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Biomedical subjects

P N Mahendra

Publications and source records attributed to P N Mahendra.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Socio-economic, environmental and health aspects of farm workers engaged in mango plantations.

A cross-sectional survey of 489 male subjects in the age group 15 to 65 years engaged directly or indirectly in mango cultivation along with 208 control subjects was carried out to find their socio-economic, environmental and health conditions. The conditions like high illiteracy rate (49.5%), poverty (PCI less than Rs 100 per month, 52.2%), poor housing (mud houses, 66.7%) unsafe water supply (78.6%) were prevailing in the surveyed population. The high respiratory morbidity may be attributed to high prevalence of smoking and prolonged inhalation of organic dusts during farming operation associated with illiteracy and poor socio-economic status. Gastrointestinal disorders were related to poor hygienic conditions, smoking and consumption of contaminated water. The symptoms pertaining to CNS, skin and eyes were found to be associated with exposure to pesticides.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Socioeconomic and health status of electronics workers employed in organized industry.

To study their socioeconomic and health status, 1,770 workers in the organized electronics industry in India were surveyed. Mean age of the workers employed in this industry was 32.5 +/- 6.01 years. The average per capita income/month was Rupees 333, indicating a higher socioeconomic status, compared with the status of the national population, as well as compared with their counterparts in the unorganized sectors. Respiratory symptoms and impairment rates were significantly higher in workers exposed to soldering fumes. The high prevalence of congested or inflamed throat was also related to chemical exposure specially among solderers and workers exposed to metal oxides. The ocular symptoms and signs were also related to chemical exposure. Musculoskeletal disorders were related to erratic ergonomic postures.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Clinical studies in workers engaged in maintenance of watermark moulds in a paper mill.

Thirty subjects engaged in maintenance and repair of moulds used for producing watermarks on paper were studied, along with 27 control subjects from the same paper mill. The workers were simultaneously exposed to copper, chromium, zinc, xylol, and fumes of sulphuric acid in the course of their work. The study subjects were investigated for clinical, occupational, radiological haematological and psychological details. The aforementioned combined exposure was found to be responsible for a high prevalence of symptoms pertaining to the respiratory system and higher nervous functions. Breathlessness (26.7%), expectoration (10.0%) and emphysema (10.0%) were significantly higher among the exposed subjects. The exposed subjects also showed lowered visuomotor coordination and delayed reaction to light and sound stimuli.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

A survey of chronic bronchitis among brassware workers.

A stratified random sample of 580 workers aged between 18 and 50 years representing each sub-occupation in the brassware industry was studied for the prevalence of chronic bronchitis in relation to occupational and environmental factors. The findings were compared with those obtained in a reference group (N = 131) belonging to similar socio-economic status and unexposed to a dusty environment. Although the exposed group showed higher prevalence of chronic bronchitis in comparison to that observed in the controls (10.5 vs 5.3%), the difference was not significant at the 5% level. It was observed that the workers engaged in non-dusty occupations such as brass sheet cutting and engraving showed the lowest prevalence of the disease (5.0%) while those engaged in the dusty occupations viz., casting, soldering, electroplating and polishing showed the highest prevalence (12.0%). The smoking adjusted odds ratios calculated in various sub-occupations showed the highest risk of developing chronic bronchitis among the polishers (2.74). Though the risk in other occupational sub-groups was double, it did not attain a level of significance. The smoking adjusted odds ratios in relation to length of exposure showed that the risk was significantly higher among the workers exposed for over 10 years compared to those who worked for less than 10 years in the grinding, soldering and brass ingot making operations. The study thus showed a dose-response relationship between length of exposure and chronic bronchitis while effect of age on the disease was not discernible probably due to the small number of cases and the young age of the study group. The concentration of various metals in the air samples drawn from the work environment where main processes were in operation, was low compared to the prescribed level by ACGIH.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Occupational morbidity among children employed in brassware industry.

Fifty seven male children between ages of 10-16 years engaged in the brassware industry at Moradabad in Northern India were studied for occupational morbidity. The finding were compared with those obtained in the children (n = 29) engaged in other ancillary units which did not involve exposure to the metal fumes and dust in their work environment. The study showed a high prevalence of respiratory morbidity in the children engaged in the main units in comparison to those employed in the ancillary units (40.3 vs 27.6%; p less than 0.05). This was associated with significantly higher prevalence of pulmonary impairment in the former group (21.0%) particularly demonstrating restrictive ventilatory abnormality (10.5%) followed by bronchial obstruction (7.0%). The high respiratory morbidity may be attributed to chronic exposure to the fumes and dust of the metals such as nickel, chromium and cadmium. The children employed in the ancillary as well as in the main units showed high prevalences of musculo-skeletal disorders (27.6 and 22.8%) which may be caused by sustained faulty posture adopted during work and physical stress.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

A study of the prevalence of respiratory morbidity among agate workers.

