http://www.physician.ro A Romanian occupational physician's perspective Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:02:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It’s pretty easy to notice while browsing on the internet that one of the best known occupational diseases is mesothelioma, the cancer of the pleura or the peritoneum, caused in most cases by asbestos exposure, in occupational or environmental settings. Mesothelioma has become a main target for law firms in the ... http://www.physician.ro/occupational-diseases/mesothelioma-most-famous-occupational-disease-on-the-internet/ Overall population: France has 3 times more inhabitants than Romania (62 millions compared to 21 millions) Working population: France has 4 times more workers than Romania (16 millions compared to about 4 millions) – possible explanation: several millions of young/middle age Romanians went to work abroad in the last 15 years Occupational ... http://www.physician.ro/general/comparison-between-the-french-and-the-romanian-occupational-medicine-system/ Recently, as I was reading Joseph LaDou’s book titled “Current occupational and environmental medicine”, I was struck by the similarities between the situation in the US described and the situation of occupational medicine practice in Romania. In absence of laws to the contrary, industry continues to hire the most compliant and ... http://www.physician.ro/general/training-in-occupational-medicine/ During the years following the graduation of the medical school, I noticed that there is something very particular with the kind of medicine we’re practicing. Hypertension cannot be cured, but only controlled under medication; it’s the same with diabetes, asthma, and most other diseases, this is the limit of medical ... http://www.physician.ro/general/importance-of-prevention/ Hand-arm vibration syndrome, or vibration white finger, is a complex condition associated with vibration exposure and the use of hand-held vibrating tools. Symptoms include: white fingers sensory disturbances reduced hand dexterity diminished grip strenght Additional symptoms: cold intolerance wrist and hand pain muscle cramps Vibration exposure has a cummulative effect on both vessels and nerves. The diagnosis of hand-arm vibration syndrome ... http://www.physician.ro/occupational-diseases/hand-arm-vibration-syndrome/ Romania, a former Communist country (1948-1989), joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. For this purpose, it completed a process of harmonizing the entire legislation on occupational health and safety with that of the European Union, but the application of this legislation in practice lags well behind. It is said ... http://www.physician.ro/general/aspects-of-occupational-health-and-safety-in-romania/ In this post, I’ll highlight just a few aspects of this occupational disease. Legislation In Romania, the health and safety aspects of occupational exposure to noise is regulated by Government’s Decision no.493, issued 12 April 2006 (link), which accurately translates Directive 2003/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 ... http://www.physician.ro/occupational-diseases/noise-induced-hearing-loss/ Estimate of occupational cancer rate Currently, the best estimate of the proportion of cancer deaths due to occupational exposures over the last few decades is 4%, with an associated uncertainty range of 2% to 8%, based on an estimate by Doll and Peto in 1981 in a report to the US ... http://www.physician.ro/general/occupational-cancer-in-romania/ A case I just saw, quite impressive from a medical point of view: A 35-year old man presented with abdominal colicative pain with acute onset, at his workplace, one hour after starting the night shift. At hospital presentation, about 30 hours later, the pain not only persisted but increased in intensity ... http://www.physician.ro/occupational-diseases/case-report-subacute-lead-poisoning/ It's blogging time! I have some experience in the past with webmastering, published a few websites, but never tried blogging. This website will testimony some of my web ramblings, gathering here some of the best online resources I stumble upon, spiced up with short articles on the theory and ... http://www.physician.ro/general/hello-world/