Poison Information Service of the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź. Types of toxicological inquiries 1991-1994.

The National Poison Information Centre and the physicians of the Clinic of Acute Poisonings, the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź, provide telephone toxicological information to the medical professions and the general public. The most frequently offered advice was for drugs, pesticides, solvents, corrosives and mixtures. The most frequent drug inquiries concerned tranquillizers, hypnotic and psychotropic drugs.

System for analysing sickness absenteeism in Poland.

The National System of Sickness Absenteeism Statistics has been functioning in Poland since 1977, as the part of the national health statistics. The system is based on a 15-percent random sample of copies of certificates of temporary incapacity for work issued by all health care units and authorised private medical practitioners. A certificate of temporary incapacity for work is received by every insured employee who is compelled to stop working due to sickness, accident, or due to the necessity to care for a sick member of his/her family.

Carbon disulfide-induced modification and cytotoxicity of low-density lipoproteins.

The secondary oxidation of biologically modified low-density lipoproteins (LDL) was demonstrated to contribute to the cytotoxicity and thereby to the atherogenicity of modified lipoproteins. Previously we have shown that chemical modification of LDL by carbon disulfide (CS(2)) mimicked the naturally occurring process of LDL modification. In the present study the cytotoxicity of CS(2)-modified LDL and their susceptibility to the secondary oxidative modification was investigated.

Cytochrome P-450 mediated genotoxicity of triarylmethane dye in mice fed ethanol liquid diet.

Genotoxic effect of synthetic triarylmethane dye (Acid Green 16) was evaluated in Balb C mice fed nutritionally adequate liquid diet (1 kcal/ml) or isocaloric alcoholic diet containing 5% (w/v) ethanol (36% of total calories) for 6 days. Dye compound was given intraperitoneally at dose 150 mg/kg body wt. 30 h before test.

Kinetics of n-butyl alcohol and m-xylene in blood during single and combined inhalation exposure in rats.

The levels of m-xylene and n-butyl alcohol in blood of rats during single and combined inhalation exposure to m-xylene and n-butyl alcohol at the concentrations of 100 + 100 ppm were investigated. We found that levels of n-butyl alcohol and m-xylene in blood of animals during single exposure did not differ as compared to coexposure. It has been shown that less than additive neurotoxic and irritating respiratory tract effects of m-xylene and n-butyl alcohol mixture, observed earlier under acute and subchronic inhalation study, cannot be explained by their metabolic interaction.

Development of spontaneous, age-related nonconvulsive seizure electrocortical activity and radial-maze learning after exposure to m-xylene in rats.

It has been hypothesized that exposure to neurotoxins may result in accelerated ageing of the central nervous system (CNS). The present study investigated the effects of a 3-month (6 hr daily, 5 days/week) inhalation exposure of rats to m-xylene, at concentrations of 100 and 1000 ppm, on the spontaneous neocortical spike and wave discharges (SWD) and spatial learning in an eight-arm radial maze. According to the literature, the SWD activity increases and the ability to solve spatial problems worsens as the animal gets older.

Toxic effects of acute inhalation exposure to 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (pseudocumene) in experimental animals.

Neurotoxic and sensory respiratory irritation effects of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (pseudocumene) in male rats and male Balb/C mice were investigated in condition of acute inhalation exposure. Rotarod performance and pain sensitivity behaviour were tested in rats exposed to pseudocumene at concentrations of 1230-9840 mg/m3 (250-2000 ppm) immediately after termination of a four-hour exposure. The respiratory rate was measured in mice by the whole body plethysmographic method in 6 min duration exposure to various concentrations of pseudocumene.

Selected aspects of the population health status in ecological hazard areas in comparison with ecologically "clean area". III. localisation of urban regions with high mortality from all and from the circulatory system diseases.

Territorial localisation of urban regions with particularly high mortality from all diseases and from diseases of the circulatory system in males and females was the aim of the study. Altogether 177 urban regions within ecological hazard areas (EHAs) and 76 urban regions within reference area (RA) were subjected to evaluation. In the group of urban regions in which mortality rate from all diseases exceeded the value of arithmetic mean + 1/2 of standard deviation, 32 urban regions of EHA and 12 of them with RA were selected for assessing male mortality and 44 and 7, respectively, for assessing female mortality.

Urinary excretion of chromium as an indicator of exposure to various chromium forms in MMA/SS welders.

Increased levels of Cr discharged with urine after working shift, Cr-U (arithmetic mean 15.8 mu g/g creatinine), and Cr buildup during working shift, DeltaCr-U (arithmetic mean 3.8 mu g/g creatinine), were observed in 15 MMA/SS welders exposed during the working week to welding fumes containing Cr VI (33-56%) - mainly soluble (87%) and Cr III (44-67%) - mainly insoluble (72%).

Development of the aggregation model of adverse environmental and health effects for evaluation of large areas of ecological hazard.

The model of aggregation of 12 parameters describing the environmental and health effects in areas of ecological hazard has been elaborated. The values of particular indices create the characteristic profile useful for selection of dominant environmental problems. The general index of hazard is suitable for establishing priorities among ecological hazard areas.