DEOM Newsletter

Professor Ayres writes.

This has been an eventful couple of months largely because of the retirement of Anthony Seaton. A reflection of the great opinion with which he is held by one and all is the large number of farewell parties/meetings held in his honour! Probably the chief amongst these was a quite excellent meeting on the 12th September at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh marking the annual meeting of the Society of Occupational Medicine. The day was centred round a series of lectures from a most prestigious group of speakers all dealing with issues near to Anthony's heart and career, with excellent contributions from Finlay Dick (on neuro-toxicity) and Graham Devereux (asthma origins and diet) with me chipping in with something on the cardiac effects of air pollution. The Provost chaired the session on neuro- toxicity and the day finished with Anthony's valedictory lecture which, unsurprisingly, received a standing ovation. I think a number of people present didn't quite appreciate to what extent Anthony had contributed to medical science and public and occupational health across a very wide spectrum and this excellent day really brought that home. This was followed in the evening by a splendid dinner at the same venue. Anthony has hardly stopped talking about it since!

As I dictate this we are just about to embark on the final of these farewell celebrations, a joint retirement meeting for Anthony and Professor Sir Hugh Pennington. I am under no illusions as to the difficulty I am going to have in adequately filling Anthony's shoes and I am sure that Hugh's successor, whenever appointed, will be equally aware of the same sort of pressures. However, we are both at least in receipt of excellent departments both testaments to the hard work, determination and vision of these two huge figures - as ever, any department is only as good as the people who make it work! I am glad to say that Anthony plans to continue contributing to the fields he has graced for so long and we all look forward to continuing this collaboration. In the meantime, Anthony, have a long, happy and enjoyable retirement.

Other Staff news

Apart from Anthony's retirement departmental business has continued unabated. I am delighted to report that Dr Sean Semple was appointed as Lecturer in Occupational Hygiene to DEOM last week. Sean has been a major contributor to our department over the years in any case but it is splendid to have him on board in a permanent post. He will be continuing his close links with IOM and as we speak he is busy teaching the MSc in Occupational Hygiene course. He has a particularly strong contingent from Malaysia this year. We very much welcome all our MSc students to our midst.

And congratulations to Prof Pope and his colleagues from the Radiology Department who won the award for the best research presentation of the meeting at the European Spine meeting in Prague last week, work which focussed on the positional MRI scanner. In the week when two luminaries in the field of MRI were awarded the Nobel Prize this brings home the importance of this work, especially given that this particular piece of equipment is the only one of its type in Europe. So now to complete preparations for the visit of the University's Principal to the department towards the end of October - a grand chance to explain to him our plans for the future.

Library news

Finlay Dick writes,

Library purchases are now dealt with by the theme library representative (Dr Edwin van Teilingen) and not by departmental library representatives. We await further information as to the operation of the new scheme but in the interim please continue to submit requests for new material to the Departmental Library Representative. Any recommendations will then be passed on to the Theme Library representative for consideration. Further details from Finlay Dick

Departmental meetings

The timetable for the autumn meetings is listed below. The meetings take place on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays to accommodate work commitments. The lunchtime (12.30pm) meetings continue with the following presentations:

Autumn term

23rd October Dr Paul Brereton (HSE) Whole body vibration directives
4th November Dr Smita Dick. Occupational categories at risk for Parkinson's disease
19th November Dr Lisa Iversen. The respiratory health in Scotland survey.
2nd December Dr Mariane Magnusson. Bad and good vibrations
17th December Jennie MacDiarmid. TBC

International Society of Exposure Analysis conference

The 13th Annual Conference of the International Society of Exposure Analysis was held in Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Italy from September 21-25th. The conference was attended by John Cherrie, Sean Semple and Nachaat Tahmaz. ISEA has in recent years been moving from being populated almost exclusively by those involved in specific environmental exposure analyses to a wider collection of scientists and policymakers involved in both environmental and occupational exposure assessment. The conference was well attended with in excess of 300 delegates from throughout Europe, the USA, and as far a field as Korea and Peru.

Sessions included biological monitoring of exposure, dermal exposure and modelling, food safety and population exposure to chemicals. There was particular active interest in the use of uncertainty analysis and probabilistic models using Monte Carlo modelling to help move policy makers from worst-case assumptions to more realistic representations of exposure from multiple sources and routes. The session on ingestion exposure provided Nachaat Tahmaz to present some of his PhD work on a model for assessing non-intentional ingestion exposure. John Cherrie presented a paper titled: 'What exposure data do we need for chemical risk assessment'. One of the key conference sessions was a workshop on Exposure Terminology where there was a very useful exchange on the language used to describe surface loading, concentration and uptake. ISEA hopes to publish a glossary and to encourage all papers submitted to the journal to use standardised terminology.

New Students

The M.Sc. courses in Occupational Hygiene and Ergonomics have five students this year. We extend a warm welcome to Azizin Zainudin, Mohd Robi Mohd Mor, Rina Cheong Ronaldin and Norhazlina Mydin from Petronas, Malaysia who are undertaking the Occupational Hygiene masters. We also welcome Caroline Paterson from OHSAS who is enrolled in the M.Sc. ergonomics programme.

