Analysis on disease burden of occupational coal workers′ pneumoconiosis in Anhui Province / 中国职业医学

@# Objective To analyze the disease burden caused by occupational coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) in Anhui Methods Province. A total of 1 649 patients with occupational CWP diagnosed in Anhui Province from 1950 to 2019 were selected as the study subjects using a retrospective study method. Age, gender, survival time, location, working age of disease onset, age of death, stage and date of diagnosis of CWP, comorbidities at the time of investigation, hospitalization and outpatient expenses in the past year, cost of absence from work, cost of absence from work of caregivers, and cost of nutrition and transportation were investigated. The years of life lost, years lived with disability (YLDs), disability adjusted life years (DALYs) Results and economic losses were calculated. Among these patients, 1 405 cases survived and 244 cases died. In the age range - - - of 20.0 70.0 years, the YLDs of surviving patients were 2.12 22.20 (8.19±3.59) person years. The YLDs of patients with disease vs - P complications was higher than that of patients without complications [(8.55±3.95) (7.87±3.21) person years, <0.01]. The total - - DALYs of the patients was 14 031.59 person years, and the average per capita DALYs was 8.51 person years. Its YLDs accounted for 82.0 % of the total DALYs. The total economic loss caused by CWP in the 1 405 surviving patients was 354.903 0 Conclusion million yuan, and the average per capita economic loss was 252 600 yuan. The disease burden caused by CWP is relatively high in Anhui Province. In addition to early detection, diagnosis and treatment, it is necessary to focus on prevention and treatment of CWP complications to reduce the disease burden.

Improved protease activity of Pixian broad bean paste with cocultivation of Aspergillus oryzae QM-6 and Aspergillus niger QH-3

BACKGROUND: The preparation of broad bean koji is a key process in the production of Pixian broad bean paste (PBP). Protease is essential for the degradation of proteins during PBP fermentation. To obtain broad bean koji with high protease activity using the cocultivated strains of Aspergillus oryzae QM-6 (A. oryzae QM-6) and Aspergillus niger QH-3 (A. niger QH-3), the optimization of acid and neutral protease activities was carried out using Box­Behnken design with response surface methodology (RSM). RESULTS: The optimum conditions were found to be as follows: inoculation proportion (X1), 3:1 (A. oryzae QM-6: A. niger QH-3, w/w); culture temperature (X2), 33°C; inoculum size (X3), 0.5% (w/w); incubation time (X4), 5 d. The acid and neutral protease activities were 605.2 ± 12.4 U/g and 1582.9 ± 23.7 U/g, respectively, which were in good agreement with the predicted values. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles revealed that the broad bean koji extracellular proteins in the case of cocultivation were richer compared to those in the case of A. oryzae QM-6 or A. niger QH-3 strain only. In addition, the free amino acids (FAAs) in the fermentation product were 55% higher in the cocultivation process than in that involving only A. oryzae QM-6, further confirming the diversity of proteases in the fermentation products. CONCLUSIONS: The optimal conditions of koji-making in PBP were obtained using RSM. The cocultivation of A. oryzae and A. niger increases the overall enzyme activities in the culture medium and the FAAs content, which would thus have potential application in the PBP industry.