Bampot

We’ve long known that environmental factors – from humidity and temperature to trace chemical vapours – can influence how pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria and fungi, behave once released into the air. These tiny droplets of respiratory fluid, or aerosols, carry viruses and bacteria and can float for minutes or even hours. But while we’ve been busy focusing on physical distancing and surface cleaning, a quieter factor may have been playing a much bigger role in airborne disease transmission all along: carbon dioxide (CO₂).

During the pandemic, we studied what happens to a virus when it travels through the air in tiny droplets from our breath – known as aerosols. In earlier research, we found that the droplet’s pH (how alkaline it is) can affect how quickly the virus loses its ability to infect people. Our more recent research, though, suggests that CO₂ levels in indoor air may significantly affect how long viruses survive once airborne – and the implications are profound.

First published: 18 March 2022

Silicosis not a disease of the past. It is an irreversible, fibrotic lung disease specifically caused by exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust.  Despite countries around the world dealing with similar issues related to RCS exposure, there is an absence of sustained global public health response including lack of consensus of an occupational exposure limit that would provide protection to workers. Although there are complex challenges, global elimination of silicosis must remain the goal.

...By crystalline silica being the main mineral component in the earth crust, silicosis affects all sectors—not only the traditional industrial ones such as construction and building, but also ancient craftsmanship (stonecutting), modern technologies (dental prostheses), farming or fashionable productions (kitchen benchtop fabricated from artificial stone) and clothes (stone-washed jeans). The global ubiquity of silica has however never been translated into a universal public health issue. Only in specific contexts have local physicians been aware of the hazard linked to RCS exposure.

Published on: April 19, 2022

Dermatological manifestations of connective tissue diseases (CTDs) are common and frequently precede other symptoms. Thus, dermatologists may be the first clinicians to diagnose these disorders. Silica exposure is an acknowledged cause of several CTDs, but this is under-appreciated by clinicians, who may also be unaware of the wide range of jobs in which silica exposure can occur.

The CTDs associated with silica exposure include systemic sclerosis (SSc), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) positive vasculitis and overlap syndromes. Silica-related systemic sclerosis (Si-SSc) is associated with a specific antibody profile and more severe disease.

Silicosis has re-emerged worldwide recently due to several new workplace exposures, including a new type of silicosis (artificial stone (AS) silicosis), which is associated with a particularly high rate of auto-antibody formation.

Dangerous work practices are still occurring. This article summarises recent literature on the topic of the resurgence of silicosis and silica-induced CTDs and reminds dermatologists of the importance of taking a thorough occupational history in all patients. Early intervention in CTDs and reduction in dust exposure can reduce risk and improve prognosis. Treatment options are rapidly improving.

Miners Are Pulling Valuable Metals from the Seafloor, and Almost No One Knows about It

Worldwide, oceanographers have found three distinct types of mineral deposits on the deep seafloor.

Manganese crust is an inches-thick, metal-rich pavement that builds up over millions of years as dissolved metallic compounds in seawater gradually precipitate on certain seafloor regions.

Polymetallic nodules are softball-size, metal-rich rocks strewn across enormous seafloor fields.

And massive sulfide deposits, such as the ones being mined by the crew of the Coco, are big mounds and stacks of rock formed around hydrothermal vents. Over the past decade several companies have developed detailed but still hypothetical plans to profit from these deposits, hoping to help meet the world’s surging demand for the valuable metals necessary for batteries, electric cars, electronics, and many other products.

Scientists have warned that these efforts risk destroying unique deep-sea habitats that we do not yet fully understand, and governments have been reluctant to grant exploration licenses in their territorial waters.

But from what I saw during my two days and one night onboard the Coco, DSMF was digging in, and a new era of deep-sea mining had all but begun.

The researchers worked with the Indian state of Gujarat to launch and evaluate in Surat, a city of 15 million people, the world's first market for particulate matter emissions. The policy required industrial plants to install pollution monitors and to trade emissions permits to keep the total combined emissions under a predetermined level.

The plants that participated in the market reduced particulate emissions by 20 to 30% overall, relative to plants that did not participate, the researchers found. And it cost participating plants 11% less, on average, to abate emissions than plants operating under the traditional regulations.

Nankai University researchers have found that plant leaves can directly absorb microplastics (MPs) from the atmosphere, leading to a widespread presence of plastic polymers in vegetation. Concentrations of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) were detected in leaves collected from multiple environments, including urban areas and agricultural sites.

MPs have been detected throughout terrestrial environments, including soil, water, and air. Laboratory studies have shown that plant roots can absorb MPs, with submicrometer and nanometer-sized particles of PS and polymethylmethacrylate transported upward from the roots of Triticum aestivum, Lactuca sativa, and Arabidopsis thaliana. Root uptake through the apoplastic pathway has been observed, yet translocation to shoots occurs slowly.

