PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A M Hansen

Publications and source records attributed to A M Hansen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Collection of domestic waste. Review of occupational health problems and their possible causes.

During the last decade, a growing interest in recycling of domestic waste has emerged, and action plans to increase the recycling of domestic waste have been agreed by many governments. A common feature of these plans is the implementation of new systems and equipment for the collection of domestic waste which has been separated at source. However, only limited information exists on possible occupational health problems related to such new systems. Occupational accidents are very frequent among waste collectors. Based on current knowledge, it appears that the risk factors should be considered as an integrated entity, i.e. technical factors (poor accessibility to the waste, design of equipment) may act in concert with high working rate, visual fatigue due to poor illumination and perhaps muscle fatigue due to high work load. Musculoskeletal problems are also common among waste collectors. A good deal of knowledge has accumulated on mechanical load on the spine and energetic load on the cardio-pulmonary system in relation to the handling of waste bags, bins, domestic containers and large containers. However, epidemiologic studies with exposure classification based on field measurement are needed, both to further identify high risk work conditions and to provide a detailed basis for the establishment of occupational exposure limits for mechanical and energetic load particularly in relation to pulling, pushing and tilting of containers. In 1975, an excess risk for chronic bronchitis was reported for waste collectors in Geneva (Rufèner-Press et al., 1975) and data from the Danish Registry of Occupational Accidents and Diseases also indicate an excess risk for pulmonary problems among waste collectors compared with the total work force. Surprisingly few measurements of potentially hazardous airborne exposures have been performed, and the causality of work-related pulmonary problems among waste collectors is unknown. Recent studies have indicated that implementation of some new waste collection systems may result in an increased risk of occupational health problems. High incidence rates of gastrointestinal problems, irritation of the eye and skin, and perhaps symptoms of organic dust toxic syndrome (influenza-like symptoms, cough, muscle pains, fever, fatigue, headache) have been reported among workers collecting the biodegradable fraction of domestic waste. The few data available on exposure to bio-aerosols and volatile compounds have indicated that these waste collectors may be simultaneously exposed to multiple agents such as dust containing bacteria, endotoxin, mould spores, glucans, volatile organic compounds, and diesel exhaust. Several studies have reported similar health problems as well as high incidence rates of pulmonary disease among workers at plants recycling domestic waste.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1995

Sorting and recycling of domestic waste. Review of occupational health problems and their possible causes.

In order to reduce the strain on the environment from the deposition of waste in landfills and combustion at incineration plants, several governments throughout the industrialized world have planned greatly increased recycling of domestic waste by the turn of the millennium. To implement the plans, new waste recycling facilities are to be built and the number of workers involved in waste sorting and recycling will increase steadily during the next decade. Several studies have reinforced the hypothesis that exposure to airborne microorganisms and the toxic products thereof are important factors causing a multitude of health problems among workers at waste sorting and recycling plants. Workers at transfer stations, landfills and incineration plants may experience an increased risk of pulmonary disorders and gastrointestinal problems. High concentrations of total airborne dust, bacteria, faecal coliform bacteria and fungal spores have been reported. The concentrations are considered to be sufficiently high to cause adverse health effects. In addition, a high incidence of lower back injuries, probably due to heavy lifting during work, has been reported among workers at landfills and incineration plants. Workers involved in manual sorting of unseparated domestic waste, as well as workers at compost plants experience more or less frequent symptoms of organic dust toxic syndrome (ODTS) (cough, chest-tightness, dyspnoea, influenza-like symptoms such as chills, fever, muscle ache, joint pain, fatigue and headache), gastrointestinal problems such as nausea and diarrhoea, irritation of the skin, eye and mucous membranes of the nose and upper airways, etc. In addition cases of severe occupational pulmonary diseases (asthma, alveolitis, bronchitis) have been reported. Manual sorting of unseparated domestic waste may be associated with exposures to large quantities of airborne bacteria and endotoxin. Several work functions in compost plants can result in very high exposure to airborne fungal spores and thermophilic actinomycetes. At plants sorting separated domestic waste, e.g. the combustible fraction of waste composed of paper, cardboard and plastics, the workers may have an increased risk of gastrointestinal symptoms and irritation of the eyes and skin. At such plants the bioaerosol exposure levels are in general low, but at some work tasks, e.g. manual sorting and work near the balers, exposure levels may occasionally be high enough to be potentially harmful. Workers handling the source-sorted paper or cardboard fraction do not appear to have an elevated risk of occupational health problems related to bioaerosol exposure, and the bioaerosol exposure is generally low.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Equipment Reuse↗
PubMed1995

Estimation of reference values for urinary 1-hydroxypyrene and alpha-naphthol in Danish workers.