A random sample of 342 workers engaged in chipping and grinding of agate stones were surveyed in a cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of respiratory morbidity in the agate industry. The findings were compared with those obtained in controls. The study showed a significantly higher prevalence of lung diseases among agate workers than among controls (63.4% vs 35.5%, P less than 0.001). The respiratory morbidity in agate workers and controls was maximal in the group aged 31+ years (83.3% and 42.2%, respectively). The prevalence of pneumoconiosis in agate workers (18.4%) was highly significant as compared with controls, in whom not a single case was found (P less than 0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the prevalence of pneumoconiosis in men and women of the exposed group (17.9% vs 19.6%). Among the cases of pulmonary diseases in agate workers, pneumoconiosis formed the largest group (18.4%), whereas among controls it was tuberculosis (12.1%). The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis was very high in both agate workers and controls (15.5% and 12.1%, respectively), probably because of poor socio-economic and unhygienic living conditions. The prevalence of chronic bronchitis was found to be higher among the control population as compared with the exposed group (6.7% vs 2.6%). It therefore appeared that agate dust had no role in precipitating chronic bronchitis. However, bronchial asthma appeared to have been aggravated due to agate dust, as the risk among agate workers was 7-fold that found among the controls. The prevalence of pneumoconiosis showed a dose-response relationship in both male and female agate workers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The clinical and biochemical study of pesticide sprayers.

Clinical, haematological and biochemical studies of 34 subjects, occupationally exposed to different types of pesticides, were conducted. The findings have been compared with those observed in 14 control subjects. Inhibition of cholinesterase activity was observed in the exposed group. Serum alkaline phosphatase was also found to be raised. Radiological examination revealed pneumonitic patches in the chest skiagrams of three exposed subjects. Paraesthesia with hyporeflexia was also found in 8.8% of exposed subjects. The findings suggest that exposure to multiple pesticides over many years affects the normal functioning of different organ systems and may produce characteristic clinical effects.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1990

Pulmonary function study in female grinders exposed to agate dust.

This paper reports a cross-sectional study of a non-smoking population of silica exposed female workers compared with a group of healthy non-exposed females. The exposed group is divided into cohorts according to the presence or absence of pneumoconiosis in either simple or complex form. The study revealed statistically significant difference in pulmonary function between each of the pneumoconiosis group and the controls and healthy exposed workers. Furthermore, there was statistically significant difference between the values of pulmonary function parameters of the healthy exposed group and the controls. The most important observation of the study is that almost equal decrement of pulmonary function values was observed in the diseased groups and in the healthy exposed group compared to the decrement seen between the latter group and the control group. VC and FVC showed a mean fall of 11.0 and 11.5% in the healthy exposed group as compared to those observed in the unexposed controls (p less than 0.01 and p less than 0.05) while in the pneumoconiosis group VC and FVC showed 16.9 and 18.2% decrease as compared with the values obtained in the healthy grinders (p less than 0.01). Similarly FEV1 showed almost same decrease in the healthy (17.9%) and diseased (20.7%) exposed groups (p less than 0.001). However, FEV0.75 and MVV parameters showed greater decrement (25.4 and 33.7%) in the pneumoconiosis group as compared to 15.7 and 18.5% observed in the healthy exposed workers. The important observation made in this study is that potential pulmonary debilitation may occur in pneumoconiosis before, or in the absence of, any radiologic findings.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chronic cyanide exposure--A biochemical and industrial hygiene study.

A study was undertaken to assess the health status of workers exposed to cyanide fumes and cyanide aerosols in one of the local factories. Cyanide levels in the breathing zone and the working atmosphere were measured. Cyanide and thiocyanate concentrations in blood and urine were determined colorimetrically. The cyanide and thiocyanate concentrations in blood and urine of exposed workers were much higher than those of control workers. Smokers had higher concentrations than nonsmokers. The highest values of cyanide were found to be 0.8 and 0.2 mg/m3 in the breathing zone and general workroom atmosphere respectively. In spite of such low values, the workers complained of typical HCN poisoning. It is suggested that MAC values of 5 mg/m3 (in terms of CN) should be reviewed in respect to conditions in India.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pneumoconiosis risk assessment in agate workers--multiple logistic model.

A multivariate logistic model for measuring and comparing pneumoconiosis risk is described. In the first stage variables are screened on the basis of contributed variability via Pearson Chi Square statistic. Age, dust years and pack years so chosen as explanatory variables are fitted in the above model. The coefficients are estimated as linear discriminant function co-efficient. The model gives quite a good fit between observed and expected frequencies. Dust years discriminate maximum between the normal and pneumoconiosis group. Nearly sixty per cent of the variation is explained by these variables.

Adult↗