Airborne MPs have been measured at concentrations between 0.4 and 2,502 items per cubic meter in urban settings such as Paris, Shanghai, Southern California, and London. Laboratory experiments demonstrated the foliar absorption of nanoparticles including Ag, CuO, TiO2, and CeO2.

Plastic particles have been shown to deposit on plant surfaces, and some studies reported internal accumulation following exposure to high levels of commercial PS models.

What you need to know

• A US study says that CT scans could account for 1 in 20 cancer cases diagnosed each year if current overuse doesn't change.

• CT scans are an essential tool used to diagnose a range of medical conditions, but ionizing radiation exposure occurs as a result.

• Stringent use of CT scanning could help mitigate risk.

US researchers are warning of the potential risks from CT scans, a standard method used to create detailed images of the body for diagnosing diseases.

Computed tomography (CT or CAT) scans use X-rays to create a three-dimensional image of a patient.

DUST IS A SILENT AND SOMETIMES INVISIBLE KILLER

Dust particles can be 100 times smaller than a grain of sand. You don’t need to see them to breathe them in. Once in your lungs, dust will start causing damage.

Exposure to dust can lead to severe breathing difficulties and lung diseases that can ruin lives and cause an early death.

It can take years before the damage is visible and by then it can be too late. Make sure you are aware of the risks and work in ways that always protect your lung health.

The silica management audit involves inspections to scrutinise the systems that monitor air quality and prevent silica exposure for workers. This includes engineering controls, water suppression, ventilation and extraction systems to remove dust, and work, health and safety (WHS) policies and procedures.

Audits will continue until the end of June this year.

Under the Work Health and Safety Act, SafeWork NSW can issue improvement and prohibition notices where there is non-compliance.

A full investigation may also take place which could lead to prosecution where the evidence supports a breach to the criminal standard.

Around 10% of underground tunnel workers in Queensland could develop silicosis, our new study has found.

Silicosis is a serious, incurable lung disease caused by inhaling small particles of silica dust. You might have heard about it in people who work with engineered stone. But silica is more widespread.

How does silicosis affect tunnel workers?

Thousands of people are involved in tunneling projects in Australia.

Tunneling involves breaking up large amounts of silica-containing rock with heavy machinery.

Tunnel workers rely on advanced ventilation systems to provide fresh air underground, water systems to keep the rocks wet and suppress dust, and they wear respirators on their face to keep the air they breathe clean. But some people have raised concerns these measures do not always work properly.

There are also national legal limits in place for silica dust exposure, currently 0.05 milligrams per cubic meter over an eight-hour work day.

However, a media investigation last November revealed one-third of air monitoring tests from a Sydney tunnel project were above legal limits.

While air monitoring tests are required by law, the results of routine air monitoring tests are often not made public.

August 9, 2023 4:18 PM EDT

The more typical form of kidney disease is either genetic or a consequence of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or hypertension, and it largely affects an older population.

CKDnt is closely tied to heat stress, and is more prevalent among outdoor laborers or miners who work in high heat conditions. While the causes are still debated, it appears to be triggered by an incidence of acute kidney injury—think extreme heat stress or heat stroke—and is exacerbated by continued exposure and dehydration. Studies in mice show that daily heat exposure and dehydration “can cause chronic tubulointerstitial disease with fibrosis and inflammation [scarring in the kidney’s small tubes], similar to what is observed in renal biopsies of subjects with Mesoamerican nephropathy,”

First published: 10 November 2020

Silica exposure causes many other adverse health effects, including silicosis, cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis, autoimmune disease, and various kidney disorders. Together with the increase in mortality, these findings make silica exposure a priority concern for public health, in addition to urban air pollution.

The exposure to ventilated quartz dust, silica sand, and stone dust occurred over the years from opening bags with and pouring and mixing raw materials, necessary steps in the production of paints, which appears to be the cause of the onset of silicosis. 

2 CASE PRESENTATION

49-year-old man, a former smoker for approximately 12 years of approximately 20 cigarettes/d, was a specialized worker in charge of the production of paints and employed by a company in Southern Italy that supplied water-based paints, quartz paints, and wall paints and coatings for the building industry from 1994 to 2018. The work performed by the patient for 8 h/d consisted of opening bags containing the raw paint materials in powder form (calcium carbonate, micronized talc, titanium dioxide, sand, ventilated quartz flour, silica sand, stone dust, colored pigments, etc) and pouring them manually into tanks and cisterns to mix them with water by a rotating blade placed on the bottom. After this phase, the final product is verified and packaged. In addition, the operator was tasked with carefully monitoring the evolution of the production cycle and eventually completing the composition of the final product by introducing other dusty materials. The worker reported that his company provided him with FFP2 masks but that he only used them occasionally. Furthermore, the work environment first installed workplace dust extractors only in 2008.