Produção de biscoitos recheados com formação de organogel na base gordurosa / Production of sandwich cookies with the formation of organogel in the fatty base

A fim de atender à demanda do público que atualmente busca por alimentos mais saudáveis, as indústrias têm procurado alternativas que possibilitem a aplicação de ingredientes que agreguem valor nutricional aos produtos. A redução de gorduras saturadas e trans em produtos alimentícios, bem como a inserção de cereais ou farinhas nutricionais, vem sendo aplicadas em produtos de panificação. Biscoitos recheados possuem como bases geralmente biscoitos à base de farinha de trigo. O objetivo foi desenvolver formulação de biscoitos recheados com substituição de gordura vegetal por organogel no recheio e de farinha de trigo por farinha de sorgo no biscoito, a fim de agregar valor nutricional ao produto. Foram desenvolvidos biscoitos recheados: 1) recheio controle e com substituição da gordura vegetal dos recheios por organogel elaborado com sistema emulsionado (colágeno + óleo vegetal + água), a fim de diminuir concentrações de gorduras saturadas e trans. 2) para a base elaborouse biscoitos controle (farinha de trigo) e com substituição parcial e total de farinha de trigo por farinha de sorgo em 50% (50FS) e 100% (100FS). Foram conduzidas nos recheios e das bases dos biscoitos análises físicas e físico-químicas (textura, atividade de água, cor, composição centesimal e reologia) para avaliação e para análise de estabilidade de 6 semanas. Os resultados apresentaram que o biscoito 50FS obteve melhor valor de textura (Controle: 16,09 ± 1,28 N; 50FS: 19,63 ± 5,68 N e 100FS: 10,09 ± 0,65 N) e menor teor de atividade de água (Semana 01: 0,327±0,01 e Semana 06: 0,389 ± 0,00) do que o biscoito controle, durante análise de estabilidade. O biscoito 100FS apresentou coloração mais avermelhada. Os biscoitos 50FS e 100FS apresentaram maior teor proteico do que o controle (Controle: 5,37 ± 0,23 %; 50FS: 5,64 ± 0,49 % e 100FS: 5,75 ± 0,49 %). O recheio com organogel apresentou maior dureza (N) durante análise de estabilidade do que o recheio controle (Semana 6 Organogel: 6,81±1,48; Controle: 4,29±0,38). Os parâmetros de adesividade, coesividade e gomosidade do recheio com organogel não apresentaram diferenças significativas (p > 0,05). Os valores de atividade de água da formulação com organogel foram mais altos do que o recheio controle (Semana 6 Organogel: 0,730±0,00; Controle: 0,555±0,01). O valor de L* foi maior para o recheio controle, apresentando coloração mais amarelada do que a formulação com organogel. O recheio com organogel apresentou redução de 65 % do teor lipídico e aumento do teor proteico. Os recheios controle, com organogel e de mercado apresentaram comportamento tixotrópico durante a avaliação reológica, sendo que o produto de mercado teve comportamento próximo à formulação controle, com recuperação quase total da estrutura. Foram desenvolvidos cinco produtos, sendo três inovadores com valor nutricional agregado, atendendo às legislações vigentes, vida útil mínima de 6 semanas e ao apelo do mercado atual, podendo ser comercializados como biscoito recheado

