We conducted a case-control study of nasopharyngeal carcinoma among Malaysian Chinese to test inhalants, salted fish consumption, and use of tobacco, alcohol, and nasal ointments as risk factors for the disease. Interviews with 100 cases and 100 controls indicated that salted fish consumption during childhood was a significant risk factor (relative risk, 3.0; p = 0.04); childhood daily consumpt...

This study was undertaken to assess the pulmonary and respiratory problems of workers in a zarda factory. A total of 70 permanent zarda workers (50 manufacturing workers and 20 office ones) were studied in a factory in Baguihati, Kolkata, India. The study included (a) completion of a questionnaire (on pulmonary and respiratory problems), (b) measurement of physical parameters, (c) spirometry an...

A total of 57 subjects who had been exposed to mould dust in the tobacco industry were studied. Their working environment showed exposure to spores of different moulds, and 29 subjects (51%) showed antibodies against one or more of the microbes. Fifteen (26%) had work related respiratory symptoms. Eight (14%) showed slight radiographic pulmonary fibrosis. Spirometry showed a tendency toward res...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether occupational exposure to raw tobacco causes respiratory or allergic diseases, an excess of respiratory symptoms, a decrease in lung function, or parenchymal changes in chest radiography among Finnish cigar workers. METHODS This cross sectional study included all Finnish cigar workers (n = 106) exposed to raw tobacco and also a group of unexposed matched referen...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to describe the distribution of house-dust mite (HDM) allergens in homes of three-year-old children and to test the hypothesis whether the content of HDM allergens exceeding 2 microg/g of dust may be regarded as a risk level possibly affecting respiratory health in early childhood. MATERIALS AND METHODS House-dust samples were collected in 275 dwellings fro...

OBJECTIVE Occupational exposure to silica dust is associated with significant impairment of lung function. The present study investigates which pathological changes in the lung are associated with impairment of lung function in silica dust exposed workers who were life-long non-smokers. METHODS 242 South African white gold miners who were lifelong non-smokers and who had a necropsy at death w...

Objectives: The aim of the study was to describe the distribution of house-dust mite (HDM) allergens in homes of threeyear-old children and to test the hypothesis whether the content of HDM allergens exceeding 2 μg/g of dust may be regarded as a risk level possibly affecting respiratory health in early childhood. Materials and Methods: House-dust samples were collected in 275 dwellings from mat...

This study shows that residual nicotine from tobacco smoke sorbed to indoor surfaces reacts with ambient nitrous acid (HONO) to form carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Substantial levels of TSNAs were measured on surfaces inside a smoker's vehicle. Laboratory experiments using cellulose as a model indoor material yielded a > 10-fold increase of surface-bound TSNAs when sorbed s...

We report here the results of studies documenting the contamination of a cigarette-appearing smoking article labeled Eclipse with glass fibers, fragments, and particles. Eclipse, a product of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), was commercialized in June of 1996. Eclipse is unlike conventional cigarettes in that, like its predecessor Premier, it is designed to heat and not burn tobacco. T...

as surfactants enhance the membrane transport of organic compounds, it has to be assumed that they decisively influence the absorption of pollutants from house dust. sampling sites for the surfactant analysis include housing areas, each location of which has different surroundings such as rural, urban, construction, and industrial area. three stations had been selected for each housing area and...