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Biomedical subjects

J R Laporte

Publications and source records attributed to J R Laporte.

118 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Multinationals and health: reflections on the Seveso catastrophe.

On July 10, 1976, a cloud of vaporized products containing dioxin escaped from a deposit of a plant of the Icmesa firm in the northern suburbs of Milan. The fallout was deposited on a vast zone in the municipalities of Desio, Seveso, Meda, and Cesano. Dioxin was not the desired product of the industrial process, but rather an impurity which generally accompanies trichlorophenol, and, to a smaller extent, the products synthesized from trichlorophenol. Among these there are hexachlorophene and the herbicide 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid, which was used as a defoliant in the Vietnam War. After describing toxicological properties of dioxin, this paper examines the role of multinational corporations and of capitalist governments in exploiting not only the people of underdeveloped lands, but also workers of developed countries, transforming into capital not only the increased value of man, but also the conditions, harmfulness, and risks of work.

Accidents↗
PubMed1977

Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol and drug consumption among medical students in Barcelona.

A survey of medical students was conducted at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1974. Out of 1029 students, 808 present at lectures (78.5%) returned properly completed questionnaires. These showed that mean caffeine consumption was 8.3 g per month and increased with the length of stay at the university. Tobacco consumption (general mean, 190 cigarettes per month, 216 for males and 150 for females) and alcohol consumption (8.8 litres/year for males and 4.1 litres/year for females) also increased with time spent at university. Alcohol consumption was not as high as in the general population. Amphetamine consumption was very high (22% of students had taken amphetamines on more than one occasion in the six months prior to the survey). Marihuana and hashish were by far the most commonly used drugs (9.6%), the use of these drugs being much less common than at other European universities. The use of "harder" drugs was very limited. Appraisal of alcohol, tobacco and amphetamine abuse is necessary, since the authorities have not employed adequate measures to stop or limit them.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Adverse drug reactions leading to hospital admission.

This article describes the implementation of a simple method of drug surveillance set up at a hospital emergency ward. From a total of 48,678 patients admitted, the medical records of those presenting with one or more of a pre-established list of admission diagnoses (n = 7728; 15.8%) were checked. Of these 554 (1.1%) were diagnosed as experiencing an adverse drug reaction. When the medical record suggested an adverse drug reaction, drugs taken before admission were ascertained by interviewing the patients with a structured questionnaire. After excluding upper gastrointestinal bleeding (226 cases) and certain bone marrow blood dyscrasias (42 cases), 286 patients with drug-induced events leading to hospital admission were identified in 2 years. Fatal adverse drug reactions, previously undescribed reactions, and some specific examples, such as digoxin-amiodarone interaction, drug-induced pancreatitis, nicardipine-induced AV block, severe skin reactions, and NSAID-induced bronchospasm, are described. Basically, this method consists of assembling series of cases systematically, and is therefore devoid of selective bias. In addition, it allows a more in-depth clinical and anamnesic study of specific diseases, as compared with voluntary reporting.

Adult↗