In order to satisfy the demand of the public that is currently looking for healthier foods industries have been looking for alternatives that allow the application of ingredients that add nutritional value to the products. The reduction of saturated and trans fats in food products, as well as the insertion of cereals or nutritional flours, has been applied in bakery products. Filled cookies are usually based on wheat flour. The objective was to develop a formulation of filled cookies with replacement of vegetable fat for organogel in the filling and wheat flour for sorghum flour in the biscuit, in order to add nutritional value to the product. In this study, cookies filled with vegetable fat and wheat flour were used as a control where: 1) filling was replaced by organogel elaborated with an emulsified system (collagen + vegetable oil + water); and 2) base was prepared with partial and total replacer of wheat flour for sorghum flour in 50% (50FS) and 100% (100FS). Physical and physicochemical analyzes (texture, water activity, color, proximate composition and rheology) were carried out on the fillings and bases of the biscuits for evaluation and for the stability analysis of 6 weeks. The results showed that the 50FS cookies had a better texture value (Control: 16,09±1,28 N; 50FS: 19,63±5,68N and 10,09±0,65 N) and lower content of water activity (Week 1: 0,327±0,01 and Week 6: 0,389±0,00) than the control cookie during stability analysis. The 100FS had a more reddish color. The 50FS and 100FS cookies had a higher protein content than the control (Control: 5,37±0,23 %; 50FS 5,64±0,49 %). The fillings with organogel showed a higher hardness (N) than the control during stability analysis (Week 6 Organogel: 6,81±1,48; Control: 4,29±0,38). The parameters of adhesiveness, cohesiveness and guminess of the filling with organogel showed no significant differences (p> 0.05). The water activity values of the organogel formulation were higher than the control filling (Week 6 Organogel: 0,730±0,00; Control: 0,555±0,01). The value of L * was higher for the control filling, showing a more yellowish color than the formulation with organogel. The filling with organogel showed a 65% reduction in lipid content and an increase in protein content. The control, organogel and market fillings showed a thixotropic behavior in the rheological evaluation, and the market product had a behavior close to the control formulation, with almost total recovery of the structure. Five products were developed, three of which were innovative with added nutritional value, in compliance with current legislation, a minimum shelf life of 6 weeks, which can be sold as a stuffed cookies.

Gastric cancer mortality rates by occupation and industry among male and female workers aged 25-64 years in Japan.

Differences in risk for gastric cancer exist among occupations and industries in Japan. Using a 2015 national dataset, we estimated the mortality rates due to gastric cancer in Japanese male and female workers aged 25-64 yr. Regression models were used to estimate the mortality rate ratios separately for men and women with adjustment for age. The occupation with the highest risk ratio was "Service" in men (2.06, 95% confidence interval: 1.63-2.61) and "Construction and Mining" in women compared with "Sales". For industries, workers in "Mining", "Electricity, Gas, Heat supply and Water", "Fisheries", "Agriculture and Forestry", and "Construction" had a higher mortality risk. Our results showed that occupations and industries with higher mortality rates in men had the same trend as the results from 2010, and occupations and industries with higher mortality rates in women were almost the same as those in men. The analyses also indicated that managerial and professional workers in Japan had higher mortality as opposed to developed Western countries. In conclusion, this study suggests that occupations and industries still impact men and women's health in terms of mortality due to gastric cancer in Japan.

Codability of industry and occupation information from cancer registry records: Differences by patient demographics, casefinding source, payor, and cancer type.

INTRODUCTION: Industry and occupation (I&O) information collected by cancer registries is useful for assessing associations among jobs and malignancies. However, systematic differences in I&O availability can bias findings. METHODS: Codability by patient demographics, payor, identifying (casefinding) source, and cancer site was assessed using I&O text from first primaries diagnosed 2011-2012 and reported to California Cancer Registry. I&O were coded to a U.S. Census code or classified as blank/inadequate/unknown, retired, or not working for pay. RESULTS: Industry was codable for 37% of cases; 50% had "unknown" and 9% "retired" instead of usual industry. Cases initially reported by hospitals, covered by preferred providers, or with known occupational etiology had highest codable industry; cases from private pathology laboratories, with Medicaid, or diagnosed in outpatient settings had least. Occupation results were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Recording usual I&O for retirees and improving linkages for reporting entities without patient access would improve I&O codability and research validity.

Evaluating Exposure-Response Associations for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma with Varying Methods of Assigning Cumulative Benzene Exposure in the Shanghai Women's Health Study.

