[Occupational diseases caused by exposure to sensitizing metals].

Diseases caused by occupational exposure to sensitizing metals including platinum (Pt), rhodium (Rh), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), gold (Au), mercury (Hg), zirconium (Zr) and beryllium (Be) are reviewed. Allergic reactions induced by the metals are described according to the classification by Coombs and Gell. Metals with unproven sensitizing potential are not discussed if reports on these are either very rare or devoid of convincing evidence for allergic involvement.

Determination of exposure to cobalt and nickel in the atmosphere in the hard metal industry.

Cobalt and nickel, matrices of hard metal, have been shown to be respiratory sensitizers. Airborne dust at hard metal-grinding worksites in a factor with a work-force of about 180 grinders was analysed for cobalt and nickel. The electron-microscopic X-ray microanalysis of airborne dust particles demonstrated that they had the same metallic components as hard metal products.

Healthy lifestyles are associated with higher natural killer cell activity.

Background: To investigate the association of individual lifestyle with immune response against tumors, we assayed peripheral blood lymphocytes of 62 healthy males ranging in age from 30 to 60 years for natural killer (NK) cell activity, which is the first line of defense against tumors, and for frequencies of NK cell subsets.

Methods: The NK cell activity was determined by 51Cr release assay, and NK cell subsets were counted using surface antigens (CD16, CD57) which recognize NK cell subgroups with different cytolytic potentials. Subjects were classified into groups reporting good, moderate, and poor lifestyles according to their responses on a questionnaire regarding eight health practices (tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, hours of sleep, physical exercise, eating breakfast, balanced nutrition, hours of work habits, and mental stress).

A pilot study to evaluate Japanese standard radiographs of pneumoconioses (1982) according to the ILO 1980 International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses.

The Japanese Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses (JC) is characterized by its own standard films, including limit films which are defined to represent the upper limit of category 0 or the lower limit of category 1. This pilot study was aimed at evaluating the JC standard radiographs according to the ILO 1980 International Classification of Radiographs of Pneumoconioses (IC) in which some of the JC standards were read according to the IC by two groups of experienced British workers, four non-medically qualified (NM panel) and six medically qualified (MQ panel). The Japanese standard limit films, with rounded opacities of category 0/1 or 1/0, were classified by both groups as having lower categories in the IC than in the JC.

Combined effect of smoking habits and occupational exposure to hard metal on total IgE antibodies.

A survey was made within a population of workers (n = 706) exposed to hard metal dust (an alloy including cobalt), an agent known to cause occupational allergy. Twenty-seven (4 percent) of 733 workers were eliminated from consideration in this study because of atopic status identified prior to starting work in the plant. Using a Phadebas PRIST, the subjects' total IgE levels were determined and related to their smoking and exposure status.

MR microimaging of articular cartilage and contrast enhancement by manganese ions.

Saline solutions of manganese ions (Mn2+) were used as articular contrast agents in magnetic resonance microscopy (9.4 T) of cartilage of chicken femoral condyles and pig temporomandibular joints. The diffusion of Mn2+ from the articular surface into the cartilage matrix led to a strong contrast enhancement in the cartilage.

Primary culture of liver cancer tissues with or without transcatheter arterial embolization and establishment of a cell strain.

More epithelial-like cells are found in primary cultures of transcathetel arterial embolization (TAE)-untreated human liver cancer tissues than in those of TAE-treated tissues. A new cell strain, HUH-33, established from the former, grows slowly and is untransplantable into nude mice and secretes alpha-fetoprotein, albumin and some other tumor markers. Chromosome numbers are widely distributed.

Specific IgE antibodies to nickel in workers with known reactivity to cobalt.

Twenty-one workers with hard metal asthma, including eight atopics, diagnosed on the basis of peak flow diaries and positive reaction to cobalt chloride (CoCl2) and/or nickel sulphate (NiSO4) in skin and provocation tests were studied for sensitization by detection of specific antibodies to nickel-conjugated human serum albumin (Ni-HSA), and nickel-conjugated exchange resin (Ni-resin). Their results were compared with those of sera obtained from control sera from 60 asthmatic patients and pair-matched asymptomatic control workers in the hard metal plant. In the RASTs (radioallergosorbent tests), sera from the same six subjects developed positive reactions both to Ni-HSA (RAST index greater than 2.

[Does lifestyle modulate natural killer cell activities?].

Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the defense against tumors. Peripheral blood monocytes are routinely assayed for the activity of NK cells by using a 4hr-51Cr release assay, and subsets of the NK cells are determined with monoclonal antibodies directed against surface phenotypes of the NK cells. We reviewed associations of demographic characteristics and individual lifestyles with the NK cells activities and the NK cell subpopulation frequencies.

[Assessment of occupational exposures to industrial hazardous substances. V. A proposed method for evaluating employee's exposure averages (8-h TWAs) using a single day measurement].

Daily exposure averages (8-h TWAs) to hazardous substances may vary considerably day to day, even though a worker is engaged in the same job. Previously we proposed a method to evaluate a long-term exposure condition with interday fluctuation using some exposure measurements. As it is assumed that 8-h TWAs are log-normally distributed, geometric standard deviation (sigma g) representing true interday fluctuation of 8-h TWAs should be estimated.

