Historical Asbestos Measurements in Denmark-A National Database.

Objectives: Due to the long lag-time for health outcomes, historical asbestos exposure measurements are valuable to support assessments of associated occupational health effects, and also to assess time trends and effects of preventive measures. Methods: Different sources of stored data were collated, assessed and refined to create a harmonized database on historical asbestos fibre concentrations measured in specific work tasks and different industries. The final database contains 9236 asbestos measurements from Danish workplaces collected from 1971 to 1997. Results: The geometric mean of asbestos concentrations in different occupations and tasks ranged from 0.003 to 35 fibres cm(−3). Highest concentrations were registered during handling of asbestos products in the construction services during the period 1981–1997. Although all the measured asbestos exposures without the use of respiratory equipment by the worker in the period of 1971–1997 exceeded the current 8-h time-weighted average exposure limit of 0.1 fibres cm(−3), the majority of samples collected in the earlier period of 1971 to 1980 did not exceed the exposure limit of 2 fibres cm(−3), which was in place at the time. All exposure data obtained from 1980 and onwards were found to be one seventh of the mean fibre concentrations in the previous measurement period. The impact of time shows a clear exponentially decreasing trend-line. Conclusions: Despite limitations in coverage of different occupations and tasks associated with the inventoried historical asbestos measurements, the data are helpful to identify specific work scenarios within an industry, where relatively high asbestos exposure levels may still occur or have occurred from 1971 to 1997

Establishment of age- and sex-adjusted reference data for hand bone mass and investigation of hand bone loss in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated in clinical practice:an observational study from the DANBIO registry and the Copenhagen Osteoarthritis Study

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis is characterised by progressive joint destruction and loss of periarticular bone mass. Hand bone loss (HBL) has therefore been proposed as an outcome measure for treatment efficacy. A definition of increased HBL adjusted for age- and sex-related bone loss is lacking. In this study, we aimed to: 1) establish reference values for normal hand bone mass (bone mineral density measured by digital x-ray radiogrammetry (DXR-BMD)); and 2) examine whether HBL is normalised in rheumatoid arthritis patients during treatment with tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors (TNFI). METHODS: DXR-BMD was measured from hand x-rays in a reference cohort (1485 men/2541 women) without arthritis randomly selected from an urban Danish population. Sex- and age-related HBL/year was estimated. DXR-BMD was measured in rheumatoid arthritis patients (n = 350: at start of TNFI, and ~2 years after TNFI start), of which 135 patients had three x-rays (~2 years prior to TNFI, at start of TNFI, and ~2 years after TNFI start). Individual HBL/year prior to and during TNFI was calculated and compared to reference values. RESULTS: Estimated HBL/year varied strongly with age and sex. Compared to the reference values, 75 % of 135 patients had increased HBL prior to TNFI treatment and 59 % had increased HBL during TNFI treatment (p = 0.17, Chi-squared). In 38 % (38/101) of patients with increased HBL, HBL was normalised during TNFI treatment, whereas 47 % (16/34) of patients with normal HBL prior to TNFI had increased HBL during TNFI treatment. In the 350 patients, increased HBL during TNFI was associated with time-averaged 28-joint disease activity score (odds ratio 1.69 (95 % Confidence Interval 1.34-2.15)/unit increase, p < 0.001), and patients in time-averaged remission had lower HBL than patients without remission (0.0032 vs. 0.0058 g/cm(2)/year; p < 0.001, Mann-Whitney). CONCLUSIONS: We established age- and sex-specific reference values for DXR-BMD in a large cohort without arthritis. HBL was increased in the majority of rheumatoid arthritis patients initiating TNFI in clinical practice, and only normalised in a minority during TNFI. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13075-016-0952-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Detection of iron-chelating and iron-reducing compounds in four brown rot fungi

Abstract The presence of iron-chelating and iron-reducing compounds has been evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively in the four brown rot fungi Meruliporia incrassata (M. incrassata), Gloeophyllum trabeum (G. trabeum), Coniophora puteana (C. puteana) and Serpula lacrymans (S. lacrymans). Samples of actively growing mycelium from liquid growth media, decayed wood, and agar plate cultures were in focus. Iron-chelating compounds were found in all four species, with the highest reactivity in G. trabeum and S. lacrymans, and the lowest in M. incrassata. Iron-reducing activity, measured in the liquid medium, was found in all four fungi. However, in wood extractions, S. lacrymans was not effective in this regard, although the agar grown mycelium of this fungus showed the highest iron-reducing capacity of the four. The presence of both catecholate and hydroxamate chelators was detected in all four species. G. trabeum showed the highest concentration overall of extracellular chelators, including both catecholate and hydroxamate derivatives.</jats:p