LED-based light sources optimised for high colour rendition from an end users' perspective.

Light emitting diode (LED) technology is continuously developing, leading to the current transition from simple phosphor-converted LED lamps to LED lamps optimised for high colour rendition in residential lighting. To assess whether such optimised phosphor-converted LED lamps may fulfil the end users' needs better than simple phosphor-converted LED lamps we asked participants to rank two particular brands of phosphor-converted LED lamps optimised for high colour rendition, a typical simple phosphor-converted LED lamp and a halogen lamp for pleasantness, naturalness and purchase preference. The results of two experiments suggest that phosphor-converted LED lamps optimised for high colour rendition have the potential to outperform simple phosphor-converted LED lamps and even to measure up to traditional halogen lighting in terms of user preference. However, this is not the case for all phosphor-converted LED lamps optimised for high colour rendition. From the end users' perspective, unfortunately, it is currently difficult if not impossible to choose the LED light source that one would prefer most. Practitioner Summary: Considering innovations in LED technology, we assessed the potential of LED lamps optimised for high colour rendition to outperform their predecessors regarding user preference. In one of two conditions, these optimised LED lamps outperformed a simple phosphor-converted LED lamp and measured up to halogen lighting. Abbreviations: LED: light emitting diode; CCT: correlated colour temperature; CRI: colour rendering index; CIE: Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage; CRI Ra: CIE General Colour Rendering Index; K: kelvin; lx: lux; GFC: goodness of fit coefficient; BLED80: simple blue-pumped phosphor-converted LED with a CRI Ra of 80; BLED96: blue-pumped phosphor-converted LED optimised for high colour rendition with a CRI Ra of 96; VLED97: violet-pumped phosphor-converted LED optimised for high colour rendition with a CRI Ra of 97; R9: CIE Special Colour Rendering Index for red; ANSI: American National Standards Institute; IES: Illuminating Engineering Society; Rf: IES Fidelity Index; Rg: IES Gamut Index; CC: chromaticity coordinates.

A common type of commercially available LED light source allows for colour discrimination performance at a level comparable to halogen lighting.

As light sources based on light emitting diodes (LED) are increasingly used to replace classic tungsten-based light sources in household lighting applications, possible impairments of colour perception under those light sources due to a different spectral power distribution become a major concern. The Colour Rendering Index (CRI) which is the only measure available to the end user is controversial and does not represent a comprehensive measure of colour perception. Aspects of colour perception disregarded by the CRI such as colour discrimination have to be taken into account as well. Therefore, we evaluated colour discrimination performance under a commercially available phosphor-converted LED light source from a popular brand (OSRAM) in comparison to a classic tungsten-based halogen light source. Colour discrimination performance was not affected by the type of light source, indicating that the phosphor-converted LED light source enables colour discrimination performance comparable to that of halogen lighting despite being associated with a lower CRI. Practitioner summary: Considering the increasing use of energy efficient light sources, we compared colour discrimination under a common type of phosphor-converted LED and under traditional halogen lighting. Colour discrimination performance was comparable in both lighting conditions, indicating that the phosphor-converted LED can replace halogen lighting without sacrificing colour discrimination for energy efficiency. Abbreviations: LED: light emitting diode; CRI: colour rendering index; CCT: correlated colour temperature; CIE: commission internationale de l'éclairage; FMHT: Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test; lm: lumen; lx: lux, lumen/m^2; W: watt; nm: nanometer; K: kelvin.

The time-course of distractor processing in auditory spatial negative priming.

The spatial negative priming effect denotes slowed-down and sometimes more error-prone responding to a location that previously contained a distractor as compared with a previously unoccupied location. In vision, this effect has been attributed to the inhibition of irrelevant locations, and recently, of their task-assigned responses. Interestingly, auditory versions of the task did not yield evidence for inhibitory processing of task-irrelevant events which might suggest modality-specific distractor processing in vision and audition. Alternatively, the inhibitory processes may differ in how they develop over time. If this were the case, the absence of inhibitory after-effects might be due to an inappropriate timing of successive presentations in previous auditory spatial negative priming tasks. Specifically, the distractor may not yet have been inhibited or inhibition may already have dissipated at the time performance is assessed. The present study was conducted to test these alternatives. Participants indicated the location of a target sound in the presence of a concurrent distractor sound. Performance was assessed between two successive prime-probe presentations. The time between the prime response and the probe sounds (response-stimulus interval, RSI) was systematically varied between three groups (600, 1250, 1900 ms). For all RSI groups, the results showed no evidence for inhibitory distractor processing but conformed to the predictions of the feature mismatching hypothesis. The results support the assumption that auditory distractor processing does not recruit an inhibitory mechanism but involves the integration of spatial and sound identity features into common representations.

