Effects of bioaerosol exposure on work-related symptoms among Swiss sawmill workers

Objective Exposure to bioaerosols in the occupational environment of sawmills could be associated with a wide range of health effects, in particular respiratory impairment, allergy and organic dust toxic syndrome. The objective of the study was to assess the frequency of medical respiratory and general symptoms and their relation to bioaerosol exposure. Method Twelve sawmills in the French part of Switzerland were investigated and the relationship between levels of bioaerosols (wood dust, airborne bacteria, airborne fungi and endotoxins), medical symptoms and impaired lung function was explored. A health questionnaire was distributed to 111 sawmill workers. Results The concentration of airborne fungi exceeded the limit recommended by the Swiss National Insurance (SUVA) in the twelve sawmills. This elevated fungi level significantly influenced the occurrence of bronchial syndrome (defined by cough and expectorations). No other health effects (irritations or respiratory effects) could be associated to the measured exposures. We observed that junior workers showed significantly more irritation syndrome (defined by itching/running nose, snoring and itching/red eyes) than senior workers. Lung function tests were not influenced by bioaerosol levels nor dust exposure levels. Conclusion Results suggest that occupational exposure to wood dust in a Swiss sawmill does not promote a clinically relevant decline in lung function. However, the occurrence of bronchial syndrome is strongly influenced by airborne fungi levels. [Authors]]]> Air Pollutants, Occupational ; Air Microbiology ; Bacteria ; Endotoxins ; Fungi ; Dust ; Environmental Monitoring ; Wood ; Occupational Exposure ; Occupational Diseases ; Respiratory Tract Diseases eng https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_B4AA3AA89E66.P001/REF.pdf http://nbn-resolving.org/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_B4AA3AA89E664 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/urn/urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_B4AA3AA89E664 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Copying allowed only for non-profit organizations https://serval.unil.ch/disclaimer application/pdf oai:serval.unil.ch:BIB_B4AA7325E6FA 2022-02-19T02:29:06Z openaire documents urnserval <oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd"> https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_B4AA7325E6FA Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy in higher eukaryotes. info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/18188003 Klionsky, D.J. Abeliovich, H. Agostinis, P. Agrawal, D.K. Aliev, G. Askew, D.S. Baba, M. Baehrecke, E.H. Bahr, B.A. Ballabio, A. Bamber, B.A. Bassham, D.C. Bergamini, E. Bi, X. Biard-Piechaczyk, M. Blum, J.S. Bredesen, D.E. Brodsky, J.L. Brumell, J.H. Brunk, U.T. Bursch, W. Camougrand, N. Cebollero, E. Cecconi, F. Chen, Y. Chin, L.S. Choi, A. Chu, C.T. Chung, J. Clarke, P.G.H et, al. info:eu-repo/semantics/review article 2008 Autophagy, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 151-175 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1554-8635 <![CDATA[Research in autophagy continues to accelerate,(1) and as a result many new scientists are entering the field. Accordingly, it is important to establish a standard set of criteria for monitoring macroautophagy in different organisms. Recent reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose.(2,3) There are many useful and convenient methods that can be used to monitor macroautophagy in yeast, but relatively few in other model systems, and there is much confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure macroautophagy in higher eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers of autophagosomes versus those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway; thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from fully functional autophagy that includes delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of the methods that can be used by investigators who are attempting to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as by reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that investigate these processes. This set of guidelines is not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to verify an autophagic response