Cardiac and air pollution project update

Cardiac disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the UK. This study is designed to study the associations between exposure to particles and NO2, alterations in cardiac rhythm and coagulation factors in 100 patients recruited with stable heart failure. The recruitment of the study subjects started in January 2003 and we are nine months into the study. The study involves follow-up of each subject for a three-day period every eight weeks for six occasions. This involves home visits to complete questionnaires, activity diaries for the three-day period, recording a 24-hour cardiograph using a Holter monitor and obtaining blood samples for the various blood tests. We have been successful in enrolling seventy-two subjects into the study who are at various stages of completion of the six blocks. Our first subject will finish all six blocks in November 2003. Progress is excellent thanks to the co-operation of the subjects and the efforts of the project team.

Diving team news

diving team

Lung function testing (gas transfer)

The ELTHI diving study is nearing completion and a preliminary report of the results has been submitted to HSE. The work was in divided in to two parts. Part 1 was a questionnaire survey with questionnaires sent to 2729 divers and 2515 offshore workers. The study received a response from1525 (56%) divers and 1284 (51%) offshore workers. Part 2 involved a clinical examination of a random sample of 354 people from Part 1. This examination included a medical, a brain scan and tests of memory, hearing, lung function and balance.

Results are still being fully analysed but from the first part of the study the team made the following findings. In terms of lifestyles the average age of the people who took part in the study was 45 years old. Some 2% of divers and 1% of offshore workers were teetotal. However a fifth of the sample binge drank alcohol more than 10 times a month. Over half the sample had smoked at some point in their life. One fifth of divers and a third of offshore workers were smoking at the time of the study. In terms of work experience almost half the divers and offshore workers had worked as a diver or offshore for more than 15 years. More divers than offshore workers reported a 3-day lost time accident at work while a third of divers had suffered from decompression illness at work. A total of 17% of divers and 9% of offshore workers reported having had a head injury. The study also found that a quarter of divers but only 5% of offshore workers had worked as welders. The questionnaire also found that more divers than offshore workers complained of memory or concentration problems and this is an issue that the team are continuing to investigate..

Recent publications and presentations

Sunyer J, Ballester F, Le Tertre A, Atkinson R, Ayres JG, Forastiere F, Forsberg B, Tenías JM, Medina S, Schwartz J, Katsouyanni K. The association of daily values of sulfur dioxide in hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases in Europe (The APHEA-II study). Eur Heart J 2003;24:752-60.

Harrison RM, Evans DE, Ayres JG Generation and characterisation of sub-micrometre elemental carbon aerosol for human challenge studies. J Aerosol Sci 2003;34:1023-41.

Lim AYH, Chambers DC, Ayres JG, Stableforth DE, Honeybourne D. Exhaled nitric oxide in icystic fibrosis patients with allergic bronchopulmonaory aspergillosis. Respir Med 2003;97331.6

Ayres JG, Price M, Efthimiou J. Cost effectiveness of fluticasone propionate the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Respir Med 2003;97:212.20.

Palmer KT, Poole J, Ayres JG, Mann J, Burge PS, Coggon D. Exposure to metal fume and infectious pneumonia. Amer J Edpiemiol 2003:157:227-33.

McLeod K, Pope MH, Fritton J, Magnusson ML, Hansson T, Rubin C. Transmissibility of 15-35Hz floor vibrations to the human hip and lumbar spine. Accepted by Spine April 2003.

Rubin C, Pope MH, Fritton JC, Magnusson ML, Hansson T, McLEod K. Transmissibility of 15-35 Hz vibrations to the human hip and lumbar spine: Determining the physiologic feasibility of delivering low-level, anabolic mechanical stimuli to skeletal regions at greatest risk of fracture due to osteoporosis. Accepted by Spine, 2003.

Inaugural lecture of Professor Ken Donaldson

The inaugural lecture of Professor Ken Donaldson at the University of Edinburgh takes place on the 21st October. Professor Donaldson has worked closely with many members of staff at DEOM and IOM on projects studying the effects of air pollution on health. His lecture 'Every breath you take: particles and lung disease' is at 5.15pm in the Anatomy lecture theatre in the medical school, Teviot Place, Edinburgh.

HSE proposes new system for occupational exposure limits

The HSE has produced a consultative document on their plans to introduce a new system for occupational exposure limits (OELs). Currently the COSHH Regulations use two types of OEL: occupational exposure standards and maximum exposure limits. These limits impose different requirements on employers. Research has shown that only a very small percentage of firms understand the difference between these types of limits. HSE proposes to replace OESs and MELs with a single type of OEL, to be called a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). This will impose a single duty on employers – the amount of a chemical in their workplace air must not exceed the WEL.

The consultation document is available on HSE's website by clicking here. HSE welcomes input and comments should be made by 31st December 2003.

Other news

John Cherrie has joined the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh as director of the newly formed Special Projects division. John will continue to contribute to the work of DEOM through his close links via HERA and as an honorary Reader in Occupational Hygiene.

We are delighted to have two new recruits to DEOM. Christianne Sinclair Pflanz is a research nurse and has joined the Cardiac project working with Smita Dick. Christianne has just completed her M.Sc. Leoni Craig has joined the asthma project team as a research assistant. Leoni will continue the work carried out by Sheelagh Martindale who has left us to become a lecturer in nursing at RGIT. We wish Sheelagh every success in her new job. Heather Mackay has taken on an increased work load. She now spends a full day helping with the asthma project and now works at DEOM three days a week.