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PubMed1979

Assessment of the respirable dust levels in the nation's underground and surface coal mining operations.

This report presents a chronological overview of the status of respirable dust exposures in underground and surface bituminous coal mines since inception of the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Data for various intervals from 1970 through 1977, are presented for selected mining operations. Comparisons are made using data available from the mine operators' sampling program and from MSHA surveys. The data demonstrate the marked decrease that has occurred in respirable dust exposures since inception of the 1969 Act.

Coal↗
PubMed2005

Effect of HIV on work-related injury rates in South African gold miners.

OBJECTIVE: Work-related injuries have severe, well-documented economic and social impacts, and injury is a leading cause of death in working adults. As adults of working age are one of the groups most affected by the HIV epidemic, the interaction between work-related injuries and HIV is important. The objective was to calculate the effect of HIV on the rate and severity of work-related injuries by duration of infection. DESIGN AND METHODS: A large, retrospective seroincident cohort of South African gold miners was studied. Data routinely collected by the mines, and assurance company injury data were analysed. HIV-positive and negative miners were compared, allowing the calculation of injury rates and rate ratios. Severity of injuries was measured by the number of days away from work, percentage of permanent disability, and fatalities. RESULTS: Results were available for 1661 HIV-positive and 6166 HIV-negative miners over 10 years. HIV infection increased the rate of work-related injuries overall (adjusted rate ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-1.4), but had less effect on severe injuries. Injury rates in HIV-positive men prior to the first positive test were similar to those in HIV-negative men. The injury rate rose soon after the first HIV positive test. After seroconversion there was only weak evidence of an increase in injury rates by duration of infection. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to demonstrate an increase in injury rates in HIV-positive individuals. The increase may reflect direct effects of HIV infection as well as behaviour change once HIV is diagnosed.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Radon and 'King Solomon's Miners': Faynan Orefield, Jordanian Desert.

Concentrations of 222Rn were measured in ancient copper mines which exploited the Faynan Orefield in the South-Western Jordanian Desert. The concentrations of radon gas detected indicate that the ancient metal workers would have been exposed to a significant health risk and indicate that any future attempt to exploit the copper ores must deal with the hazard identified. Seasonal variations in radon concentrations are noted and these are linked to the ventilation of the mines. These modern data are used to explore the differential exposure to radon and the health of ancient mining communities.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed2006

Algorithms to qualify respiratory data collected during the transport of trauma patients.

We developed a quality indexing system to numerically qualify respiratory data collected by vital-sign monitors in order to support reliable post-hoc mining of respiratory data. Each monitor-provided (reference) respiratory rate (RR(R)) is evaluated, second-by-second, to quantify the reliability of the rate with a quality index (QI(R)). The quality index is calculated from: (1) a breath identification algorithm that identifies breaths of 'typical' sizes and recalculates the respiratory rate (RR(C)); (2) an evaluation of the respiratory waveform quality (QI(W)) by assessing waveform ambiguities as they impact the calculation of respiratory rates and (3) decision rules that assign a QI(R) based on RR(R), RR(C) and QI(W). RR(C), QI(W) and QI(R) were compared to rates and quality indices independently determined by human experts, with the human measures used as the 'gold standard', for 163 randomly chosen 15 s respiratory waveform samples from our database. The RR(C) more closely matches the rates determined by human evaluation of the waveforms than does the RR(R) (difference of 3.2 +/- 4.6 breaths min(-1) versus 14.3 +/- 19.3 breaths min(-1), mean +/- STD, p < 0.05). Higher QI(W) is found to be associated with smaller differences between calculated and human-evaluated rates (average differences of 1.7 and 8.1 breaths min(-1) for the best and worst QI(W), respectively). Establishment of QI(W) and QI(R), which ranges from 0 for the worst-quality data to 3 for the best, provides a succinct quantitative measure that allows for automatic and systematic selection of respiratory waveforms and rates based on their data quality.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2000

Estimating factors to convert Chinese 'Total Dust' measurements to ACGIH respirable concentrations in metal mines and pottery industries.

