Inflammatory responses and oxidative stress from metal fume exposure in automobile welders.

Objectives: : Welding operations expose to metal fume. We investigated the inflammatory responses and oxidative stress from metal fume exposure in an automobile plant.

Methods: : We recruited 258 automobile workers and measured the urine zinc, copper, and nickel to determine the exposure level, and examined the white blood cells, and IL-6 as inflammatory responses to the metal fume exposure.

Pulmonary function abnormalities and airway irritation symptoms of metal fumes exposure on automobile spot welders.

Background: Spot or resistance welding has been considered less hazardous than other types of welding. Automobile manufacturing is a major industry in Taiwan. Spot and arc welding are common processes in this industry.

Long-term changes in trace elements in patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis.

Although the connection between aluminum intoxication and dialysis dementia was identified in the 1980s, understanding of trace element imbalances in hemodialysis patients is as yet incomplete. Recent application of newer inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) techniques has resulted in renewed study of this population. We used ICP/MS to evaluate serum concentrations of Cu, Se, Zn, Mn, and Ni in a relatively large population of hemodialysis patients compared with healthy age-matched controls.

Central nervous system effects in acute thallium poisoning.

We report the central nervous system manifestations, neuropsychological studies and brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) findings of two patients with acute thallium intoxication. Neurologically the patients suffered from confusion, disorientation, and hallucination in the acute stage, followed by anxiety, depression, lack of attention, and memory impairment, in addition to peripheral neuropathy. Neuropsychological tests revealed an impairment of memory function, including reversed digital span, memory registration, memory recall, memory recognition, similarity, proverb reasoning, and verbal fluency.