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Biomedical subjects

F F Cinkotai

Publications and source records attributed to F F Cinkotai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

High prevalence of gout and related risk factors in Taiwan's Aborigines.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of gout and to examine its risk factors among Taiwan's Aborigines compared with non-Aborigines. METHODS: Data were collected from persons older than 40 years living in 3 aboriginal and 2 non-aboriginal districts in Taiwan by a community survey. Cases of gout were identified from self-reporting of a doctor's diagnosis based on clinical criteria. Baseline variables and biochemical data were examined as risk factors for the development of gout. RESULTS: The prevalence of gout history was found to be 15.2% (25/165) and 4.8% (11/231) among aboriginal men and women, respectively, compared with a prevalence rate of 0.3% among non-Aborigines. A logistic regression model showed that aboriginal men older than 60 years with hyperuricemia were more severely affected by gout than any other group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of gout among Taiwanese Aborigines was observed in this study and race was the most significant risk factor associated with the disease.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1994

Excess cancer mortality among children and adolescents in residential districts polluted by petrochemical manufacturing plants in Taiwan.

We have collected data on the cancer deaths of children and adolescents 0-19 yr old living in a residential area near 3 large petroleum and petrochemical complexes in and near Kaohsiung city (petrochemical industrial districts, PIDs) in the period of 1971-1990 and compared these with the cancer deaths of children and adolescents 0-19 yr old among the entire population of Taiwan (national reference) and among the residents of 26 administrative districts, comprising all of Kaohsiung city and Kaohsiung county (local reference), except for 8 sparsely populated, rural districts. Having scrutinized all cancer death certificates, we have identified various statistically significant excess deaths, as compared with the national and local reference, due to cancers at all sites. Cancer of the bone, brain, and bladder in boys and girls 0-9 yr and 10-19 yr of age in the 1981-1990 decade that followed the establishment of petrochemical production in the PIDs was studied. However, excess cancer deaths seemed to have clustered in the 10-19 yr age group, who had been potentially exposed to the petrochemical pollutants for the longest period of time from the youngest age. Almost all bone, brain, and bladder cancer deaths registered were within 3 km of the 3 complexes. Bone and brain cancers in particular occurred in girls in the PIDs more frequently than in boys, even though these are believed to occur more in males than females elsewhere.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Recent trends in the prevalence of byssinotic symptoms in the Lancashire textile industry.

A respiratory symptoms questionnaire was completed for 4656 volunteers employed in 31 textile factories engaged in spinning or weaving manmade fibre or cotton of various qualities. Sets of airborne dust and bacteria samples were collected in workzones and personal breathing zones in the workrooms where the volunteers were employed. A total of 182 people indicated experiencing byssinotic symptoms, mainly in opening and carding rooms or in spinning and winding rooms where medium to coarse cotton was being processed. This represents a significant decline in the prevalence of byssinotic symptoms over the years, due possibly to lower concentrations of airborne contaminants, especially of bacteria, as cleaner raw materials are being used. According to a multiple, logistic regression model, the prevalence of byssinotic symptoms was found to be statistically significantly related to years worked in the cotton industry, exposure to dust, quality of cotton used, workroom of employment, ethnic origin, and smoking habits. Symptoms of chronic bronchitis were found to be significantly related to smoking habit and to factors connected with occupation, such as exposure to dust, workroom, and the quality of fibre processed.

Byssinosis↗
PubMed1988

Low prevalence of byssinotic symptoms in 12 flax scutching mills in Normandy, France.

The concentrations of airborne dust and bacteria were determined in 12 flax scutching mills and in two milk processing plants in Normandy, France. A total of 308 of 340 flax workers and 111 of 113 milk processors volunteered to answer a respiratory questionnaire. Personal exposure to airborne dust in the scutching mills varied from 22.2 mg/m3 to 144 mg/m3 and areal concentrations from 8.92 mg/m3 to 47.1 mg/m3. The concentration of Gram negative bacteria ranged from 3970 (colony forming units) cfu/m3 to 67,900 cfu/m3 and that of total bacteria from 12,900 cfu/m3 to more than 600,000 cfu/m3. In all, 20% of the flax scutchers were found, on the basis of the questionnaire, to suffer from persistent cough and 25% from chronic phlegm production. The corresponding figures among milk processors were 3.6% and 4.5%. Unexpectedly, only 12.5% of the scutchers appeared to suffer from byssinotic symptoms even though they were heavily exposed to airborne dust and bacteria. The low prevalence of byssinosis might be due to self selection of the workforce or a relatively low concentration of the causative agent despite high airborne contamination.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed1984

Circadian rhythms in peak expiratory flow rate in workers exposed to cotton dust.

One hundred and sixty two people working in various departments of cotton spinning and weaving mills measured and recorded their own peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) at two hourly intervals during Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the same work week, from waking in the morning throughout the day until going to bed and a last time the following morning after waking. The circadian rhythm in PEFR was computed by the Halberg program. The mean amplitude of the rhythm in the group was found to be 3.3% and the acrophase fell approximately in the middle of the waking hours. Older workers and those claiming to suffer from symptoms of chronic bronchitis were found to have an amplitude significantly higher (4.1% and 3.9% respectively) than their younger or symptom free counterparts (2.6% and 2.9% respectively; p less than 0.03). The amplitude of cardroom workers (2.4%), workers with byssinosis (2.7%), and those with much exposure to airborne cotton dust (3.3%) and bacteria (2.9%) tended to be lower than that of less exposed groups such as office staff (3.9%), though the difference was significant only in the case of cardroom workers (p less than 0.04). This may be due to airborne contaminants in the working environment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Ventilatory function in workers exposed to tea and wood dust.

Changes in ventilatory capacity during the work shift were studied in workers exposed to tea dust in tea-packing plants, wood dust in two furniture factories, and virtually no dust in an inoperational power station. The FEV1 and FVC in workers exposed to dust were found to decline during the work shift by a small but significant volume. The MMFR, Vmax 50% and Vmax 75% were to variable to display any trend. No dose-response relationship could be discerned between the fall in workers' ventilatory capacity and the concentrations of airborne dust or microbes to which they were exposed. Bronchodilators could reverse the fall in FEV1.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Airborne micro-organisms and prevalence of byssinotic symptoms in cotton mills.

The concentration of airborne microbes, their endotoxins and the prevalence of byssinotic symptoms among workers were measured in the cardrooms of seven cotton spinning, a wool spinning and two cotton waste mills and in a dusty workroom of a group of five willowing mills, a tea-packing plant and a pipe tobacco factory. The concentration of microbes cultured on endoagar plates were found to correlate with byssinosis prevalence (r greater than 0.95, P less than 0.001). The concentration of nutrient agar microbes correlated with prevalence less well (r greater than 0.77, P less than 0.01) and that of fungi and endotoxins not at all.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed1975

An evaluation of effect of airborne dust from a cotton mill on the guinea-pig ileum with reference to byssinosis.

The effect of airborne dust on the guinea-pig ileum was studied. Tyrode extracts of airborne dust collected freshly in the cardroom of a cotton mill, and extracts of air pollutant samples drawn on the roof of the mill and of the local town hall were all found to induce the guinea-pig ileum to contract when applied in a tissue-bath. However, the force of contraction with air pollutants was rather greater than that with the cardroom dust. Considering the variables involved, the ileum response to the cardroom dust may have been due to ordinary air pollutants which constitute a significant part of the dust. It is concluded that this pharmacological phenomenon is probably not relevant in the context of byssinosis.

Air Pollutants↗