Irritant risk factors

Substances/products in the workplace known as allergic or irritant risk factors... 

An informative programme on the occupational allergological or irritant risk factors and the way to defend the skin against them... 

Cremonini F, Talley NJ. Irritable bowel syndrome epidemiology, natural history, health care seeking and emerging risk factors. Gastroenterol Clin North Am 2005 34 189-204. 

Other potential adverse responses include malignancy (e.g., lymphoma), liver disease, heart failure, lupuslike disease, irritation around the injection site, and demyelinating disorders that mimic multiple sclerosis.34,70 88 The incidence of these adverse effects, however, seems to be fairly low. For the most part, these drugs provide an acceptable risk-to-benefit ratio for most people with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients should, however, be screened carefully for any risk factors before beginning drug therapy, and should likewise be monitored periodically for any potential adverse reactions to these drugs. 

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a term used to describe office worker discomfort and medical symptoms related to buildings and pollutant exposures, work organization, and personal risk factors. A wide range of definitions exists. Symptoms commonly considered integral parts of the syndrome are listed in Table 1. In recent years, with increased understanding, odors have generally been dropped from the list and chest symptoms have been included under mucous membrane irritation. 

Otitis media is inflammation of the middle ear. The diagnosis of acute otitis media includes signs and symptoms of infection of the middle ear, such as otalgia, fever, and irritability, as well as the presence of fluid in the middle ear. " In otitis media with effusion, middle ear fluid is present, but signs and symptoms of infection are absent. Otitis media is most common in infants and children, 75% of whom have had at least one episode by the age of 1 year. About 20% of otitis cases occur in adults, particularly in those with a history of these infections as a child.Table 107-1 lists the risk factors for otitis media. Risk factors for otitis media owing to resistant pathogens include (1) daycare attendance, (2) prior antibiotic exposure, and (3) age younger than 2 years. " ... 

In exposures where smoking is a risk factor for occupational asthma, education and other measures to control smoking should reduce disease risk by reducing the number of smokers. It may also suggest that exposure to chemical irritants should be controlled in the workplace. Knowledge of the genetics of chemical-induced occupational asthma is so limited at present that no useful measures can be taken to identify susceptible workers and remove them from exposure. 

Another chronic effect of marijuana studied in the lOM report involved dependence and withdrawal. The conclusion was that while few marijuana users develop dependence on the psychoactive effects, some do, and the risk factors for the development of dependence are similar to other drugs. A withdrawal syndrome was identified, consisting of resdessness, irritability, minor agitation, difficulty sleeping, nausea, and cramping, although the symptoms were judged to be mild and short. 

It has been shown that in the dynamic tasks involving upper extremities, the posture of the hand itself has very little predictive power for the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. Rather, it is the velocity and acceleration of the joint that significantly differentiate the musculoskeletal disorders risk levels (Schoenmarklin and Marras 1990). This is because the tendon force, which is a risk factor of musculoskeletal disorders, is affected by wrist acceleration. The acceleration of the wrist in a dynamic task requires transmission of the forearm forces to the tendons. Some of this force is lost to friction against the ligaments and bones in the carpal tunnel. This frictional force can irritate the tendons synovial membranes and cause tenosynovitis or carpal tunnel syndrom (CTS). These new research results clearly demonstrate the importance of dynamic components in assessing CTD risk of highly repetitive jobs. 

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