PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L G Morgan

Publications and source records attributed to L G Morgan.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Health problems associated with nickel refining and use.

After a brief mention of history and world use the authors review the major hazards to health associated with nickel and its compounds. These include pulmonary and sino-nasal cancer from exposure to the dusts involved in certain, now obsolete, processes, dermatitis and nickel carbonyl poisoning. Brief mention is also made of other less well established or hypothetical health risks mentioned in the nickel context including asthma, pulmonary fibrosis and acute poisoning. In conclusion the authors mention some current work being undertaken in the occupational health field and give sources of further information.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

Environmental cancer, phagocytic oxidant stress and nutritional interactions.

Environmental exposure to inhaled mineral dusts is associated with a variety of inflammatory, fibrotic and carcinogenic pulmonary diseases, generally characterized by the infiltration into the lung of phagocytic cells, namely macrophages and polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMN). The ability of pathogenic mineral, fibrous and metalliferous dusts to stimulate PMN to produce potentially injurious free radical oxidants, has been studied using an in vitro chemiluminescent technique. The cellular mechanisms and nutritional agents involved in providing the pulmonary antioxidant biochemical defence systems are reviewed, and the prospects of dietary modification of environmentally induced lung cancers and related pneumoconiotic diseases discussed.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1986

Biological monitoring of nickel.

Measurements of nickel in body fluids, excreta, and tissues from humans with occupational, environmental, and iatrogenic exposures to nickel compounds are comprehensively reviewed. Correlations between levels of human exposures to various classes of nickel compounds via inhalation, oral, or parenteral routes and the corresponding concentrations of nickel in biological samples are critically evaluated. The major conclusions include the following points: Measurements of nickel concentrations in body fluids, especially urine and serum, provide meaningful insights into the extent of nickel exposures, provided these data are interpreted with knowledge of the exposure routes, sources, and durations, the chemical identities and physical-chemical properties of the nickel compounds, and relevant clinical and physiological information, such as renal function. Nickel concentrations in body fluids should not, at present, be viewed as indicators of specific health risks, except in persons exposed to nickel carbonyl, for whom urine nickel concentrations provide prognostic guidance on the severity of the poisoning. In persons exposed to soluble nickel compounds (e.g., NiCl2, NiSO4), nickel concentrations in body fluids are generally proportional to exposure levels; absence of increased values usually indicates non-significant exposure; presence of increased values should be a signal to reduce the exposure. In persons exposed to less soluble nickel compounds (e.g., Ni3S2,NiO), increased concentrations of nickel in body fluids are indicative of significant nickel absorption and should be a signal to reduce the exposures to the lowest levels attainable with available technology; absence of increased values does not necessarily indicate freedom from the health risks (e.g., cancers of lung and nasal cavities) associated with exposures to certain relatively insoluble nickel compounds.

Alloys↗
PubMed1984

Biological monitoring in nickel refinery workers.

A study was carried out at the Clydach, Wales, refinery of INCO Europe Ltd, in which urinary and serum nickel levels were compared with results derived from personal atmospheric sampling during: (a) normal operating conditions; (b) after a prolonged lay-off; and (c) one month after resumption of normal activities. On an individual basis, poor correlations between atmospheric and biological monitoring were observed but when work groups were considered it was found that atmospheric insoluble nickel correlated with both urinary nickel (correlation coefficient = 0.86, p = 0.02) and serum nickel (correlation coefficient = 0.87, p = 0.02). Men using respiratory protection had biological levels which were approximately one-quarter of what would have been expected from the atmospheric figures and men working with soluble nickel salts had urinary nickel levels three times in excess of those expected. There was no statistical difference between observed results and those corrected for creatinine content or specific gravity, nor was there any difference between randomly collected or first morning urine samples. Biological monitoring of nickel workers can be considered as having a role to play in assessing whether protective measures at the place of work are functioning properly, and a tentative scheme is suggested which could make use of biological monitoring, together with atmospheric monitoring, in the occupational health care of refinery workers.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Cancers of the lung and nasal sinuses in nickel workers: a reassessment of the period of risk.

Nine hundred and sixty-seven men who were employed in a nickel refinery in South Wales on at least two occasions five or more years apart before 1945 have been followed up, and the mortality rates from different causes related to the date of their first employment. Previous reports suggested that the occupational risks of lung and nasal sinus cancer had been eliminated by 1925. It is now shown that the risk persisted until 1930, which accords better with the temporal changes in the process.

Dust↗
PubMed1970

Cancers of the lung and nasal sinuses in nickel workers.

Men employed in a nickel refinery in South Wales were investigated to determine whether the specific risks of developing carcinoma of the bronchi and nasal sinuses, which had been associated with the refining of nickel, are still present. The data obtained were also used to compare the effect of age at exposure on susceptibility to cancer induction and to determine the rate of change of mortality after exposure to a carcinogenic agent had ceased.Eight hundred and forty five men were studied who had been employed in the industry for at least 5 years and whose first employment was in or before April 1994. All but 27 (3.2 per cent) were traced until death or January 1, 1967.Altogether 482 of the men had died: 113 from lung cancer and 39 from nasal cancer. In men employed before 1925, deaths from lung cancer varied from about 5 to 10 times the numbers that would have been expected from the corresponding national mortality rates, while the deaths from nasal cancer varied from about 100 to 900 times the expected numbers. Among men first employed in 1925 or after there were 8 deaths from lung cancer against 6.2 expected and no deaths from nasal cancer. The death rate from causes other than cancer was similar to that experienced by men in the same geographical area irrespective of their date of first employment.Susceptibility to the induction of nasal cancer increased with age at first exposure, but susceptibility to the induction of lung cancer varied irregularly. The trends in susceptibility showed some similarity to the trends in the national mortality among men employed at similar ages. It is suggested that susceptibility to cancer induction is determined by the amount of previous exposure to other agents.The risk of developing nasal cancer persisted with little change 15 to 42 years after the carcinogen was eliminated whereas the risk of developing lung cancer decreased. If the effects of cigarette smoking and the specific occupational hazard interact, the reduction in the risk of lung cancer could be due to the differential elimination of heavy cigarette smokers.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Histopathology of sinonasal and lung cancers in nickel refinery workers.

Histopathological diagnoses were compiled for 100 sinonasal cancers and 259 lung cancers in nickel refinery workers, including cases from Wales, Canada, and Norway. The sinonasal cancers comprised squamous cell carcinomas (48 percent), anaplastic and undifferentiated carcinomas (39 percent), adenocarcinomas (6 percent), transitional cell carcinomas (3 percent), and other malignant tumors (4 percent). The lung tumors comprised squamous cell carcinomas (67 percent), anaplastic, small cell, and oat cell carcinomas (15 percent), adenocarcinomas (8 percent), large cell carcinomas (3 percent), other malignant tumors (1 percent), and cancers not otherwise specified (6 percent). Possible selection bias in these data cannot be excluded, since the histological diagnoses represent 63 percent, 68 percent, and 100 percent of cases of sinonasal cancer and 24 percent, 47 percent, and 86 percent of cases of lung cancer in the Welsh, Canadian, and Norwegian workers. This study suggests that (a) the sinonasal cancers in nickel refinery workers conformed to the usual distribution of histological types observed in the general population (in contrast to the predilection for adenocarcinomas in wood workers), and (b) the lung cancers in nickel-refinery workers showed preponderance of squamous cell carcinomas and deficit of adenocarcinomas, compared to prevalent proportions of these neoplasms, possibly reflecting the paucity of women in the cohorts and temporal trends during the six decades in which the tumors were diagnosed.

Adenocarcinoma↗