Artificial stone-associated silicosis in the UK

Barber, Chris; Fishwick, David; Seed, Martin; Carder, Melanie; Tongeren, Martie van

doi:10.1136/oemed-2018-105028

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A delay in recognizing well-known health hazards in innovative occupational settings may lead to ongoing dangerous exposures and the appearance of further cases. Indeed, in addition to the articles that were reviewed and presented in this review, during the selection process, we identified several other studies (not included in the review, since they did not meet the inclusion criteria, being mostly abstracts, letters to the editor, case-reports, or articles written in languages other than English) that suggest both the presence of AS-associated silicosis in other countries (i.e., the United States, Italy, or Belgium), and a growing interest of the international scientific community in this issue [22,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,37].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, the concern that is aroused by this hazard alert has been further corroborated by the findings of several studies that have highlighted outbreaks of silicosis among AS workers in various countries throughout the world [24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37]. Moreover, it is worth pointing out that the growing concern of the scientific community with regard to this topic is related, not only to an increased incidence of the disease in AS workers, but also to the different pathological characteristics and the high degree of severity of AS-associated silicosis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

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Artificial Stone Associated Silicosis: A Systematic Review

Leso

Fontana

Romano

et al. 2019

IJERPH

138

113

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Silicosis is a progressive fibrotic lung disease that is caused by the inhalation of respirable crystalline silica. Due to its high silica content, artificial stone (AS) can become a possible source of hazardous dust exposure for workers that are employed in the manufacturing, finishing, and installing of AS countertops. Therefore, the aim of this review was to verify the association between AS derived silica exposure and silicosis development, and also then define the pathological characteristics of the disease in relation to specific work practices and preventive and protective measures that were adopted in the workplace. A systematic review of articles available on Pubmed, Scopus, and Isi Web of Knowledge databases was performed. Although the characteristics of AS-associated silicosis were comparable to those that were reported for the disease in traditional silica exposure settings, some critical issues emerged concerning the general lack of suitable strategies for assessing/managing silica risks in these innovative occupational fields. Further research that is designed to assess the hazardous properties of AS dusts, levels of exposure in workplaces, and the effectiveness of protective equipment appears to be needed to increase awareness concerning AS risks and induce employers, employees, and all factory figures that are engaged in prevention to take action to define/adopt proper measures to protect the health of exposed workers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Artificial Stone Associated Silicosis: A Systematic Review

Leso

Fontana

Romano

et al. 2019

IJERPH

138

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the UK, over 3.2 million persons are occupationally exposed to silica [10]. Many preventative efforts have been made, including dust control and the development of personal protective equipment; in some developed countries, the incidence has thus steadily declined over the past few decades, but new cases or outbreaks are sporadically reported [11]. In developing countries, silica-induced silicosis associated with progressive lung fibrosis still remains a major concern [6, 12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Analysis of lncRNA and mRNA Transcriptomes Reveals New Regulators of Ubiquitination and the Immune Response in Silica-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis

Zhou

Liu

et al. 2019

BioMed Research International

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Objectives As an epigenetic player, long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been reported to participate in multiple biological processes; however, their biological functions in silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis (SIPF) occurrence and development remain incompletely understood. Methods Five case/control pairs were used to perform integrated transcriptomes analysis of lncRNA and mRNA. Prediction of lncRNA and mRNA functions was aided by the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. Additionally, we constructed a coexpression network of lncRNAs and mRNAs to identify targets of regulation. Results In total, 1069 differentially expressed mRNAs and 366 lncRNAs were identified with the changes more than 2 times (p<0.05), of which 351 downregulated mRNA and 31 downregulated lncRNA were <0.5 (p<0.05) and those of 718 upregulated mRNAs and 335 upregulated lncRNA were >2 (p<0.05). The levels of 10 lncRNAs were measured via qRT-PCR; the results were consistent with the microarray data. Four genes named of FEM1B, TRIM39, TRIM32, and KLHL15 were enriched significantly with ubiquitination and immune response. Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction was the most significantly enriched KEGG pathway in both mRNAs and lncRNAs. The coexpression network revealed that a single lncRNA can interact with multiple mRNAs, and vice versa. Conclusions lncRNA and mRNA expression were aberrant in patients with SIPF compared to controls, indicating that differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs may play critical roles in SIPF development. Our study affords new insights into the molecular mechanisms of SIPF and identifies potential biomarkers and targets for SIPF diagnosis and treatment.

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“…We read with interest the article by Hoy et al reporting silicosis in seven Australian workers fabricating artificial stone countertops,1 and the letter by Barber et al who could not identify cases in the UK 2. We describe two cases of silicosis in workers employed in a two-man company producing and installing artificial stone kitchen countertops.…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%