuting activities to CVDr is still unclear. Objective: is to identify the effect of occupational and occupationally related physical activities on CVDr among blue collar-collar workers. Study design: Through a cross sectional study, the occupational, commuting and leisure physical activities of a representativesample of 356 blue-collar workers were evaluated by interview questionnaire. Their clinical profile {body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHr), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP)} and biochemical profile {total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides(TG), High density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), fasting blood sugar (FBS), and glycosylated Hemoglobin (Hb A1c)} were measured. Results: The rate and median duration of occupational, commuting and leisure physical activities were low. The mean of all evaluated anthropometricand biochemical parameters were within the desired levels except BMI (26.28). The occupational activity and the total sum of all types of activities were negatively and significantly correlating with all clinical parameters of CVDr, while their correlation with all biochemical parameters were non-significant. The association between other types of activities (commuting and leisure activities) and both clinical and biochemical parameters of CVDr were not significant. The clinical and biochemical profiles of CVDr were not significantly different according to subcategory job title (skilled, unskilled and service workers). Conclusion: Occupational activity was significantly associated with more favorable cardiovascular risk profile while other types of activities (commuting and leisure) were not significantly associated with better profile. Recommendations: Encouragement of commuting and leisure activities among blue collar workers (BCW)is recommended to prevent CVDr. Further studies are needed to explore the role of job stress and nutritional habits in increasing incidence of CVD in BCW.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_686_0c0cfcc208e36e030959e82be525bcac.pdf
2010-11-01
43
56
10.21608/ejom.2010.686
Key words: Occupational activity – physical activity
cardiovascular disease – risk factors
Elshinnawey
M.
1
Community, Occupational and environmental medicine Dept. Suez Canal University (Egypt)
AUTHOR
Othman
A.
2
information center Ministry of Health (Saudi Arabia)
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
SEMEN QUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINAL FUNCTION WITH REGARD TO BLOOD LEAD LEVEL IN INFERTILE PAINTERS
Objective: To investigate the effect of lead on semen quality and reproductive endocrinal function among infertile painters. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed using data collected from 27 infertile painter recruited through infertility clinic and Andrology inpatient department. All participants were subjected to semen analysis, measuring of blood lead level ( BPb ) and serum level of endocrinal parameters including follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH), luteinizing hormone(LH), testosterone(T) and prolactin (pl). Results:-significant decline in the spermatic count and motility in those with longer duration of exposure(>15y) without significant duration influence on BPb and serum level of FSH, LH, PT and T. In addition, significant negative correlation of BPb and spermatic count and motility was found, while all endocrinal parameters showed non-significant correlation. Further analysis of the results revealed statisticallysignificant decline in spermatic motility and increase in testosterone level among the group of BPb > 20 μg/dl beside the observed reduction in the count, which did not reach the significant level. While other endocrinal parameters showed non statistically significant differences. In conclusion, infertile painters were at risk of Lead related influence on semen quality specially spermatic motility and increased testosterone level without significant affection of other reproductive endocrinal parameters.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_687_e0654242f8d1f0e497b4b15f8c02e885.pdf
2010-11-01
57
69
10.21608/ejom.2010.687
Key words: Lead
infertile painters
Semen Analysis
BPb
FSH
LH
T
PL
Mansour
Na.
1
Dept. Of Occupational &Environmental Medicine
AUTHOR
Hosni
H.
2
Dept. Of Andrology
AUTHOR
Shatta
MM.
3
Dept. Of Chemical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University
AUTHOR
Azab
ShS.
4
Dept. Of Urosurgery, 6th October University
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
EVALUATION OF CLINICAL PATHWAYS OF AN EMERGENCY HOSPITAL IN CASE OF AN ACUTE MASS TRAUMA ACCIDENT
The ability to adapt and utilize emergency facilities is a critical element in responding to surges resulting from man-made and natural events resulting in mass casualties. Emergency services must be adequately prepared to effectively absorb a sudden increase in patients and to allow the medical staff to operate effectively Objectives : To qualitatively describe patient, hospital care, and clinical pathway characteristics that may be associated with pathway effectiveness in an emergency department . Methods :The current study is retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study theflow of clinical pathways in an emergency hospital is described in case of an acute mass trauma accident involving victims. Drawbacks and pathway laggings and redundancies were presented and discussed. A list of characteristics that might impact clinical pathway effectiveness was developed .A hypothesis-driven qualitative analysis was used to describe key characteristics that might differentiate effective from ineffective critical pathways. Results: The care pathway adopted during the discrete event under study was perceived to be redundant by the management and by the working staff. Laggings of sequential steps and interventions were inevitable . The patient total times in the department wasaffected and had effects on medical services performance Conclusions: Recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the emergency services of the hospital under study were given. The adoption of clinical pathways may be a very promising method to improve the emergency department service at a hospital and so to react to the challenges of massive surges in patient care. Principles of care maps when integrated into the early stage of planning and design of a building and a service are expected to facilitate modifications to be implemented at modest capitalcost increases for the benefit of both high-risk patients and over-stressed Health Care Workers.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_688_44ded2cfdf9e2b46f5e45928e8ec4118.pdf
2010-11-01
71
82
10.21608/ejom.2010.688
Keywords: Clinical pathways
mass trauma
Emergency
control of injuries
Farrag
I.