Reading from computer screen versus reading from paper: does it still make a difference?

Four experiments were conducted to test whether recent developments in display technology would suffice to eliminate the well-known disadvantages in reading from screen as compared with paper. Proofreading speed and performance were equal for a TFT-LCD and a paper display, but there were more symptoms of eyestrain in the screen condition accompanied by a strong preference for paper (Experiment 1). These results were replicated using a longer reading duration (Experiment 2). Additional experiments were conducted to test hypotheses about the reasons for the higher amount of eyestrain associated with reading from screen. Reduced screen luminance did not change the pattern of results (Experiment 3), but positioning both displays in equal inclination angles eliminated the differences in eyestrain symptoms and increased proofreading speed in the screen condition (Experiment 4). A paper-like positioning of TFT-LCDs seems to enable unimpaired reading without evidence of increased physical strain. Practitioner Summary: Given the developments in screen technology, a re-assessment of the differences in proofreading speed and performance, well-being, and preference between computer screen and paper was conducted. State-of-the-art TFT-LCDs enable unimpaired reading, but a book-like positioning of screens seems necessary to minimise eyestrain symptoms.

Auditory spatial negative priming: what is remembered of irrelevant sounds and their locations?

The categorization and identification of previously ignored visual or auditory stimuli is typically slowed down--a phenomenon that has been called the negative priming effect and can be explained by the episodic retrieval of response-inadequate prime information and/or an inhibitory model. A similar after-effect has been found in visuospatial tasks: participants are slowed down in localizing a visual stimulus that appears at a previously ignored location. In the auditory modality, however, such an after-effect of ignoring a sound at a specific location has never been reported. Instead, participants are impaired in their localization performance when the sound at the previously ignored location changes identity, a finding which is compatible with the so-called feature-mismatch hypothesis. Here, we describe the properties of auditory spatial in contrast to visuospatial negative priming and report two experiments that specify the nature of this auditory after-effect. Experiment 1 shows that the detection of identity-location mismatches is a genuinely auditory phenomenon that can be replicated even when the sound sources are invisible. Experiment 2 reveals that the detection of sound-identity mismatches in the probe depends on the processing demands in the prime. This finding implies that the localization of irrelevant sound sources is not the inevitable consequence of processing the auditory prime scenario but depends on the difficulty of the target search process among distractor sounds.

Intact episodic retrieval in older adults: evidence from an auditory negative priming task.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: The negative priming effect has been traditionally interpreted as the inhibitory aftereffect of distractor processing. According to inhibitory deficit theory, older adults should be more impaired by auditory distractors. Recent studies have shown that episodic retrieval processes are involved in the effect. However, so far there is no direct evidence that this is true for older adults. METHODS: In an auditory four-alternative identification task, young adults (18-30 years), younger seniors (60-67 years), and older seniors (68-78 years) identified target sounds while ignoring distractor sounds. In ignored repetition trials, the prime distractor was repeated as the probe target, whereas there was no stimulus repetition in control trials. Reaction times and errors were analyzed. RESULTS: Negative priming was present in all age groups. Senior groups showed increased negative priming in reaction times. All age groups revealed a comparable increase of probe errors with the former prime response in ignored repetition compared with control trials. There was no age difference in the frequency of responding with the former prime response in control trials. CONCLUSION: An increase in prime response errors in ignored repetition trials is consistent with the involvement of episodic retrieval processes in negative priming in younger and older adults. Inconsistent with both an inhibitory account of negative priming and the inhibitory deficit theory of cognitive aging, older adults neither showed evidence of reduced negative priming nor of impaired restraint control.

