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PubMed2005

Incidence of cytogenetic damage in lead-zinc mine workers exposed to radon.

The purpose of this study was to detect cytogenetic damage in mine workers working in a lead-zinc mine, which could be associated with a combined exposure to radon and heavy metals. Our study involved 70 mine workers from the lead-zinc mine. We used peripheral blood lymphocytes as the target material. The total share of structural chromosome aberration (SCA) decreased significantly over the 3 years of monitoring, from 5.08/200 analyses of metaphases in 1995 to 3.28 in 1997, owing to the decrease in exposure during the process of mine closure. The share of SCA was significantly different from the group of local people, who had never worked in the mine (1.43), as well as from the control group of Slovene residents (1.88). The share of micronuclei (MN) in mine workers also decreased in the monitored period, from 14.65/500 cytokinesis-blocked cells in 1995 to 11.77 in 1997, while the sister chromatic exchange (SCE) level did not change much (from 8.105/50 analysed cells in 1995 to 7.73 in 1997). Owing to the closure activities, the received concentrations of contaminants were falling constantly, particularly concentrations of radon. This was particularly evident in the level of SCA and the MN incidence, while the SCE values remained nearly on the same level. This indicates that the incidence of SCE is probably more strongly influenced by heavy metals than by radon.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Miners' exposure to radon and its decay products in some Iranian non-uranium underground mines.

Measurements of radon, radon decay products and gamma exposure rate in 12 non-uranium underground mines have been carried out in order to estimate the occupational radiation exposure of miners. Continuous measurements of radon using pulse ionisation chambers and scintillation cell techniques were employed for these studies. Progenies of radon were collected on filter paper, and then a three-count procedure was used for the measurement. The equilibrium state between radon and its decay products has been determined. Concentrations of natural radionuclides ((226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K) in ore and soil samples taken from various locations in each mine have been measured using a Canberra High Purity Germanium detector. Based on these measurements two ranges of dose were evident. Doses ranged from 0.1 to 1.52 mSv y(-1) for nine mines and from 10 to 31 mSv y(-1) for the other three mines. A separate grouping of the mines was recognised from radon concentrations, which varied from 2 Bq m(-3) to 10 kBq m(-3). In three of these mines, working level (WL) concentrations of the order of 36-1771 mWL were determined in different working areas. In all other mines, the concentrations were observed to be <45 mWL.

Air Pollutants, Radioactive↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A variable-volume, head-dependent mine water filling model.

Current simple mine water filling models suffer from two drawbacks: (1) they often do not account for variations in mine void volume with depth; and (2) they assume that recharge to the mine is approximately constant. The Mine Water Filling Model (MIFIM) presented here rectifies these drawbacks by presenting the concept of effective area (Ea) in a lookup table and assigning deep ground water inflows a conductance whereby inflow varies in inverse proportion to mine water head, once the mine water level exceeds the level of the water inflow. The MIFIM concept may be readily programmed in a computer spreadsheet environment, with simple graphical output. The approach is particularly suited to mines in low permeability rock, with a limited number of discrete inflow features.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1993

Monitoring genotoxic exposure in uranium mines.

Recent data from deep uranium mines in Czechoslovakia indicated that mines are exposed to other mutagenic factors in addition to radon daughter products. Mycotoxins were identified as a possible source of mutagens in these mines. Mycotoxins were examined in 38 samples from mines and in throat swabs taken from 116 miners and 78 controls. The following mycotoxins were identified from mines samples: aflatoxins B1 and G1, citrinin, citreoviridin, mycophenolic acid, and sterigmatocystin. Some mold strains isolated from mines and throat swabs were investigated for mutagenic activity by the SOS chromotest and Salmonella assay with strains TA100 and TA98. Mutagenicity was observed, especially with metabolic activation in vitro. These data suggest that mycotoxins produced by molds in uranium mines are a new genotoxic factor for uranium miners.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Occupational health and safety in the mining industry in Morocco.

