摘要:

AbstractA group of 80 men employed in the glassblowing industry was studied in order to investigate the effect of this occupational exposure on respiratory function. Eighty nonexposed workers were included in the study as a control group. Glassblowers had a significantly higher prevalence of chronic bronchitis, nasal catarrh, chronic sinusitis, and nasal bleeding than control workers; length of employment in the industry did not affect the prevalence of symptoms. Many of the glassblowers complained of work shift related symptoms. Measurement of lung function among glassblowers showed there were significant increases in the forced vital capacity (FVC) and the maximum flow rates at 50% and 25% of FVC on maximum expiratory flow volume (MEFV) curves (FEF50, FEF25) across the work shift. Glassblowers had significantly larger preshift FVC and forced expiratory volume in 1‐second (FEV1) measurements when compared to controls. Additionally, residual volume (RV) and RV/TLC% for the glassblowers were significantly increased while the diffusing capacity (DLCO) was normal (when compared to predicted values). Our data indicate that employment in the glassblowing industry contributes to the development of chronic respiratory findings. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss,

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230602

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractReports of human exposure to 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD) describe signs and symptoms consistent with exposure‐related peripheral neuropathy. In a crosssectional study, prevalence of peripheral neuropathy was measured in 265 workers exposed 15 years earlier to chemicals contaminated with TCDD and in 244 unexposed, age‐, race‐, gender‐ and community‐matched comparisons. Cases of peripheral neuropathy were defined from examination, electrophysiologic and quantitative sensory tests, and symptoms. Exposure was assessed by measuring lipid‐adjusted serum TCDD levels. The mean serum TCDD level for workers (220 parts per trillion (ppt)) was significantly higher than for referents (7 ppt) (p<.0001). Thirty‐two percent of both worker and referent groups met the case definition for peripheral neuropathy. In the logistic regression analyses, serum TCDD level was not related to peripheral neuropathy. These data suggest that despite continued high serum TCDD levels, peripheral neuropathy is not a long‐term sequela of high exposure to TCDD‐contaminated chemicals. However, the study cannot preclude the occurrence and subsequent resolution of acute effects caused by high exposure, as experienced in Seveso and possibly by some workers, while exposed to high levels of TCDD‐contaminated substance

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230603

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractCircumscribed and diffuse pleural thickening (PT), the most common radiographic manifestations of asbestos‐related disease, have different pathogeneses, differential diagnostic criteria, and effects on pulmonary function. The important distinction between the two disorders is demonstrated by six patients in whom typical circumscribed PT was followed by diffuse PT in the same hemithorax. The diffuse PT came on 18–47 (mean 32.3) years after first exposure to asbestos. In four patients, clinically evident pleural effusions preceded the diffuse PT; the latter left all with moderate to severe restrictive ventilatory impairment.Patients with stable pleural plaques are at risk for diffuse PT and consequent greater ventilatory impairment, even though they are many years from first exposure to asbestos. © 1993 Wiley‐Lis

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230604

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe U.S. multiplant cohort mortality study of workers producing manufactured mineral fibers is finding increasing mortality from nephritis and/or nephrosis. We examine other data sets to see if similar effects can be identified.In a case‐referent study among Michigan patients with end‐stage renal disease (ESRD), men with exposures to silica have elevated odds ratio for ESRD.In a California occupational mortality study based on 1979–81 data, a number of the construction trades, farmers, and farm laborers show excess mortality for renal disease. The highest mortality ratio is found in the category including insulation workers. This ratio remains significantly elevated when adjusted for estimated exposures to smoking, alcohol, and for socio‐economic status. California mortality data from 20 years earlier (1959–61) fail to show much excess renal disease in construction workers, but do for farmers. In Singapore, granite workers with a long‐term exposure to silica have excess excretion of albumin and similar compounds compared to less exposed controls, leading to the presumption that silica exposure can lead to silica nephrotoxicity.Balkan nephropathy has been associated with consumption of well water high in silica. In the Negev of Israel, dust storms are a vehicle for increasing respiratory uptake of silica. The Beduin, thought to be a population with maximal exposures, have higher rates of ESRD than do Jews in the age groups over 60 years.Although high blood concentrations of silica are found in persons with renal failure, the close association with elevated creatinine has been interpreted as evidence that the buildup of silica is due to renal failure, rather than vice‐versa.The evidence is consistent with, but not yet compelling, that exposure to silica, which can be readily absorbed (or dissolved) from the lung, may increase the long‐term risk of renal disease including renal failure. © 1993