Smaller pupil size and better proofreading performance with positive than with negative polarity displays.

The 'positive polarity advantage' describes the fact that reading performance is better for dark text on light background (positive polarity) than for light text on dark background (negative polarity). We investigated the underlying mechanism by assessing pupil size and proofreading performance when reading positive and negative polarity texts. In particular, we tested the display luminance hypothesis which postulates that the typically greater brightness of positive compared to negative polarity displays leads to smaller pupil sizes and, hence, a sharper retinal image and better perception of detail. Indeed, pupil sizes were smaller and proofreading performance was better with positive than with negative polarity displays. The results are compatible with the hypothesis that the positive polarity advantage is an effect of display luminance. Limitations of the study are being discussed.

Comparing colour discrimination and proofreading performance under compact fluorescent and halogen lamp lighting.

Legislation in many countries has banned inefficient household lighting. Consequently, classic incandescent lamps have to be replaced by more efficient alternatives such as halogen and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Alternatives differ in their spectral power distributions, implying colour-rendering differences. Participants performed a colour discrimination task - the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test--and a proofreading task under CFL or halogen lighting of comparable correlated colour temperatures at low (70 lx) or high (800 lx) illuminance. Illuminance positively affected colour discrimination and proofreading performance, whereas the light source was only relevant for colour discrimination. Discrimination was impaired with CFL lighting. There were no differences between light sources in terms of self-reported physical discomfort and mood state, but the majority of the participants correctly judged halogen lighting to be more appropriate for discriminating colours. The findings hint at the colour-rendering deficiencies associated with energy-efficient CFLs. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: In order to compare performance under energy-efficient alternatives of classic incandescent lighting, colour discrimination and proofreading performance was compared under CFL and halogen lighting. Colour discrimination was impaired under CFLs, which hints at the practical drawbacks associated with the reduced colour-rendering properties of energy-efficient CFLs.

Positive display polarity is advantageous for both younger and older adults.

The effect of display polarity on visual acuity and proofreading performance was investigated for younger and older adults. An advantage of positive polarity (dark characters on light background) over negative polarity (light characters on dark background) was expected for younger adults, but the effects on older adults were ambiguous. Light scatter due to residues in the senescent lens and vitreous humour could reverse the typical advantage of positive polarity. However, age-related changes lead to a decline in retinal illuminance. Brighter positive polarity displays should help to compensate for this decline and, accordingly, lead to better performance than darker negative polarity displays. Participants conducted a visual acuity test with black optotypes on white background or white optotypes on black background and performed a proofreading task in the same polarity. A positive polarity advantage was found for both age groups. The presentation in positive polarity is recommended for all ages. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: In an ageing society, age-related vision changes need to be considered when designing digital displays. Visual acuity testing and a proofreading task revealed a positive polarity advantage for younger and older adults. Dark characters on light background lead to better legibility and are strongly recommended independent of observer's age.

Binding of task-irrelevant contextual features in task switching.

Research in attention and action control produced substantial evidence suggesting the presence of feature binding. This study explores the binding of task-irrelevant context features in cued task switching. We predicted that repeating a context feature in trial n retrieves the trial n - 1 episode. Consequently, performance should improve when the retrieved features match the features of the current trial. Two experiments (N = 124; N = 96) employing different tasks and materials showed that repeating the task-irrelevant context improved performance when the task and the response repeated. Furthermore, repeating the task-irrelevant context increased task repetition benefits only when the context feature appeared synchronously with cue onset, but not when the context feature appeared with a 300-ms delay (Experiment 1). Similarly, repeating the task-irrelevant context improved performance when the task and the response repeated only when the context feature was part of the cue, and not when it was part of the target (Experiment 2). Taken together, binding and retrieval processes seem to play a crucial role in task switching, alongside response inhibition processes. In turn, our study provided a better understanding of binding and retrieval of task-irrelevant features in general, and specifically on how they modulate response repetition benefits in task repetitions.

Core Mechanisms in Action Control: Binding and Retrieval.

