Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju最新文献

{"title":"[Croatian and international regulations on the protection and rights of workers exposed to asbestos at work].","authors":"Marija Zavalić,&nbsp;Jelena Macan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>New regulations on the protection and rights of workers occupationally exposed to asbestos were introduced in Croatia in 2007 and 2008. They have been harmonised with the European Union (EU) and International Labour Organization (ILO) regulations, and make a step forward in safety at work, health protection, social rights, and pension schemes for Croatian workers occupationally exposed to asbestos. The 2007 Croatian regulation on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work defines and describes activities in which workers can be occupationally exposed to asbestos, defines the threshold value of asbestos in the air at work, defines valid methods for measurement of asbestos concentrations in the air, and establishes measures to reduce asbestos exposure at work or protect the exposed workers. Croatian law regulating obligatory health surveillance of workers occupationally exposed to asbestos from year 2007 defines activities and competent authorities to implement health surveillance of workers occupationally exposed to asbestos and to diagnose occupational diseases related to asbestos. This law also defines \"occupational exposure to asbestos\", and \"occupational asbestos-related diseases\", including asbestosis (pulmonary asbestos-related fibrosis), pleural asbestos-related disorders (plaques, pleural thickening, and benign effusion), lung and bronchial cancer, and malignant mesothelioma of serous membranes. These regulations have been harmonised with ILO, Directive 2003/18/EC amending Council Directive 83/477/EEC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work, and with the Commission Recommendation 2003/670/EC concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases. The 2008 Croatian regulation on conditions of health surveillance, diagnostic procedures and criteria for confirmation of occupational asbestos-related diseases \"defines the terms and the content of medical examination of workers exposed to asbestos, and criteria for the confirmation of occupational asbestos-related diseases which are harmonised with the Helsinki criteria acknowledged by ILO and EU, particularly concerning the level and length of exposure. Croatian law on compensation of workers occupationally exposed to asbestos from 2007 regulates compensation claims for workers with occupational asbestos-related disease, authorities competent to process these claims, and funds and coefficients for compensation payments. Accordingly, Croatia is responsible for compensation claims payment for workers with occupational asbestos-related disease. The 2007 law on conditions for entitlement to full pension for workers exposed to asbestos at work defines the conditions for fulfilling criteria for retirement pension for workers exposed to asbestos at work.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"57-63"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40081242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Asbestos and asbestos-related diseases.","authors":"Slavica Cvitanović,&nbsp;Jelena Macan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40080156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma in Split-Dalmatia County].","authors":"Slavica Cvitanović,&nbsp;Zeljko Ivancević,&nbsp;Vesna Capkun,&nbsp;Gordana Tenzera-Taslak","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Between 2001 and 2005, 1150 patients with respiratory symptoms were admitted to our Pneumology Clinic whose workplace or residence could involve exposure to asbestos One hundred and twenty (10.4%) patients were confirmed a disease of the lung and/or pleura which could have been asbestos-related. A follow-up of these patients showed that 52 of 120 (43.3%) developed malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), but it was also found in 12 of 1030 (1.1%) patients without an asbestos-related disease. Of the 64 patients with MPM, 54 (84.3%) were men and 10 (15.6%) women. Fifty-two (81.2%) were professionally or residentially exposed to asbestos. The incidence ofmesothelioma for the Split-Dalmatia County between 2001 and 2005 was 13.8 per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the whole of Croatia it was 3.9. Mean annual incidence in the Split-Dalmatia County was 2.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, and in the whole of Croatia 0.8. This means that 22.7% of all patients with MPM in Croatia were from the Split-Dalmatia County (whose population is about 10.5% of Croatia's). This distribution of MPM may be related to the strong shipbuilding industry and other asbestos-related industries in this part of the country.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"31-9"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40080161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Malignant pleural mesothelioma in patients hospitalised at the Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka between 1989 and 2008].","authors":"Ozren Kricka,&nbsp;Dubravka Matanić Lender,&nbsp;Igor Barković,&nbsp;Veljko Flego,&nbsp;Zeljko Kupanovac,&nbsp;Ljiljana Bulat Kardum","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a relatively rare tumour, mainly associated with occupational exposure to asbestos. We retrospectively analysed the records of MPM patients treated at the Pulmonology Department of the Clinic for Internal Diseases, Clinical Hospital Centre Rijeka between 1989 and 2008. to establish the incidence of MPM in that period. Between 1989 and 2008 the hospital received 121 MPM patients, 117 of whom were men and four women. We observed a continued increase in newly diagnosed MPM patients from year to year. Occupational exposure to asbestos was established in 72 patients who worked in shipbuilding. In our region the incidence of MPM has been rising significantly. We believe that this is not related to improved diagnostics, but to the long latency of the disease. This is why we expect this trend to continue for a while. In the U.S.A. and Europe, MPM incidence is expected to peak by 2020, while in countries with poor control over asbestos use this may take longer.