Historical data on the dust exposures of Chinese workers in metal mines (iron/copper, tin, tungsten) and pottery industries are being used in an ongoing joint Chinese/United States epidemiological study to investigate the exposure-response relationship for the development of silicosis, lung cancer, and other diseases. The historical data include 'total dust' concentrations determined by a Chinese method. Information about particle size distribution and the chemical and mineralogical content of airborne particles is generally not available. In addition, the historical Chinese sampling strategy is different from a typical American eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) sampling strategy, because the Chinese samples were collected for approximately 15 minutes during production so the sample could be compared to their maximum allowable concentration (MAC) standard. Therefore, in order to assess American respirable dust exposure standards in light of the Chinese experience, factors are needed to convert historical Chinese total dust concentrations to respirable dust concentrations. As a part of the joint study to estimate the conversion factors, airborne dust samples were collected in 20 metal mines and 9 pottery factories in China during 1988 and 1989 using three different samplers: 10mm nylon cyclones, multi-stage 'cassette' impactors, and the traditional Chinese total dust samplers. More than 100 samples were collected and analysed for each of the three samplers. The study yielded two different estimates of the conversion factor from the Chinese total dust concentrations (measured during production processes) to respirable dust concentrations. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) reveals that, with a fixed sampling/analysis method, conversion factors were not statistically different among the different job titles within each industry. It also indicates that conversion factors among the industries were not statistically different. However, the two estimates consistently showed that conversion factors were the lowest in the pottery industry. Average conversion factors were then calculated for each of the estimates across the industries studied. A pooled mean conversion factor, 0.25+/-0.04, was then derived for all the job titles and industries. Respirable dust levels were estimated from the historical 'total dust' concentrations collected between 1952 and 1992 by adopting the American standard.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed2001

The influence of seam height on lost-time injury and fatality rates at small underground bituminous coal mines.

Due to variations in the thickness of U.S. coal seams, there is great variability in the height of the roof where underground miners work. Restrictions imposed by low seam heights have important safety consequences. As the height of their workplace decreases, miners must stoop, duck walk, or crawl, and their vision, posture, and mobility become increasingly restricted. Low seam height also places important restrictions on the design of mobile equipment and other mining machinery. Using the employment and injury data reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) from 1990 to 1996, small underground bituminous coal mines with less than 50 employees were stratified by average coal seam height according to the following categories: low (< or =42"), medium (43"-60"), and high (> or =61"). Injury rates for both nonfatal days lost and fatality cases were examined by seam height and leading type of injury incidents. The leading types of incidents associated with fatalities were roof falls and powered haulage equipment. In comparison to high-seam mines, miners working in low or medium seams are at higher risk of being killed by powered haulage equipment, roof bolting machines, and falls of unsupported roof. The leading types of incidents associated with nonfatal injuries were handling materials and powered haulage. As mining height decreases, miners are at increasingly higher risk of having a nonfatal injury from incidents involving roof bolting machines, load-haul-dump equipment, personnel carriers, and powered haulage conveyors. As mining height increases, miners are at increasingly higher risk of having a nonfatal injury from slips and falls and incidents involving shuttle cars and roof and rib falls. Knee injuries are a particularly severe problem in low-seam mines. The rate of injuries to miners while crawling or kneeling is 10 times higher in low seams than in high seams.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed2000

Informatics for mutagenesis: the design of mutabase--a distributed data recording system for animal husbandry, mutagenesis, and phenotypic analysis.

The increasing use of high-throughput methods for the production of biologically important information and the increasing diversity of that information pose considerable bioinformatics challenges. These challenges will be met by implementing electronic data management systems not only to capture the data, but increasingly to provide a platform for data integration and mining as we enter the post-genomic era. We discuss the design and implementation of such a data capture system, 'Mutabase', as a model of how such electronic systems might be designed and implemented. Mutabase was created in support of a large-scale, phenotype-driven mouse mutagenesis program at MRC Mammalian Genetics Unit, Harwell, in collaboration with SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. The aim of this mutagenesis project is to make a significant contribution to the existing mouse mutant resource, closing the phenotype gap and providing many more models for fundamental research and disease modeling. Mutabase records experimental details at the 'point of generation' and provides a number of dissemination and analysis tools for the experimental data, as well as providing a means of assessing various aspects of progress of the program. Mutabase uses a hypertext-based interface to provide interaction between a number of intranet-based client workstations and a central industrial strength database. Mutabase utilizes a variety of techniques in order to implement the user interface system including Perl/CGI, Java Servlets, and an experimental CORBA server. We discuss the relative merits of these methods in the context of the need to provide sound informatics approaches for the support of systematic mutagenesis programs.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed2006

Phylogenetic and structural relationships of the PR5 gene family reveal an ancient multigene family conserved in plants and select animal taxa.