This special collection focuses on action control and its two postulated core processes, namely feature binding and retrieval. Action control is an important topic as humans interact with their environment by means of goal-directed behavior, i.e. by means of actions. Cognitive processes were developed and shaped to enhance preparation, execution, and regulation of action. Therefore, it is the current consensus that cognition serves action. To date, research on human action control is comprised mainly of an abundance of paradigm-specific results and models. To gain a better understanding of action control, an integrative framework was proposed (the BRAC framework - for Binding and Retrieval in Action Control, Frings et al., 2020) that can explain a wide range of findings across different experimental paradigms by assuming two core processes as key functions in action control: feature binding and feature retrieval. In this special collection, 20 articles present and discuss different types of sequential paradigms in terms of this integrative account. This editorial explains the major assumptions of the BRAC framework and provides an integrative overview of the articles that are included in this special collection.

The influence of event segmentation by context on stimulus-response binding.

A core characteristic of auditory stimuli is that they develop over time. Referring to the event segmentation theory, we assume that the on- and offset of a contextual sound indicates the start and end of an event. As a consequence, stimuli and responses appearing within a common auditory context may be integrated more likely/strongly, forming so-called event files, than those appearing in different auditory contexts. In two experiments, this hypothesis was tested using the negative priming paradigm and the distractor-response binding paradigm. In prime-probe presentations, participants identified target sounds via keypresses while ignoring distractor sounds. Additional sine tones acted as the context in the prime, whereas the probe context was silence. In the common context condition, the context started with the prime sounds and ended with the prime response. In the changing context condition, the context started with the prime sounds but changed to another tone after the offset of the prime sounds. Results from both experiments revealed a larger stimulus-response binding effect in the common than in the changing context condition. We conducted a control experiment to test the alternative account of contextual similarity between the prime and the probe. Together, our results suggest that common context can temporally segment stimuli and responses into event files, providing evidence of common context as a binding principle. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence of task-triggered retrieval of the previous response: a binding perspective on response-repetition benefits in task switching.

In task switching, response repetitions (RRs) usually yield performance benefits as compared to response switches, but only when the task also repeats. When the task switches, RR benefits vanish or even turn into costs, yielding an interaction between repeating versus switching the task and the response (the RR effect). Different theoretical accounts for this RR effect exist, but, in the present study, we specifically tested a prediction derived from binding and retrieval accounts. These maintain that repeating the task retrieves the previous-trial response, thus causing RR benefits. Retrieval is possible due to the task-response binding formed in the previous trial. We employed a task-switching paradigm with three response options that allowed us to differentiate error types. Across two experiments (N = 46 and N = 107) we showed that response-repetition errors in response-switch trials were more likely in task repetitions than in task switches, supporting the notion that the previous response is retrieved by the repeating task, despite being wrong. Such a finding is in line with binding and retrieval accounts but cannot be easily accommodated by the competing theoretical accounts. Thus, the present study indicates task-response binding as an important mechanism underlying RR benefits in task repetitions.

Comparison of mucus and serum biomarker sampling in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to analyze advantages and disadvantages of mucus and serum for biomarker analysis. METHODS: This study includes prospective study of 61 CRS with nasal polyps patients who were followed over 24 months and over nine time points after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. At each time points, the nasal polyp score (NPS) was assessed and mucus as well as serum was collected. Selected were measured in mucus and serum. Mean, standard deviation and variance, undetectable values, and the correlation of the biomarkers to the NPS over time and to early recurrences were calculated, and the effect of surgery on the biomarkers was assessed. Additionally, the diurnal rhythm of all biomarkers was measures in order to assure stable biomarker values during sampling times. RESULTS: All biomarkers showed stable values during sampling times. Serum biomarker levels displayed higher percentages of undetectable values compared to mucus biomarkers. Mucus periostin (p < 0.001, r = 0.89), mucus IgE (p < 0.001, r = 0.51), serum periostin (p < 0.001, r = 0.53), mucus CST1 (p < 0.001, r = 0.27), and serum IgE (p < 0.01, r = -0.18) were the best marker and medium combinations to track the NPS over time and to predict recurrences. Mucus serpinF2 was negatively correlated and predicted early recurrences (p = 0.026, R2  = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Serum and mucus both represent viable mediums for "liquid biopsies." The most promising biomarker/medium combinations over time to track disease severity were mucus periostin, mucus IgE, serum periostin, mucus CST1, and serum IgE. Mucus serpinF2 was the best biomarker to predict early recurrences.

