Document Z3GYdVVrDbEnmX6Mov8M5bz0

5=3 fel m 00 Industrial Hygiene Digest February, 1961 138 Curettage and Electrodealccatlon in the Treatment of Skin Cancer. J, M, Knox, T. W. Lyl E. M. Shapiro and R. D. Martin. A.M. A. Arch. Dermatol. 82, 197 (Aug. I960). The authors present the case for curettage and electrodesiccation in the treatmen of skin cancer. An evaluation is presented of the results obtained in 345 patients with 765 epitheliomas of the basal* and squamous-cell types which were treated by curettage and electrodesiccation. In the group followed for 5 years or longer, the cure rate was 96.7%. The cure rate for all 765 lesions was 98.3%. In the latter analysis, maximum follow-up wa 19 years and minimal 6 months. Recurrences were not a problem, and no metastases or deaths were noted. Curettage and electrodesiccation would thus seem to provide an efflclen practical, controllable, cosmetically satisfactory modality for the treatment of skin cancer. J. Occ. Med. Abacs CHEMICAL HAZARDS 139 The Epidemiology of Accidental Poisoning In an Urban Population. (2) Prevalence and Dis tribution of Poisoning. P. F. Wehrle, et al. Am. J. Public Health 50, 1925-1933 (Dec. 1` The occurrence of accidental poisoning in a random sample of 1,069 households in Syracuse, New York, was studied. Similar rates of poisoning were observed in all socio economic areas. The majority of the poisoning episodes occurred among young children. Nearly 12% of children 2 years of age had experienced an episode within the 12 months prior to the study. In families of 5 or more members 6.5% of families had experienced accidental poisoning in at least one member within the previous year and 23% of these larger families had a history of poisoning at sometime in the past. Only 76% of these episodes had the bene< fit of consultation with a physician. This seems due primarily to a lack of awareness of the potential hazard of aspirin and some of the common household products. Lack of awareness of the potential hazard of household medicines and other substances was common. The re lated observation that the substance ingested was seldom in its proper (and inaccessible) pla< was made. Although these observations do not offer a panacea for this problem, they serve to emphasize the need for continued education of parents during routine health supervision as children enter the danger age of 1 to 4 years. Safety caps and safe storage places for medi cine and household products offer at least a partial solution to the problem. - - Authors' summary 140 Colorimetric Method for Continuous Recording Analysis of Atmospheric Fluoride. Test Cha: ber and Interference Studies with the Mini-Adak Analyzer. D. F. Adams, R. K. Koppe and N, E. Matzek. Anal. Chem. '3_3' 117-119 (Jan. 1961). Automatic continuous measurement and recording of the variations in concentratioi of fluorides in the ambient air has been reported recently using the Mini-Adak atmospheric pollution analyzer, A low fluoride reagent, micrograms per cubic meter or parts per billlor atmospheric concentration range, consisting of a zirconium-Eriochrome Cyanine R complex, is incorporated in the method. This paper delimits the tolerance of this reagent to a number of common gaseous and particulate atmospheric pollutants which might be concomitantly pre sent with fluoride in an air sample. Los Angeles smog-type gases appear to be compatible with the reagent. The reagent may be subject to interference from phosphate, sulfate, and aluminum. However, phosphate appears to offer the only significant source of error under typical field sampling conditions. The Mini-Adak analyzer .with the low fluoride reagent has an approximate 18% analysis efficiency for submicron cryolite. -- Authors' summary 03120743 .11