Objetivo The project is concerned with evaluating certain properties of mucus and of the mucociliary system as an important part of a possible model for preventing chronic bronchial obstruction. The primary objective is to evaluate the possible relationships between the parameters relating to mucociliary clearance and both specific occupational risks and workers' respiratory status.The survey will concern approximately 100 steel moulding and casting workers in a foundry and a similar-sized control group. The protocol provides for a series of surveys covering the working environment and the subjects; the environmental surveys will be conducted in the first and third years of the study whereas the tests on the subjects will be carried out each year during the three years of the project. Clearance and respiratory function will also be examined at the beginning and end of a shift in order to identify any acute effects. METHODS AND MEANS BY WHICH THE AIMS ARE TO BE ACHIEVEDIn the environmental survey, a number of pollutants (dust, silica, isocyanates, metals, oxides, etc.) will be identified and measured. The tests on subjects, which will begin with completion of the ECSC questionnaire, spirometry and chest X-rays, will focus on an examination of in-vivo nasal mucociliary clearance and ex-vivo mucociliary clearance on frog's palate and will also measure the viscoelasticity and spirability of the mucus itself. The mucous membrane of the upper palate of the frog can be used because it is covered with a vibrating epithelium, the morpho-functionality of which is very similar to that of man. Programa(s) ECSC-MEDRES 5C - Fifth medical research programme (ECSC) "Protection of workers against risks arising from work in the coal and steel industries", 1988-1992 Tema(s) Data not available Convocatoria de propuestas Data not available Régimen de financiación CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinador Community of Mediterranean Universities Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección Piazza Giulio Cesare 70124 Bari Italia Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos
