Education for the practice of occupational medicine: knowledge, competence, and professionalism.

The multistep process of education is delineated by the sequential phases: (1) Knowledge Transfer, (2) Competence Development, and (3) Professional Inculcation. The realities of practice modes and curricular time constraints are important determinants of the breadth and depth of the information provided in the Knowledge Transfer process. Accordingly, it is proposed that Phase 1, the Knowledge Acquisition Process, be organized into two components: (1) Core Knowledge, requiring both significant breadth and depth; and (2) Augmentive Knowledge, providing wide breadth and appropriate but variable depth.

Radiographic abnormalities in relation to total dust exposure at a bauxite refinery and alumina-based chemical products plant.

A cross-sectional study of 788 male employees of an aluminum production company examined the relationship of radiographic abnormalities to smoking and dust exposure from the mining and refining of bauxite to alumina. Among the aluminas produced were low temperature range transitional forms. The present analyses were limited to nonsmokers and current smokers.

Alumina-related pulmonary disease.

A review of experimental studies suggests that the catalytically active low temperature transitional forms of alumina produces irreversible fibronodular change only when administered by intratracheal insufflation. Other aluminas not catalytically active but also broadly identified as "gamma" for different reasons also appear capable of inducing pulmonary fibrosis in the same model. Under conditions of human exposure, occupational exposure to a broad range of aluminas indicates--at most--minimal pulmonary nodular response.

Aluminum in the lung: the pyropowder conundrum.

Pulmonary aluminosis is a disease first seen in Germany between 1938 and 1945 which then reappeared in the United Kingdom between 1952 and 1959. All cases were associated with exposure to a submicron-sized aluminum pyrotechnic flake which was lubricated with a non-polar aliphatic oil. Ordinarily, stearic acid, which chemically combines with aluminum to form aluminum stearate, was used as a lubricant to retard surface oxidation during milling of such flake.

Impact of the International Labor Organization on occupational health and safety laws and practice.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) represents an historic, negotiated solution of sociopolitical problems arising from World War I. Among its functions, it develops international standards designed to improve conditions of employment. Its tripartite structure involving governments, labor, and employers inevitably impacts upon the philosophy and substance of the occupational health and safety instruments it develops.