The mining sector is one of the pillars of our national economy. Our paper concerns safety and occupational health in the mining sector in Morocco. This sector employs 60,000 persons, more than half of them working in the phosphate sectors. There are 36 occupational medical services, with 83 practitioners 395 nurses and 91 agents, protecting 43,926 workers (73% of all personnel). The task of labour inspection in this sector is entrusted to mining engineers. The statistics of the central department of industrial inspection in mines from 1975 to 1995 show a fall in occupational injuries and a progressive increase reported in occupational diseases, 96% of which are silicosis. The improvement of prevention and health at work in the mining sector in Morocco has led to a reduction in occupational hazards and specially occupational injuries. However, an effort seems required so as to generalize occupational medical and safety services in all the mining enterprises and in the craft mining sector in particular.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2002

Mouthpart deformities and community composition of Chironomidae (Diptera) larvae downstream of metal mines in New Brunswick, Canada.

The effect of metal enrichment on chironomid communities was examined in streams receiving mine drainage from metal mining operations in New Brunswick, Canada. At five sites receiving mine drainage, metal concentrations were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated in water (Zn), periphyton (Cd, Co, Cu, and Zn), and chironomid tissue (Cu, Cd, and Zn) relative to five paired reference locations. Metal concentrations in chironomid larvae were significantly correlated with concentrations in both water and periphyton. Chironomid communities were severely affected at sites receiving mine drainage as demonstrated by reduced genera richness and altered community composition. Sites receiving mine drainage exhibited an increased abundance of metal-tolerant Orthocladiinae and a reduced abundance of metal-sensitive Tanytarsini relative to reference sites. The incidence of mentum deformities was significantly elevated at sites receiving mine drainage (1.43 +/- 0.24%), with the mean percentage approaching a doubling of that observed at reference sites (0.79 +/- 0.22%). Trace metal concentrations at mine-associated streams in New Brunswick significantly affected the benthic community and have the potential to alter the structure and function of these aquatic ecosystems.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

[Pollution-ecological problems of old industrial and mining areas and future research prospects].

Environmental pollution and its solicitation in ecological problems of old industrial and mining areas have become a worldwide technological puzzle restricting sustainable economic and social development. But, the definition and category of old industrial and mining areas is still disputed as an important concept. In this paper, the concept of old industrial and mining area was discussed in theory, and, proceeded with analyzing the complexity of current situation and environmental pollution problems of old industrial and mining areas in China, more keystone attention was paid to the secondary pollution problems from old industrial and mining areas as an important frontier of science. On the basis of expounding the complexity and characters of environmental pollution in old industrial and mining areas, it was suggested that as two key scientific problems in environmental sciences and ecology, the formation mechanisms and control technology of secondary pollution in old industrial and mining areas and the responses of new-type diseases to environmental pollution based on molecular ecotoxicology should be systematically studied on the national scale, and be an important component of environmental protection strategy in China in the future.

China↗
PubMed1991

Radiological classification of Polish underground mines and recommendations of surveillance.

The paper presents the most recent data, collected 1987-1989, on concentrations of 222Rn products in the air of all Polish underground non-uranium mines, and data on the exposure of the miners employed there. The concentrations and exposure of miners were evaluated by using 'passive' dosimeters, based on the track-etch solid state nuclear track detector, worn as small individual cassettes on helmets of representative groups in every mine for one month, four times a year (once in each season of the year). The paper contains the average annual exposure of miners in coal-, metal-ore-, and chemical raw materials oremines. The paper, also presents expected 'frequency' distributions of individual miners' exposure in particular types of mines, as well as the computer simulations of 'relative frequency' distributions of expected miner's exposure when the Annual Limit of Exposure would be adopted at the level 17, 12, 8.6, 6.9 and 3.4.10(-3) Jhm-3 (5.0, 3.5, 2.5, 2 and 1 WLM). The concept and criteria of classification of mines according to the radiation hazards are presented and discussed. According to that concept, all mines in Poland have been considered and classified into four classes of mines with a different level of radiation hazard. The appropriate radiological surveillance to the respective class of mine is proposed and discussed.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed2004

Application of data mining techniques in pharmacovigilance.