Objectives: To provide insight into the contributions of exposure measurements to job exposure matrices (JEMs), we examined the robustness of an association between occupational benzene exposure and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) to varying exposure assessment methods. Methods: NHL risk was examined in a prospective population-based cohort of 73087 women in Shanghai. A mixed-effects model that combined a benzene JEM with >60000 short-term, area benzene inspection measurements was used to derive two sets of measurement-based benzene estimates: 'job/industry-specific' estimates (our presumed best approach) were derived from the model's fixed effects (year, JEM intensity rating) and random effects (occupation, industry); 'calibrated JEM' estimates were derived using only the fixed effects. 'Uncalibrated JEM' (using the ordinal JEM ratings) and exposure duration estimates were also calculated. Cumulative exposure for each subject was calculated for each approach based on varying exposure definitions defined using the JEM's probability ratings. We examined the agreement between the cumulative metrics and evaluated changes in the benzene-NHL associations. Results: For our primary exposure definition, the job/industry-specific estimates were moderately to highly correlated with all other approaches (Pearson correlation 0.61-0.89; Spearman correlation > 0.99). All these metrics resulted in statistically significant exposure-response associations for NHL, with negligible gain in model fit from using measurement-based estimates. Using more sensitive or specific exposure definitions resulted in elevated but non-significant associations. Conclusions: The robust associations observed here with varying benzene assessment methods provide support for a benzene-NHL association. While incorporating exposure measurements did not improve model fit, the measurements allowed us to derive quantitative exposure-response curves.

Computer-based coding of free-text job descriptions to efficiently identify occupations in epidemiological studies.

BACKGROUND: Mapping job titles to standardised occupation classification (SOC) codes is an important step in identifying occupational risk factors in epidemiological studies. Because manual coding is time-consuming and has moderate reliability, we developed an algorithm called SOCcer (Standardized Occupation Coding for Computer-assisted Epidemiologic Research) to assign SOC-2010 codes based on free-text job description components. METHODS: Job title and task-based classifiers were developed by comparing job descriptions to multiple sources linking job and task descriptions to SOC codes. An industry-based classifier was developed based on the SOC prevalence within an industry. These classifiers were used in a logistic model trained using 14 983 jobs with expert-assigned SOC codes to obtain empirical weights for an algorithm that scored each SOC/job description. We assigned the highest scoring SOC code to each job. SOCcer was validated in 2 occupational data sources by comparing SOC codes obtained from SOCcer to expert assigned SOC codes and lead exposure estimates obtained by linking SOC codes to a job-exposure matrix. RESULTS: For 11 991 case-control study jobs, SOCcer-assigned codes agreed with 44.5% and 76.3% of manually assigned codes at the 6-digit and 2-digit level, respectively. Agreement increased with the score, providing a mechanism to identify assignments needing review. Good agreement was observed between lead estimates based on SOCcer and manual SOC assignments (κ 0.6-0.8). Poorer performance was observed for inspection job descriptions, which included abbreviations and worksite-specific terminology. CONCLUSIONS: Although some manual coding will remain necessary, using SOCcer may improve the efficiency of incorporating occupation into large-scale epidemiological studies.

Self-employed persons in Sweden - mortality differentials by industrial sector and enterprise legal form: a five-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated mortality differentials between self-employed persons in Sweden, considering industrial sector, enterprise characteristics and socio-demographic factors. METHODS: Data on 321,274 self-employed persons were obtained from population registers in Sweden. Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality rate ratios by industrial sector and enterprise legal form, adjusted for confounders. RESULTS: All-cause mortality was 10-32% higher in self-employed persons in Manufacturing and Mining, Trade and Communication, and Not Specified and Other sectors than in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing. Mortality from cardiovascular disease was 23% higher in Trade and Communication, and from neoplasms 17-51% higher in Manufacturing and Mining, Not Specified, and Other. Mortality from suicide was 45-60% lower in Personal and Cultural Services, and in Not Specified. Mortality was 8-16% higher in sole proprietorship than limited partnership. CONCLUSIONS: Further research of working conditions is warranted, considering industry and enterprise legal form.

