Risk Assessment of Asbestos Workers

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To provide basic information for an earlier diagnosis and effective prevention program for asbestos related diseases, using recent progressed research technologies of epidemiology, cyotogenetics, and molecular epidemiology, health risk assessment of asbestos workers wasmperformed with the special reference to type of exposed dust, sex, race, and smoking in addition to bias related to epidemiological studies. The major results obtained were as follows :1. The mechanism of human PMN to generate ROM by crocidolite was shown to involve both to direct cell surface membrane interactions, together with an apparent phagocytic-dependent process.2. Results of the first pulmonary function test were shown to associate with the mortality and participation in a subsequent reexamination, suggesting a selection effects in a longitudinal study of pulmonary function. 3. Pulmonary function of nonsmoking female asbestos workers without asbestosis were examined and found that asbestos-esposure per se predominantly contributes to restircted lung volume and reduced DLco. 4. Pulmonary dysfunction among workers exposed to silica, asbestos, or coalmine dust were compared and all the three dusts was found to cause functional abnormalities that precede radiographic changes of pneumoconiosis. 5. The ethnic distribution of the polymorphism of the NAD (P) H quinone oxidoreductase, was described and its implications for anti-tumour drug development and use were discussed. 6. A case-control study to investigate the association of the GSTT1 and GSTM1 polymorphisms with lung cancer in minority populations suggested that lung cancer risk is increased more than additively for individuals who have both GSTT1 and GSTM1 null polymorphisms. 7. The current strengths and limitations of environmental molecular epidemiology in controlling disease caused by air toxics are illustrated with examples.