bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
High vascular tone but no obliterative lesions in vibration white fingers
Authors: Ekenvall Lena , Lindblad Lars Erik , Bevegård Sture , Etzell Britt‐Marie 
Published: April 2007

AbstractTo study if obliterative lesions in digital arteries are relevant as the pathogenic factor in vibration white finger, finger blood flow was measured in 15 subjects with advanced symptoms and in 15 controls by venous occlusion plethysmography before and after vasodilation. Before vasodilation, the subjects had lower temperature, blood flow, and peak blood flow after arterial occlusion in the fingers than did the controls, while venous tone was increased. In addition, after sympathicolysis, finger blood flow was lower in the study than in the control group, but there was no difference in peak blood flow after arterial occlusion or in venous tone. The results indicate that the subjects have a high vascular tone causing a reduction in blood flow during submaximal flow conditions. Obliterative organic lesions in finger arteries do not seem to be present, since the “maximal” flow values of the subjects are similar to those of the controls.
Problems in establishing norm values for nickel and chromium concentrations in human pulmonary tissue
Authors: Raithel H. J. , Ebner G. , Schaller K. H. , Schellmann B. , Valentin H. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractIn 15 random autopsies, nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) were determined quantitatively by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) in human lung tissue to evaluate norm values. None of the deceased persons had had an occupational exposure to Cr or Ni or their compounds. In all, 22 tissue samples were taken from each lung at specific topographical anatomical locations. The analytical procedure is described in detail.The results showed substantial variation in concentrations both within a single lung and also between individuals. Median values found were 204 ng/g for Cr and 25.6 ng/g for Ni. Topographical concentrations of Cr and Ni were 1.3–1.9 times higher in the upper lung areas.In view of the variability in metal concentration, analysis of only one part of lung tissue is not sufficient for determining the content of the entire lung.The evaluation of norm values is an important precondition for appraisal of Cr and Ni accumulation in human pulmonary tissue that may be due to occupational exposure.
Proportionate mortality ratio analysis of automobile mechanics and gasoline service station workers in New Hampshire
Authors: Schwartz Eugene 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA proportionate mortality ratio (PMR) analysis of all deaths recorded from 1975 to 1985 among New Hampshire white male residents (age 20 years or older) was performed using death certificate information. Among automobile mechanics, the analysis revealed increases in mortality from leukemia (PMR = 178, N = 6); cancers of the oral cavity (PMR = 163, N = 4), lung (PMR = 112, N = 36), bladder (PMR = 169, N = 5), rectum (PMR = 182, N = 4), and lymphatic tissues (PMR = 200, N = 6); and cirrhosis of the liver (PMR = 140, N = 13) and suicide (PMR = 177, N = 22; p < 0.05). Workers in the gasoline service station industry experienced a leukemia mortality excess (PMR = 328, N = 3; p < 0.05) as well as increases in deaths from suicide (PMR = 162, N = 4), emphysema (PMR = 245, N = 4), and mental and psychoneurotic conditions (PMR = 394, N = 3). These workers are potentially exposed to a variety of substances including gasoline vapor, benzene, solvents, lubricating oils and greases, and asbestos (from brake and clutch repair) as well as welding fumes and car and truck exhaust. Despite limitations regarding the small number of deaths and methodologic constraints, the results of this analysis suggest that one or more of the exposures experienced by these workers poses a significant carcinogenic risk. More definitive epidemiologic studies are required to determine if the leukemia excess is associated with exposure to benzene, gasoline, or other workplace substances.
