• 한국환경성돌연변이발암원학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.85-93
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• 2003

Welders working in a confined space, like in the shipbuilding industry, are at risk of being exposed to high concentrations of welding fumes and developing pneumoconiosis or other welding-fume exposure related diseases. Among such diseases, manganism resulting from welding-fume exposure remains a controversial issue, as the movement of manganese into specific brain regions has not been clearly established. Accordingly, to investigate the distribution of manganese in the brain after welding-fume exposure, male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to welding fumes generated from manual metal arc stainless steel (MMA-SS) at concentrations of $63.6{\pm}4.1$ $mg/m^3$ (low dose, containing 1.6 $mg/m^3$ Mn) and $107.1{\pm}6.3$ $mg/m^3$ (high dose, containing 3.5 $mg/m^3$ Mn) total suspended particulates for 2 hrs per day, in an inhalation chamber over a 60-day period. Blood, brain, lungs and liver samples were collected after 2 hr, 15, 30, and 60 days of exposure and the tissues analyzed for their manganese concentrations using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Although dose- and time-dependent increases in the manganese concentrations were found in the lungs and livers of the rats exposed for 60 days, only slight manganese increases were observed in the blood during this period. Major statistically significant increases in the brain manganese concentrations were detected in the cerebellum after 15 days of exposure and up until 60 days. Slight increases in the manganese concentrations were also found in the substantia nigra, basal ganglia (caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus), temporal cortex, and frontal cortex, thereby indicating that the pharmacokinetics and distribution of manganese inhaled from welding fumes would appear to be different from those resulting from manganese-only exposure.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.17-29
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• 1999

Objectives. This study was carried out to analyze the hearingthreshold levels and relating factors of 1,048 workers with noiseinduced hearing loss$(D_1)$. Methods. We analyzed the hearing-threshold levels and relating factors of 1,048 workers with noise-induced hearing loss$(D_1)$ examined by the summary reports of specific health examination results of industries and personal reports of specific health examination results reported by 58 specific health examination institutes and 8 secondary pneumoconiosis examination institutes in 1996. Results. Among 1,048 workers at 510 workplaces, male workers were 1,009 (96.3%) and female workers were 39 (3.7%). The mean ages of workers initially exposed to noise and at present were 28.7 and 47.2, respectively. The duration of total exposure was 16.5 years. Average hearing-threshold levels analyzed by three-divided classification of the study subjects were 43.7dB(Lt) and 42.6dB(Rt). Those analyzed by six-divided classification were 50.5dB(Lt) and 48.6d8(Rt). Among workers with noise-induced shearing loss$(D_1)$, 16.3% was unilateral hearing loss and 84.6% was classified to compensation case. 8.8%(Rt) and 10.2%(Lt) of them were suspected to be conductive hearing loss by differences of air-bone hearing-threshold levels. Hearing-threshold levels of workers in manufacturing industry were significantly increased during the short exposure compared with the levels in mining industry. Among manufacturing industries, hearing-threshold levels of workers in trailer and other transportation equipment manufacturing industry were significantly increased. Age and duration of total noise exposure were not significantly related to the average hearing-threshold levels analyzed by three-divided classification. Hearing-threshold levels of female workers were significantly increased during the short exposure compared with those of male workers. Hearing-threshold levels of workers at the high risk group, ages of 20s, 30s and total exposure duration of less than 10 years, were not significantly increased compared with those of the other groups. However, they were exposed at young ages. The 3 leading industries of workers at high risk group were trailer and other transportation equipment manufacturing, automobile manufacturing and assemble-metal manufacturing industries. Conclusions. This study was the first nationwide analysis of the hearing-threshold levels and relating factors of workers with noise. induced hearing loss$(D_1)$. We found the differences of the real number by the statistics of the department of labour and the expected number of worker' s compensations for occupationally-induced hearing loss estimated by this study. According to the results of this study, we should carefully examine the methods to narrow this difference.

