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Objectives: Previous studies on firefighters indicate an increased risk of cancer although findings regarding which cancer sites are in excess have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate the cancer incidence among Swedish firefighters.Methods: This updated cohort study included 1080 men who worked at least 1 year as a firefighter in the city of Stockholm, Sweden during 1931-1983. First-time diagnoses of cancer were identified through the Swedish Cancer Registry from 1958 until 2012. Employment as a firefighter was determined from the annual fire station enrolment records. Standardized incidence ratios were calculated using the Stockholm population as reference.Results: Firefighters in Stockholm had a low overall risk of cancer (SIR = 0.81 95% CI 0.71-0.91). However, firefighters were at an increased risk of stomach cancer (SIR = 1.89 95% CI 1.25-2.75). Firefighters had significantly low risks for prostate cancer (SIR = 0.68 95% CI 0.52-0.87) and malignant melanoma of the skin (SIR = 0.30 95% CI 0.06-0.88). There was a statistically significant trend of increasing overall risk of cancer with increasing employment duration, although there was still no excess of cancer overall in any of the categories of employment duration.Conclusion: Stockholm firefighters had an increased risk of stomach cancer but a low overall risk of cancer. The trend of increasing overall risk of cancer with increasing employment duration could potentially be related to the carcinogenic exposures at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional investigation was performed in seven polyurethane foam manufacturing factories. Lung function tests were performed at the factories by spirometric and nitrogen wash-out methods. Sixty-seven persons were investigated before and after the work shift, and exposure to toluene diisocyanate (TDI) was evaluated by subject-carried sampling equipment on the same day. The day mean exposure to TDI was 0.008 mg/ m (0.001 ppm). In the non-smokers there was an increased frequency of symptoms from the airways reported in the exposed subjects as compared to the unexposed controls. There were, however, no signs of acute or chronic effects on the lung function measured by spirometric and nitrogen wash-out methods, which could not be explained by smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate whether occurrence of pleural plaques is associated with exposure to mineral wool. The occurrence of pleural plaques on routine chest radiographs of 933 persons employed in the mineral wool manufacturing industry and 865 referents was compared. Twelve men from the mineral wool industry had pleural plaques, as against three of the referents ( P > 0.05). The occurrence of pleural plaques among men in the mineral wool industry was not associated with an increased exposure to mineral wool or with length of time between start of employment and time of chest radiograph. The results do not support the notion that inhalation of man-made mineral fibers causes pleural plaques. It must, however, be conceded-keeping in mind the limits imposed by the study size-that nor do they provide grounds for refutation of such a hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dipyridamole has been shown to induce proliferative activity in heart muscle capillary wall cells in the rat. To test whether this effect is due to direct cellular stimulation we tested the substance in various in vitro systems (human lymphocytes, glial cells and endothelial cells; and bovine endothelial cells). During these conditions dipyridamole did not influence cellular proliferation. In all cell systems tested, uptake of labelled thymidine showed an inhibition by dipyridamole. This confirms the earlier finding that dipyridamole inhibits nucleoside uptake, and extends the finding to human cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]