Historic cohort study in montreal's fur industry
Authors: Guay Danielle , Siemiatycki Jack 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA historic cohort mortality study was carried out among two groups of male workers in the Montreal fur industry: 263 dressers and dyers and 599 fur garment manufacturers. The first group is exposed to a very wide variety of chemicals used in tanning, cleaning, and dyeing fur, including substances considered to be carcinogenic and/or mutagenic. The second group is exposed to residue from the dressing and dyeing stage and to respirable fur dust. The cohorts consisted of all active members of two unions as of January 1, 1966. The mean age of the workers was 43.2 and the mean number of years since first employment 14.1. The follow‐up period was from January 1, 1966, to December 31, 1981; 95% of the workers were successfully traced. Observed deaths were compared with those expected based on mortality rates of the population of metropolitan Montreal. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for the manufacturers were significantly low, probably because of the ethnic composition of the cohort and a healthy worker effect. SMRs for the dressers and dyers were also low, but not as low as for the manufacturers. When attention was restricted to the French Canadians in the cohort, the observed deaths were close to the expected; there was a noteworthy excess of colorectal cancer (four observed, 0.8 expected) for dressers and dyers. Apart from this weak suggestive evidence, the results did not indicate any excess mortality risks in the fur industry. However, because of the relatively small number of expected and observed deaths in the cohort and especially among the heavily exposed dressers and dyers, the confidence intervals around SMR estimates were wide and excess risks cannot be ruled out.
Assessing color vision loss among solvent‐exposed workers
Authors: Mergler Donna , Blain Lucie 
Published: April 2007

AbstractAcquired color vision loss has been associated with exposure to organic solvents in the workplace. However, not all tests of chromatic discrimination loss are designed to detect acquired, as opposed to congenital, loss. The Lanthony D‐15 desaturated panel (D‐15‐d), a simple 15 cap color arrangement test, designed to identify mild acquired dyschro‐matopsia, can be administered rapidly in the field, under standard conditions. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the D‐15‐d among 23 solvent‐exposed workers of a paint manufacturing plant, by comparing the results obtained with the D‐15‐d to those obtained with the Farnsworth‐Munsell 100 Hue (FM‐100), a highly sensitive measure of color vision loss. The D‐15‐d revealed a significantly higher prevalence of dyschromatopsia among the ten highly exposed workers (80%) as compared to the 13 moderately exposed workers (30.8%); FM‐100 results revealed one false positive. All dyschromatopic workers presented blue‐yellow loss; the FM‐100 detected eight complex patterns, while the D‐15‐d identified 5. Comparison of D‐15‐d and FM‐100 scores were highly correlated (corr. coeff. 0.87; p < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses showed both scores to be significantly related to age and exposure level. The findings of this study indicate that the D‐15‐d is an adequate instrument for field study batteries. However, the FM‐100 should be used for more detailed assessment.
Occupational Asthma From Inhaled Egg Protein
Authors: Smith Alexander Blair , Bernstein David I. , Aw Tar‐Ching , Gallagher Joan S. , London Matthew , Kopp Shelby , Carson George A. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractWe evaluated workers and performed an industrial hygiene assessment at a plant where raw eggs are processed into powdered egg yolk and whole egg. Egg dust levels in the packaging room straddled the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists' (ACGIH) exposure guideline of 10 mg/m3 for nuisance dust. We obtained medical histories from 25 workers, and performed physical examinations, spirometry, and serial determinations of peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) by portable meter every 3 hrs (while awake) for 7 days. We defined symptomatic bronchial lability to be a decrement in PEFR on any one day of 20% or more of the day's maximum, with concurrent symptoms. Skin‐prick tests and serum assays for specific IgE by the radioallergosorbent (RAST) method were performed to assess sensitivity to commercial egg proteins, egg protein fractions, and freshly prepared extracts of whole egg powder and yolk. We classified participants as definite cases of asthma if both the examining physician diagnosed asthma and symptomatic bronchial lability was demonstrated by serial PEFR determinations. Definite noncases of asthma were those participants in whom the physician did not diagnose asthma and in whom symptomatic bronchial lability was not demonstrated by PEFR. All five definite cases, compared to three of 16 definite noncases of asthma, had one or more positive skin‐prick tests to egg proteins. Four of five cases, compared to 0 of 14 noncases, who had serum determinations, had an elevated RAST to one or more of the egg proteins. This study demonstrates that occupational asthma associated with IgE‐mediated allergy to egg proteins occurs among workers exposed to inhaled egg proteins.
