摘要:

&NA;Readers are invited to submit letters for publication in this department. Submit to Doris Flournoy, Executive Editor, Journal of Occupational Medicine, 150 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606. Letters should be typewritten, double spaced and should be designated “For Publication.”

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;A morbidity and mortality study of workers at an alcohol manufacturing plant which included several weak acid isopropyl alcohol units and a strong acid ethanol unit is described. An excess mortality of upper respiratory cancer was found and associated with work on the strong acid ethanol unit. The strong acid ethanol process used resulted in high concentrations of diethyl sulfate, which has been shown to be carcinogenic in animals, and the unit, which closed in 1975, had significant opportunities for worker exposure to diethyl sulfate. These facts, plus previous reports of excess upper respiratory cancer on strong acid isopropyl alcohol units with similarly high concentrations of the animal carcinogen diisopropyl sulfate, lead to the tentative conclusion that diethyl sulfate was primarily responsible for the ethanol unit cancer cases. In the modern weak acid isopropyl alcohol plants, where only trace amounts of diisopropyl sulfate are present and exposures are much lower, the problems found on the old strong acid units do not exist.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;This study was carried out to determine whether respiratory disease in Saskatchewan grainhandlers was or was not due to hypersensitivity to grain dust. Sixty nonsmoking grainhandlers, half of whom had low FEV1/FVC ratios and half of whom had high, were studied. The findings in grainhandlers were compared with those in 30 age‐matched, nonsmoking teachers. In the group of grainhandlers with low FEV1/FVC ratios, one had developed asthma associated with exposure to grain dust. The majority were healthy, had FEV1/FVC ratios of 70% or greater, and had less evidence of allergic respiratory disease than had agematched teachers. The studies suggest that non‐atopic, nonsmoking men can work in grain elevators without developing respiratory disability, though they may develop a small but significant increase in nonspecific bronchial reactivity to histamine.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;The lung cancer mortality of 5406 men (cohort 1) employed at one aluminum smelter on January 1, 1950, and of 485 men employed at a second plant (cohort 2) on January 1, 1951, is reported. For each man, the total number of years of exposure to tars, number of years since first exposure to tars and an index of exposure to tars expressed in tar‐years were calculated.More than 99% of the men in the first cohort and just less than 98% of the men in the second cohort were traced. As of December 31, 1973, 1070 men in cohort 1 had died and death certificates were obtained for 990 men (92.5%). As of December 31, 1973, 64 men in cohort 2 had died and death certificates were obtained for 58 (91%). There were 84 deaths from lung cancer in cohort 1 and 11 in cohort 2. The results showed that the mortality from lung cancer of that portion of the cohorts 1 and 2 combined who had ever been exposed to tars was similar to that of workers never exposed to tars. The mortality from lung cancer of men in cohort 1 was greater than that expected at Quebec provincial rates, but this was probably due to slightly increased lung cancer mortality in the communities serving the industries. Although the total number of cases in cohort 2 was small the lung cancer mortality was well in excess of that expected at Quebec rates and could not be explained on community experience.There was a definite dose‐response relationship between lung cancer mortality and tar‐years and years of exposure. The standardized mortality ratio for persons exposed for more than 21 years to the higher levels of tars was 2.3 times that of persons not exposed to tars. Although smoking may still be a factor, the evidence suggests that the increased risk of lung cancer is related to employment in definite tar‐exposed occupations.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;Three workers with TDI hypersensitivity were evaluated for IgE antibodies to TDI over a period of 13 months. A radioallergosorbent test (RAST) system was employed using p‐tolyl(mono)isocyanate‐human serum albumin antigen covalently bound to cyanogen bromide‐activated paper discs. IgE antibody titers were consistently elevated in two individuals who experienced several bronchial hypersensitivity responses to TDI during the study period. The responses were either solely asthmatic or asthmatic accompanied by cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions. By contrast, antibody titers in a third subject who had not experienced any hypersensitivity reactions during the study period continually decreased, falling to insignificant levels after 12 months. In the absence of renewed TDI exposure, sensitive workers may have titers indistinguishable from those of workers exposed to TDI but without sensitivity to the chemical.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;Although acute effects from exposure to SO2have frequently been observed at low levels in acute exposure experimental studies, it was not known whether or not such effects occur among workers chronically exposed at ranges of 0.3 to 4 ppm of SO2. Measurements of FVC, FEV1, FEF50, FEF75and FEF50‐75, and closing volume were made before and after the workshift for copper smelter workers and controls. Sputum samples for cytological examination were collected. Mean FEV1and FVC were significantly decreased during a day's work in the smelter. Significantly more smelter workers had a decrease in FEV1and FEF50during the day than did controls. More of the smelter workers felt “chest tightness.” No change in closing volumes was seen. Smelter workers tended to have a higher percentage of sputum samples with moderate and marked atypia than did controls but the difference was not statistically significant.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;Although health workers are continually concerned about the effects of various medications on the public and especially on employees at work, there have been almost no studies reported which have indicated any relationship between medication taken and industrial accidents. A series of 115 consecutive employees reporting accidents to the DRG Health Center were interviewed as to medication taken in the previous 24 hours. A control group of another 115 employees were also interviewed. We found no difference in the two groups related to medication taken and thus there does not appear to be a direct relationship between medication ingestion and accident rate within this industry.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

&NA;Survival status of 1205 men employed for more than five years in a Canadian oil refinery in East Montreal, from 1928 through 1976, was assessed and death certificates were reviewed. Expected numbers of deaths were estimated based upon age‐ and cause‐specific death rates for the Province of Quebec applied to person‐years at work. Oil refinery workers showed a standard mortality ratio lower than expected for all causes of death (SMR = 78.43). Three cancers of the brain were found among young people who died less than 20 years since start of exposure. This was statistically higher than expected. Cancers of the digestive system, though not significantly higher than expected, remained suspect of being associated with work. There is a need to expand this research to other oil refinery workers.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1979

数据来源: OVID