Diagnosis
An imperforate hymen is most often diagnosed in adolescent girls after the age of menarche with otherwise normal development. In adolescent girls of menarcheal age, the typical presentation of the condition is amennorhea and cyclic pelvic pain, indicative of hematocolpos secondary to vaginal obstruction. An imperforate hymen is usually visible on vaginal inspection as a bulging blue membrane. If hematocolpos is present, a mass is often palpable on abdominal or rectal examination. The diagnosis of an imperforate hymen is usually made based purely on the physical exam, although if necessary the diagnosis can be confirmed by transabdominal, transperineal or transrectal ultrasound.An imperforate hymen can also be diagnosed in newborn babies and it is occasionally detected on ultrasound scans of the foetus during pregnancy. In newborns the diagnosis is based on the findings of an abdominal or pelvic mass or a bulging hymen. Examination of the normal neonatal vagina usually reveals a track of mucus at the posterior commissure of the labia majora; an absence of mucus may indicate an imperforate hymen or another vaginal obstruction.A similar condition, cribriform hymen, is diagnosed when the hymen contains many minute openings. Management
Before surgical intervention in adolescents, symptoms can be relieved by the combined oral contraceptive pill taken continuously to suppress the menstrual cycle or NSAIDs to relieve pain. Surgical treatment of the imperforate hymen by hymenotomy typically involves making cruciate incisions of the hymen, excising segments of hymen from their bases, and draining the vaginal canal and uterus.
Many textile mills and fiber producing factories located in LMICs have high rates of chronic respiratory disease caused by byssinosis.The term "brown lung" is a misnomer, as the lungs of affected individuals are not brown. Byssinosis is also referred to as cotton workers lung, mill fever, brown lung disease, and Monday fever. History
In 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) set a permissible exposure limit (PEL) of  1-mg/m3 (total dust) for cotton dust in work places. Later in the 1978 OSHA developed the Cotton Dust Standard which aimed to prevent occupational respiratory disease, such as byssinosis, through medical monitoring of employees. The PEL of cotton dust was set to 0.2 mg/m3 of airborne dust. This was considered the lowest level that could be measured by the vertical elutriator cotton dust sampler.OSHA regulators hoped that the Cotton Dust Standard Act would help decrease the impact of dust exposure of employees and reduce occupational respiratory diseases. However, a NISOH sponsored committee remained apprehensive about this standard as an earlier study conducted by NIOSH found that byssinosis diagnoses were brought on by cotton dust levels as low as 0.1 mg/m3 meaning that there is still a risk for the development of byssinosis for cotton dust exposure under the PEL. Today, NIOSH has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of cotton dust to less than 0.2 mg/m3 for up to a 10-hour workday. Symptoms
Symptoms of byssinosis can include:
Cough with sputum
Dyspnea
Breathing difficulties
Chest tightness
Wheezing
CoughPatients can develop these symptoms after a few hours of exposure at minimum.