Cost and disability trends of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Ohio.

BACKGROUND: With expected changes in age demographics many industry sectors may see their workforce significantly increase in age. The impact of claims and costs associated with musculoskeletal disorders in these industries may also change accordingly. AIMS: To determine the age-related trends in musculoskeletal disorders, including claims and costs, in different industrial sectors in the state of Ohio, USA. METHODS: Worker's compensation claims for musculoskeletal disorders in the state of Ohio between 1999 and 2004 were analysed in respect of age, industry sector, body region, and impact on cost and medical care (percentage of claims associated with surgery and number of procedures costing in excess of US$600). RESULTS: More than 570000 claims were analysed. Patterns of cost and disability among the majority of body regions demonstrated an increasing trend until 55 years of age, decreasing in older age groups. However, many industries demonstrated a continued increasing trend in costs with age. Shoulder and lumbar spine disorders showed unique industry-specific trends for older age groups as compared to the bell-shaped relationships for other body regions. CONCLUSIONS: Ageing appeared to have a role in the frequency and costs of musculoskeletal disorder claims in this study. However, industry-specific trends in the data suggest that job-specific risk factors may also play a role. The impact of age alone on the cost of musculoskeletal disorders cannot be determined because age is confounded by numerous lifestyle and work-related factors not identifiable in this study.

Costs of occupational injuries and diseases in Québec.

PROBLEM: Occupational injuries and diseases are costly for companies and for society as a whole. This study estimates the overall costs of occupational injuries and diseases in Québec, both human and financial, during the period from 2005 to 2007. METHOD: The human capital method is used to estimate lost productivity. A health indicator (DALY) is used in combination with a value of statistical life (VSL) to estimate, in monetary terms, the pain and suffering costs resulting from occupational injuries. RESULTS: The costs of occupational injuries and diseases occurring in a single year in Québec are estimated at $4.62 billion, on average, for the 2005-2007 period. Of this amount, approximately $1.78 billion is allocated to financial costs and $2.84 billion to human costs. The average cost per case is $38,355. In view of the limitations identified in the study, it can be argued that this is an underestimation of the costs. Result analysis allows the injury/disease descriptors and industries for which the costs are highest to be identified. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The results of these estimates are a relevant source of information for helping to determine research directions in OHS and prevention. The methodology used can be replicated for the purposes of estimating the costs of injuries and diseases in other populations.

Occupational diseases among workers employed in various branches of the national economy.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose is to present the incidence of occupational diseases and their causal factors in the sections and divisions of the national economy in Poland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The analysis is based on the cases of occupational diseases obligatorily reported in 2009-2011 from all over the country to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases. Data is presented as absolute numbers and average annual incidence rates per 100 000 persons employed in NACE-classified sections and divisions. RESULTS: 'lhe average annual incidence of occupational diseases was 20.6 cases per 100 000 of employed people. The highest rates were recorded in mining and quarrying (337.8), the production of metals (169.8), non-metallic mineral products (81.6), motor vehicles and transport equipment (59.7), chemicals (30.1). Specific situation in which high incidence rate is due to a single discase prevails in forestry, where tick-borne diseases represent 96.3% of all recorded cases, in education, where chronic voice disorders account for 96.5% of cases, and in human health and social work activities, where infectious diseases with the dominant hepatitis C represent 68.2% of the cases. Tlhe most common causes of occupational diseases in sections and industrial divisions with the highest incidence included: industrial dust, noise and vibration. In the manufacturing industry asbestos was the cause of 20.5% of occupational diseases and 55% of occupational cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Careful monitoring of working conditions and implementing health prevention programs should be exercised in sections and divisions of the national economy where a high risk of occupational diseases has been found.

[Some lessons of passportization of carcinogenic dangerous industries in Russia in 1999-2007].