Pathogenesis-related group 5 (PR5) plant proteins include thaumatin, osmotin, and related proteins, many of which have antimicrobial activity. The recent discovery of PR5-like (PR5-L) sequences in nematodes and insects raises questions about their evolutionary relationships. Using complete plant genome data and discovery of multiple insect PR5-L sequences, phylogenetic comparisons among plants and animals were performed. All PR5/PR5-L protein sequences were mined from genome data of a member of each of two main angiosperm groups-the eudicots (Arabidoposis thaliana) and the monocots (Oryza sativa)-and from the Caenorhabditis nematode (C. elegans and C. briggsase). Insect PR5-L sequences were mined from EST databases and GenBank submissions from four insect orders: Coleoptera (Diaprepes abbreviatus and Biphyllus lunatus), Orthoptera (Schistocerca gregaria), Hymenoptera (Lysiphlebus testaceipes), and Hemiptera (Toxoptera citricida). Parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses showed that the PR5 family is paraphyletic in plants, likely arising from 10 genes in a common ancestor to monocots and eudicots. After evolutionary divergence of monocots and eudicots, PR5 genes increased asymmetrically among the 10 clades. Insects and nematodes contain multiple sequences (seven PR5-Ls in nematodes and at least three in some insects) all related to the same plant clade, with nematode and insect sequences separating as two clades. Protein structural homology modeling showed strong similarity among animal and plant PR5/PR5-Ls, with divergence only in surface-exposed loops. Sequence and structural conservation among PR5/PR5-Ls suggests an important and conserved role throughout the evolutionary divergence of the diverse organisms from which they reside.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2004

SGMD: the Soybean Genomics and Microarray Database.

The Soybean Genomics and Microarray Database (SGMD) attempts to provide an integrated view of the interaction of soybean with the soybean cyst nematode and contains genomic, EST and microarray data with embedded analytical tools allowing correlation of soybean ESTs with their gene expression profiles. SGMD provides analytical tools to mine the microarray data quickly by integrating many analysis methods within the database itself. The expression profiles of genes at time intervals during the first 8 days of nematode invasion is searchable by gene name or GenBank accession number. Recent developments include the addition of a searchable database for soybean cyst nematode ESTs and photographs of the invasion process at time points examined using microarrays. SGMD is completely accessible from the web at: http://psi081.ba.ars.usda.gov/SGMD/default.htm.

Computational Biology↗
PubMed2000

Slip and fall-related injuries in relation to environmental cold and work location in above-ground coal mining operations.

BACKGROUND: The association between slip and fall-related injuries and environmental temperature was examined for mostly enclosed (inside vehicles, machinery, or buildings), outdoor (outside, not enclosed), and enclosed/outdoor jobs in the coal mining industry to see if differences existed among the three work locations that had varying exposure to cold temperatures. METHODS: Temperature data from the National Climatic Data Center and injury data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration were evaluated from 1985-1990 for seven states. Proportionate methods were used to examine the relationship between slips and falls and temperature. RESULTS: Proportionate injury ratios of slips and fall-related injuries increased as temperature declined for all three work locations. Proportion of slips and fall-related injuries that occurred while running/walking increased with declining temperature, with the ground outside as the most common source of these injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Outside movement becomes a greater hazard at freezing temperatures for workers in all locations, not just outdoor workers. Any intervention methods geared toward reducing injury incidents facilitated by cold weather must also be directed toward workers who spend time in more enclosed locations.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2002

Accessing genomic data through XML-based remote procedure calls.

As the amount of data in public genomic databases grows, interoperability among them is becoming an increasingly critical feature. The ability for automated systems to mine and integrate data will be crucial to extracting knowledge from sources of data whose volume far exceeds the capabilities of human researchers. The currently dominant paradigm of presenting information as Web pages and using hyperlinks to describe relationships between pieces of information favors usability, but makes interoperability and automated data exchange more difficult. In this paper we describe how SNPper, a web-based system for the retrieval and analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), was augmented with a Remote Procedure Call interface, allowing client applications to query our program for SNP data and to receive the response as an XML document. Data represented in this form can be easily parsed by the requesting program, and thus reused for other applications. In this paper we describe the implementation of the interface and we show examples of its usage in a number of existing applications.