AIMS: To discuss the potential use of data mining and knowledge discovery in databases for detection of adverse drug events (ADE) in pharmacovigilance. METHODS: A literature search was conducted to identify articles, which contained details of data mining, signal generation or knowledge discovery in relation to adverse drug reactions or pharmacovigilance in medical databases. RESULTS: ADEs are common and result in significant mortality, and despite existing systems drugs have been withdrawn due to ADEs many years after licensing. Knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) is a technique which may be used to detect potential ADEs more efficiently. KDD involves the selection of data variables and databases, data preprocessing, data mining and data interpretation and utilization. Data mining encompasses a number of statistical techniques including cluster analysis, link analysis, deviation detection and disproportionality assessment which can be utilized to determine the presence of and to assess the strength of ADE signals. Currently the only data mining methods to be used in pharmacovigilance are those of disproportionality, such as the Proportional Reporting Ratio and Information Component, which have been used to analyse the UK Yellow Card Scheme spontaneous reporting database and the WHO Uppsala Monitoring Centre database. The association of pericarditis with practolol but not with other beta-blockers, the association of captopril and other angiotensin-converting enzymes with cough, and the association of terfenadine with heart rate and rhythm disorders could be identified by mining the WHO database. CONCLUSION: In view of the importance of ADEs and the development of massive data storage systems and powerful computer systems, the use of data mining techniques in knowledge discovery in medical databases is likely to be of increasing importance in the process of pharmacovigilance as they are likely to be able to detect signals earlier than using current methods.

Data Collection↗
PubMed2001

The MinE ring required for proper placement of the division site is a mobile structure that changes its cellular location during the Escherichia coli division cycle.

Placement of the division site at midcell in Escherichia coli requires the MinE protein. MinE acts by imparting topological specificity to the MinCD division inhibitor, preventing the inhibitor from acting at the midcell site while permitting it to block division at other unwanted sites along the length of the cell. It was previously shown that MinE assembled into a ring structure that appeared to be localized near midcell, apparently explaining the ability of MinE to specifically counteract MinCD at midcell. We report here that the MinE ring is not fixed in position near midcell but is a dynamic structure that undergoes a repetitive cycle of movement first to one cell pole and then to the opposite pole. Taken together with studies of the dynamic behavior of the MinD protein, the results suggest that the topological specificity of division site placement may not involve a localized action of MinE to counteract the MinCD division inhibitor at midcell but rather the ability of MinE to move the division inhibitor away from midcell and to the cell poles.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2002

Division site placement in E.coli: mutations that prevent formation of the MinE ring lead to loss of the normal midcell arrest of growth of polar MinD membrane domains.

The MinE protein functions as a topological specificity factor in determining the site of septal placement in Escherichia coli. MinE assembles into a membrane-associated ring structure near midcell and directs the localization of MinD and MinC into a membrane- associated polar zone that undergoes a characteristic pole-to-pole oscillation cycle. Single (green fluorescent protein) and double label (yellow fluorescent protein/cyan fluorescent protein) fluorescence labeling experiments showed that mutational alteration of a site on the alpha-face of MinE led to a failure to assemble the MinE ring, associated with loss of the ability to support a normal pattern of division site placement. The absence of the MinE ring did not prevent the assembly and disassembly of the MinD polar zone. Mutant cells lacking the MinE ring were characterized by the growth of MinD polar zones past their normal arrest point near midcell. The results suggested that the MinE ring acts as a stop-growth mechanism to prevent the MinCD polar zone from extending beyond the midcell division site.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2005

Fuzzy OLAP association rules mining-based modular reinforcement learning approach for multiagent systems.