The paper presents the results of passportization of carcinogenic dangerous undertakings in 1999-2007. It gives a detailed analysis of passportization records in 8 regions of the Russian Federation. The proportion of workers occupationally exposed to carcinogens in the passportized undertakings averages 11%. Among the people exposed, women are about 30%. The common drawback to passportization is that the enterprises to be passported are underestimated. The records of passportization suggest that there is inadequate monitoring of the working air level of carcinogenic substances; the workers lack adequate personal protection means; an oncologist is outside a group of specialists making preventive medical examinations at the carcinogenic dangerous enterprises. The employers' awareness of possible carcinogenic hazards at the enterprises should be increased.

Combining a job-exposure matrix with exposure measurements to assess occupational exposure to benzene in a population cohort in shanghai, china.

BACKGROUND: Generic job-exposure matrices (JEMs) are often used in population-based epidemiologic studies to assess occupational risk factors when only the job and industry information of each subject is available. JEM ratings are often based on professional judgment, are usually ordinal or semi-quantitative, and often do not account for changes in exposure over time. We present an empirical Bayesian framework that combines ordinal subjective JEM ratings with benzene measurements. Our aim was to better discriminate between job, industry, and time differences in exposure levels compared to using a JEM alone. METHODS: We combined 63 221 short-term area air measurements of benzene exposure (1954-2000) collected during routine health and safety inspections in Shanghai, China, with independently developed JEM intensity ratings for each job and industry using a mixed-effects model. The fixed-effects terms included the JEM intensity ratings for job and industry (both ordinal, 0-3) and a time trend that we incorporated as a b-spline. The random-effects terms included job (n = 33) and industry nested within job (n = 399). We predicted the benzene concentration in two ways: (i) a calibrated JEM estimate was calculated using the fixed-effects model parameters for calendar year and JEM intensity ratings; (ii) a job-/industry-specific estimate was calculated using the fixed-effects model parameters and the best linear unbiased predictors from the random effects for job and industry using an empirical Bayes estimation procedure. Finally, we applied the predicted benzene exposures to a prospective population-based cohort of women in Shanghai, China (n = 74 942). RESULTS: Exposure levels were 13 times higher in 1965 than in 2000 and declined at a rate that varied from 4 to 15% per year from 1965 to 1985, followed by a small peak in the mid-1990s. The job-/industry-specific estimates had greater differences between exposure levels than the calibrated JEM estimates (97.5th percentile/2.5th percentile exposure level, (B)(G)R(95)(B): 20.4 versus 3.0, respectively). The calibrated JEM and job-/industry-specific estimates were moderately correlated in any given year (Pearson correlation, r(p) = 0.58). We classified only those jobs and industries with a job or industry JEM exposure probability rating of 3 (>50% of workers exposed) as exposed. As a result, 14.8% of the subjects and 8.7% of the employed person-years in the study population were classified as benzene exposed. The cumulative exposure metrics based on the calibrated JEM and job-/industry-specific estimates were highly correlated (r(p) = 0.88). CONCLUSIONS: We provide a useful framework for combining quantitative exposure data with expert-based exposure ratings in population-based studies that maximized the information from both sources. Our framework calibrated the ratings to a concentration scale between ratings and across time and provided a mechanism to estimate exposure when a job/industry group reported by a subject was not represented in the exposure database. It also allowed the job/industry groups' exposure levels to deviate from the pooled average for their respective JEM intensity ratings.

Improving the quality of industry and occupation data at a central cancer registry.

BACKGROUND: Central cancer registries are required to collect industry and occupation (I/O) information when available, but the data reported are often incomplete. METHODS: We audited the completeness of I/O data in the New Hampshire State Cancer Registry (NHSCR) database for diagnosis year 2005, and reviewed medical records for a convenience sample of 474 of these cases. We compared I/O data quality before and after a statewide registrar training session on occupationally related cancers. RESULTS: The original 2005 data contained both I/O data in 11.5% of cases, and lacked any I/O data in 74.5%. Corresponding figures for cases selected for audit were 15.2% and 77.2%, which improved to 54.2% and 11.8% after medical record review. After registrar training, 47% of reports contained both I/O data, and only 14.4% of cases lacked any I/O data. CONCLUSIONS: Statewide training to highlight the importance of I/O data is an effective method to improve I/O data quality.

