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Biomedical subjects

V Foà

Publications and source records attributed to V Foà.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Occupational triphenyltin acetate poisoning: a case report.

A case of triphenyltin acetate (TPTA) poisoning is described. The patient, who had been exposed mainly to cutaneous absorption, showed acute stages of an urticarial eruption, signs of hepatic injury, slight glucose intolerance, and electroencephalographic abnormalities. Concomitant with the highest concentrations of tin in plasma and the peak of tin excretion in urine, neutrophils did not show the normal increase in actin polymerisation after stimulation with a chemotactic peptide (100 nM fMLP). The peak of urinary excretion of tin occurred between the fifth and the sixth day after poisoning; subsequently, the rate of excretion became slow, suggesting biphasic kinetics with the possibility of a cumulative trend.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Health risks in the biotechnological industry].

Biotechnology has been defined as the application of biological organisms, systems or processes to manufacturing and service industries. In considering health aspects of biotechnological development it must be underlined that the use of microorganisms in traditional industries, such as the production of food, bread, beer and dairy products, has not added significantly to the more usual industrial hazards. The risk factors encountered in the biotechnology industry can be defined as general, i.e., common to other industrial activities, and specific, i.e., depending on the presence of microorganisms and/or their metabolic products. The specific health risks vary according to the type of process, but can be grouped into three main categories: immunological diseases, toxic effects; pathological effects of microorganisms. Allergic immunological diseases such as bronchial asthma, contact dermatitis, oculo-rhinitis and extrinsic allergic alveolitis are by far the most frequent and well known diseases occurring among workers employed on biotechnological production. Toxic effects were observed among workers employed on the production of antibiotics and hormones or single cell proteins, where absorption of endotoxins has been described. Infectious diseases may arise from uncontrolled dissemination of pathogenic microorganisms through aerosols, dusts, aqueous and semisolid sludge effluents from biotechnological plants. The greatest risks occur in the production of antiviral vaccines, in research laboratories and in waste-water treatment plants. Risk of pathogenic effects has also been speculated from exposure to engineered microorganisms in laboratory and environmental or agricultural applications. Safety precautions consisting of protective measures, and effective barriers of containment (both physical and biological) have to be advised according to the hazardous characteristics of the organisms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1988

[Creatinine as an adjustment parameter in urinary excretion of vanadium and nickel].

Urinary creatinine is used as an adjustment factor of the concentration of metabolites excreted in urinary random samples. The usefulness of this practice is longtime disputed. The aim of this study, made in 94 workers, is to estimate if the creatinine-adjustment of V and Ni urinary concentrations brings a true advantage in his capacity to predict the amount of metal excreted in 24 hours. The results shown this practice is pointless and that also in case of urinary samples at anomalous dilution. A greater accuracy in expression of analytical results of V and Ni excretion may be obtained collecting the urinary samples with a known amount, that is to say more representative of the daily diuresis.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

A cohort study on vinyl chloride manufacturers in Italy: study design and preliminary results.

A cohort mortality study of 5000 vinyl chloride manufacturers is ongoing in 9 Italian plants. They represent the entire workforce of those ever employed in the production of the monomer and its polymerization. The objectives of the study are to investigate the mortality of the exposed population and to clear up the carcinogenic spectrum of vinyl chloride. This article gives the results for 3 out of 9 plants, Rosignano, Ferrara and Ravenna, which represent about 25% of the total cohort. The expected deaths have been calculated using the mortality rates of the Italian population. For the deceased persons information from the death certificates were used in the analysis of mortality; additional clinical and pathological data were collected (best pathological evidence, b.p.e.). In Ferrara a statistically significant excess for all malignant tumors and lung cancer was detected. In Rosignano and Ravenna the number of observed deaths were small and therefore no comments can be made on cancer mortality. The cohort study is ongoing in the 6 remaining cohorts and the future analysis will consider duration and level of exposure and latency.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Lead arsenate as an underestimated cause of polyneuropathy in rural environment: description of two cases].

Two cases of lead arsenate polyneuropathy are described in two farmers from the same rural area; the etiology of the neurologic al disorder was ascertained only after repeated hospital admissions. It was a neuropathy of the radial nerve associated with signs of peripheral impairment of the lower limbs with pains and paresthesias. Abdominal colies, arterial hipertension, anaemia and signs of renal impairment were also present. Specific therapy was undertaken which was soon followed by nearly full recovery. Lead and arsenic toxicology are discussed with particular focusing on the necessity emphasis on commun occupational hazards both in terms of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The differential diagnosis is considered between the observed clinical picture and other polyneuropathies of different etiology i.e. dysmetabolic (porphyria) or toxic (insecticides, T.O.C.P., etc).

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The mortality among the makers of vinyl chloride in Italy].

A mortality study was performed on 5,946 vinyl chloride (VC)-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) workers of the nine Italian plants. The aims of the study were to investigate the cause-specific mortality of workers exposed to VC in production and polymerization stages and to ascertain whether exposure is associated with a higher risk of cancers other than liver angiosarcoma. An incident cohort was enumerated in five plants, a mixed cohort in two and a cross sectional one in the remaining two facilities. Cause-specific Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR) were calculated for the six incidence cohorts with a sufficiently long follow-up period. Both Italian and regional rates were used for the comparison. A pooled analysis of six cohorts was performed. For deceased persons, information from death certificates was used in the mortality analysis. Additional clinical and pathological data were sought for all decreased individuals (Best Evidence = BE). The results of the study confirm the carcinogenic action of vinyl chloride on the liver but not on the other suggested target organs (i.e., lung, lymphopoietic tissues, brain). A deficit for all causes of death and cardiovascular disease was evident in most cohorts and in the pooled cohort. Analysis of BE data showed a broad spectrum of carcinogenic action of VCM on the liver as demonstrated by the occurrence of both angiosarcomas and other histotypes of tumours.

Cause of Death↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Pathology caused by microdoses of chemical substances].

Improvement in environmental conditions in industry is producing a progressive reduction in the dose of absorbed substances. This has repercussions on the work of the occupational health physician, who now has to face a new set of problems, problems which at the same time offer occasions for further research in risk assessment of chemical agents. The most obvious finding, which has perhaps been handled more systematically, concerns the change in occupational diseases, whence the need to extend designs and protocols of health surveillance. The expected effects of occupational exposure to low doses of a chemical fall within the category of what may be defined as long-term effects, carcinogenic effects and, above all, effects involving systems or apparatuses that are sensitive to low doses but over long periods, such as, for example, the immune and the reproductive systems. This new situation than has repercussions on biological monitoring: in the first place on the problem of setting reference values and on the study and control of confounding factors; secondly, on the predictivity of the biological indicators used. In some cases, in fact, the indicators of dose that the occupational health physician has learnt to use and on which his approach to prevention his based, proved to be no longer predictive in such new exposure situations.

Environmental Monitoring↗