BACKGROUND Diglycidylether of bisphenol A resin is the most important sensitizer in epoxy systems, but a minority of patients develop concomitant or solitary contact allergy to epoxy hardeners. At the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, several in-house test substances of epoxy hardeners have been tested in a special epoxy compound patch test series. OBJECTIVES To analyse the frequency ...

BACKGROUND The evidence on the safety of topical preparations containing botanical extracts is limited. OBJECTIVES To assess (i) the use of botanically derived compounds in a large population, (ii) the incidence of cutaneous side-effects, and (iii) the diagnostic usefulness of patch testing. METHODS A questionnaire was used in 2661 patients to assess both the prevalence and type of topical ...

BACKGROUND Diethylthiourea is widely used in the rubber industry, particularly in neoprene rubber, and may cause allergic contact dermatitis. However, as thiourea allergens are not part of the European baseline series, the diagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis caused by thiourea compounds depends on clinical suspicion and aimed testing. OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to evaluate th...

BACKGROUND The fragrance compound geraniol is susceptible to autoxidation when in contact with air, and to cutaneous metabolism. In both processes, the isomeric aldehydes geranial and neral are formed. Citral consists of geranial and neral. Among patients with positive reactions to citral, we have previously detected concomitant reactions to geraniol in 85% of cases and to oxidized geraniol in ...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate sensitization to chemicals present in work environment after an outbreak of contact dermatitis in workers of vehicle equipment factory, exposed to polyurethane foam, based on 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI). MATERIAL AND METHODS From among 300 employees, 21 individuals reporting work-related skin and/or respiratory tract symptoms underwent clinical examination, ...

The preservative methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI) is a well-known sensitiser and present in most baseline series since at least 20 years. The proportions of MCI/MI are 3:1. MI alone has been used as a preservative in occupational and household products, and cosmetics since less than 10 years. MCI/MI tested at 100 ppm fails to detect a significant percentage of contact-...

This is one of series of review articles on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasers (others: formaldehyde in cosmetics, in clothes and in metalworking fluids and miscellaneous). Thirty-five chemicals were identified as being formaldehyde-releasers. Although a further seven are listed in the literature as formaldehyde-releasers, data are inadequate to consider them as such beyond doubt. Several ...

BACKGROUND Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a well-recognized irritant. However, doubts exist that it is also a contact allergen. OBJECTIVE Analysis of clinical patch test data addressing the reaction profile and synchronous reproducibility of BAC 0.1% in petrolatum (pet.) and possible increases in risk of BAC contact allergy in certain (occupationally exposed) subgroups. PATIENTS /METHODS: Dat...

I t has been pointed out by Loeb 1 that our orientation in space is determined mainly by three groups of tropistic influences; namely, light, gravitation, and contact. Light and gravitation cause the orientation of organisms through effects upon muscle tonus. When the lines of force strike the animal obliquely, as for example, when light rays fall unequally on 1:he two eyes, the unequal stimula...

Contact dermatitis in humans and contact hypersensitivity (CHS) in animal models are delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions mediated by hapten-specific T cells. Recently, it has become clear that both CD4(+) Th1 and CD8(+) type 1 cytotoxic T (Tc1) cells can act as effectors in CHS reactions. T-bet has been demonstrated to play an important role in Th1 and Tc1 cell differentiation, but little i...