Trimellitic anhydride exposure in a 55‐gallon drum manufacturing plant: Clinical, immunologic, and industrial hygiene evaluation
Authors: Letz Gideon , Wugofski Lee , Cone James E. , Patterson Roy , Harris Kathleen E. , Grammer Leslie C. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractNine workers at a 55‐gallon drum manufacturing plant had history of exposure to a paint powder that contained trimellitic anhydride (TMA). Environmental monitoring revealed airborne levels of TMA to be over 100 times the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 0.04 mg/m3. The exposed workers were evaluated in a cross‐sectional study by questionnaire, physical examination, screening pulmonary function tests, serial peak expiratory flow rates (PEFR), and serum antibody levels. Four workers had symptoms consistent with TMA‐induced irritant effects. Three had symptoms and IgG levels consistent with TMA late respiratory systemic syndrome (LRSS). Two of these three had PEFR changes that showed significant drops (>20%) 12‐18 hours after the end of a work shift. The material safety data sheet for the paint powder failed to list TMA as an ingredient. Despite the well‐described toxic effects of TMA, the present study documents that TMA‐related illness may continue to be a problem in situations where workers and management are not properly notified of the potential hazards. The measurement of PEFR may be useful in identifying TMA‐exposed workers with LRSS.
Health experience of workers in the petroleum manufacturing and distribution industry: A review of the literature
Authors: Harrington J. Malcolm 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA review of 120 papers on the health effects on workers in the petroleum manufacturing and distribution industry revealed inconsistent results.A full report citing all these references was produced for CONCAWE (the oil companies' European organization for environmental and health protection) in March 1986. This paper summarizes the main findings and updates the review to February 1987.
This may be due in part to the variable quality of the epidemiological studies. There is, however, the consistent finding of a deficit for “all causes mortality” and for “all cancers mortality,” thus implying that a widespread serious health effect of gasoline exposure seems remote. For specific health effects, the possibility exists that occupational etiological factors may play a part in the pathogenesis of brain cancer and renal disease. The evidence for a link between occupational and other health effects is weak. Further work of better quality is necessary to investigate those diseases in which there remains a suspicion of an occupational etiology.
Agreement between qualitative exposure estimates and quantitative exposure measurements
Authors: Kromhout Hans , Oostendorp Yvette , Heederik Dick , Boleij Jan S. M. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA method for qualitative estimation of the exposure at task level was used and validated with actual measurements in five small factories. The results showed that occupational hygienists were in general the most successful estimators. Plant supervisors and workers handled the estimation method less successfully because of more misclassification of the tasks.The method resulted, in general, in a classification of tasks in four exposure categories ranging from no exposure to high exposure. The exposure categories correlated positively with mean concentrations, but showed overlapping exposure distributions. This resulted in misclassification of the exposure for individual workers when a relatively large interindividual variability in exposure levels within an exposure category was present.The results show that this method can be used for workplace exposure zoning, but that the usefulness of the estimates for epidemiological purposes is not clear‐cut and depends strongly on the actual exposure characteristics within a workplace.A combination of the qualitative exposure estimation method together with assessment of the exposure levels by measurements makes a rearrangement of tasks or individual workers possible and could improve the validity of this method for epidemiological purposes.
Mortality among workers in a shoe manufacturing company
Authors: Walrath Judy , Decouflé Pierre , Thomas Terry L. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractSeveral epidemiologic studies have suggested that leather workers have an elevated risk of bladder cancer, nasal cancer, and leukemia. A case‐control analysis of patient files at a large cancer treatment facility in New York State indicated that several bladder cancer patients had worked at a large shoe manufacturing company in upstate New York. A mortality study was initiated to determine whether there was an unusual cancer risk associated with employment in this facility. Because company records were not available, local newspaper obituaries were used to identify former company employees who died between 1960 and 1979. Proportionate mortality (PMR) analyses were conducted by using 4,734 death certificates and the general U.S. population for comparison. There were no excess deaths from nasal cancer or bladder cancer, and mortality from leukemia was slightly lower than expected. Increased relative frequencies of digestive cancers were seen among men and women. There were significant excesses of deaths from multiple myeloma among both men (PMR = 193) and women (PMR = 346).