In order to assess environmentally and occupationally related exposures to PAH compounds it is essential to have reference or normal values in human body fluids. The establishment of reliable reference intervals is an absolute pre-requisite in determining relationships between internal PAH exposure in humans and health effects in occupationally exposed workers. In this context the estimation of the biological level of PAH metabolites in urine from reference populations has become increasingly important in the field of environmental and occupational toxicology. The present study describes the calculation of tentative reference values for urinary 1-hydroxypyrene on the basis of two reference populations and for urinary alpha-naphthol on the basis of one reference population in accordance with IFCC recommendations. The study subjects were 115 healthy male workers occupationally exposed to PAH at low levels and 121 reference subjects non-occupationally exposed to PAH. Tentative reference values for urinary 1-hydroxypyrene were estimated. In addition, 236 healthy male workers were used to estimate tentative reference values for urinary alpha-naphthol. The reference populations were described by distribution free one-sided tolerance intervals. The 95% one-sided tolerance limit calculated for 1-hydroxypyrene in urine was 0.053 mumol/mol creatinine for non-occupationally exposed individuals and 0.169 mumol/mol creatinine for low level PAH exposed workers, with the coverage interval (95 +/- 4.5) percent at a probability of 0.95. Thus, the probability was 0.975 that the tolerance interval included at least 90.5% of the distribution. In addition, the probability was 0.025 that the tolerance interval included > 99.5% of the population. The tolerance interval for alpha-naphthol in urine was 5.665 mumol/mol creatinine with the coverage interval (95 +/- 4.5) percent at a probability of 0.95.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1992

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air samples of meat smokehouses.

In a screening programme nine Danish meat smokehouses were randomly selected for measurements on concentration of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). A total of 23 stationary air samples were collected during the entire working period of the kiln either above the kiln doors or approximately 2 m in front of the kiln doors (i.e. total exposure on the day of sampling). Three of these samples had a PAH content below the detection limit of the highly sensitive assay employed. Furthermore, eight personal air samples were collected during the periods of tending the kiln (i.e. peak exposure measurement). Three of these samples were below the detection limit. Total airborne PAH concentration of the stationary air samples calculated as the sum of the concentration of 16 selected PAH compounds, was in general far lower than the total airborne PAH concentration measured in the same manner in smokehouses curing fish (Nordholm et al., 1986). In contrast to the study on PAH exposure in smokehouses curing fish, the present study revealed no significant difference between total PAH content in air samples collected above the kilns compared with samples collected approximately 2 m in front of the kiln doors. Calculation of the relative content of the individual PAH compounds in the stationary air samples collected in meat smokehouses showed naphthalene to be the major compound in (70% +/- 26% of total PAH), whereas the relative content of carcinogenic PAH compounds in average represented 4.0% of the total PAH content. However, only approximately 15% of the stationary air samples with detectable content of total PAH contained detectable amounts of carcinogenic PAH compounds. Hence it was concluded that PAH exposure during cold meat curing might be considered a limited health hazard compared with PAH exposure during hot fish curing.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1992

Determination of 2-naphthylamine in urine by a novel reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of 2-naphthylamine in urine using fluorescence detection was developed. The method validation analysis showed the method to be in analytical control, i.e. the distribution of the difference between the observed and true values of the method evaluation samples did not deviate significantly from the normal distribution. The recovery of the method was 85%. The entire run time of chromatography was 10 min using isocratic elution (acetonitrile-water, 35:65), and the retention time for 2-naphthylamine was 5.8 min. The relative short time of analysis in combination with the low limit of detection (0.272 nmol/l) makes the method potentially applicable for surveillance of occupational and environmental exposure to 2-nitronaphthalene. The developed method is presently used for measurement of 2-naphthylamine in urine samples from workers employed at factories, characterized by a low airborne exposure level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, i.e. in general less than 25 micrograms/m3. The urine samples of exposed workers (n = 95) showed a 2-naphthylamine range of up to 9.4 nmol/l, whereas unexposed control individuals (n = 114) showed a range of up to 0.87 nmol/l.

