Camphor--a fumigant during the Black Death and a coveted fragrant wood in ancient Egypt and Babylon--a review. (49/56)

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Lung function in fragrance industry employees. (50/56)

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Unusual mortality pattern among short term workers in the perfumery industry in Geneva. (51/56)

A cohort of 537 workers employed for less than one year between 1900 and 1964 in the Geneva perfumery industry was followed up from entry to the end of 1983. During the period of study, 251 workers died and 41 (8%) were lost to follow up. The standardised mortality ratio (SMR) was significantly above 100 for all causes (SMR = 120), all cancers (SMR = 127), lung cancer (SMR = 186), and violent death (SMR = 179). The highest SMR from all causes was associated with the shortest period of employment (less than two months) and it decreased significantly with longer duration. Such mortality excesses had not been recorded among the 1168 workers of the same industry employed one year or more, previously studied in similar fashion. Interviews among a random sample of 52 workers employed for less than two months seem to indicate that the prevalence of smoking, exposures to asbestos, and occupational accidents in other hazardous industries were higher for these workers than for the reference population. Furthermore, unmarried men were overrepresented among the study cohort. These findings support previous observations indicating that short term workers share atypical features related to high mortality from various causes. It is suggested that mortality in this subgroup should be analysed separately in occupational studies.  (+info)

Mortality among flavour and fragrance chemical plant workers in the United States. (52/56)

Vital status on 1 January 1981 was determined for a cohort of 1412 white men employed in a flavour and fragrance chemical plant between 1945 and 1965 in order to investigate the risks from fatal diseases among men exposed to multiple chemicals in the manufacture of fragrances, flavours, aroma chemicals, and other organic substances. Cause specific standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for the entire study population and for several subsets by likelihood of exposure to chemicals, duration of employment, and year of hire. SMRs for rectal cancer and ischaemic heart disease were raised among white male employees whose jobs were in production, maintenance, laboratory, or other jobs that would involve exposure to multiple chemicals used and produced in the plant. The excess of rectal cancer was confined to employees who had worked as chemical operators and mortality was significantly raised among men who worked for ten or more years. Traces of dioxin were recently found in and around plant buildings that used trichlorophenol in the production of hexachlorophene. The study group was small and had limited power to detect excess risk of rare causes of death; however, no soft tissue sarcomas were observed during the study period.  (+info)

Mortality and cancer incidence in the perfumery and flavour industry of Geneva. (53/56)

An analysis has been made of the mortality and cancer incidence of 1168 workers who entered the three factories of the perfumery industry of the Canton of Geneva from their establishment at the turn of the century to the end of 1964. The workers were followed up from their entry until 31 December 1980, at which date 344 were dead and 28 lost to follow up. Among the whole study population only mortality from tuberculosis was significantly raised; there was no significant increase in the incidence of or mortality from any cancer. Analysis by four exposure categories showed a significant excess of deaths from heart disease among the compounders. In addition, two deaths from aplastic anaemia were recorded in chemical process workers exposed to benzene. Further analysis by cohort of entry and by birth cohort indicated that, among the subgroup of men first employed in 1900-29 and born in 1880-99, the mortality from a wide range of causes was significantly increased below the age of 70. This increase is unlikely to be due to an occupational factor as indicated by the absence of an upward trend of mortality with longer exposure.  (+info)

Odor perception phenotypes: multiple, specific hyperosmias to musks. (54/56)

Olfactory detection thresholds for 11 structurally diverse musk odorants and one non-musk odorant were obtained from 32 subjects. Hierarchical cluster analysis produced four groups of subjects. One group (n = 12) was uniformly sensitive to all musks; another (n = 16) was uniformly insensitive. Two groups of subjects contained otherwise insensitive individuals who were exceptionally sensitive to cyclopentadecanone and musk xylol (n = 2) and to delta9-hexadecenolactone and tonalid (n = 2) respectively. We propose that the latter two groups are odor perception phenotypes (MSHM1 and MSHM2) that consist of multiple, specific hyperosmias to musk odorants.  (+info)

Pharmacokinetic studies of the fragrance compound 1,8-cineol in humans during inhalation. (55/56)

The present study was undertaken to investigate the pharmacokinetics of 1,8-cineol in human subjects during prolonged inhalation. The results showed that 1,8-cineol is well absorbed from breathing air, with a peak plasma concentration after approximately 18 min. The elimination of this fragrance compound from the blood is biphasic, with a mean distribution half-life of 6.7 min and an elimination half-life of 104.6 min.  (+info)

Modulation of GABA receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes by 13-L-hydroxylinoleic acid and food additives. (56/56)

To study the effects of 13-L-hydroxylinoleic acid (LOH) and food additives on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, ionotropic GABA receptors were expressed in Xenopus oocytes by injecting mRNAs prepared from rat whole brain. LOH, which was prepared by reduction of 13-L-hydroperoxylinoleic acid (LOOH), inhibited the response of GABA receptors in the presence of high concentrations of GABA. LOH also inhibited nicotinic acetylcholine, glycine, and kainate receptors, while it had little effect on NMDA receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. However, LOH potentiated the response of GABA receptors as well as LOOH in the presence of low concentrations of GABA, possibly increasing the affinity of GABA for the receptors, while linoleic acid did not. Since some modification of the compounds seemed to change their effects on GABA receptors, the responses of GABA receptors elicited by 10 microM GABA were measured in the presence of compounds with various kinds of functional groups or the structural isomers of pentanol. Potentiation of GABA receptors depended strongly on the species of functional groups and also depended on the structure of the isomers. Then effects of various kinds of food additives on GABA receptors were also examined; perfumes such as alcohols or esters potentiated the responses strongly, while hexylamine, nicotinamide, or caffeine inhibited the responses, mainly in a competitive manner, and vanillin inhibited the responses noncompetitively. These results suggest the possibility that production of LOOH and LOH, or intake of much of some food additives, modulates the neural transmission in the brain, especially through ionotropic GABA receptors and changes the frame of the human mind, as alcohol or tobacco does.  (+info)