International archives of occupational and environmental health
-
Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1997
Risk of spontaneous abortion and maternal exposure to organic solvents in the shoe industry.
A high risk of spontaneous abortion was observed in women exposed to organic solvents during pregnancy. Since this risk was not found in the shoe industry, where these solvents are widely used, we carried out a case-control study on the risk of spontaneous abortion in a health district (Veneto, Northern Italy) where about 8,000 people work in shoe manufacturing. Aliphatic hydrocarbons were generally used; their concentrations were repeatedly below the mixture TLVs in the observation period. ⋯ Our results support the hypothesis that spontaneous abortion may be an adverse effect of exposure to high levels of organic aliphatic solvents in women employed in shoe manufacture.
-
Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1996
Urinary malondialdehyde and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine as potential markers of oxidative stress in industrial art glass workers.
Previous epidemiological studies have indicated that industrial art glass workers have increased mortality risks for certain types of cancer and for cardio- and cerebrovascular disease. To test the hypothesis that increased oxidative stress might contribute to these increased mortality risks, the urinary levels of the lipid peroxidation product, malondialdehyde (MDA), and the oxidative DNA adduct, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8OHdG) were determined in 343 workers (230 men and 113 women) from the art glass industry in the southeast of Sweden. ⋯ The findings indicate that (a) exposure to industrial art glass work per se does not cause any major oxidative stress as measured by urinary levels of MDA and 8OHdG, (b) the effects from smoking per se are limited to increased lipid peroxidation among men, and (c) joint exposure to industrial art glass work and smoking may cause increased lipid peroxidation among men and increased DNA hydroxylation among both men and women. While these findings provide no evidence for increased oxidative stress due to industrial art glass work per se, the increased 8OHdG excretion, in workers who smoke may be associated with a higher risk of developing free radical-dependent degenerative diseases including cancer.
-
Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1992
Investigations on health hazards of chimney sweeps in Germany: results of a follow-up study.
Within the framework of a longitudinal study, 127 chimney sweeps from the area of Upper and Middle Franconia (Bavaria, Germany), who had participated in a first medical check-up in 1974, were offered follow-up examinations in 1990. Eighty-one subjects participated in these examinations; in addition individual occupational case histories and medical case histories were obtained for a further 15 and 35 chimney sweeps, respectively. Five test subjects had died before the evaluation deadline (August 15, 1990). ⋯ Taking into account important non-occupational hazards (alcohol and nicotine abuse) as possible causes of these changes and the lack of relevant occupational exposure to products of incineration over a number of years, none of these cases nor any of the other ascertained results could be considered likely to be causally related to occupational activities. Due to the small number of cases, an epidemiological risk evaluation did not seem useful. Comparison with the results of other chimney sweep studies published in the international literature is not helpful due to the differences in study design, the varying case frequencies, and the different conditions of exposure.
-
Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1992
Effects of noise on mental performance with regard to subjective noise sensitivity.
Objective and subjective effects of moderate levels of recorded traffic noise [Leq = 55 dB(A) and 75 dB(A)] on mental performance were studied in a laboratory setting. A total of 45 subjects (23 males and 22 females) were investigated with respect to subjective noise sensitivity (SNS). Four cognitive tasks were applied involving different psychological functions: Short-Term Memory (STM), Search and Memory 5 (SAM 5) (vigilance), Hidden Figures (HF) (spatial reasoning) and Mental Arithmetic (MA) (parallel processing). ⋯ SNS was the primary factor responsible for these differences. There were no significant differences between the groups in respect of the SAM 5 and HF tasks, under either quiet or noisy conditions. Annoyance while performing tasks under noisy conditions was regularly and significantly higher among subjects judged to be noise sensitive on Weinstein's scale, as compared with those judged to have low or moderate SNS.
-
Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1990
ReviewImportance of exposure to gaseous and particulate phase components of tobacco smoke in active and passive smokers.
The uptake of tobacco smoke constituents from gaseous and particulate phases of mainstream smoke (MS), inhaled by smokers, and of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), breathed in by non-smokers, was investigated in two experimental studies. Tobacco smoke uptake was quantified by measuring carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), nicotine and cotinine in plasma and urine and the data obtained were correlated with urinary excretion of thioethers and of mutagenic activity. An increase in all biochemical parameters was observed in smokers inhaling the complete MS of 24 cigarettes during 8 h, whereas only an increase in COHb and, to a minor degree, in urinary thioethers was found after smoking the gas phase of MS under similar conditions. ⋯ As shown by our results, the biomarkers most frequently used for uptake of tobacco smoke (nicotine and cotinine) indicate on the one hand the exposure to particulate phase constituents in smoking but on the other hand the exposure to gaseous phase constituents in passive smoking. Particle exposure during passive smoking seems to be low and a biomarker which indicates ETS particle exposure is as yet not available. These findings emphasize that risk extrapolations from active smoking to passive smoking which are based on cigarette equivalents or the use of one biomarker (e.g. cotinine) might be misleading.