PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Occupational Exposure”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

Monitoring of occupational exposure to nitrous oxide.

The occupational exposure of operating room personnel to nitrous oxide was investigated by using multiple spot sampling, integrated personal sampling and end-tidal sampling in an operating room which had no ventilation system. The effect of passive scavenging on occupational exposure was determined. The study showed that all three methods to determine occupational exposure can yield representative time-weighted exposure patterns. However, the integrated personal sampling was considered the preferable method as it involved considerable saving of time and labour compared with taking and analyzing multiple end-tidal and spot samples. Passive scavenging of waste anaesthetic gases led to a three-fold to six-fold reduction of exposure of operating room personnel to nitrous oxide.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1976

Measurement and reduction of occupational exposure to inhaled anaesthetics.

The occupational exposure of hospital staff to inhaled anaesthetics was investigated using a personal sampling device that provides a measure of the average concentrations breathed by a person over a period of time, as distinct from the spot sampling in the general environment. The anaesthetist's average exposure to nitrous oxide and halothane during complete operating sessions was twice that expected from simple dilution of the escaping gases by the operating room ventilation. The sampling technique was also used to evaluate the effect of (1) redirection of the waste gas outflow; (2) active scavenging connected to the piped vacuum system. Short-period studies under controlled conditions in the operating theatres and anaesthesia induction rooms showed that the anaesthetist's exposure could be reduced two- or fourfold by redirecting the outflow and another four- to sixfold by active scavenging. Exposures during complete operating sessions were reduced two- to seven-fold by scavenging.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1979

Adjusting occupational exposure limits for moonlighting, overtime, and environmental exposures.

A mathematical model is used to predict relative body burdens of inhaled contaminants in workers who work two jobs or overtime, or who experience off-the-job exposure to air contaminants. Expected "peak" or maximum body burdens from multiple exposures are compared to those expected from the "normal" occupational exposure on which TLVs and Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) arebased (five 8-hour days per week with zero off-the-job exposure). The model is designed to predict what adjustments to the TLVs and PELs are necessary to avoid accumulation of excess peak body burdens of contaminants from the additional exposures incurred. The general application of models to determine occupational exposure limits is reviewed, and several models are compared.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1977

Human blood samples as indicators of occupational exposure to persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons.

The value of using human blood as an indicator of occupational exposure to persistent organochlorine compounds is demonstrated. Blood samples from a total of 35 persons divided into three different groups, with and without exposure to chlorinated hydrocarbons in the work atmosphere, have been investigated by gas chromatography using electron capture detection. It is shown that the group of workers with an occupational exposure to pentachlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene, heptachlorostyrene and octachlorostyrene had a higher level of these chlorinated hydrocarbons in their blood samples than did the other groups. On the average, the concentration of hexachlorobenzene is about 20 times higher in blood samples from the occupationally exposed workers than from the control group. The level of hexachlorobenzene in blood samples of the control groups is low compared to recent studies of blood samples from the general population in other industrialized countries. Furthermore, the average value obtained for the exposed workers is of the same magnitude as the general population in these industrialized countries.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1978

Control of occupational exposure to nitrous oxide in the oral surgery office.

Occupational exposure to inhalation anesthetics can be substantially reduced by control measures that have been recently developed. The incentive for their use should be the suspected relationship between chronic exposure to trace concentrations of agents, such as nitrous oxide, and health hazards. Control measures include the use of a newly developed scavenging nasal mask, relatively gastight anesthetic equipment, and vented suction machine, supported by an air monitoring program. With these measures, the concentration of nitrous oxide inhaled by the oral surgeons studied was reduced 97%.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗
PubMed1979

Persistent photosensitivity following occupational exposure to epoxy resin.

Persistent photosensitivity developed in eight men following occupational exposure to hot epoxy resin fumes. The condition was limited to sites the resin contacted. Small doses of ultraviolet-A light (2 to 5 joules/sq cm) evoked abnormal reactions consisting of erythema, edema, and papules in the clinically involved skin. Positive photopatch tests to epoxy resin were observed in four subjects, and to 4, 4'-isopropylidenediphenol (Bisphenol A) in all. The photosensitivity is most probably due to photocontact allergy to 4,4'-isopropylidenediphenol or to a closely related chemical.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Urinary hippuric acid concentration after occupational exposure to toluene.

The results of industrial investigations have shown a correlation between the rate of hippuric acid excretion in a single urine sample collected after daily occupational exposure and the amount of toluene absorbed. The rate of hippuric acid excretion and the average concentration of toluene vapour during exposure time were also related. The quantitative range of the test has been limited to amounts exceeding 425 mg of toluene and concentrations exceeding 69 ppm of toluene in the air because of the physiological presence of hippuric acid in urine. The rate of hippuric acid excretion in urine depends on diuresis and is constant for urinary fractions with diuresis of 30 ml/h. The physiological excretion rate was 20 mg/h with a standard deviation +/- 4.3 mg/h, maximal physiological level 33 mg/h.

Diuresis↗
PubMed1977

Control of occupational exposure to nitrous oxide in the dental operatory.