Objectives for health monitoring and surveillance
Authors: Wegman David H. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractA properly designed respiratory disease monitoring and surveillance program for the effects of cotton dust uses tools similar to those used clinically but provides a different focus—the potential for disease prevention in individuals and the control of excess exposures in groups. Both surveillance and monitoring require the use of standard instruments (questionnaires and pulmonary function equipment) with careful attention to equipment calibration and standard methods for administering tests. Monitoring focuses on the individual to identify early evidence of disease and to detect those subjects who are susceptible even under usually well controlled exposure circumstances. Surveillance is successful when designed to collect information at regular intervals (based on type and level of exposure and previously measured response) and the results are interpreted according to reasonably rigorous criteria. A major additional component is the examination of surveillance results according to groups based on job, exposure, work tenure, and other risk factors (e.g., smoking).
Strategies for prevention of byssinosis
Authors: Jacobs Robert R. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractCotton dust is a heterogeneous mixture of plant parts and contaminants from the soil, weeds, and microorganisms. Research to control byssinosis has focused on methods to reduce the trash associated with harvested fiber and control the dust in the textile mill environment. Dust control has been effective in reducing the prevalence of byssinosis, but because cotton dust is a heterogeneous mixture of components, simple reduction in dust levels does not always assure the prevention of byssinosis. Research to identify the agents that cause byssinosis and development of methods to eliminate those agents from cotton is needed to prevent new cases of byssinosis.
Smoking habits of 800,000 American men and women in relation to their occupations
Authors: Stellman Steven D. , Boffetta Paolo , Garfinkel Lawrence 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe distribution of cigarette smoking (as well as of cigar and pipe smoking in men) by occupation was examined in over 800,000 men and women age 45–70 who were enrolled in the American Cancer Society's prospective study in 1982. Striking variations were seen for men—less striking variations for women. Smoking rates were significantly higher in groups exposed to a number of occupational hazards, compared to groups not so exposed. A considerable amount of variation is related to social class, but some individual occupations exhibit notably high (law enforcement) or low (clergy) smoking rates.This information can be quite useful in planning morbidity or mortality studies of specific occupational groups or in analyzing data from existing studies.
Direct methods of obtaining information on cigarette smoking in occupational studies
Authors: Marsh Gary M. , Sachs David P. L. , Callahan Catherine , Leviton Laura C. , Ricci Edmund , Henderson Vivian 
Published: April 2007

AbstractMany occupational epidemiology studies require complete and accurate information on tobacco use to control for confounding by smoking and to assess interactions of smoking with workplace exposures. This paper reviews and evaluates the availability, reliability, validity, and efficiency of the various data sources and techniques for obtaining individual smoking data, including existing records, biological markers, and surveys. Emphasis is placed on the highly problematic issue of obtaining retrospective smoking histories. In general, the survey technique is currently deemed the most feasible approach for obtaining lifetime smoking histories. Both theoretical and practical aspects of smoking surveys are discussed in detail and are illustrated with a review of the recent literature and with data from two recent retrospective cohort studies conducted at the University of Pittsburgh. Several recommendations involving both the use of smoking data and areas for future methodologic research are presented. These include (1) justification for collecting smoking data in occupational studies based primarily on the potential for smoking to act as an effect modifier rather than solely as a confounder, (2) checks for reliability and validity in all studies which involve the collection of smoking data, (3) more methodologic research to better understand the impact that missing, unreliable, and invalid smoking data may have on the ability to detect and quantify important smoking‐exposure interactions, and (4) an assessment of the correlation between biological markers and cigarette carcinogen exposure.
