The objective of the study was to assess whether reduced semen quality in infertile couples is associated with occupational exposures known to be hazardous to fertility. Results of the first semen analysis were linked to occupational exposure data from a self-administered questionnaire. Reduced semen quality was found in men exposed to electromagnetic fields (odds ratio, 3.22; confidence interval, 1.46 to 7.09). A tendency toward reduced semen quality was seen in commuters (OR, 1.52; CI, 0.89 to 2.59), shift workers (OR, 1.46; CI, 0.89 to 2.40), and men exposed to heavy metals (OR, 1.47; CI, 0.76 to 2.87). In general, the impact of occupational exposure on semen quality in infertile couples in Norway seemed to be minor. However, occupational exposure mapping is still important in individual infertility investigations.
The study gave further evidence of cause effect relationships in the confirmed positive associations, though without any clarification of possible mechanisms involved. Possible false negative findings might be caused by low statistical power due to small occupational groups or non-differential misclassification of exposure.
Adult-onset Still's disease is a rare inflammatory systemic disease. Cardinal symptoms/manifestations are fever, arthralgias or arthritis, myalgias, the typical skin rash, sore throat, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy and serositis. Several other symptoms and organ involvements are possible. The clinical picture is variable with mild to life-threatening courses. The disease is self-limiting, intermittently active or chronic. Because of the lack of a defined diagnostic test the diagnosis of AOSD can only be made after exclusion of several differential diagnoses in particular of infectious, malignant and autoimmune origin. For therapy non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticoids, disease modifying antirheumatic drugs and biologics can be used.
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