The impact of self-reported exposure to whole-body-vibrations on the risk of disability pension among men: a 15 year prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Whole-body-vibrations are often associated with adverse health effect but the long term effects are less known. This study investigates the association between occupational exposures to whole-body vibrations, and subsequent transition to disability pension. METHODS: A total of 4215 male employees were followed up for subsequent disability pension retirement. Exposure to whole-body-vibration was self-reported while new cases of disability pension were retrieved from a national register. RESULTS: The hazard ratio (HR) for disability pension retirement among men exposed to whole-body-vibrations was 1.61 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-2.40) after adjustment for age, smoking habits, BMI, physical job demands and awkward work postures. In our model, with the available explanatory variables, 5.6% of the male disability pension cases were attributable to whole-body-vibrations. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to whole-body-vibrations predicts subsequent disability pension retirement. Continued reduction of whole-body-vibrations may reduce the number of new cases of disability pension.

[Tobacco smoking and job characteristics--study of the working population from the Swietokrzyskie voivodeship]. / Palenie tytoniu a rodzaj wykonywanej pracy--badanie populacji osób pracujacych na terenie województwa swietokrzyskiego.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is the most important modifiable risk factor of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). According to WHO tobacco-related disorders every year kills 5,4 million people worldwide. In Poland tobacco smoking was the cause of approximately 69 000 deaths (57 000 among man and 12 000 among women). Tobacco smoking is also the important factor of economic consequences caused by work absences, low work productivity and tobacco-related disorders treatment. AIM: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of tobacco smoking and its determinants in working population from the Swietokrzyskie voivodeship. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study population consisted of randomly selected working adults living in the Swietokrzyskie voivodeship. The research tools included a questionnaire inquiring about data concerning healthy habits. In the statistic analysis the Chi2 test was used and the relationship between variables was estimated at p < 0.05. RESULTS: The study group consisted of 599 people (55.3% females and 44.7% males) aged 18-67. The research found out that 25% of respondents (21.1% of women and 29.9% of men) smoked cigarettes. A statistically significant correlation between men and women was revealed in terms of intensity of smoking (p < 0.01). The ratio of smoking among individuals with the primary/secondary level of education and inhabitants of cities with fifty to one hundred thousand people was higher (p < 0.05; p < 0.01). The study results showed also that the smoking rate was higher among physical workers and working in shifts (p < 0.01). Age, economic status, trade and occupational position were not connected with the fact of smoking in the study group. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented in the review confirm the correlation between the frequency of tobacco smoking and education level, place of living and job characteristics. Frequency of tobacco smoking in working population from Swietokrzyskie voivodeship indicate that special prophylactic programs should be addressed to professionally active.

Occupational factors and risk of Parkinson's disease: A population-based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with various workplace factors, but the evidence is inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the risk of PD associated with various jobs and workplace exposures. METHODS: We conducted a population-based, case-control study of 404 incident PD cases and 526 age and sex-matched controls, collecting self-reported work histories including job titles and exposures to various industrial toxicants. Relative risks of PD from these exposures were estimated with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression. RESULTS: Risk was not significantly affected by farming work, by metal work, or by exposure to pesticides, metals, or solvents. CONCLUSIONS: These findings do not provide support for the hypothesis that workplace factors affect the risk of PD.

An overview of industrial employees' exposure to noise in sundry processing and manufacturing industries in Ilorin metropolis, Nigeria.

