Ubiquitous fiber exposure in selected sampling sites in Europe.

Objectives: This study evaluates personal exposure to respirable inorganic and organic fibers during normal human lifetimes and assesses the order of magnitude of the contribution of inorganic fibers other than asbestos to total fiber exposure from man-made and natural sources.

Methods: Four groups (suburban schoolchildren, rural retired persons, office workers, and taxi drivers), with five persons per group, were monitored for 24 h four times during one year. Personal sampling pumps collected airborne dust on gold-precoated Nuclepore filters.

Investigation on the biodurability of chemically different stone wool fibres.

The biodurability is one of the essential factors for a carcinogenic potential of mineral fibres. The in vivo solubility of commercial fibre products can be influenced by modifications of the chemical composition. Two types of experimental stone wool samples with new chemical composition were compared to a commercial stone wool sample.

Investigation on the durability of man-made vitreous fibers in rat lungs.

Two types of sized stonewool with median lengths of 6.7 and 10.1 microns and median diameters of 0.

Characterization of cyclophosphamide (NSC-26271) metabolites and related derivatives by field-desorption and electron-impact mass spectrometry.

Several important metabolites of cyclophosphamide (CP), such as 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide and phosphoramide mustard, some 4-alkyl(aryl)thio derivatives have been investigated by field-desorption and electron-impact mass spectrometry. The structural identification of synthetic compounds and of derivatives, isolated by thin-layer chromatography in vitro, was possible since complementary information can be obtained using the two ionization techniques. Whereas only the field-desorption mass spectra showed more abundant molecular ions, the electron-impact technique revealed a characteristic fragmentation pattern for most of the compounds studied.

Permeation of cyclophosphamide (NSC-26271) metabolites into tumor cells.

The permeation kinetics of cyclophosphamide and its metabolites were studied with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, murine L1210 leukemia cells, and mouse L929 fibroblasts at 1 degrees C. In contrast to carboxyphosphamide and nor-nitrogen mustard, an equipartition of cyclophosphamide and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide was observed in these cells. First experiments have been done to study the efflux of cyclophosphamide and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide after incubation until saturation with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.

The problem of oncostatic specificity of cyclophosphamide (NSC-26271): Studies on reactions that control the alkylating and cytotoxic activity.

The relatively high oncostatic specificity of cyclophosphamide (CP) in vivo is shown to be due to the cytotoxic specificity of 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (4-hydroxy-CP), the first product of metabolic activation of CP in the liver. This specificity can be evaluated not only in vivo by measuring the therapeutic index, but also in vitro by determining its cytotoxicity against Yoshida ascites tumor cells. Evidence is given that 4-hydroxy-CP is not an alkylating agent itself, but attains this property only by release of an alkylating N,N-(2-chloroethyl)phosphorodiamic acid moiety and acrolein.