Document Ob6NN3x20LO4gEXMR9KY605K

FILE NAME: ALCOA (ALC) DATE: 1956 Feb DOC#: ALC038 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Abstract - Journal Article - Industrial Hygiene Digest w/ --' 'y / <r3rc,i Industrial Hygiene Digest INDUSTRIAL HEALTH NEWS LITERATURE ABSTRACTS MEDICAL ENGINEERING CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGICAL LEGAL dtdiiou ad treads rz3 P=$ P -P FEBRUARY. 1936 (VoL 20, No. 2) INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE FOUNDATION M ELLON INSTITUTE 4400 FIFTH VXNUX PITTSBURGH IS, PA- Industrial Hygiene Digest February, 1956 is the cap illary suriace. Is the evaluation of large num bers of c a se s, although not in. individual ca ses, there is a certain p arallel between the radiographic changes and the severity of functional discurbances. The examination of lung function, especially by w ork tests, g iv e s an objective criterio n Cor a sse ssm e n t of incapacity, so that rem ed ies m ay be applied, varying from rem oval from exposure to inhalation therapy and cardiac treatm ent, according to the stage of s ilic o s is . In countries w here s ilic o s is is com p en s ab le as a d ise a se , the sy stem lea d s to late diagnosis depending on x -r a y exam ination, when severe functional disturbances have already occurred. In Switzerland silico sis is com p en sab le, not as a d ise a se , but only through resu ltin g incapacity Cor work: this lea d s to ea rly diagn osis and exclusion of the patients Crom exposure. In ea rly diagnosis the investigation of respiratory function is highly im portant. Hence the aim is to distinguish the lim its of disturbances of function due to s ilic o s is from those due to accom panying d is ea ses. The basis of all research on respiratory function is spirom etry and analysis of the g a ses in the arterial blood. The technique used in the investigations is described.. A c la s s ification is given of the different disturbances of lung function and these are discussed very thoroughly. A ssessm en t of capacity Cor work is m ade ou the resu lts of functional tests. L im itin g cr ite r ia Cor this a ssessm en t are given. A study o 46 silic o tic w orkers showed that, after at lea st four years' freedom from dust exposure, radiographic appearances had not changed for the w orse in m ore than half of the patients, and in about half lung function and capacity for work were either unproved or maintained. -- Cond. from Bull. Hyg. Investigations on Breathing Capacity in S ilico sis by M eans of Qtirnetry During Work. E . Sartorelli and Eleonora G iorgi. Med. lavoro iJI 600-607 (Nov. 1954). Italian. The procedure used in oxim etry is d escrib ed and re su lts in. 30 p erson s, norm al and silico tic, are presented. In all the seven ca ses w ith silic o sis in various form s, anox em ia appeared for lighter w ork-loads than in norm al ca ses of the sam e age. The onset of sev ere anoxem ia was noted even during light w ork-loads in two ca ses of nodular silico sis with severe em physem ia and chronic cor pulmonale. O xim etry during work, as proved by the resu lts obtained, is a method of undoubted practical utility for the study of the r e sp ir atory function. Compared with other m ethods by which the behavior of blood oxygen satur ation is studied only indirectly, oxim etry during work presents the following advantages: (1) the appearance of anoxem ia is recorded directly; (2) the research is very rapid; and (3) the exam ination is better tolerated by the patients, because during work they are allow ed to breathe freely without the use of a m outhpiece or a m ask. -- Cond. from English, summary (Bull. Hyg. ) The Reaction of M iddlebrook-Dubos in S ilico sis and Silicotuberculosis among Coal M iners. J. R riguot. A rch, beiges m ed. so cia le , hyg. T3"[ 17-25 (Jan. 1955). French. The reaction of M iddlebrook-Dubos is concerned with the agglutination of red cells sen sitized with tuberculin, by serum dilutions of 1 in 16 or m ore. Certain m odifications, fully explained, were used in a study of 82 silicotic coal m iners, of whom 18 were tuberculous, and 16 with tuberculosis without pneum oconiosis. P ositivity of the reaction was fonnd to depend upon the presence of tuberculosis rather than silic o sis. The low proportion of positive r e action s in advanced silico sis does not support the w idely accepted claim that the passage from iso la ted nodules to m ore advanced confluent s ilic o s is depends upon a superim posed tu b ercu lous infection. The reaction m ay thus contribute evidence in the differential diagnosis be tween m iliary tuberculosis and micronodulax silico sis. . . Cond. from Bull. Hyg. O ,)2 5 0 --J C arcinom a of the Lung in A sbestosis: Report of Two Additional C ases. K. H. Lynch and H. R. Pratt-Thom as. Southern Med. J. 48j 565-568 (June 1955). The evidence of correlation between the occurrence of asbestosis and of lung cancer is collected. No such correlation has been found with other form s of pneumocon io sis like silic o sis and anthracosis, or pulm onary tuberculosis. The pathology of asb esto s is is abnorm al; it seem s to be due to traum atism b etw een large p a rticles of a sb esto s, too large to penetrate into the alveoli, and the pulm onary tissu es, w hile other pneum oconioses p resen t reactions berween m inute p articles and the living tissu es. Further, no efforts to induce lung cancers in anim als exposed to asbestos dust have been successful. N everth eless, the statistical evidence is strong. Two additional ca ses of lung cancer associated with 03120130 ? I=cu3irial H/gicse Digest T ebruarv. 