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"41-3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40081239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Immunological aspects of asbestos-related diseases].","authors":"Bozica Kanceljak-Macan","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Asbestos is a generic name for a group of silicate minerals. The most common are chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite and anthophyllite. Exposure to asbestos may cause asbestos-related non-malignant diseases of the lung and pleura, including asbestosis, pleural plaques, diffuse pleural fibrosis, small airway disease, and malignant diseases such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma. Inhaled asbestos fibres deposit in the distal regions of the respiratory system where they interact with epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages, and trigger active immunological response which leads to a slowly progressing lung fibrosis. Asbestos may affect immunocompetent cells and induce malignant transformation of mesothelial cells. It is still not clear whether asbestos causes mesothelioma directly or indirectly. There is a general opinion that malignant mesothelioma is a complex tumour that results from the accumulation of multiple genetic alterations over many years. There is no specific antibody for malignant mesothelioma as yet which could act as a single diagnostic tool. Recent studies have demonstrated that asbestos acts on peripheral T cells as superantigen and that in malignant mesothelioma patients there is an overexpression of the Bcl-2 gene on peripheral CD4+ T cells. These findings contribute to better understanding of biological effects of asbestos in respect to the duration and intensity of exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"45-50"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40081240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[A model to diagnose occupational, asbestos-related pneumoconiosis and thickening of the pleura].","authors":"Labud Kurajica,&nbsp;Gordana Tenzera-Taslak","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To correctly diagnose occupational asbestos-related disease, a specialist in occupational health has to answer a set of questions: (A) is the asbestos-related disease diagnosed by a specialist in pulmonology with the help of a radiologist and cardiologist occupational or non-occupational; (B) is the occupational asbestos-related disease caused by more than one source of asbestos dust, and, if it is, to what has of each of these sources contributed to the development of the disease; (C) how many functional disorders and symptoms (pulmonary, cardiac, chest pain, reactive fear from death, reactive psychoneurotic disorder in which fear is not the main symptom) has occupational asbestos-related disease produced and to what degree; (D) have these disorders and symptoms permanently reduced patient's work ability, and, if they have, can we speak of work disability; (E) have these disorders permanently reduced vital activity, and, if they have, can we speak of vital disability; and (F) does the patient suffer mental pain because of reduced vital activity, and if he does, what sort of pain. This approach should assume the form and content of an expert specialist opinion, that is, of a legal medical expertise and should rely on a more extensive medical and non-medical documentation than the one serving for therapeutic purposes. As such methodological approach is rarely met in practice, we have proposed a model that includes evaluation of cumulative exposure to asbestos dust, determination of work and vital disability, and evaluation of mental pain. This method stems from our long-time practice and experience with patients suffering from asbestos-related diseases, including the experience acquired since 2002 from cooperation with the Reference Centre for Asbestosis and Other Asbestos-Related Diseases of the Croatian Ministry of Health at the Department for Pulmonary Diseases of the Clinical Hospital Split.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"65-77"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40081243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Disposal of waste containing asbestos in Croatia].","authors":"Vinko Mladineo","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In order to ensure systematic disposal of asbestos waste in the whole of Croatia, its government has mandated the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund to implement emergency measures to collect and dispose of asbestos-containing construction waste. This requires a construction of 45 special disposal containers in the existing municipal waste landfills and contracting collection of asbestos-containing construction waste. By now, the Fund has disposed of 8000 m3 of asbestos cement waste, recovered five dumps with asbestos-containing construction waste, reclaimed a location contaminated by asbestos in Vranjic, and has continued to recover the land at the premises of factory Salonit in bankruptcy, which had been producing corrugated asbestos sheets before the ban. In collaboration with several non-governmental organisations, the Fund has started an educational campaign to protect the environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"11-4"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40080158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Expectations after ban on asbestos].","authors":"Marko Sarić","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article brings a brief review of asbestos exposure and asbestos-related diseases in Croatia in view of the