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Biomedical subjects

R Maasing

Publications and source records attributed to R Maasing.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Silicosis and risk of lung cancer or lung tuberculosis: a cohort study.

This is a study of cancer mortality, cancer incidence, and incidence of lung tuberculosis among cases of silicosis reported to the National Swedish Pneumoconiosis Register during 1959-1977. Two occupational categories were extracted--"mining, tunneling, and quarrying" (n = 284) and "iron and steel foundries" (n = 428), respectively. Control groups were drawn from a national register of persons undergoing periodic health examinations with regard to silicosis risk. The controls were matched for occupation, age, and time of first exposure. The follow-up was performed through record-linkage operations to computerized information in Swedish Death Statistics, Swedish Cancer Register, and the Swedish Tuberculosis Index. End of follow-up was set at December 31, 1980. In cases drawn from mining, quarrying, and tunneling workers seven deaths in lung cancer were observed and two among the controls. Among iron and steel foundry workers the corresponding numbers were 10 and 6. The values for expected numbers, based on general population statistics, were 1.3 and 2.6, respectively, for these two occupational groups. When cancer incidence statistics were used, the case/control ratio for lung cancer was 2.1 for "mining, quarrying, and tunneling" and 0.6 for "iron and steel foundries." There were 29 cases of lung tuberculosis registered among the silicosis cases during the follow-up period. Only one tuberculosis case was observed among the controls. The results demonstrate that persons with silicosis contracted in the mining, quarrying, and tunneling occupations are subject to an increased risk of lung cancer. The risk is observed when both the general population and a closely matched control population from the same occupations are used for values of reference. The results also demonstrate the high risk of persons with silicosis to contract lung tuberculosis.

Adult↗

Prognosis in acute stroke with special reference to some cardiac factors.

Neurological assessments were done regularly during hospitalization in 283 consecutive patients (mean age 73 yr) with acute cerebrovascular disease treated at the Stroke Unit of Serafimerlasarettet. A preplanned investigation program and strict criteria for diagnosis and treatment were followed. Hospital mortality was 18%. Patients with a major cerebral infarction or haemorrhage often died very early during the hospital period and deaths due to complications increased significantly during the second week. Multivariate analysis regarding mortality showed that a low neurological score and heart failure were the most important factors for the short-term prognosis. In those patients with cerebral infarction, ambulatory capacity and ECG-diagnosed bundle branch block added significantly to the prognostic power of the neurological score. Among the 227 patients discharged alive, 1 and 2-yr mortality was 14 and 18% respectively. Here, the most important long-term prognostic factors were age and ST changes on the ECG. Again, considering only patients with cerebral infarction (N = 190), bundle branch block was found to be the single most useful predictive factor. Prognostication in acute ischemic stroke should thus be based not only on neurological findings but on careful evaluation of associated cardiac disease, especially in the long-term perspective.

Acute Disease↗

Retrospective cohort study of two plants in the Swedish rubber industry.

A cohort of 13,114 workers employed during 1930-1975 in two Swedish plants producing tires and industrial rubber goods was investigated with regard to cancer mortality and cancer incidence. Separate analyses were performed on the following subgroups of the cohort: mixers/weighers, other production workers, and white-collar employees. For all causes of death no increase of risk was observed in the population as a whole. Mixers/weighers showed however an increased overall standardized mortality ratio. The pattern of causes of death was not changed in the total cohort. An increased risk to die from liver cancer (risk ratio 4.12) and pancreatic cancer (risk ratio 2.70) was, however, observed for the category other production workers. An increased risk of death from tumors of the respiratory organs was also observed for the categories other production workers (risk ratio 1.89) and white-collar employees (risk ratio 2.63). For tumors in the urinary bladder (risk ratio 2.50) and for ischemic heart diseases (risk ratio 1.27) the death risk was elevated for the category other production workers. The cancer morbidity pattern showed an increase in malignant melanomas (risk ratio 2.50) for the category other production workers and for lung cancer (risk ratio 2.09), as well as for tumors in the nervous system (risk ratio 3.18) for white-collar employees.

Adolescent↗

Pepsin-treated human gamma globulin in bacterial infections. A randomized study in patients with septicaemia and pneumonia.

59 patients with suspected or verified septicaemia and 87 patients with suspected or verified bacterial pneumonia were treated with either antibiotics alone or antibiotics combined with a pepsin-treated human gamma globulin (Gamma-Venin). The gamma globulin was given intravenously in repeated doses of 0.15 g/kg body weight. Extensive clinical and laboratory investigations were performed repeatedly in a strictly standardized fashion. Neither the septicaemia group nor the pneumonia group presented significant differences between treated patients and controls for any of the clinical and laboratory variables studied. Hospital stay, duration of fever and symptoms were also unaffected by the gamma globulin treatment. Subdivision of the material according to aetiology provided no additional information. In 9 patients adverse reactions were seen, e.g., shock in 2 individuals.

Adult↗

Swedish company doctors' attitudes to benzodiazepines and neuroleptics used as minor tranquillizers.

A survey was carried out among 150 Swedish company doctors to assess their attitudes towards 2 benzodiazepines and 4 neuroleptics widely used as minor tranquillizers. The participants rated their opinions on 6 drug characteristics considered important when prescribing anxiolytics. The profile for the two benzodiazepines, diazepam and oxazepam, showed that whilst these drugs were regarded as having a greater anxiolytic effect than the neuroleptics they were also considered as having a higher amount of negative effects compared to the neuroleptics as a hole. The neuroleptics had a more varied profile than the benzodiazepines. Two of the neuroleptics, flupenthixol and especially fluphenazine, had a more favourable profile than the other two, dixyrazine and thioridazine, being regarded as having a greater anxiolytic effect without a greater amount of negative effects. The more favourable profiles for flupenthixol and fluphenazine are probably an indication that these two drugs are used with satisfactory results in special clinical situations when it is more important to avoid possible side-effects.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗

Mortality pattern among initial survivors of acute myocardial infarction using a life-table technique.

The 5-year pattern of mortality among 475 immediate survivors of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (mean age 65 years on entry) is described by a life-table technique. The risk of death was highest during the early part of the follow-up. After 3-4 years, the prognostic influence of the AMI seemed to be overshadowed by the age effect. Special attention was paid to the incidence of sudden death, a fictive elimination of which was shown to reduce the risk of death by 9-22% during the different years of the investigation period. The absolute number of sudden deaths was highest during the early part of the follow-up period but the relative importance of this mode of death was approximately the same during the entire 5-year period after the AMI.

Acute Disease↗