1956 a sb e sto sis are reported. In both, c a se s x -ra y exam ination showed the diffuse granular in filtration over both lungs characteristic of asbestosis and the lungs after death exhibited the fib ro sis distinctive of asb estosis; but both patients succum bed to bronchogenic c a r c in om a. The appearances of the lesions are illustrated. The authors have seen four cancer c a s e s in 49 autopsies of a sb estos, 8. 2%, com pared w ith 0. 7 to 2. 47 in autopsies taken at random. -- Bull. Kyg, 251 A sb esto sis and Pulm onary Carcinoma in an A sbestos Spinner. Notes on the Induction of Lung C ancer by A sb estos F ib ers. G. R om oola. Med. lavoro 46, 242-25 0 (Apr. 1955). Italian. The first case of pulmonary carcinom a occurring in Italy in a subject affected by slight asbestosis is described. The d ia g n c is formulated in life was confirmed by autopsy, the'gross and m icroscopic findings of which are briefly reported. The present clinical, pathological, and statistical knowledge on the capacity of asbestos to cause tumors is sum m arized. Statistical data are abundant, but experim ental studies are few and not concordant. The author believes that a study should be m ade to determ ine how the capacity of the different types of asb estos to cause tum ors d iffers according to their ch em ica l com position. - - Cond. from E nglish sum m ary (BulL Hyg. ) 252 P eritoneal T issue Reactions Produced by Various Kinds of Carbon and Coal Dusts in the Rat. K. Sakabe and T. Chi. Bull. Inst. Public Health (Japan) 4, 18-22 (June 1955). Peritoneal reactions in rats produced by various carbon and coal dusts w ere studied. The results showed that the natural and artificial graphites free from silica p ro duced a fibrosis or granuloma on the peritoneum of rats, although far m ore feeble than the tissu e reactions produced by quartz dusts. The m ore the graphitization of carbon dust pro g ressed , the more the resulting tissue reaction becam e sev ere. The tissue reactions by graphite dusts were variable according to the type of graphite. Carbon black could not be assu m ed to be com pletely inert except types of large sp h erical carbon black. P otency of co a l d usts Eor tissu e reactions may lie som ew bere-betw een natural graphite and carbon black,, but a difference of tissue reactions among various coal dusts was not dem onstrated in this study. Public Health Eng. A bsts. 253 The E ffect of Various Form s of Alumina on the Lungs of Rats. E. J. King, C. V. H arrison, G. P. Mohanty, and G. Nagelscam idt. J. Pathol. Sacteriol. 69, 81-93 (1955). When introduced into the lungs of rats, powdered hydrated alumina and aluminum phosphate of sm all particle size produced reticulin nodules. In the ca se of alumina, the nodules developed into areas of dense collagenous fib rosis.. T here w as a slow dissolution of alum inum hydroxide into the surrounding tissu es as shown by aurine staining of section s. The amount of alumina found in the lungs w as le s s in the anim als w hich survived longest. Condensed fumes from a corundum furnace, which consisted approxim ately of half finely divided alum ina and half silica, produced a m uch less severe fib ro sis, but there was a notable exudative reaction in the lungs and sev era l anim als died daring the course of the exPel>i*5*ent. This dust w as partially elim in a ted from the lungs of an im a ls during the 12 m onths of the experim ent. The d oses of dust u sed to produce th ese r e su lts are m o stly in excess of those which have been used in the prophylaxis of human silic o sis.-- Chem. A bsts. 254 B a k er's R h initis and A sthm a. C. P e s ta io z r i and U. W. Schnyder. S ch w eiz, m ed . W ochschr. S5_, 496-501 (M ay 21, 1955). G erm an. A study was made of the prevalence, sym ptom atology, course, sensitization, and spontaneous desensitization and the fam ily disposition in baker's rhinitis and asthm a. Of 159 bak ers in Zurich, 42 had a lle r g ic sym p tom s of the resp ir a to ry tr a c t;-36 had rh in itis only and six also had bronchial asthma. Skin tests with flour extracts gave positive reactions in 24 of the rhinitis ca ses. The rhinitis is apparently due to a Clour a llergy, but other fa cto rs m ust be considered the cause of the asthm a. - - Cond. from Bull. Hyg. 23. 03120151