1
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering - Modern University
AUTHOR
Kamel
A.
2
Occupational and Environmental Medicine - Dept. of Community Medicine and Public Health - Faculty of Medicine,Mansoura University
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
GENOTOXICITY AND OXIDATIVE STRESS DUE TO EXPOSURE TO WOOD DUST AMONG CARPENTERS
Background: Genetic material is known to be one of the sensitive targets of wood dust. Objectives: This study aimed at measurement of the concentration of the respirable fraction of wood dust generated by different wood operating processes. In addition, the study investigated DNA damage among wood dust exposed carpenters and its relationto oxidative stress (OS) induced by exposure to wood dust. Methods: Several air samples were collected from 4 carpentry workshops dealing with soft and hard types of unpolished wood and the respirable wood dust concentration was calculated. The study population consisted of an exposed group (n=28) and a matched control group (n=26).Every participant underwent occupational questionnaire, assessment of chromosomal aberrations (CAs) (as an index for DNA damage) and serum glutathione peroxidase enzyme (GPX) as one of the antioxidant enzymes. Results: The highest respirable wood dust concentration was that generated by sawing operations. Laboratory investigations revealed statistically significantly higher frequency of CA which was associated with significant decrement in serum GPX among the exposed workers. Increased CA was positively correlated with the duration and the degree of exposure. Conclusion:Occupational exposure to wood dust is associated with genotoxicity and oxidative stress. This could be due to lack of protective measures, so there is a need to educate the carpenters about the potential hazard of occupational exposure and the importance of using protective measures.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_689_3741066b662252f2736cddea41a67379.pdf
2010-11-01
83
95
10.21608/ejom.2010.689
Key Words: wood dust
DNA damage
chromosomal aberrations
Oxidative Stress
glutathione peroxidase
Farahat
SA.
1
Dep. Industrial Med. and Occupational Diseases, Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University
AUTHOR
Ibrahim
YH.
2
Air Research and Pollution Control Department, National Research Center
AUTHOR
Abdel-Latif
N.
3
Air Research and Pollution Control Department, National Research Center
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
MELATONIN, CORTISOL, PROLACTIN AND IGA LEVELS AND THEIR IMPLICATION ON CIRCADIAN-BASED CANCER THEORY
Introduction: Shift work is a recognized stressful problem due to accumulation of mental and physical fatigue. It is a biological and biochemical process that begins in the brain and spreads through the autonomic nervous system causing hormone release and eventually exerting an effect on various body systems leading to health problems. Rotating shift work is associated with hypertension, cardiovascular troubles, fatigue, gastro-intestinal disturbance and poor sleep quality and may play a role in development of breast cancer. Objective: The current study aimed at assessment ofdifferent health hazards among rotating shift workers and the effect of shift work on cortisol, prolactin, and IgA levels with special reference to carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA). Subjects and Methods: The work was conducted on 46 female workers (nurses), matched with day shift female nurses as control group using a detailed questionnaire including occupational history. Clinical examination was performed. Cortisol, prolactin, melatonin, IgA and carcinoenbryonic antigen (CEA) serum levels were measured. Results: The prolactin and cortisol as well as CEA levels showed a statistically significant difference between rotating shift workers and the day-time workers. The melatonin and IgA levels were statistically significantly lower in rotating shift workers in contrast to those of day-shift workers. In correlation with the duration of employment and age of the worker, there was a statistically significant positive correlation with cortisol and CEA and a statistically significant negative correlation with melatonin. Conclusion: The study reported that shift workers had different health disorders including excess risk of development of breast cancer. Recommendations: CEA may be helpful as a prognostic tumor marker, so, further studies with CA125 and/ or CA 19-9 could be performed.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_690_260707a346c0f1d15971c19e9b539930.pdf
2010-11-01
97
111
10.21608/ejom.2010.690
Keywords: Rotating shift workers- CEA- Melatonin – circadian rhythm
Radwan
M.
