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Biomedical subjects

H Valentin

Publications and source records attributed to H Valentin.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

[Field study of workers with longterm exposure to calcium cyanamide (author's transl)].

"Kalkstickstoff" (calcium cyanamide) is extensively used as a fertilizer and a herbicide and also as a chemical intermediate. Its main compounds are calcium cyanamide (CaCN2) (60%) and calcium oxide (15%). In earlier times cauterized damages of the skin and the mucous membranes caused by the content of calcium oxide were common. A certain effect of CaCN2 is the reaction of intolerance after alcohol intake, which expresses as a so-called burning, a flush with redness and feeling of heat of the head, the neck and the upper part of the body often combined with tachycardia and dyspnea. Further health impairments, sometimes with fatal end, were reported repeatedly in the older literature. Convincing evidences for the causal connections between the exposure to CaCN2 and these damages are missed. They exclusively concerned farmers but not workers in the production of CaCN2. Except of the damages of the skin also diseases of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, the kidneys, the nervous and circulatory system as well as favoring of infectious complications and goitrogenic effects are in discussion. Furthermore it was suggested that CaCN2 causes a lack of reduced glutathione in the organism. On the occasion of establishing a preliminary MAC-value for CaCN2 in the F.R.G. an occupationally medical field study was performed on 65 workers of a calcium cyanamide factory with long-term exposure to CaCN2. The maximal CaCN2 concentration measured at the working places was 8.3 mg/m3. No signs of diseases or health impairments, which are possibly caused by CaCN2, were found with the medical examination in the above mentioned organs and organ systems. There also was no decrease of the glutathione content of the total blood detectable. With an alcohol load of 22 voluntary workers 1 till 7 hours after the working shift in 6 cases modest and in 7 cases weak flush reactions were observed. As result of the study an elevation of the MAC-value from 1 to at least 2.5 mg/m3 is proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

[Fifty years of ergospirometry (author's transl)].

With the development of ergospirometry, Knipping and Brauer introduced the diagnosis of performance in 1929. Ergospirometric methods have a certain importance today in research, diagnosis, therapy, rehabilitation, training and sport. Medical special disciplines such as sports medicine, pulmonology, cardiology, occupational medicine, social medicine and physiology of performance and also the fields of biomechanics, clinical pharmacology and biochemistry make use of ergospirometry and owe much new knowledge to it.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed1980

Investigations of thallium-exposed workers in cement factories.

Thallium and its compounds have a high toxic potency. For the production of particularly resistant sorts of cement, additives containing thallium, among other things, are employed. In conformity with our present toxicological knowledge, the determination of the concentration of thallium in the urine must be considered a suitable parameter for the assessment of the presence of thallium in the body. Occupational-medical preventive examinations were carried out in a total of 128 male employees from all areas of production in three cement factories. An exposure of these employees to thallium was objectified by analyses of the roasted pyrites employed and the dust from the electric filter. The study included the questioning of the employees with respect to their previous history of health, and also a physical examination aimed at detecting clinical symptoms of a possible effect of thallium. The analysis of thallium was carried out in samples of "spontaneous" urine. The analytical method employed was flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy (carbon-rod atomizer). In part, the group of persons investigated revealed excretions of thallium slightly or moderately above the normal level (range: < 0.3-6.3 micrograms/g creatinine). As the upper normal limit of thallium excretion, we computed a value of 1.1 micrograms/g creatinine. In no case, however, did the case history data or the findings of the physical examination reveal any indication of the symptoms characteristic of thallium poisoning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Mercury concentrations in blood and urine in persons with and without amalgam fillings].

Using flameless atom-absorption spectroscopy, the mercury concentration in the urine and in the blood of 102 persons was determined in a double-blind experiment. The subjects were divided into four groups: persons with and without amalgam fillings as well as persons with and without occupational contact with mercury and amalgam. Mercury concentrations in the blood and the urine were the same in relation to the presence or absence of amalgam fillings. The individual values varied, depending on the nutrition, and did not correlate with the number of amalgam fillings present in the individual case. Persons with occupational contact with mercury and amalgam excreted slightly more mercury in the urine. Even these values however were far below the upper limits of the range of normalcy.

Dental Amalgam↗
PubMed1978

[Passive smoking at the workplace--injurious to health? (author's transl)].

The question as to whether passive smoking at the workplace is injurious to health is dealt with. With the aid of the bibliographic standard literature on industrial, social and preventive medicine, all experimental investigations of this subject and published since 1970 were considered. The important results and findings are presented in tabulated surveys broken down by the substances contained in smoke. The present results of investigation are discussed with respect to a practical workplace model whose air-hygienic conditions are determined by legal prescriptions for workplaces. The measured concentrations of the particulate mass and of the most important individual constituents of smoke, carbon monoxide, nicotine and aldehyde make it highly unlikely that passive smoking at the workplace causes injury to health if the prevailing regulations governing the workplace are complied with. Particular attention has to be given to the occupational problems existing in night bars, restaurants and discothecs.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1977

[Important occupational diseases and their prevention].

In spite of the increasing industrialization no increase in tht total number of occupational diseases has been registered during the past 10 years. This fact must mainly be attributed to the improvement in the security measures taken in all occupational fields and the extension of the occupational medical care. Nevertheless, we are actually faced with a high number of occupational diseases. While the frequency of diseases diminished obviously for some occupational diseases, it increases for others partly considerably. The change in the structure of the statistics concerning occupational diseases is, amongst others and besides the continuous change of technic and the development of new products, also due to alterations of the law respective to the accident insurance right. In this connexion it is referred to the deafness due to noisy working conditions. Among the 10 most frequent occupational diseases, which are mainly manifested in internal organs, some--like pneumoconioses and lead-poisoning--are regarded as classic but still actual occupational diseases. Contrary to this, other occupational diseases--like asthma bronchiale or health injuries by halogen-hydrocarbon--became increasingly important only during the last few years. Corresponding details are given. The danger of health through working material or working methods will in most cases be recognized only after years of occupation. Very often the discovered diseases at that time are no longer reversibel. Consequently, the main task of the doctors for occupational diseases is the prevention of occupational diseases. In 1971 the professional associations put together, in cooperation with occupational medical experts, uniform principles for the necessary preventional examinations in the field of occupational medicien. The quality of the tests carried out with reference to suitability and supervision of working places as well as the extension of such tests to all fields of occupational danger will determine whether or not the number of occupational--therefore not fatal-diseases will decrease essentially.

Asthma↗
PubMed1976

[Problems of toxicological analysis in occupational medicine (author's transl)].

The chemical analysis of biological material ("biological monitoring") gains increasing importance in the occupational medical supervision of persons exposed to noxious substances. Blood and urine are primarily used as samples. In addition to direct analysis of the noxa or its metabolites, even specific biochemical parameters and relatively unspecific clinico-chemical and hematological parameters may be used as analytical components. The advantages and disadvantages of "biological monitoring" are discussed.

Allergens↗