Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Original Article

The Similar Exposure Group and Exposure Variation in Ship-Building Painters: Focused on Xylene Exposure: Sang Baek Koh, Young Man Roh, Hyeon Woo Yim, Yong Chul Shin, Soo Keun Kim, Hong Ryul Choi, Jai Young Kim, Soung Hoon Chang; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2001;13(4):413-422. Published online December 31, 2001; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.2001.13.4.413

OBJECTIVES
This study was conducted to assess the concentration of xylene exposure and exposure variability of a similar exposure group(SEG) in accordance with job title and confined space.
METHOD
The study subjects included 28 workers working in the painting process in the ship-building industry. Measurement of subjects were repeated three times. Within and between-worker exposure variance components were estimated from log-transformed exposure concentrations employing a one-way nested random effects analysis of variance model. A uniformly exposed group was defined as one where the between-worker variance(sigmaB2) was less than or equal to 0.031 or bwR95 RESULT
The results indicated that, contrary to popular belief, similar exposed groups based on job title were heterogeneous. The between-worker variance(sigmaB 2) is large(>or=0.031) and the ratios of the 97.5th and 2.5th percentile workers of the log normally distributed exposures of each group of workers was more than 2. However dividing job title into confined space(in-block, out-block, in/out-block) decreased the between-worker exposure variability.
CONCLUSION
This study focused on the quantitative aspects of exposure in painters in the ship-building industry. We cannot accept the assumption that SEG are uniformly exposed, as a major component of variation in exposure relates to differences in tasks or other factors. Therefore, the observational schemes can be improved by investigating jobspecific task and practice.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Overview of occupational cancer in painters in Korea
Jun-Pyo Myong, Younmo Cho, Min Choi, Hyoung-Ryoul Kim
Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2018;[Epub] CrossRef
The Work Environment and Wearing Conditions of Industrial Protective Clothing in Shipbuilding Workshops
Hyun-Sook Bae, Min-Young Kim
Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles.2012; 36(5): 512. CrossRef

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Original Article

Effects of Toluene, Xylene and Trichloroethylene on the Regulation of GnRH, GnRH Receptor and Pit-1 Gene Expression in Male Rat Hypothalamus and Pituitary: Dae Hwan Kim, Hun Lee, Chae Kwan Lee, Dae Sung Kang, Jung Ho Kim, Jong Tae Lee, Jin Ho Chun, Chae Un Lee, No Suk Ki; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 1998;10(2):267-281. Published online May 31, 1998; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.1998.10.2.267

Abstract PDF: The workplace exposure of chemicals has steadily increased, therefore the concern for subsequent effect on reproductive outcome has been an important issue in occupational medicine. In previous studies, higher rates of spontaneous abortion, reduced fertility and menstrual disorder among women, and an impairment of sperm quantity and quality among men have been associated with a wide variety of chemical agents. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of toluene, xylene and trichloroethylene (TCE) injection on the mRNA levels of GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 genes in male rats hypothalamus and pituitary and the effects on the plasma levels of FSH, LH, prolactin and testosterone. Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into five groups of five each according to concentration of toluene, xylene and TCE. The rats were injected subcutaneously to 0, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/kg body weight/day of toluene, xylene and TCE, respectively for 6 days. Rat brains were excised and hypothalamus and pituitary were separated. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and RNase protection assay (RPA) were used to evaluate the GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels. Plasma concentrations of FSH, LH, prolactin and testosterone were assayed by radioimulunoassay (RIA). The results were as follows; 1. GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in toluene and xylene injected groups, and GnRH receptor mRNA levels in TCE injected group were lowered dose-dependently. Especially, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 200 mg/kg of toluene injected group, and GnRH, GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of toluene injected group were significantly lowed than control group (p<0.05). GnRH receptor and Pit-1 mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of xylene injected group, and GnRH receptor mRNA levels in 400 mg/kg of TCE injected group were significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). 2. The plasma levels of prolactin and testosterone in 400 mg/kg of toluene injected group, and LH in 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of xylene injected group, and testosterone in 400 mg/kg of TCE injected group were significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, we speculated that toluene and xylene affected reproductive system secondarily through hypothalamus-pituitary axis, and TCE affected directly through steroidogenesis. And we recomended that further study for assessment of the reproductive toxiclty of mixed organic solvent exposures should be conducted.

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Original Article

A Study on the Correlation of Ambient Toluene and Xylene with Biological Monitoring Index: Soung Hoon Chang; Korean Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 1995;7(2):295-305. Published online October 31, 1995; DOI: https://doi.org/10.35371/kjoem.1995.7.2.295

Abstract PDF

In order to study the correlation of ambient toluene and xylene exposure with their biological monitoring indices, we measured the concentration of toluene and xylene in the workplace. We also measured their biological monitoring indices of workers from August to November in 1994. The exposed group consisted of 103 male workers and the non-exposed group consisted of 34 male workers. The ambient concentration of toluene was 44.7 +/-55.4 ppm and that of xylene was 2.35+/-2.15 ppm. The urinary concentration of hippuric acid in exposed group was 1.72+/-1.53 g/g creatinine and that of non-exposed group was 0.34+/-0.28 g/g creatinine. The difference was statistically significant between two groups (p<.0.001). The urinary concentration of o-cresol in exposed group was 692.9+/-710.8 ug/g creatinine and that of non-exposed group was 184.7+/-167.6 microgram/g creatinine. The difference was also statistically significant between two groups (p<0.001). The urinary concentration of methylhippuric acid which was compensated with urinary creatinine in I exposed group was 62. 7+/-104.6 mg/g creatinine and that of non-exposed group was 64.0+91.5 mg/g creatinine. However the difference was not statistically significant between two groups (p>0.05). When compensated with urinary creatinine, the correlation coefficient of ambient toluene with urinary hippuric acid and ocresol were 0.63(p=0.0001) and 0.65(p=0.0001), respectively. When compensated with urinary specific gravity, the correlation coefficient of ambient toluene with hippuric acid and ocresol were 0.525 (p=0.0001) and 0.547 (p=0. 0001), respectively. The compensation method using urinary creatinine provided a higher correlation coefficient. We could not find any statistically significant differences between the duration of work and other variables (urinary hippuric acid, o-cresol and methylhippuric acid). In order to monitor biological indices of toluene-exposed workers, we suggest the measurement of urinary hippuric acid rather than o-cresol. As the compensation method, we suggest to use urinary creatinine rather than urinary specific gravity.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Effects of the Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons or Toluene on Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substance Level in Elementary School Children and the Elderly in a Rural Area
Dae-Seon Kim, Chul-Ho Lee, Sang-Yong Eom, Tackshin Kang, Yong-Dae Kim, Heon Kim
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.2008; 41(1): 61. CrossRef

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