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Biomedical subjects

L I Murthy

Publications and source records attributed to L I Murthy.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Occupational sentinel health events: an up-dated list for physician recognition and public health surveillance.

An occupational sentinel health event (SHE[O]) is a disease, disability, or untimely death, which is occupationally related and whose occurrence may: 1) provide the impetus for epidemiologic or industrial hygiene studies; or 2) serve as a warning signal that materials substitution, engineering control, personal protection, or medical care may be required. Following survey of scientific literature, a list of 50 disease conditions linked to the workplace was presented in 1983; these were codable within the framework of the International Classification of Diseases system (ICD-9). Three criteria were used for inclusion: documentation of associated agent(s), of involved industries, and of involved occupations. The up-dated list contains 64 diseases or conditions and a bibliography of literature citations. The list is useful for the practicing physician in occupational disease recognition, for occupational morbidity and mortality surveillance, and as a periodically up-dated database of occupationally related diseases.

Humans

Mortality of chrome leather tannery workers and chemical exposures in tanneries.

A retrospective mortality analysis was conducted in a cohort of 9,365 individuals employed as of 1940 in two chrome leather tanneries in the United States and followed to the end of 1982. Vital status as of the closing date was determined for over 95% of the cohort. Potential hazardous workplace exposures varied with department and included nitrosamines, chromate pigments, benzidine-based direct dyestuffs, formaldehyde, leather dust, and aromatic organic solvents. Mortality from all causes combined was lower than expected for each tannery, the standardized mortality ratio being 81 for one and 93 for the other. Deaths from cancer of each site, including the lung, were also lower than expected compared to those of either the population of the United States or of local state rates. A significant excess of deaths was observed, however, due to accidental causes in one tannery and cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, and alcoholism in the other. These excesses did not appear to be causally associated with occupational exposures. The findings of this study are consistent with those of the only other mortality investigation of leather tannery employees.

Alcoholism

Notification and risk assessment for bladder cancer of a cohort exposed to aromatic amines. III. Mortality among workers exposed to aromatic amines in the last beta-naphthylamine manufacturing facility in the United States.

A retrospective cohort mortality study was conducted among workers employed at the last facility in the United States that manufactured beta-naphthylamine (BNA), a recognized human bladder carcinogen. This study was conducted in conjunction with a pilot project in which workers were notified of the health risks associated with exposures to carcinogenic amines. Cause-specific mortality for 1,312 male workers employed between 1940 and 1972, and followed through 1979, was compared with the mortality of the general population in the United States. Two deaths from bladder cancer were observed while 0.7 such deaths were expected. Due to the use of these potent carcinogenic amines, it had been anticipated that more bladder cancer deaths would be found in this population. The reasons for the small number of bladder cancer deaths could have been the low percentage of the work force exposed, an inadequate latency period, and/or the high survival rate for bladder cancer. In fact, a notification and medical screening project recently conducted in this same population found an additional 11 bladder cancer cases. This suggests that mortality may not always be an adequate indicator of disease risk.

2-Naphthylamine