Biologic interactions between smoking and occupational exposures
Authors: Burns David M. , Froines John R. , Jarvik Murray E. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractCigarette smoking is a major cause of cancer and lung disease in the U.S. population. The biological processes that underlie the response of the lung to cigarette smoke are important considerations for designing analyses of the effects of occupational exposures. Interactions between cigarette smoking and occupational exposures may occur through a combined effect on the mechanism of disease production, through an effect on the dose of the toxic substances that reach the target issue, or through an effect on the response of the lung to the toxic agents. Disease due to occupational exposures can occur in a similar pattern in both smokers and nonsmokers; however, as more complex interactions are examined, different responses to the same occupational exposure may be identified for smokers and nonsmokers. It is only through the successful intermingling of biologic information with epidemiologic data that these interactions can be fully examined.
A retrospective cohort mortality study of males mining and milling attapulgite clay
Authors: Waxweiler Richard J. , Zumwalde Ralph D. , Ness Gregory O. , Brown David P. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractTo evaluate the possible health effects of occupational exposure to a nonasbestos mineral fiber, a cohort of 2,302 males employed for at least 1 month between 1940 and 1975 at an attapulgite (clay fiber) mining and milling facility was followed through 1975. A significant deficit of mortality (SMR = 43, 90% CI 23–76) from nonmalignant respiratory disease (NMRD) was observed for the cohort based on age‐, calendar year‐, and race‐specific rates for U.S. males. A marked deficit of NMRD was seen regardless of presumed dust exposure level, induction‐latency period, or duration employed. A statistically significant excess of mortality from lung cancer was observed among whites (SMR = 193, 90% CI 121–293), but a deficit occurred among nonwhites (SMR = 53, 90% CI 21–112). Lung cancer risk in either race was not altered substantially with presumed dust exposure level, induction‐latency period, or duration employed with one exception—those employed for at least 5 years in high‐exposure‐level jobs.
Estimation of the diesel exhaust exposures of railroad workers: I. Current exposures
Authors: Woskie Susan R. , Smith Thomas J. , Hammond S. Katharine , Schenker Marc B. , Garshick Eric , Speizer Frank E. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractAs a part of a series of epidemiological studies of railroad workers, measurements were made to characterize workers' exposures to diesel exhaust. Since diesel exhaust is not a single compound, an exposure marker was sought. The personal exposures to respirable particulate matter (RPM) of over 530 workers in 39 common jobs were measured in four U.S. railroads over a three‐year period. Significant amounts of cigarette smoke (20–90%) were found in many of these samples. Therefore, the respirable particulate concentration, adjusted to remove the fraction of cigarette smoke (ARP), was chosen as a marker of diesel exhaust exposures. The geometric mean exposures to ARP ranged from 17 μg/m3 for clerks to 134 μg/m3 for locomotive shop workers. Significant interrailroad variations were observed in some job groups indicating that the different facilities, equipment, and work practices found among the railroads can affect a worker's exposure to diesel exhaust. Climate was also found to have a significant effect on exposure in some job groups.
Estimation of the diesel exhaust exposures of railroad workers: II. National and historical exposures
Authors: Woskie Susan R. , Smith Thomas J. , Hammond S. Katharine , Schenker Marc B. , Garshick Eric , Speizer Frank E. 
Published: April 2007

AbstractThe diesel exhaust exposures of railroad workers in thirteen job groups from four railroads in the United States were used to estimate U.S. national average exposures with a linear statistical model which accounts for the significant variability in exposure caused by climate, the differences among railroads and the uneven distribution of railroad workers across climatic regions. Personal measurements of respirable particulate matter, adjusted to remove the contribution of cigarette smoke particles, were used as a marker for diesel exhaust. The estimated national means of adjusted respirable particulate matter (ARP) averaged 10 μg/m3 lower than the simple means for each job group, reflecting the climatic differences between the northern railroads studied and the distribution of railroad workers nationally. Limited historical records, including some industrial hygiene data, were used to evaluate past diesel exhaust exposures, which were estimated to be approximately constant from the 1950's to 1983.