Multiagent systems and data mining have recently attracted considerable attention in the field of computing. Reinforcement learning is the most commonly used learning process for multiagent systems. However, it still has some drawbacks, including modeling other learning agents present in the domain as part of the state of the environment, and some states are experienced much less than others, or some state-action pairs are never visited during the learning phase. Further, before completing the learning process, an agent cannot exhibit a certain behavior in some states that may be experienced sufficiently. In this study, we propose a novel multiagent learning approach to handle these problems. Our approach is based on utilizing the mining process for modular cooperative learning systems. It incorporates fuzziness and online analytical processing (OLAP) based mining to effectively process the information reported by agents. First, we describe a fuzzy data cube OLAP architecture which facilitates effective storage and processing of the state information reported by agents. This way, the action of the other agent, not even in the visual environment. of the agent under consideration, can simply be predicted by extracting online association rules, a well-known data mining technique, from the constructed data cube. Second, we present a new action selection model, which is also based on association rules mining. Finally, we generalize not sufficiently experienced states, by mining multilevel association rules from the proposed fuzzy data cube. Experimental results obtained on two different versions of a well-known pursuit domain show the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy OLAP mining based modular learning approach. Finally, we tested the scalability of the approach presented in this paper and compared it with our previous work on modular-fuzzy Q-learning and ordinary Q-learning.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1997

Exposures to Legionella pneumophila and Chlamydia pneumoniae in South African Mine Workers.

Exposures of South African mine workers to Legionella pneumophila and Chlamydia pneumoniae were studied over a period of six months. Seroprevalence data were compared with data from a group of factory workers. Antibodies to L. pneumophila serogroups 1-4 were demonstrated in 36% of the mine workers and 10% of the factory workers (p < 0.0001). Seroconversion occurred in 18% of the mine workers during the study period. Antibodies to C. pneumoniae were present in 66% of the mine workers and 22% of the factory workers (p < 0.0001). Seroconversion was demonstrated in 17% of the mine workers during the six months of follow-up. A significant association between the presence of respiratory symptoms and seroconversion was demonstrated (p < 0.025). The data suggest that mine workers are at increased risk for infections with L. pneumophila and C. pneumoniae. Legionella pneumophila; Chlamydia pneumoniae; mine workers; factory workers; risk factors; seroprevalence; seroconversion

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Using data mining to explore complex clinical decisions: A study of hospitalization after a suicide attempt.

BACKGROUND: Medical education is moving toward developing guidelines using the evidence-based approach; however, controlled data are missing for answering complex treatment decisions such as those made during suicide attempts. A new set of statistical techniques called data mining (or machine learning) is being used by different industries to explore complex databases and can be used to explore large clinical databases. METHOD: The study goal was to reanalyze, using data mining techniques, a published study of which variables predicted psychiatrists' decisions to hospitalize in 509 suicide attempters over the age of 18 years who were assessed in the emergency department. Patients were recruited for the study between 1996 and 1998. Traditional multivariate statistics were compared with data mining techniques to determine variables predicting hospitalization. RESULTS: Five analyses done by psychiatric researchers using traditional statistical techniques classified 72% to 88% of patients correctly. The model developed by researchers with no psychiatric knowledge and employing data mining techniques used 5 variables (drug consumption during the attempt, relief that the attempt was not effective, lack of family support, being a housewife, and family history of suicide attempts) and classified 99% of patients correctly (99% sensitivity and 100% specificity). CONCLUSIONS: This reanalysis of a published study fundamentally tries to make the point that these new multivariate techniques, called data mining, can be used to study large clinical databases in psychiatry. Data mining techniques may be used to explore important treatment questions and outcomes in large clinical databases and to help develop guidelines for problems where controlled data are difficult to obtain. New opportunities for good clinical research may be developed by using data mining analyses.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

[Introduction to medical data mining].

Modern medicine generates a great deal of information stored in the medical database. Extracting useful knowledge and providing scientific decision-making for the diagnosis and treatment of disease from the database increasingly becomes necessary. Data mining in medicine can deal with this problem. It can also improve the management level of hospital information and promote the development of telemedicine and community medicine. Because the medical information is characteristic of redundancy, multi-attribution, incompletion and closely related with time, medical data mining differs from other one. In this paper we have discussed the key techniques of medical data mining involving pretreatment of medical data, fusion of different pattern and resource, fast and robust mining algorithms and reliability of mining results. The methods and applications of medical data mining based on computation intelligence such as artificial neural network, fuzzy system, evolutionary algorithms, rough set, and support vector machine have been introduced. The features and problems in data mining are summarized in the last section.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

[Comparative analysis of traffic accident injuries and injuries from land mines].