In this work, an overview of industrial employees' noise exposure level in five selected processing and manufacturing industries in Ilorin are evaluated and compared. Emphasis is given to noise emitted by individual industrial machinery from the selected industries. Event L(Aeq) and LN cycle were studied to identify the noisy machines and to generate baseline data. Findings show that, hammer mill machine from mineral crushing mills produced the highest average noise (98.4 dB(A), electric generator1 (95.6 dB(A) from soft drink bottling industry, electric generator (97.7 dB(A)) from beer brewing and bottling industry, vacuum pump (93.1 dB(A)) from tobacco making industry and electric generator 2 (94.1 dB(A) from mattress making industry. The highest and lowest average noise exposure levels are recorded in mineral crushing mills (93.16 dB(A)) and mattress making industry (84.69 dB(A)) respectively. The study shows that at 95% confidence level, there is significant difference (p<0.05) in noise levels in the industries surveyed. The percentages of machines emit noise above FEPA and OSHA recommendation (90 dB(A)) are: soft drink bottling industry (83.3%), beer brewing and bottling industry (42.9%), tobacco making industry (71.4%), mattress making industry (11.1%) and minerals crushing mills (87.5%). In the past 20 years, the noise levels in soft drink bottling industry reduced by 0.58 dB(A) and that of beer brewing and bottling industry reduced by 9.66 dB(A). But that of mattress making industry increased by 2.69 dB(A). On the average, the noise level in these industries has reduced by 2.52 dB(A). The results of this study show that the noise control measures put in place have significant impact on the noise exposure level in the industries surveyed.

[Occupational exposure to silica dust by selected sectors of national economy in Poland based on electronic database]. / Narazenie pracowników wybranych galezi gospodarki na pyly--wykorzystanie elektronicznej ogólnopolskiej bazy danych.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate occupational exposure to dusts, the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódz, in collaboration with the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, has developed the national database to store the results of routine dust exposure measurements performed by occupational hygiene and environmental protection laboratories in Poland in the years 2001-2005. It was assumed that the collected information will be useful in analyzing workers' exposure to free crystalline silica (WKK)-containing dusts in Poland, identyfing exceeded hygiene standards and showing relevant trends, which illustrate the dynamics of exposure in the years under study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Inhalable and respirable dust measurement using personal dosimetry were done according to polish standard PN-91/Z-04030/05 and PN-91/Z-04030/06. In total, 148 638 measurement records, provided by sanitary inspection services from all over Poland, were entered into the database. The database enables the estimation of occupational exposure to dust by the sectors of national economy, according to the Polish Classification of Activity (PKD) and by kinds of dust. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The highest exposure level of inhalable and respirable dusts was found in coal mining. Also in this sector, almost 60% of surveys demonstrated exceeded current hygiene standards. High concentrations of both dust fractions (inhalable and respirable) and a considerable percentage of measurements exceeding hygiene standards were found in the manufacture of transport equipment (except for cars), as well as in the chemical, mining (rock, sand, gravel, clay mines) and construction industries. The highest percentage of surveys (inhalable and respirable dust) showing exceeded hygiene standards were observed for coal dust with different content of crystalline silica, organic dust containing more than 10% of SiO2, and highly fibrosis dust containing more than 50% of SiO2.

Validation of the geographic position of EPER-Spain industries.