2-Naphthylamine↗
PubMed1992

Do drop-outs differ from successfully treated obsessive-compulsives?

The most common reasons given by patients for dropping out of treatment are: environmental constraints, dissatisfaction with services and that they no longer need help. In this study two groups of patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders are compared. The drop-outs' reasons for terminating treatment are compared with the comments of patients who completed the therapy successfully. Drop-outs differ from successfully treated OCD's in five respects: they appear to be less obsessive-compulsive; they have more discongruent treatment expectations; they are more critical of the therapist; they experience less anxiety in carrying out homework assignments; they less frequently come under pressure from people close to them.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

An epidemiologic study of neural tube defects: Delta County, Michigan, 1969-1988.

We determined the incidence of neural tube defects (anencephaly, spina bifida, hydrocephalus) in a rural county in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan because several local physicians perceived that the incidence in this area might be high. To assure that all neural tube defects that occurred were noted, data for the study were collected from hospital birth-log books, patient records of all neural tube defect births, all stillbirth records, and from records of babies transferred to other regional hospitals. A reference group consisting of 10% of all nonneural tube defect births during the 20 years of the study was selected at random and used to make comparisons to the case group. During the twenty-year period 1969-1988, the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) was found to be 2.09 per 1000 total births. The incidence of anencephaly was 1.05/1000; of spina bifida, 0.56/1000; and for hydrocephalus, 0.48/1000. Seasonal variations by month of conception were noted for anencephaly and spina bifida, confirming previous findings in the literature. Study results showed that between 1972 and 1976 there was a cluster of NTDs, but the NTD incidence was not statistically different from what might be expected over a twenty-year period. The incidence of NTDs in Delta County was found to be normal for this part of North America. The results of this study indicate that physicians should be cautious when attempting to interpret rare events, which often occur in clusters, leaving the impression that their incidence is excessive.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Correlation of levels of volatile versus carcinogenic particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air samples from smokehouses.

In the present study, data on the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in air samples from fish smokehouses (Nordholm et al. 1986) and meat smokehouses (Hansen et al. submitted for publication) were used to analyze the extent to which six different volatile PAH compounds could function as markers for the total concentration of six different carcinogenic particulate PAH compounds. Although a significant positive correlation was observed between the concentration of each of six volatile compounds and the total concentration of carcinogenic PAH compounds, a particularly good correlation was observed for phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene and pyrene. Calculations of the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of these potential markers revealed that naphthalene and phenanthrene exhibited the highest sensitivity as markers for total carcinogenic PAH compounds in air samples from smokehouses, whereas fluoranthene and pyrene displayed the highest specificity. However, when the applicability of the six markers was tested on air samples from iron foundries, only naphthalene and pyrene were useful as markers for the carcinogenic compounds. The present study indicates that naphthalene and pyrene might function as markers for carcinogenic PAH compounds, that are present at low concentrations and are therefore difficult and time-consuming to measure directly.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1991

Validation of a high-performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence detection method for the simultaneous quantification of fifteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

A high-performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence method using multiple wavelength shift for simultaneous quantification of different PAH compounds was developed. The new method was superior to the methods of DONG and GREENBERG [J. Liquid Chromatogr. 11, 1887-1905 (1988)] and WISE et al. [Polycyclic aromat. Hydrocarb. (in press)] with respect to sensitivity of detection of the majority of 15 PAH compounds, and in particular of naphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene and benzo(b)fluoranthene. The method of validation analysis employed showed that the new method is in statistical balance meaning that no systematic errors, and only small unsystematic errors, could be demonstrated. Furthermore, the method had a good reproducibility and a high sensitivity.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