The observation period was from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 1997. The purpose of this research is to determine the frequency of the injuries (traffic's accidents and contact mine's) in the Emergency Medical Service at Tesanj, and their mutual relation. We made a protocol where we registered the personal data, cause, time and type of injuries, treatment and the outcome. We found out that 0.68% of injuries treated in Emergency Department's were caused by traffic accidents and contact mines's) Traffic's injuries were the dominant ones (90%). Males were injured more often than females. Children were injured's in 18%. Critical month for the traffic's accidents was May, and for the injuries by contact mines's was April. The traffic's injuries had tendency of increase, and the injuries by contact mines's had tendency of decrease in comparison with cases in 1996. In Emergency Medical Service 92% of victims arrived in the first thirty minutes after injury. The accidents 's' mostly happened between 08-12 h a.m. and 08-12 h p.m. Rarely the accidents happened between 04-08 h a.m. A head was the most injured body part in traffic accidents (35%) and lower limbs in the contact mine injuries (around 30%). At the injuries by contact mines 62.5% of amputations were at the level of lower leg. The mortality at contact mine injuries's was 17.6% and at traffic injuries 2.7%.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2001

Lung cancer risk, silica exposure, and silicosis in Chinese mines and pottery factories: the modifying role of other workplace lung carcinogens.

BACKGROUND: Aims of our study were to explore whether and to what extent exposure to other lung carcinogens, or staging and clinical features of silicosis modify or confound the association between silica and lung cancer. METHODS: We used data from a nested case-control study, conducted in the late 1980s in 29 Chinese mines and potteries (10 tungsten mines, 6 copper and iron mines, 4 tin mines, 8 pottery factories, and 1 clay mine), that included 316 lung cancer cases and 1,356 controls, matched by decade of birth and facility type. The previous analysis of these data presented results by type of mine or factory. RESULTS: In our study, pooling all 29 Chinese work sites, lung cancer risk showed a modest association with silica exposure. Risk did not vary after excluding subjects with silicosis or adjusting the risk estimates by radiological staging of silicosis. Strong correlation among exposures prevented a detailed evaluation of the role of individual exposures. However, lung cancer risk was for the most part absent when concomitant exposure to other workplace lung carcinogens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nickel or radon-daughters, was considered. The cross classification of lung cancer risk by categories of exposure to respirable silica and total respirable dust did not show an independent effect of total respirable dust. Silicosis showed a modest association with lung cancer, which did not vary by severity of radiological staging, or by radiological evidence of disease progression, or by level of silica exposure. However, among silicotic subjects, lung cancer risk was significantly elevated only when exposure to cadmium and PAH had occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, among silica-exposed Chinese workers, numerous occupational and non-occupational risk factors interact in a complex fashion to modify lung cancer risk. Future epidemiological studies on silica and lung cancer should incorporate detailed information on exposure to other workplace lung carcinogens, total respirable dust, and on surface size and age of silica particles to understand whether and to what extent they affect the carcinogenic potential of silica.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Accumulation of lead, zinc, and cadmium in a wild population of Clethrionomys glareolus from an abandoned lead mine.

Lead, zinc, and cadmium were determined in a range of tissues from wild populations of bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) trapped on an abandoned metalliferous mine site and a reference site. Estimated dietary intakes indicated that animals were exposed to elevated levels of all three metals at the mine site, and this was generally reflected in metal residues in body tissues. Lead concentrations were significantly higher in all tissues of animals from the mine compared to the reference site, while Cd was higher only in the kidney. There was evidence of age-accumulation (using total body weight as an index of age) of Cd in both the liver and kidney of mine site animals but no evidence of such accumulation of lead in bone. In contrast to Cd and Pb, Zn was lower in the tissues of mine site animals compared to the reference site. Based on critical tissue concentrations, the ecotoxicological risk to a wild population of bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), associated with total substrate levels of 1 microg g(-1) dry weight Cd and 700 microg g(-1) dry weight Zn at this mine site is negligible, but that associated with 4000 microg g(-1) dry weight Pb may be considered significant.

Aging↗