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Biomedical subjects

H Glindmeyer

Publications and source records attributed to H Glindmeyer.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Cigarette smoke-sensitive asthma: challenge studies.

The effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke on pulmonary function were assessed in 21 subjects with asthma who claimed respiratory complaints (cough, shortness of breath, and chest tightness) on previous exposure to cigarette smoke. Exposure to mechanically produced tobacco smoke was performed in a static inhalation chamber for two-hour intervals at two distinct smoke levels (as measured by carbon monoxide, nicotine, and particulate levels). Seven of the 21 smoke-challenged subjects experienced a significant (greater than 20%) decline in FEV1 during passive exposure to tobacco smoke. One of these seven subjects was nonatopic, whereas a second subject had a negative response to methacholine challenge. The smoke-challenge responses were reproducible in all seven reactive subjects. Increasing concentrations of tobacco smoke failed to elicit pulmonary changes in previously challenged, unreactive or "smoke-tolerant" subjects. There was no association between a positive smoke challenge and the presence of serum IgE antibodies and/or a positive immediate wheal-and-flare skin test to a tobacco leaf extract. Collectively, these studies document a significant decline in pulmonary function in a substantial percentage (33%) of a population of "smoke-sensitive" subjects with asthma exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. The data also dissociate this effect from tobacco-leaf hypersensitivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Lung function after acute chlorine exposure.

Chlorine gas, spreading from a train derailment, caused the deaths of 8 persons and the hospitalization of 23 with sublethal respiratory injuries. Twenty-five others had at least one sign of lower respiratory abnormality but were not hospitalized. One hundred thirteen who were examined for gas effects in the forty-eight hours after exposure, including 20 of 23 of those hospitalized and 21 of 25 of those not hospitalized but with respiratory abnormality, participated in follow-up studies. Probability of admission to hospital was related to distance from the spill, but by 3 wk after exposure there was no detectable difference in lung function relating to distance or apparent severity of injury. In 60 adults tested multiple times over the following 6 yr, longitudinal change in lung function showed expected differences related to smoking but none related to distance or severity of injury. The average annual change in FEV was -34 ml/yr in current smokers and -18 ml/yr in ex and never-smokers. The lack of a discernible chlorine effect in this cohort accords with the findings in most previous studies. Without pre-exposure measurements, a single, lasting reduction in lung function cannot be excluded, but there is no evidence for a persisting abnormal rate of decline.

Accidents↗
PubMed1981

Factors influencing the interpretation of FEV1 declines across the working shift.

An analysis of variability within individuals was conducted for FEV1, obtained from subjects employed in the cottonseed industry. Individual SDs ranged from .020 to .428 L. The within-subject SD of the preshift-postshift difference ranged from .014 to .302 L. When within-subject variability of FEV1 was analyzed in relation to symptoms, smoking history, and shift, the only statistical difference occurred in the 14 bronchitic subjects (.141 L) relative to the 179 without bronchitis (.099 L), and the three subjects with byssinosis (.192 L) relative to those without symptoms (.102 L). Changes over the working shift were significantly different for evening relative to morning and night shifts, even though there was no significant difference in smoking status, symptoms, exposure, race, age, years employed in the mill, and work area. In addition, baseline measurements were not significantly related to shift. Therefore, the effect of individual variability, symptoms, and shift should be considered if an accurate classification of reactors based on change in FEV1 across the shift is to be obtained.

Bronchitis↗
PubMed1980

Progression of asbestos radiographic abnormalities: relationships to estimates of dust exposure and annual decline in lung function.

The determinants of radiographic worsening were examined in a cohort of 244 asbestos-cement manufacturing workers. Progression of irregular small opacities was related to higher average and cumulative dust exposures. Progression of pleural thickening or pleural plaques was related to length of exposure and time since first exposure, but not to average or cumulative exposure. Larger declines in forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume (one second) were related to larger cumulative dust exposures and to progression of irregular small opacities and pleural thickening. Progression of pleural calcification was not associated with significantly declines in lung function. Changes in lung diffusing capacity did not correlate with measures of dust exposure or with progression of radiographic abnormalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Mill effect and dose-response relationships in byssinosis.

Four hundred and eighty-six textile workers in three cotton mills and one wool/synthetic mill were studied for symptoms and functional effects of workroom exposure to dust. Byssinosis was found in 5.7% of 386 cotton workers, with an apparent threshold level of 0.5 mg cotton dust/m3 of air. Mean post-shift functional declines were greater in workers exposed to greater than or equal to 0.2 mg/m3. Workers with byssinosis were unequally distributed, however, with respect to job category and mill; and these variables, rather than current dust exposure levels, accounted for the observed distribution of byssinosis prevalence rates. Variation in biological potency of different samples of cotton dust could be responsible for 'mill effect', the residual variation in response rates by mill after controlling for variation due to dust exposure. A number of other potential influencing variables that are likely to be distributed unequally by mill should also be considered. Mill effect should be assessed in large-scale studies of byssinosis, most of which have analysed biological response rates by combining mill and other variables to examine first-order effects of dust dosage. In such analyses, much of the observed variability may be due to factors other than dust dosage.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1977

Respiratory health and dust levels in cottonseed mills.

Four cottonseed mills in the southern United States contained high levels of total and respirable dust. A survey of 172 workers showed low prevalences of byssinosis (2-3%) and chronic bronchitis (4%). Mean baseline (out of dust) lung function values were normal. Mean functional declines over the working shift were present on Monday and absent on Friday, indicating an acute bronchoconstrictor response. Despite limitations in translating measured dust levels into estimates of individual exposures, the overall dose-response relationship seems to differ from that found in the cotton textile industry.

Adult↗