Methods were developed for controlling the dental team's occupational exposure to nitrous oxide. The most applicable and effective use of these methods included the use of properly maintained gas delivery equipment, a double-walled scavenging nosepiece and vented suction machine, and minimizing speech by the patients. These methods were evaluated by measuring concentrations of nitrous oxide present in the air inspired by dental personnel. Before their use, the dentist inhaled 900 ppm nitrous oxide; their application reduced his inhaled concentration to 31 ppm, representing a 97% reduction. These methods were well accepted during 157 procedures completed by a group of eight dentists engaged in private practice (four general practitioners, two pedodontists, and two oral surgeons).

Air Conditioning↗
PubMed1979

Risks to the offspring from parental occupational exposures.

Risks to the offspring of workers with occupational chemical exosures may derive from mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic effects of industrial agents to which the parents are exposed. Evidence for impaired pregnancies and hazards to the offspring of working populations with chemical exposures is, however, very limited. Perhaps the best documented example is increased spontaneous abortion rates in female operating room personnel who have first trimester exposure to waste anesthetic gases. Evidence is reviewed for hazards to the offspring resulting from parental occupational exposure to vinyl chloride, benzene, chloroprene, radiation and petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. It is essential in investigating the role of occupational factors that other environmental and behavioral factors with major effects on pregnancy outcome be accounted for. These include smoking, alcohol, and drug exposures. An approach to surveillance for chromosomal abnormalities in offspring of occupationally exposed parents is outlined.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Initial occupational exposure to lead: Chromosome and Biochemical findings.

Serial chromosome and biochemical studies were carried out in 11 subjects before and during initial occupational exposure to moderate quantities of lead fumes in a storage battery plant. The rate of abnormal metaphases, mostly with chromatid and one-break chromosome aberrations, was approximately doubled after one month of work; it further increased after two months of work; remained in this range up to seven months of exposure; and then tended to decrease somewhat. Blood lead levels increased progressively in the first few months, then reached a steady state. Urinary lead and coproporphyrin levels increased sharply after one month of work, while urinary delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) levels increased moderately. The ALA dehydratase (ALAD) activity of red blood cells (RBCs) was reduced to almost 50% of the initial values after one month, decreased further in subsequent months, and remained decreased through the remainder of the study.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Styrene use and occupational exposure in the plastics industry.

The commercial production of styrene was started in the 1930s. Currently 7 million tons of styrene a year is made worldwide by the catalytic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene or by a process in which styrene is produced as a coproduct with propylene oxide. An estimated 62% of the styrene monomer is consumed in the manufacture of polystyrene, 12% in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resins, 17% in styrene-butadiene rubber and latex, 7% in unsaturated polyester resins, and 2% in other applications. Occupational exposure to styrene occurs in monomer production and polymerization plants, during the fabrication of plastic products from monomeric or partly prepolymerized styrene, and during the transportation and handling of liquid styrene. Due to unreacted residual monomer or thermal degradation of the polymer, low concentrations of styrene can be detected during the use of plastic products. The most extensive and intensive exposure occurs in the reinforced plastics industry, in which over 200,000 workers are exposed to a styrene concentration typically ranging from 20 to 300 ppm.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1975

Background documentation of evaluation of occupational exposure to airborne asbestos.

This review presents background information and literature documentation to supplement the "Recommended Procedures for Sampling and Counting Asbestos Fibers: Procedures for the Evaluation of Occupational Exposure to Airborne Asbestos" prepared by the joint ACGIH-AIHA Aerosol Hazards Evaluation Committee. It reviews the nature of the inhalation hazard associated with asbesots fibers, the sampling and analytic methods which have been used, and a rationale for the selection of the membrane filter sampling-optical phase microscope identification and assay methodology which is recommended.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1978

Evaluation of occupational exposure to xylene by blood, exhaled air and urine analysis.

Occupational xylene exposure in the breathing zone of 15 painters was measured during three consecutive workdays. The applicability of the use of different biological samples was tested by the monitoring of xylene concentrations in blood and exhaled air, and urinary methylhippuric acid excretion as well. The best relation to the time-weighted average of xylene exposure was obtained for urinary methylhippuric acid concentration at the end of the workday; an amount of 665 mg/g of creatinine corresponded to 50 ppm of xylene. The amount of methylhippuric acid in a morning sample at the end of the work week, on the other hand, correlated to the mean exposure of the three preceding days. Xylene concentrations in exhaled air and blood sampled after the workday correlated poorly to the exposure of the preceding day. The urinary elimination of methylhippuric acid after the finished work week showed two distinct phases of excretion, with different biological half-times (1.9-5.3 h for the first 10 h after exposure and 16.5-48.4 h for the next two days).

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Isotachophoretic analysis of mandelic acid, phenylglyoxylic acid, hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid in urine after occupational exposure to styrene, toluene and/or xylene.

A simple, rapid and sensitive analytical method has been developed for the determination of phenylglyoxylic acid, mandelic acid, hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid; 0-, m- and p-methylhippuric acids are partly separated. These compounds are found as metabolites after occupational exposure to styrene, toluene and xylene. The method has been applied successfully to samples extracted from human urine by diethyl ether. The method can be used to accurately and simultaneously determine as little as 0.5 nmole of all of these acids in less than 20 min.

Chromatography, Gas↗