Polish journal of occupational medicine最新文献

The effect of exposure to particular xylene isomers at a concentration of 3000 ppm on rotarod performance in rats and the respiratory rate in mice was investigated. Rotarod performance was tested in rats immediately after termination of a 6-hour exposure, and the respiratory rate in mice was recorded during a short 6 minute exposure to individual xylene isomers. In both rats and mice the toxic effects of exposure to ortho- and meta-xylene were more pronounced than that of para-xylene.

Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an experimentally well documented mutagen and carcinogen both in vitro and in vivo test systems, and also in humans. It is biotransformed to alkylating metabolites, but also at its manufacture stages includes potent alkylating intermediates. The highest potential exposure during manufacture, detected by chemical analysis of air samples, was found to occur during specific operations at the end of the process, when airborne concentrations of CP may rise up to several hundred micrograms/m3. Mutagenicity measurements of air samples at the beginning of the process revealed direct mutagenicity similar to the CP intermediates. The workers were using supplied air masks, gloves and protective clothing, and no responses in urinary mutagenicity were detected when after-work and after-holiday samples were compared. Also, the cytogenetic parameters such as chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), did not differ in frequency between the group of workers in the CP production unit and the control group from other units of the same factory.

Cholinesterase (ChE) activity in blood and brain as well as the hippocampal and cortical EEG were investigated in rabbits exposed once a day for a period of two weeks to an organophosphate insecticide, chlorphenvinphos (CVP). The daily dose of CVP was 14.0 mg/kg i.p. ChE activity in plasma and erythrocytes decreased by 60 and 48%, respectively, by the end of exposure and returned to the preexposure level within 35 days. In the exposed animals, killed and dissected a day after, the ChE activity in blood had been found normal, the level of ChE activity in some parts of the brain was still significantly depressed. The spontaneous hippocampal EEG showed no changes as soon as 24 hours after the exposure. However, after a period sufficiently long for the normalization of ChE activity in blood, the hippocampal arousal response (theta rhythm) to click and to a tone associated with pain was found heightened in the exposed rabbits. Moreover, spectral analysis of 5 minute EEG samples revealed a decrease in the content of 7-13 Hz activity in the cortex of the exposed animals as compared to the control ones. The obtained data suggest that exposure to CVP may lead to functional changes in the brain outlasting the period of ChE depression.

A personal passive dosimeter of the permeation type has been constructed for sampling organic gases and vapours in breathing zone air. In the dosimeter, paper coated with silicone rubber serves as a permeation membrane. The device has been calibrated for 14 organic substances. The experimentally determined sampling rate values for investigated compounds were independent of face air velocity and in almost all cases of compounds' concentration in the air. No difference between sampling rates for single compounds and their mixtures has been observed.

The relationship between the level of occupational exposure to different noxious factors and the health consequences of these in exposed populations is discussed using cadmium, lead, carbon disulphide and vinyl chloride as examples of occupational pollutants. The legal status and organizational system of monitoring the exposure to occupational pollutants and health effects in Poland are presented. The scope and sources of data on the occupational exposure level as well as the register of occupational diseases are evaluated.

The tissue distribution and binding of 14C activity were studied at different time intervals following a single oral administration of 1,3,5[U14C]-trioxane (14C-TOX) (40 mg/kg: 1.6 MBq/kg) to pregnant rats. Animals were killed on the 21st day of gestation 3, 24, or 48 hours after administration of TOX. In maternal rats, 3 hours after administration, the highest levels of total radioactivity were found in the liver and plasma, followed by a slow, gradual decline with time. The level of 14C-activity in the whole fetus was comparable to that of the maternal kidney through the study. The radioactivity in the fetal kidney and liver at the end of 48 hours after single administration was higher than at 3 hours after administration. Slow decline in radioactivity was observed with time in the fetal brain, skin and carcass. However, after 48 hours the level of total radioactivity in the fetal kidney and brain was more than twice as high as in the corresponding maternal organs. Three hours following 14C-TOX administration 35-41% of the respective total 14C radioactivity in maternal liver and kidney was firmly bound to the macromolecules, while the fetal liver and kidney showed 100-72% binding with respect to their total radioactivity.

This work focuses on main aspects of a proposed system of chemical safety in Poland. General principles have been formulated, including theoretical guidelines, definitions and functions. Additionally, organizational and legislative structures have been proposed. A basic principal of the system says that each activity related to the application of chemical compounds creates a risk of adverse health and environmental effects. According to the definition adopted, chemical safety means such levels of chemical compounds in the environment, coming from various sources, which ensure that the risk of adverse health effects and other negative effects will not surpass socially acceptable levels. The chemical safety system is aimed at preventing and limiting the risk of undesirable health and environmental effects from chemical compounds. It is proposed that the system be coordinated by the National Coordinating Committee on Chemical Safety. The most urgent task of the Committee would be to draft a law on human health protection against the harmful effects of chemical compounds.

All three branches of the federal government affect occupational medicine. Notable examples include: 1) the Department of Transportation ruling (1988) requiring drug testing in diverse areas of the transportation industry (executive branch); 2) the Workplace Drug Act (1988) calling for organizations to have a policy towards drug and alcohol abuse (legislative branch); and 3) the Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of drug testing in the transportation industry (1989) and that infectious diseases are a handicap in accordance with the 1973 Federal Rehabilitation Act (1987). The executive branch plays a major role in occupational medicine primarily through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which issues standards based on a rule making process; the executive branch can also affect occupational medicine indirectly, as evidenced by President Reagan's Executive Order 12291 calling for Office of Management and Budget oversight of regulatory initiatives. The legislative branch enacts laws, conducts hearings, and requests reports on the operations of federal agencies. The judicial branch addresses occupational health issues when people affected by an executive ruling want to challenge the ruling; or in the case of the Supreme Court, when deliberating an issue over which two circuit courts of appeal have come to divergent opinions. The Occupational Medicine profession can participate in the political process through awareness of proposed legislation and by responding accordingly with letters, resolutions, or testimony. Similar options exist within the executive branch by participating in the rule-making process. A representative of the Governmental Affairs Committee, through periodic visits with key Washington representatives, can keep members of the American College of Occupational Medicine informed about federal legislative and regulatory activities. In appropriate cases, the organization can then take a formal position on governmental activities that affect the speciality.

The authors present a review of literature showing that the variations in xenobiotic oxidation phenotype, in the presence of cytochromes P-450, may be responsible, to a certain extent, for the varied individual susceptibility to neoplasm induced by chemical carcinogens. The evidence collected revealed that in the human population, one may distinguish individuals with high cytochrome activity and those in whom this reaction is low or even absent.

The aim of the present study was to estimate the relationship between high-strain work and heart rate. The study was carried out in 23 managers from a big industrial plant. Evaluation of work demands and the ability to cope with them as regards mental difficulty, monotony, risk, responsibility, interpersonal conflicts and time pressure was regarded as an indicator of psychic workload. Heart rate (HR) was recorded according to the Holter method. Mean HRs were calculated for periods of work (HR work), outside work (HR home) and sleep (HR sleep). HR during work suggested the occurrence of substantial psychic load. This was supported by subjective evaluation, especially as regards responsibility, interpersonal conflicts, time pressure and mental difficulty. Work demands and the ability to cope with them could be regarded as the predictors of HR in all three periods of time considered, but especially during sleep. The prolonged influence of psychic workload on cardiovascular system reflects its intensity and may be the cause of the common occurrence of cardiovascular diseases in managerial staff.