1
National Egyptian Center of Clinical & Environmental, Toxicological Research (NECTR)
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF SENSORY-NEURAL HEARING LOSS AMONG TELEPHONE OPERATORS.
Objectives: this study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of sensory-neural hearing loss (SNHL) among telephone operators and its risk factors specially the effect of headset noise on the hearing ability of the telephone operators. Methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out on 58 telephone operators and 30 administration staff workers at Mansoura Telecommunications Company in Egypt. All participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire including personal, medical and occupational history; and underwent an audiometric examination. Audiometricevaluation was done to evaluate hearing threshold levels (HTLs) for air and bone conduction for both right and left ears of all participants. Background noise was measured both at telephone operator and administration departments. Results:telephone operators had significantly higher prevalence of acoustic shock symptoms and decreased hearing sensitivity (46.6% and 37.9 %, respectively) compared to the controls (3.3% and 13.3%, respectively). Telephone operator had significantly higher HTLs compared to the controls, for air and bone conduction for both ears at lower and higher frequencies without the characteristic notch of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). Among telephone operators, headset users had higher HTLs compared to headset non users, for air and bone conduction at the higher frequencies for both earsbut more obviously in the left ear. There were 26 (44.8%) cases of SNHL among the telephone operators versus no cases among the controls; all of them were bilateral in distribution. Among other studied factors, only headset use (OR= 5.2, 95%CI = 1.7- 16.1) and age (OR= 1.1, 95%CI = 1.0- 1.2) were significant risk factors for developing SNHL among telephone operators. Conclusion: telephone operators are exposed to sudden repeated unexpected loud sounds due to headset use which could affect their hearing ability.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_691_4612541c82f8f954bdb17c5da62798ff.pdf
2010-11-01
113
127
10.21608/ejom.2010.691
Key words: Hearing loss – Telephone operators – Headset – Prevalence- Risk Factors
El-Bestar
F.
1
Community medicine department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura Univ., Egypt.
AUTHOR
El-Helaly
E.
2
Community medicine department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura Univ., Egypt.
AUTHOR
Khashaba
O.
3
Community medicine department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura Univ., Egypt
AUTHOR
ORIGINAL_ARTICLE
CARDIOTOXICITY DUE TO OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO FREON
Objective: The present study was designed to investigate cardiovascular manifestations among occupationally exposed workers to Freon and to assess environmental exposure during the maintenance step of air-conditioners. Subjects and Methods: This study was conducted on twenty four workers occupationally exposed to the Freon 11 with the duration of exposure ranged from 7 to 14 years for 30 to 60 minutes/day and control group (No =20) working in the samecompany in the administrative department, were involved in this study. All subjects were personally interviewed and clinically examined. Clinical examination & full detailed occupational history, such as work hours, type of fluorocarbon exposure and availability of suitable protective equipment were fulfilled. The cardiovascular system was evaluated by measuring blood pressure, heart rate, and resting ECG. Air samples from the breathing zone of the studied refrigeration services workers were collected during the recharging of different devices & analyzed. Results: The study revealed that there was statistically significant increase in diastolic blood pressure and heart rate in Freon exposed group than in control. Chest pain and palpitation were observed more significantly among Freon exposed workers whencompared to control group (p = < 0.05). The only ECG findings which revealed statistically significance was the presence of inverted t-waves among Freon exposed workers compared to control. The measured average concentration of Freon in the breathing zone during recharching and repairing activities were found 36,000 mg/m3 that exceed the corresponding normal permissible level (5,600 mg/m3 ). Conclusion: Unprotected occupational exposure to chlorofluorocarbons can induce cardio-toxicity in the form of cardiac arrhythmias, or changes in the ECG. These changes can be prevented by pre-employment selection of unsusceptible workers and periodic monitoring of cardiovascular parameters indicative of toxicity as doing regular ECG.
https://ejom.journals.ekb.eg/article_692_b36235b275fd81e622c6b35fa0ad9be7.pdf
2010-11-01
129
137
10.21608/ejom.2010.692
Key words: Freon
cardiotoxicity
myocardial ischemia
arrhythmias & chlorofluorocarbons
Soliman
F.
1
The National Egyptian Center of Env. & Toxicol. Research,NECTR, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University.
AUTHOR