Screening for occupational exposures and congenital malformations.

Since 1976 the Finnish matched-pair Register of Congenital Malformations has been linked to a special project which screens for associations between selected congenital malformations and chemical and physical exposures during early pregnancy. Case mothers and their referents are personally interviewed. Exposure data are quantitated blindly by a team of industrial hygienists and occupational health experts.

Car painters' exposure to a mixture of organic solvents. Serum activities of liver enzymes.

The serum activities of liver enzymes of car painters (N = 102) exposed to a mixture of solvents [toluene, xylene, and other constituents; about half the threshold limit value recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) in 1981] were compared with those of age-matched referents (N = 102). The activities of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, ornithine carbamoyl transferase, and gamma glutamyl transferase did not differ between the exposed and the nonexposed groups. Simultaneous neurophysiological and ophthalmological examinations of the same car painters had distinguished subgroups of "solvent-affected" and "non-affected" car painters.

Oral clefts and organic solvent exposure during pregnancy.

A cumulative case-referent study concerning selected exposures during pregnancy among mothers to children born with oral clefts has been in progress in Finland since December 1, 1977. The present study covering the initial 3.5 years' material can be regarded as a specific, more detailed extension of earlier retrospective studies concerning environmental factors in the causation of oral clefts, using material accumulated from the Finnish Register of Congenital Malformations.

Disappearance of carbon monoxide from the blood: Comparison of the one-exponential and two-exponential elimination models for rat.

The elimination of carbon monoxide from rat blood was studied from a starting point of a nonsteady-state concentration of 40% for carboxyhemoglobin (COHb). The accuracy of the fit was statistically improved by the employment of a two-exponential elimination model rather than that of the one-exponential model. Yet, the differences in the COHb estimates attained with the two models were negligible.

Marked lethality of rats in combined exposure to carbon monoxide and diethyldithiocarbamate.

Simultaneous exposure of rats to carbon monoxide (COHb 60%) and diethyldithiocarbamate (i.p. 0.

Effects of intermittent dichloromethane inhalation on blood carboxyhemoglobin concentration and drug metabolizing enzymes in rat.

Rats were exposed to dichloromethane vapor in concentrations of 500 ppm, 1000 ppm, or 1000 ppm as a time-weighted average. All of the exposures lasted for 6 h, five days a week for two weeks. Kidney microsomes displayed a dose-dependent enhancement of the ethoxy-coumarin O-deethylase activity.

Dose-related effects of dichloromethane on rat brain in short-term inhalation exposure.

Male Wistar rats were exposed to 500, 1000 or 100 ppm as time-weighted average (t.w.a.

Dichloromethane and carbon monoxide inhalation: carboxyhemoglobin addition, and drug metabolizing enzymes in rat.

Male Wistar rats were exposed for 3 h to 100 ppm Co, 1,000 ppm dichloromethane, or to their combination. Exposure to dichloromethane alone or in combination with CO double the ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase activity in the kidney microsomes but not in the liver. An additive effect on blood COHb concentration by simultaneous exposure to CO and dichloromethane was observed.

Biochemical effects of carbon monoxide poisoning in rat brain with special reference to blood carboxyhemoglobin and cerebral cytochrome oxidase activity.

Male Wistar rats exposed to 1000 ppm carbon monoxide for 3 h showed a rapid removal of carbon monoxide from the blood, and a cerebral cytochrome oxidase activity within the control range immediately after the end of the exposure. The cytochrome oxidase activity decreased while carboxyhemoglobin concentration diminished during the reoxygenation period. The effect might have been caused through a loss of mitochondria by increased lipid peroxidation as cerebral glutathione concentration decreased and lysosomal acid proteinase activity increased in glial cell fractions.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme and lysozyme in silicosis and asbestosis.

Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity and lysozyme (LZM) concentration in 22 silicosis and 18 asbestosis patients were studied. These patients were compared with 57 untreated and 36 treated sarcoidosis patients. In all groups significantly raised ACE and LZM mean values were noted.

Blood pressure and renin during treatment with pindolol.

Beta-receptor blocking drugs are known to decrease BP and plasma renin activity (PRA) in hypertensive patients. We treated 31 hypertensive patients with the beta-receptor blocking drug, pindolol, for 3 months. During the first month (mean daily dose 10 mg) and the second month (mean daily dose 14.

Plasma renin activity, blood pressure and sodium excretion during treatment with clonidine.

Clonidine, 225 mug a day, has been given orally for 3 months to 15 patients with essential hypertension. Mean BP was reduced from 159/107 to 143/87 mmHg. The antihypertensive effect of the drug was dissociated from changes in plasma renin activity (PRA) during clonidine treatment.