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230605

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractChanges in the dimensions of inhaled asbestos fibers in the lung and translocation of intrapulmonary asbestos fibers into mesothelial tissues were investigated in 17 baboons (5 exposed to amosite, 4 to chrysotile, 5 to crocidolite, and 3 unexposed). The animals received different cumulative doses of asbestos by inhalation, followed by varying recovery periods (0–69 months). All asbestos types induced pulmonary asbestosis with severity directly related to the cumulative dose. There were a larger number of asbestos bodies in the lung of the amphibole‐exposed animals than in those exposed to chrysotile. A tissue burden study, using transmission electron microscopy on 25‐μm paraffin sections, ashed in a low‐temperature asher, was performed. Intrapulmonary amosite fibers were shorter in geometric mean length compared with a standard amosite sample (UICC) (3.3 μm). In explanation, it was considered that long fibers might not be able to reach the lower respiratory tract and/or long fibers might be fragmented into shorter fibers. Further, in the amosite‐exposed group, the mean length of intrapulmonary fibers increased with the extension of recovery period, suggesting that shorter fibers had been cleared from the lung. The chrysotile standard sample (UICC) had a shorter geometric mean length (1.1 μm) than amosite. The mean length of intrapulmonary chrysotile did not noticeably change with the extension of inhalation and recovery periods; however, the mean width decreased with the extension of these periods. This finding strongly suggested that separation of thick chrysotile fibers had occurred in the lung. The crocidolite standard sample (Transvaal) had a shorter geometric mean length (1.4 μm) than amosite. The mean length of intrapulmonary crocidolite fibers increased with the extension of inhalation and recovery periods, suggesting that shorter fibers had been cleared from the lung during both the inhalation and recovery periods. There was no specific tendency of size distribution among four distinct interstitial locations (peribronchiolar, alveolar septal, subpleural, and interlobular connective tissue) within the same lung exposed to either amosite, chrysotile or crocidolite. In four animals, malignant mesothelioma developed in the pleura (2 amosite and 1 UICC crocidolite) and the peritoneum (1 UICC crocidolite). Asbestos fibers were found in the mesotheliomas. Their size distribution in mesotheliomatous tissue and lung was not significantly different in two animals, but the fibers were shorter and thinner in another two. The presence of fibers in the neoplasms was confirmed, and translocation of fibers from the lung into the pleura or the peritoneum was strongly suggested. © 1993 W

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230606

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractExposure patterns are reported for manufacturing and sprayer cohorts incorporated in the “IARC International Register of Workers exposed to Phenoxy Herbicides and Contaminants.” Information was based on company questionnaires, company reports, plant visits, and serum 2,3,7,8‐TCDD measurements. In addition to phenoxy herbicides and chlorophenols, workers in manufacturing plants may have been exposed to raw materials, process chemicals, other agents synthesized or formulated, and impurities of all these agents. Sprayers also had a complex exposure pattern, including phenoxy herbicides and some other pesticides, their carriers and additives, and residues of chemicals formed during manufacture. Occurrence of agents, including dioxins, varied between countries. Biological monitoring and industrial hygiene data were rarely available, most since the late 1970s. Exposure of workers depended mainly on the jobs they performed, but several factors influenced level of exposure. A quantitative exposure classification is not feasible in this study. Semiquantitative exposure estimates may be derived through a critical interpretation of biological monitoring and industrial hygiene data together with individual work histories. © 1993 Wiley‐L

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230607

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe mortality experience of firefighters has been an active topic of investigation. Collateral toxicological evidence suggests that certain causes of death are likely to be associated with firefighting: lung cancer, heart disease, and obstructive pulmonary disease. To date there has not been a clear and consistent demonstration of excess risk due to occupational exposure for these outcomes, but certain other cancers, including genitourinary, colon and rectum, and leukemias, lymphomas, and myeloma, appear to be consistently elevated. A major unproven hypothesis is that risk increased following the introduction, in the 1950s, of combustible plastic furnishing and building materials known to generate toxic combustion products. Mortality by cause of death was examined for two cohorts totalling 3,328 firefighters active from 1927 to 1987 in Edmonton and Calgary, the two major urban centers in the province of Alberta, Canada, examining associations with cohort (before and after the 1950s) and years of service weighted by exposure opportunity. The study attained 96% follow‐up of vital status and over 64,983 person‐years of observation, yielding 370 deaths. Mortality from all causes was close to the expected standardized mortality ratio (96; 95% confidence limits (CL) 87, 107) as was that for heart disease (110; 95% CL 92, 131), and neither was statistically significant at the p<0.05 level (N.S.). Excesses were observed for all malignant neoplasms (127; 95% CL 102, 155, p<0.05) and for cancer of lung (142; 95% CL 91, 211, N.S.), bladder (315; 95% CL 86, 808, N.S.), kidney and ureter (414; 95% CL 166, 853, p<0.05), colon and rectum (161; 95% CL 88, 271, N.S.), pancreas (155; 95% CL 50, 362, N.S.) and leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma (127; 95% CL 233, N.S.); obstructive pulmonary diseases (157; 95% CL 79, 281, N.S.). Fire‐related causes showed a marked excess (486; 95% CL 233, 895, p<0.01), but external causes overall showed a marked excess (486; 95% CL 233, 895, p<0.01), but external causes overall showed a significant deficit (66; 95% CL 49, 87, p<0.05). The lung cancer excess was confined to Edmonton; there was no consistent association with duration of employment, exposure opportunity, or cohort of entry (before or after the 1950s) except that the highest risk was observed among Edmonton firefighters with over 35 weighted years. The excess of cancers of the urinary tract was observed mostly among firefighters entering service after 1950, appeared to increase with length of service and exposure opportunity, and was observed in both cities. An occupational association with heart disease and chronic pulmonary disease is not supported in this study on this population. An effect on lung cancer is not obvious, but may be present in the highest exposure group; a weak effect for lung cancer confounded by stronger effects cannot be ruled out. Associations of firefighting with cancers at genitourinary sites and with fire‐related injury are strongly suggested in this population. © 1993 Wiley

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230608

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230609

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230610

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230611

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY