Primary malignant melanoma of the stomach: a rare entity.

A 54-year-old man presented with easy fatiguability, dyspnoea on exertion and dyspeptic symptoms. On evaluation, he was found to have an ulcero-proliferative growth in the gastric fundus, the biopsy of which was malignant melanoma of the stomach. Further evaluation with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) scan showed operable disease with no focus of disease elsewhere. He was diagnosed as primary gastric melanoma and underwent radical total gastrectomy with adequate margins. His postoperative period was uneventful. Further adjuvant therapy was refused by the patient. At 6-month follow-up, an 18F-FDG PET-CT scan was done, which showed no evidence of disease. On follow-up at 1-year, he was alive and asymptomatic.

Occupational safety measures and morbidity among welders in Vellore, Southern India.

BACKGROUND: Welders in the unorganized occupational sector in the economically developing world are exposed to respiratory, skin, eye, ear, and neurological problems exacerbated by non-usage of personal protective equipment (PPE). OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency of health problems and the usage of PPE among welders in unorganized welding units in Vellore, India. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 150 welders to determine the frequency of skin, ear, eye, and respiratory morbidity and the usage of PPE. A group of 150 non-welders were chosen for comparison. RESULTS: Significant differences in the frequency of skin burns, redness, hyper pigmentation, itching, eye injuries, and sensorineural deafness were observed among the welders and non-welders (P < 0.001). Hypertension was noted in 12.6% of the welders as compared to 0.7% among the non-welders. None of the welders used appropriate PPE. For welders, low educational attainment was associated with an increased risk of eye injury (P < 0.05, OR = 0.29). There was also a significant difference between sensorineural deafness and a welder having less than 10 years of welding work experience (P < 0.001, OR = 18.18) which could probably be accounted for by the healthy worker effect. CONCLUSION: Welders in this sample experienced a significant skin, eye, and ear morbidity accentuated by the non-usage of PPE. All worked without formal training and were unaware of the safe working guidelines that exist, but are not implemented for the welders in India.