ELPAT Program. Background and current status.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H A Feng.
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The Environmental Lead Proficiency Analytical Testing (ELPAT) Program evaluates over 400 laboratories that perform lead measurements in paints, soils, and dusts. A previous National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study, based on the ELPAT data over a 3-year period (1992-1995), found no large biases among common hotplate and microwave digestion techniques, but did detect small consistent bias between two common instrumental methods. This study expands on the earlier study by examining the total sample variability and its variation components (interlaboratory and intralaboratory). A correlation model was used to separate the variation components by estimating a variation ratio. The correlation model leads to a more general approach than a sample pairing technique developed by Youden. This study found no significant evidence that the relative contribution of intralaboratory and interlaboratory variability to total variability changes with lead loading levels. There were no significant differences in the relative contribution of variation components among three most commonly used analytical methods (combinations of sample preparation techniques and instrumental methods). The interlaboratory relative standard deviation is about 1.7 times the intralaboratory relative standard deviation. Both variation components are important parts of total variation although the laboratory-to-laboratory (including analyst-to-analyst) difference is greater than the within laboratory (including sample-to-sample) variation.
Several reports have suggested that soluble nickel salts may affect development. In this study female Long-Evans rats drank nickel chloride solutions (0, 10, 50, or 250 ppm Ni) for 11 weeks prior to mating and then during two successive gestation (G1, G2) and lactation (L1, L2) periods. Pups were observed until weaning; breeder males were unexposed. Dams drinking 250 ppm consumed less liquid and more food per kilogram body weight than did controls (liquid: prebreeding, G1, and G2; food: prebreeding, G2 and L2). Maternal weight gain was reduced during G1 in the high- and middle-dose groups; indices of reproductive performance were comparable across groups. Pup birth weight was unaltered by treatment and weight gain was reduced only in male pups exposed to 50 ppm Ni during L1. The frequency of perinatal death is the most significant toxicologic finding of the study. The proportion of dead pups per litter was significantly elevated at the high dose in L1 and at 10 and 250 ppm in L2 (50 ppm, P = 0.076), with a dose-related response in both experimental segments. The number of dead pups per litter was significantly increased at each dose in L2. Prolactin levels in pups were unchanged by treatment and were reduced in dams at the high dose. We conclude that 10 ppm Ni represents the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) in this study.
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