asbestos ban. The first cases of asbestosis were diagnosed in workers from an asbestos-cement factory in 1961. Between 1990 and 2007, 403 cases of asbestosis had been registered as occupational disease: 300 with parenchymal fibrosis and the rest with parenchymal and pleural changes, or pleural plaques. As a rule, asbestos-related changes were diagnosed at an early stage thanks to regular checkups of the exposed workers. Pleural plaques, considered to be the consequence of asbestos exposure, were also occasionally found in subjects who lived in areas with asbestos processing plants, but were not occupationally exposed. Early epidemiological studies on respiratory and gastrointestinal tract tumours in areas with an asbestos processing plant (1994) and an asbestos-cement plant (1995, 1996) focused on the occurrence of malignant tumours in persons exposed to asbestos at work or in the environment. More recently, the focus has shifted to the malignant pleural mesotelioma (MPM). An epidemiological study published in 2002 showed that the MPM incidence was significantly higher in the coastal area than in the rest of the country. About two thirds of patients with the tumour were occupationally exposed to asbestos. This uneven distribution of the tumour incidence is obviously related to shipbuilding and other industrial sources of asbestos exposure located in the coastal Croatia. Sources of environmental exposure to asbestos also have to be taken into account. The second part of this article ventures into the issues ahead of us, after asbestos has been banned in the country. The long latency period of cancers, and particularly of asbestos-related mesothelioma, implies that the incidence of this tumour will not drop over the next few decades. In Croatia, the average annual rate of MPM between 1991 and 2006 was 40, and ranged between 20 in 1991 to 61 in 1999. In 2006 it was 58. Age-standardised incidence of this tumour between 1991 and 1997 was 0.74 per 100,000 (1.34 per 100,000 for men and 0.27 per 100,000 for women). Sadly, the diagnosis of mesothelioma is seldom timely, and treatment is usually unsuccessful.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"15-21"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40080159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"[Incidence and prevalence of asbestos-related diseases in Croatia].","authors":"Vlasta Decković-Vukres,&nbsp;Tanja Corić,&nbsp;Branimir Tomić,&nbsp;Marijan Erceg,&nbsp;Sandra Mihel,&nbsp;Ana Ivicević Uhernik,&nbsp;Ivan Pristas","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study was to identify the incidence and prevalence of asbestos-related diseases in Croatia, based on the Hospital Morbidity Database and General Mortality Database of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health. Both databases cover a period from 2002 to 2007), and include information from the Register of Occupational Diseases. Diagnoses in focus were mesothelioma (C45), asbestosis, and pleural plaque (J61 and J92). Yearly rates of inpatients treated for mesothelioma, asbestosis, or pleural plaque that were higher than the Croatian average (2.1) were recorded in the Counties of Split-Dalmatia (5.0), Dubrovnik-Neretva (3.9), Istria (3.7), and Primorje-Gorski kotar (3.1 per 100,000 people). From 2002 to 2007, 649 occupational diseases were reported, out of which 11.7% were asbestos-related. The most frequent were pleural plaque with asbestosis (38 cases, 50.0%), pleural plaque (23 cases, 30.3%), and mesothelioma (6 cases, 7.9%). Mortality attributable to asbestos was assessed using official Croatian National Statistics Bureau reports for 2002 to 2007 at the county and national level. During that period, Croatia recorded 312 deaths with the average yearly rate of 1.2 per 100.000 people. Four counties had higher rates than the national average: Primorje-Gorski kotar (3.4), Split-Dalmatia (2.8), Istria (2.8), and S1. Brod-Posavina (1.5). The number of inpatients treated for asbestos-related diseases was higher than the national average in the counties of Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva, and Primorje-Gorski Kotar. Mesothelioma incidence was above the national average in the counties of Split-Dalmatia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, and Istria. The rates of occupational, asbestos-related diseases were higher than the national average in the counties of Split-Dalmatia and Primorje-Gorski Kotar. We were aware that the interpretation of data is somewhat limited by the relatively small absolute number of treated persons and deaths for the observed period, by the fact that crude rates have not been adjusted for total numbers and for regional differences in population distribution by age and gender. The real extent of asbestos-related burden in Croatian general population remains unknown, because only occupational exposure has been monitored. Therefore, the National Public Health Institute and county public health institutes should implement a specific monitoring programme in collaboration with government environmental bodies to assess asbestos exposure of the population living in the vicinity of asbestos plants. It is also necessary to establish the number of exposed persons who have developed an asbestos-related disease. Their health should be monitored and their environment inspected on a regular basis.</p>","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"23-30"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2009-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40080160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"EUROTOX-2006/6 CDT Congress held in Cavtat, Croatia, 20-24 September 2006.","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":520565,"journal":{"name":"Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju","volume":" ","pages":"272-374"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2007-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40415870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}