• 환경정책연구
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.75-100
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• 2013

정부가 시멘트공장 제련소 등 환경오염 취약지역을 대상으로 실시한 주민건강영향조사에서 환경유해인자로 인한 진폐증, 신장손상 등의 건강피해 사례가 나타났다. 그러나 현행 구제관련 법규정이 선언적이어서 구제제도 기반으로는 미흡하여 적정한 구제가 이행되지 못하고 있다. 본 연구는 제도적 관점에서 구제제도를 개선하기 위해 환경유해인자로 인한 건강피해 및 피해구제 사례에 대한 실증적 분석 및 국내 피해구제제도의 문제점 고찰을 통해 구제제도의 개선방향을 제안함을 목적으로 한다. 국내 건강피해 구제제도의 문제점은 첫째, 환경보건법 등 현행 관련법이 구제장치로서의 부족, 둘째, 환경오염피해의 특수성으로 인한 건강피해 분쟁 및 소송상 불법행위 성립요건의 확인과 인과관계 입증의 어려움이다. 제도의 개선방향으로는 첫째, 환경성질환의 개념과 범위규정에 있어 기존 열거방식에 포괄규정 방식을 병용하는 것이다. 둘째, 구제제도에 공법적 성격을 가미함으로써 인과관계의 인정을 용이하게 하고 입증책임부담을 완화하는 것이다. 셋째, 원인자 확인이 어렵거나 구제조치를 기대할 수 없는 경우에는 원인자의 범위를 확장하여 구제의 실효성을 높이는 것이다. 국민의 환경권이 충실히 보장되기 위해서는 본 연구의 제도개선 방향으로 현행 건강피해 구제제도를 개선하는 것이 시급하다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권15호
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• pp.6401-6406
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• 2015

Background: It is sometimes difficult to assess patients who have multiple hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes (MHMLN) with FDG accumulation in PET-CT. Since it is uncertain whether diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) is useful in the assessment of such patients, its diagnostic performance was assessed. Materials and Methods: Twenty-three patients who had three or more stations of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes with SUVmax of 3 or more in PET-CT were included in this study. Results: For diagnosis of disease, there were 20 malignancies (lung cancers 17, malignant lymphomas 2 and metastatic lung tumor 1), and 3 benign cases (sarcoidosis 2 and benign disease 1). For diagnosis of lymph nodes, there were 7 malignancies (metastasis of lung cancer 7 and malignant lymphoma 1) and 16 benign lymphadenopathies (pneumoconiosis/silicosis 7, sarcoidosis 4, benign disease 4, and atypical lymphocyte infiltration 1). The ADC value ($1.57{\pm}0.29{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of malignant MHMLN was significantly lower than that ($1.99{\pm}0.24{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of benign MHMLN (P=0.0437). However, the SUVmax was not significantly higher ($10.0{\pm}7.34$ as compared to $6.38{\pm}4.31$) (P=0.15). The sensitivity (86%) by PET-CT was not significantly higher than that (71%) by DWI for malignant MHMLN (P=1.0). The specificity (100%) by DWI was significantly higher than that (31%) for benign MHMLN (P=0.0098). Furthermore, the accuracy (91%) with DWI was significantly higher than that (48%) with PET-CT for MHMLN (P=0.0129). Conclusions: Evaluation by DWI for patients with MHMLN with FDG accumulation is useful for distinguishing benign from malignant conditions.

• 한국터널지하공간학회 논문집
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.589-609
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• 2017

석탄광산 분진을 환기로 제어하기 위해 현재 국내에서 가행되는 5개 광산의 석탄 분진 시료를 채취하여 석탄 분진의 특성인 밀도와 원소분석, 입도 분석을 시행하였다. 이것은 국내에서 생산되는 모든 무연탄에서 파생되는 석탄 분진의 특성을 이해함으로써 보다 쾌적한 작업환경을 제공하는 연구의 기초가 될 것이다. 입도분석(PSA)결과, 본 연구에 사용된 석탄 분진 시료입자의 크기는 $0.007{\sim}88.614{\mu}m$ 범위에 분포하였으며 이중 진폐증을 유발시킬 수 있는 $3.5{\mu}m$ 이하의 입자가 광산 내 상당부분 존재하는 것으로 확인되었다. 5개광업소에서 채취한 석탄광 분진의 풍속에 의한 유동을 알아보기 위해 풍동을 제작하여 풍속에 대한 석탄광 분진의 낙진을 측정하였으며, 낙진된 석탄 분진의 입도분석을 시행하였다. 또한, 실제 미세먼지가 다량으로 발생하는 채준 작업장에서 공기 중에 부유하는 미세먼지를 앤더슨 멀티스테이지 샘플러(Anderson multi-stage sampler)를 이용하여 석탄광 분진을 작업장에서 환기되는 풍속에 따라 측정하였으며 $3.5{\mu}m$ 이하의 석탄 분진을 제어하는 풍속을 실험을 통하여 밝혀냈다. 주선풍기의 과설계를 방지하기 위해 A광업소의 자연환기력을 계산하였다.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.99-111
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to evaluate crystalline silica contents in airborne respirable dusts from various manufacturing industries and to compare analytical ability of two different methods of quantifying crystalline silica, X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Fourie transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). Various manufacturing industries with a history of having pneumoconiosis cases and also known to generate dusts containing crystalline silica were investigated. These industries include: ceramics, brick, concrete, and abrasive material etc. The personal respirable dust samples were collected using l0mm, Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone equipped with 37mm, $5{\mu}m$ pore size. polyvinylchloride (PVC) filters as collection media. All samples were weighed before and after sampling and were pretreated according to the NIOSH sampling and analytical methods 7500, and 7602 for dust collection and quartz analysis. A total of 48 samples were collected from these industries. Initial analyses of these samples showed log-normal distributions for dust and quartz concentrations. Some results from ceramics and stone exceeded current Korean Occupational Exposure Limits. The average concentrations of personal respirable dust by cyclone were 0.43, 0.24, 0.26, 0.42, 0.53 and $0.29mg/m^3$ in ceramics, stone, concrete, glass, briquets, and others, respectively. A comparison of performance of two analytical methods for quantifying crystalline silica was performed using data from ceramics. The results showed that no significant difference was found between two methods for ceramics. The mean crystalline silica contents determined by XRD were 3.41 % of samples from briquets and 7.18 % from ceramics and were 2.58 % from concrete and 10.33 % from ceramics by FTIR. For crystalline silica analysis, two analytical techniques were highly correlated with $r^2=0.81$ from ceramics. Both cristobalite and tridymite were not detected by XRD and FTIR.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.392-401
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• 1997