Effect of postoperative systemic prednisolone on short-term and long-term outcomes in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps: A multi-centered randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to determine whether postoperative additive systemic steroid administration in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) impacted selected endoscopic, subjective and objective outcome measures. Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, noninferiority multicenter trial of n=106 patients with CRSwNP. All patients underwent primary functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) followed by topical nasal steroids. Patients were randomized to a systemic steroid or placebo for 1 month. Patients were followed up for 2 years over 9 time points. The primary outcome measures were the differences between groups with respect to the nasal polyp score (NPS) and sinonasal quality of life (SNQoL). Secondary outcome measures included interactions with respect to the Lund-Kennedy score (LKS), sinonasal symptoms, general quality of life (GQoL), 16-item odor identification test scores, recurrence rates, need for revision surgery and mucus biomarker levels. Results: 106 patients were randomized to either the placebo or the systemic steroid group (n=53 per group). Postoperative systemic steroids were not superior to placebo with respect to all primary (p= 0.077) and secondary outcome measures (p>0.05 for all). Reported adverse events were similar between the two groups. Conclusion: In conclusion, the addition of postoperative systemic steroids after primary FESS did not confer a benefit over topical steroid nasal spray alone with respect to NPS, SNQOL, LKS, GQOL, sinonasal symptoms, smell scores, recurrence rates, the need for revision surgery or biomarkers over a short-term follow-up of up to 9 months and a long-term follow-up of up to 24 months in CRSwNP patients. Functional endoscopic surgery did, however, show a strong effect on all outcome measures, which remained relatively stable up to the endpoint at 2 years.

Saliency determines the integration of contextual information into stimulus-response episodes.

When humans perform a task, it has been shown that elements of this task, like stimulus (e.g., target and distractor) and response, are bound together into a common episodic representation called stimulus-response episode (or event file). Recently, the context, a completely task-irrelevant stimulus, was found to be integrated into an episode as well. However, instead of being bound directly with the response in a binary fashion, the context modulates the binary binding between the distractor and response. This finding raises the questions of whether the context can also enter into a binary binding with the response, and if so, what determines the way of its integration. In order to resolve these questions, saliency of the context was manipulated in three experiments by changing the loudness (Experiment 1) and emotional valence (Experiment 2A and 2B) of the context. All experiments implemented the four-alternative auditory negative priming paradigm introduced by Mayr and Buchner (2006, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32[4], 932-943). Results showed that the integration of context changed as a function of its saliency level. Specifically, the context of low saliency was not bound at all, the context of moderate saliency modulated the binary binding between the distractor and response, whereas the context of high saliency entered into a binary binding with the response. The current results extend a previous finding by Hommel (2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8[11], 494-500) that there is a saliency threshold which determines whether a stimulus is bound or not, by suggesting that a second threshold determines the specific structure (i.e., binary vs. configural) of the resulting binding.

Inter-Trial Variability of Context Influences the Binding Structure in a Stimulus-Response Episode.

There is strong evidence that stimuli and responses are bound together in a direct (binary) fashion into an episodic representation called stimulus-response episode (or event file). However, in an auditory negative priming study in which participants were required to respond to the target stimulus and to ignore the distractor stimulus, context information (i.e., a completely task-irrelevant stimulus) was found to rather modulate the binding between the distractor stimulus and the response, instead of entering into a binary binding with the response itself (Mayr et al., 2018). The current study demonstrates that simply increasing the variability of the context across trials leads to a binary binding between the context and the response. The same auditory negative priming task was implemented, and participants were either assigned to the high-variability group (8 different context sounds) or the low-variability group (2 different context sounds). For the low-variability group, results replicated previous findings of contextual modulation of the binding between the distractor stimulus and the response. For the high-variability group, however, repetition of the context per se retrieved the prime response, indicating a binary binding between the context and the response. Together, the current findings provide evidence that the inter-trial variability of context information is a determinant of how context is bound in a stimulus-response episode. Possible underlying mechanisms are discussed.

Contextual Features of the Cue Enter Episodic Bindings in Task Switching.