BACKGROUND: The European Pollutant Emission Register in Spain (EPER-Spain) is a public inventory of pollutant industries created by decision of the European Union. The location of these industries is geocoded and the first published data correspond to 2001. Publication of these data will allow for quantification of the effect of proximity to one or more such plant on cancer and all-cause mortality observed in nearby towns. However, as errors have been detected in the geocoding of many of the pollutant foci shown in the EPER, it was decided that a validation study should be conducted into the accuracy of these co-ordinates. EPER-Spain geographic co-ordinates were drawn from the European Environment Agency (EEA) server and the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (MOE). The Farm Plot Geographic Information System (Sistema de Información Geográfica de Parcelas Agrícolas) (SIGPAC) enables orthophotos (digitalized aerial images) of any territorial point across Spain to be obtained. Through a search of co-ordinates in the SIGPAC, all the industrial foci (except farms) were located. The quality criteria used to ascertain possible errors in industrial location were high, medium and low quality, where industries were situated at a distance of less than 500 metres, more than 500 metres but less than 1 kilometre, and more than 1 kilometre from their real locations, respectively. RESULTS: Insofar as initial registry quality was concerned, 84% of industrial complexes were inaccurately positioned (low quality) according to EEA data versus 60% for Spanish MOE data. The distribution of the distances between the original and corrected co-ordinates for each of the industries on the registry revealed that the median error was 2.55 kilometres for Spain overall (according to EEA data). The Autonomous Regions that displayed most errors in industrial geocoding were Murcia, Canary Islands, Andalusia and Madrid. Correct co-ordinates were successfully allocated to 100% of EPER-Spain industries. CONCLUSION: Knowing the exact location of pollutant foci is vital to obtain reliable and valid conclusions in any study where distance to the focus is a decisive factor, as in the case of the consequences of industrial pollution on the health of neighbouring populations.

Estimating sectoral pollution load in Lagos by Industrial Pollution Projection System (IPPS).

Sensitivity to environmental issues brought about increasing pressure from local community, groups, environmental organizations and government regulators on industries to reduce their pollutant emissions. In this study, Industrial Pollution Projection System (IPPS), which was developed by the Infrastructure and Environment Team of the World Bank, was used to estimate pollution load in ton/yr (with respect to employment) of industrial sectors in Lagos. The IPPS was developed to exploit the fact that the scale of industrial activity, its sectorial composition, and the process technologies, employed in production, heavily affect industrial pollution. Available data, from Manufacturer's Association of Nigeria (M.A.N.) for the years 1997-2002 was used for the estimation. From the cumulative ranking of the pollution load (ton/yr) estimate to all media (i.e. air, land, and water), Chemical and Pharmaceutical (CPH) sector is the highest polluting sector, followed by Basic Metal (BML), Domestic and Industrial Plastics (DIP), and Food, Beverage and Tobacco (FBT) sectors. Some of these sectors have the highest number of employees, and also appeared as the most polluting sectors in Lagos.

Description of industrial pollution in Spain.

BACKGROUND: Toxic substances released into the environment (to both air and water) by many types of industries might be related with the occurrence of some malignant tumours and other diseases. The publication of the EPER (European Pollutant Emission Register) Spanish data allows to investigate the presence of geographical mortality patterns related to industrial pollution. The aim of this paper is to describe industrial air and water pollution in Spain in 2001, broken down by activity group and specific pollutant, and to plot maps depicting emissions of carcinogenic substances. METHODS: All information on industrial pollution discharge in 2001 was drawn from EPER-Spain public records provided by the European Commission server. We described the distribution of the number of industries and amounts discharged for each pollutant, as well as emission by pollutant group and the industrial activities associated with each pollutant. Maps of Spain were drawn up, with UTM coordinates being used to plot pollutant foci, and circles with an area proportional to the emission to depict pollution emission values. RESULTS: The EPER-Spain contained information on 1,437 industrial installations. The industrial plants that discharge pollutant substances into air and water above the pollutant-specific EPER threshold were mainly situated in the Autonomous Regions of Aragon, Andalusia and Catalonia and in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Andalusia respectively. Pollution released in 2001 into air approached 158 million Mt. Emissions into water were over 8 million Mt. CONCLUSION: A few single industrial plants are responsible for the highest percentage of emissions, thus rendering monitoring of their possible health impact on the surrounding population that much simpler. Among European countries Spain is the leading polluter in almost one third of all EPER-registered pollutant substances released into the air and ranks among the top three leading polluters in two-thirds of all such substances. Information obtained through publication of EPER data means that the possible consequences of reported pollutant foci on the health of neighbouring populations can now be studied.