Generally working environment and worker's health status of small scale industries (SSI) which employ less than 50 workers are known to be poorer than those of large scale industries(LSI) which employ more than 500 workers. However, according to the analysis of occupational injuries in Korea, prevalence rate of occupational injuries of SSI was 3.1 times as high as LSI. But there was no difference in prevalence rate of occupational disease and werkers with suspected occupational disease(D1) between SSI and LSI. To confirm these two different facts, we surveyed working environment and worker's health status of SSI and LSI in Kyeungin industrial complex. Workers in SSI were 10,878 and workers in LSI were 8,291 and number of hazardous agents in SSI were 3,554 and those of LSI were 1,916. We found following results. First, proportion of male workers and workers who were less than 30 yens old and more than 50 yens old was higher in SSI compared to LSI. Second, worker in SSI had more liver disease, viral hepatitis, and pneumoconiosis than in LSI, and there were more worker with suspected occupational disease, general disease, and worker needed close observation in SSI. But these effects had not statistical significance under the condition controlled by age and sex with logistic regression. Third, the numbers measured for specific chemicals, organic solvents, and heavy metals in SSI was more than in LSI. However there was on difference in the excess rate of each hazardous agent between SSI and LSI. As the above results workers' health status in SSI was poorer than in LSI, but these results were mainly due to the population structure difference. Although there were some limitation of this study and problems of sensitivity and validity for periodic health examination and working environment evaluation method, the concept that working environment and worker's health status in SSI should be reviewed. In future the study that will reveal the real weak point of SSI should be performed.

• 한국산업보건학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.286-293
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• 2021

Objectives: Inorganic dust is known to be a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) regardless of smoking and pneumoconiosis. Adaptive and innate immunity, including lymphocyte infiltrate, are involved in the pathogenesis of COPD. The purpose of this study was to analyze the lymphocyte subsets in the blood of workers exposed to inorganic dust and confirm the influencing factors. Methods: The general characteristics of the subjects (n=107) were analyzed through a personal questionnaire. Diagnosis of COPD was established according to pulmonary function tests with FEV₁/FVC post bronchodilator lower than 70%, according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines. For lymphocyte analysis, blood was stained with a fluorescent CD marker and analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: The increase in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes was associated with a decrease in age (𝛽=-0.273, p=0.008) and an increase in the cumulative smoking amount (𝛽=0.205, p=0.034). The increase in NK cells was associated with an increase in age (𝛽=0.325, p=0.001) and a decrease in cumulative smoking (𝛽=-0.220, p=0.019). The period of exposure to dust, %FVC predicted and %FEV₁/FVC, and the relative population of peripheral blood lymphocytes did not show a statistically significant relationship. Conclusions: CD4⁺ T lymphocytes and CD56⁺CD16⁺ NK cells in peripheral blood were more related to age and cumulative smoking than the duration of dust exposure. Age and smoking are major risk factors for the development of COPD, so it can be predicted that peripheral blood CD4⁺ T lymphocytes and CD56⁺CD16⁺ NK cells are related to the development of COPD in workers exposed to inorganic dust.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제53권5호
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• pp.510-518
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• 2002