Reversible lung lesions in rats due to short-term exposure to ultrafine cobalt particles.

Using an ultrasonic nebulizer, cobalt aerosols (MMAD = 0.76 microns, sigma g = 2.1) were generated from an aqueous suspension of ultrafine metallic cobalt particles (Uf-Co) with a primary diameter of 20 nm.

Lymphocyte transformation test with nickel in hard metal asthma: another sensitizing component of hard metal.

To determine cell-mediated immunity to nickel, another matrix in hard metal besides cobalt, lymphocyte transformation tests (LTT) with nickel were carried out in seven hard metal asthma patients all of who had reacted to cobalt chloride in the bronchial provocation tests (BPT). Immunoallergic studies prior to the present study revealed that three of the seven generated a simultaneous positive reaction in the BPT with nickel and the allergosorbent test with nickel-conjugated human serum albumin (Ni-HSA). A stimulation index in LTT indicating a positive response was defined on the basis of results from the studies in the controls.

Alveolitis caused by exposure to coal mine dusts: production of interleukin-1 and immunomodulation by bronchoalveolar leukocytes.

Two kinds of coal mine dust, low rank with high quartz (bituminous) and high rank with low quartz (anthracite), were assayed for ability to induce alveolitis and to stimulate interleukin-1 release from normal alveolar macrophages in vitro. Dust-elicited bronchoalveolar leukocytes were also assessed for their effects on macrophage-depleted splenocyte mitogenesis and their ability to produce interleukin-1. Quartz and titanium dioxide were used for comparison as toxic and inert dusts, respectively.

Immunomodulation in mineral dust-exposed lungs: stimulatory effect and interleukin-1 release by neutrophils from quartz-elicited alveolitis.

Quartz deposition in the rat lung causes an intense and persistent neutrophil alveolitis leading to parenchymal fibrosis. Bronchoalveolar leucocytes (BAL) from quartz-exposed rat lungs were studied for their effects on splenic lymphocyte proliferation; titanium dioxide (TiO2) was used as a control, non-fibrogenic dust. Seven days after the intratracheal instillation of 1 mg of quartz or TiO2 suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), BAL were recovered by lavage; the effect of PBS alone was also studied.

Hard metal asthma: cross immunological and respiratory reactivity between cobalt and nickel?

Eight asthmatic patients with hard metal asthma due to cobalt underwent bronchial provocation challenge with nickel sulphate. Seven patients developed a fall in FEV1 of 20% or more after inhaling nickel sulphate, four showing an immediate response and three a late response. Eight control subjects, including six asthmatic patients, with no history of hard metal exposure, showed no bronchoconstriction in response to a provocation challenge with nickel sulphate.

Production of interleukin-1 like activity by neutrophils derived from rat lung.

Interleukin-1 like activity was produced by neutrophils obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage from experimentally inflamed rat lung. Activity was released spontaneously from neutrophils at high levels but it was enhanced by stimulation with endotoxin in vitro.

[Tissue culture course of a human hepatoma cell line].

A cell line, HuH-33 was cultured in vitro from a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. This cell line has been in continuous culture over 12 month period with slow growth potential. HuH-33 was composed spindle-or polygonal-shaped cells as a major population.

Effect of various factors and substrates on the growth of a human hepatoblastoma cell line, HuH-6 in a serum-free medium.

The effect of various factors and substrates on the growth of a human hepatoblastoma cell line, HuH-6, which was inoculated at low density in a serum-free medium was examined. Several supplements were required to enhance cell growth of HuH-6. These included cholera toxin (CT), glucagon (Glu) and selenium (Se).

[Studies on AFP-producing capacity and some other properties of human hepatoma cells treated with various anticancer drugs].

The effect of various anticancer drugs on alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) secretion and some other properties of human hepatoma cells was investigated in vitro with the following results. (1) There was a high correlation between AFP secretion and cell number after treatment of human hepatoma cells with anticancer drugs and the amounts of AFP secreted per 10(4) cells per 72 hours (AFP-secreting capacity) were not affected within therapeutically achievable concentrations (TAC). (2) The AFP-secreting capacity was affected with some exceptions in the cells treated with higher concentration of drugs than TAC.

[Evaluation of the self-administered respiratory questionnaire recommended by the Japanese Labour Ministry based on the standardized interviewer-administered BMRC questionnaire].

The self-administered respiratory questionnaire on persistent cough or sputum prepared and recommended by the Japanese Labour Ministry to detect pneumoconiosis was evaluated and compared with the Japanese version of the standardized interviewer-administered respiratory questionnaire developed by the British Medical Research Council (BMRC). The two questionnaires were given to 800 subjects on the same day. Because the wording of the questions was similar, the two questionnaires yielded very similar results.

[Two cases of anorectal malignant melanoma].

Although on anorectal malignant melanoma is relatively rare, we report two cases, that of a 88-year-old woman, and a 78-year-old man. Both patients were admitted to the hospital due to rectal bleeding and were diagnosed as having rectal carcinoma. Following an abdominoperineal rectal amputation, a pathological examination of the resected specimens revealed a malignant melanoma.