Evidence suggests that the features of a stimulus and the actions performed on it are bound together into a coherent mental representation of the episode, which is retrieved from memory upon reencountering at least one of these features. Effects of such binding and retrieval processes emerge in action control, such as in multitasking situations like task switching. In the task-switching paradigm, response-repetition benefits are observed in task repetitions, but response-repetition costs in task switches. This interaction of task repetition (vs. switch) with response repetition (vs. switch) may be explained in terms of task-response binding. In two experiments, we included a task-irrelevant contextual feature in a cued task-switching paradigm using word identification tasks. In Experiment 1, the cue modality could vary between visual and auditory; in Experiment 2, the cue language could vary between English and Spanish, while the target stimulus was always presented visually and in German. We predicted that repeating the contextual feature in the subsequent trial would retrieve the features of the previous trial, even though cue modality or cue language did not afford any response and were not associated with either task. The results showed that response repetition-benefits in task repetitions were observable when the context (i.e., the modality or the language of the cue) repeated but disappeared when the context switched from the previous trial. These results are consistent with context-specific binding and retrieval processes in task switching.

Oral steroids and doxycycline: two different approaches to treat nasal polyps.

BACKGROUND: There is little scientific evidence to support the current practice of using oral glucocorticosteroids and antibiotics to treat patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the effects of oral glucocorticoids and doxycycline on symptoms and objective clinical and biological parameters in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps. METHODS: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial, we randomly assigned 47 participants with bilateral nasal polyps to receive either methylprednisolone in decreasing doses (32-8 mg once daily), doxycycline (200 mg on the first day, followed by 100 mg once daily), or placebo for 20 days. Participants were followed for 12 weeks. Patients were assessed for nasal peak inspiratory flow and symptoms and by nasal endoscopy. Markers of inflammation such as eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP), IL-5, myeloperoxidase, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and IgE were measured in nasal secretions. Concentrations of eosinophils, ECP, and soluble IL-5 receptor alpha were measured in peripheral blood samples. RESULTS: Methylprednisolone and doxycycline each significantly decreased nasal polyp size compared with placebo. The effect of methylprednisolone was maximal at week 3 and lasted until week 8, whereas the effect of doxycycline was moderate but present for 12 weeks. Methylprednisolone significantly reduced levels of ECP, IL-5, and IgE in nasal secretions, whereas doxycycline significantly reduced levels of myeloperoxidase, ECP, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 in nasal secretions. CONCLUSION: This is the first double-blind, placebo-controlled study to show a significant effect of oral methylprednisolone and doxycycline on size of nasal polyps, nasal symptoms, and mucosal and systemic markers of inflammation.

Characterization of initial clinical symptoms and risk factors for sinonasal adenocarcinomas: results of a case-control study.

PURPOSE: Sinonasal adenocarcinoma is a rare cancer, frequently associated with occupational exposure to inhalable wood dust. Among the EU member States, Germany was reported to have the highest number of exposed workers. Location and long latency make early diagnosis difficult. This case-control study was aimed at assessing potential risk factors and at characterizing initial clinical symptoms, both serving as matrix to identify persons at increased risk and to improve management of this cancer. METHODS: Of 58 patients, 31 diagnosed with sinonasal adenocarcinoma (cases) between 1973 and 2007 were identified and underwent standardized interview on clinical data. A total of 85 patients diagnosed over the same period with carcinoma of the oral cavity served as controls. RESULTS: The ethmoid was confirmed as the predominant site of adenocarcinoma associated with wood dust exposure, whereas the nasal cavity was most commonly affected in patients denying any exposure to wood dust. Cases were significantly engaged in mainly woodworking occupations compared to controls. The main initial clinical symptoms were nasal obstruction 6 months (71%) and epistaxis 4 years (41.9%) prior to diagnosis. Hardwood dust from beech and oak proved to be the most common occupational exposure, with a mean exposure period of 32.3 years and a latency of 43.5 (34-58) years. CONCLUSIONS: Our investigation confirms the importance of regular screenings for persons exposed to wood dust even years after the end of occupational or private exposure. Banal clinical symptoms such as epistaxis and nasal obstruction might be predictive, requiring early and thorough investigation.