연구 배경 : 기관지탄분섬유화증의 발생기전으로 임파선결핵이나 기관지결핵이 제시되었으나 아직도 정확한 발생기전이나 임상양상에 대해 알려져 있지 않다. 본 연구는 기관지탄분섬유화증을 일으키는 발생기전을 추정하기 위해 결핵과 같은 기도폐쇄를 일으키는 질환을 동반하지 않은 단순 기관지탄분섬유화증 환자들의 임상양상을 알아보았다. 방 법 : 기관지 내시경 검사상 기관지탄분섬유화증을 보인 입원환자 중 1년 이상 외래 추적이 가능하였던 114명의 환자의 진료 및 검사 기록지를 후향적으로 조사하여 연구 결과를 얻었다. 결 과 : 전체 대상 환자 중 43명 (38%) 환자는 결핵, 폐암 및 진행성 종괴성 폐섬유증 등의 기도폐쇄를 일으키는 호흡기 질환을 동반하지 않은 단순 기관지탄분섬유화증 환자였으며 이들 환자의 중앙연령은 71세, 남녀비는 1:7.6였고 주요직업으로 농사를 겸한 겸업주부(25명, 58%), 가정주부(12명, 28%)였다. 입원시 주요 증상은 기침 (31명, 44%), 호흡곤란(29명, 41%)을 호소 하였으나 심한 폐기능의 장애를 보이는 환자는 없었다. 흉부CT 및 기관지내시경상의 주요소견은 기관지 벽의 비후 (84%), 기관지 내경협소(76%), 엽기관지이상의 기관지폐쇄(76%) 및 흉곽내 석회화를 동반한 임파선비대 (78%)였으며 퇴원시 주요 호흡기 질환으로 만성기관지염 22명 (19%), 폐렴 17명(15%)및 만성 기관지천식 4명 (4%)순 이였다. 결 론 : 기관지탄분섬유화증환자는 주로 농촌에 거주하는 고령의 비흡연 여성에 많으며 결핵이외에도 만성기관지염, 폐렴등 감염성 호흡기 질환을 자주 동반 하므로 적절한 치료를 위한 정확한 진단이 필요하며 그 발생기전에 대해 자세한 연구가 필요할 것으로 사료 된다.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.155-163
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• 1991

Bronchoalveolar lavage had been done as the treatment of some diseases such as alveolar proteinsois, bronchiectasis, and severe asthma to remove excessive secretion or mucus. But in the recent decade it has been done as a diagnostic method and a tool to understand and evaluate the pathophysiology of diffuse interstitial lung diseases such as sarcoidosis, pneumoconiosis and hypersensitivity pneumonitis. To analyse the bronchoalveolar fluid, it might be useful to have a standard reference (especially cell counts and differetial count of the cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) of normal person. But it is difficult to study the normal volunteers. We investgated the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of 48 patients (28 nonsmokers, 20 smokers) who visited Severance Hospital because of minor pulmonary symptoms such as cough and sputum. They did neither complain of dyspnea nor cyanosis, and had normal or unilateral minor lesion on physical examination and chest X-ray. We analysed the recovery rate, viability, total cell count and differential count of the cells in fluid obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage. The following results were obtained: 1) Age ranged from 17 to 72 years-old with the mean age of 36.7; there was no difference of age between the nonsmoker and the smoker gorup. Male to female ratio was 2.43:1 for total group, 1.15:1 for nonsmokers, and 19:1 for smokers. 2) The diagnoses of the patients were undetermined in 41.9%, healed pulmonary tuberculosis in 37.5%, laryngitis or pharyngitis in 10.4% and others in 10.4%. 3) Total cell number of the recovered fluid by bronchoalveolar lavage was significantly higher in male[$9.6{\pm}6.2({\times}10^6)$] than in female[$5.1{\pm}3.0({\times}10^6)$](p<0.05), and there was no significant difference in the total cell number between the smokers and nonsmokers [$9.3{\pm}5.8({\times}10^6)$ vs $7.5{\pm}5.8({\times}10^6)$]. 4) The differential count of the cells from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid had no difference between the nonsmokers and the smokers. 5) There was no correlation between the total cell count and smoking or age. 6) In the smoker group, there was no correlation between the amount of smoking and the total cell count of the bronchoalveolar fluid. In conclusion, it should be careful to regard the patients with symptoms or minor radiologic abnormalities as a control group in bronchoalveolar lavage study and further study of cell analysis in bronchoalveolar lavage will be needed between smoker and nonsmoker in the male and female healthy people.