Databases, Genetic↗
PubMed2005

Analysis of non-fatal and fatal injury rates for mine operator and contractor employees and the influence of work location.

INTRODUCTION: Mining injury surveillance data are used as the basis for assessing the severity of injuries among operator and contractor employees in the underground and surface mining of various minerals. METHOD: Injury rates during 1983-2002 derived from Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) database are analyzed using the negative binomial regression model. The logarithmic mean injury rate is expressed as a linear function of seven indicator variables representing Non-Coal Contractor, Metal Operator, Non Metal Operator, Stone Operator, Sand and Gravel Operator, Coal Contractor, and Work Location, and a continuous variable, RelYear, representing the relative year starting with 1983 as the base year. RESULTS: Based on the model, the mean injury rate declined at a 1.69% annual rate, and the mean injury rate for work on the surface is 52.53% lower compared to the rate for work in the underground. With reference to the Coal Operator mean injury rate: the Non-Coal Contractor rate is 30.34% lower, the Metal Operator rate is 27.18% lower, the Non-Metal Operator rate is 37.51% lower, the Stone Operator rate is 23.44% lower, the Sand and Gravel Operator rate is 16.45% lower, and the Coal Contractor rate is 1.41% lower. Fatality rates during the same 20 year period are analyzed similarly using Poisson regression model. Based on this model, the mean fatality rate declined at a 3.17% annual rate, and the rate for work on the surface is 64.3% lower compared to the rate for work in the underground. With reference to the Coal Operator mean fatality rate: the Non-Coal Contractor rate is 234.81% higher, the Metal Operator rate is 5.79% lower, the Non-Metal Operator rate is 47.36% lower, the Stone Operator rate is 8.29% higher, the Sand and Gravel Operator rate is 60.32% higher, and the Coal Contractor rate is 129.54% higher.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2005

Mining the structural knowledge of high-dimensional medical data using isomap.

The paper describes an application of a new, non-linear dimensionality reduction method, named Isomap, for mining the structural knowledge from high-dimensional medical data. The algorithm was evaluated on two publicly available medical datasets: the pathological dataset of breast cancer (241 malignant samples) and the gene expression dataset from the lung (186 tumours). It was found by Isomap that the approximate intrinsic dimensionalities of these two datasets were as low as three. The spatial structures of both datasets were presented in low-dimensional space. Isomap, as a general tool for dimensionality reduction analysis, is helpful in revealing the nonlinear structural knowledge of high-dimensional medical data.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1976

[The struggle against dust in the Belgian coal mines. Situation at the beginning of 1976].

The present communication gives a general view of the methods of dust control in the Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1976. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal faces treated by the classical methods of pre-spraying of the wall, wet cutting, water infusion and wet pneumatic picks, are given separately; in some cases two or more of these technics are used together on the same coal face. The number of stone drivages in which different methods of dust control are used, is also given.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1974

[Dust prevention in Belgian coal mines. Situation at the beginning of 1974].

The present communication gives a general view of the methods of dust control in the Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1974. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal faces treated by the classical methods of pre-spraying of the wall, wet cutting, water infusion and wet pneumatic picks, are given separately; in some cases two or more of these techniques are used together on the same coal face. The number of stone drivages in which different methods of dust control are used, are also given.

Belgium↗
PubMed1979

[Dust control in Belgian coal mines. Conditions at the beginning of 1979].

The present communication gives a general view of the methods of dust control in the Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1979. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal faces treated by the classical methods of pre-spraying of the wall, wet cutting and water infusion are given separately; in some cases two or more of these technics are used together on the same coal face. The number of stone drivages in which different methods of dust control are used, is also given.

Belgium↗
PubMed1977

[Dust control in Belgian coal mines. Status at the beginning of the year 1977].

The present communication gives a general view of the methods of dust control in the Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1977. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal faces treated by the classical methods of pre-spraying of the wall, wet cutting, water infusion and wet pneumatic picks, are given separately; in some cases two or more of these technics are used together on the same coal face. The number of hard headings in which different methods of dust suppression are used, is also given.

Belgium↗
PubMed1983

[Dust control in Belgian coal mines. Status at the beginning of 1983].

The present communication gives a general view of the methods of dust control in the Belgian coal mines at the beginning of 1983. The statistical data received from the mines are presented in tabular form. The length and the output of coal treated by the classical methods of wet cutting and water infusion are given separately. The number of stone drivages in which different methods of dust control are used, is also given.

Belgium↗