• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2009

In order to provide basic data for the prevention of adverse effects of lead on health, we examined lead levels in the blood of 30 handicapped workers employed in manufacturing electronic components in Seoul from 2002 to 2008. The average lead level in the blood of all the subjects was $4.79{\pm}4.32{\mu}g/dL$ in females, $2.64{\pm}2.31{\mu}g/dL$ in males, and $3.88{\pm}3.75{\mu}g/dL$ in total. Lead levels examined in this study were significantly lower than other investigators study have reported. The average lead level from personal exposure of the subjects was $1.44{\pm}0.91mg/m^3$ in the workplace. The relation between blood lead levels and personal exposure was a simple linear regression; it's equation was "Lead level in blood = 6.04 - 1.92 lead level by personal exposure".

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.209-214
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• 2000

The preventive effects of sodium molybdate on the acute toxicity of lead were studied by investigating tissue accumulation of lead, changes of nerve conduction velocity and concentrations of metabolites related to function of sciatic nerve in rats treated with lead, sodium molybdate and both, respectively. In lead-intoxicated rat, the conduction velocity, myo-inositol concentration and $Na^{+}/K^{+}$ ATPase activity of sciatic nerve were decreased by about 33 %, 48 % and 58 %, respectively. However, sodium molybdate treatment significantly normalized the conduction velocity, $Na^{+}/K^{+}$ ATPase activity and myo-inositol concentration of sciatic nerve in lead-intoxicated rat. Also, sodium molybdate treatment decreased the contents of lead in blood and sciatic nerve through promotion of urinary excretion of lead. But sodium molybdate treatment did not affect the glucose concentration in sciatic nerve. These results suggest that sodium molybdate prevented peripheral neuropathy not only by reducing lead contents in sciatic nerve and blood, but also by enhancing $Na^{+}/K^{+}$ ATPase activity in sciatic nerve.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.498-506
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• 2015

This paper investigates the association of among alcohol consumption and blood vitamin D and lead concentrations. Subjects to 4,074 with adults over the age of 20 in the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, correlation analysis is used to validate the relations between an average daily alcohol consumption and blood vitamin D and lead concentration, and to study the effects of blood vitamin D to the lead concentration is carried out regression analysis. The correlation analysis shows that alcohol consumption has the correlation with blood vitamin D and lead concentration(p<0.01). As the results of regression analysis, age(p<0.01), education(p<0.01), occupation(p<0.05), alcohol consumption(p<0.01), vitamin D(p<0.05) appear significant influence on lead concentration in male. Alcohol consumption increases not only lead concentration but also vitamin D. Blood vitamin D also contributes to the rise in lead concentration, but in the reverse the metabolic activity of blood vitamin D by influence of lead receives a negative effect in our body.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 1983

In order to study the effects of iron and zinc on the lead poisoning of rats, lead with iron and zinc, or lead alone were administered orally to a total of 98 adult rats of Sprague-Dawley Species. The concentrations of lead, zinc, and iron were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer at every 20 days intervals of 20th, 40th, 60th, 80th and 120th day as a final measurement. Those datas were analysed and compared with those of control groups. The results were summarized as follows; 1. The concentration of lead in blood, bone. and liver tissues kept increasing in case of lead exposure group whereas it started decreasing at 60-80th day when concentration of zinc started increasing in case of combined exposure group. However, in kidney tissue, the concentration of lead in combined exposure group kept increasing up to the end of observation showing special high concentration at the final measurement at 120th day. 2. Concentration of zinc in blood and liver tissues had increased from 60-80th day in case of combined exposure group. 3. Concentration of iron in blood showed decreasing from $44.15{\pm}9.67\;to\;32.44{\pm}2.69{\mu}g/ml$ in case of lead exposure group, whereas it showed constant level of $47.50{\sim}45.65{\mu}g/ml$. However, in liver tissue it kept constant as control did from 40th to 60th days, but from 100th day on it started increasing to show much higher concentration than control.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.2 s.53
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• pp.153-163
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• 2006

Essential metals have been known to interact with non-essential toxic metals in the aspects of absorption, transport and deposition in the body. Iron deficiency has been reported to increase lead and/or cadmium absorption. The relation between iron and lead has been understood well in children but not in adults. Two hundred seventy adults (118 males and 152 females) were recruited from 3 different residental areas (rural, coastal and urban) to investigate the effects of environmental lead exposure on body iron status. The subjects were interviewed for life-style and diet of the last 24 hours, and measured for blood lead and body iron. The lead concentration in the whole blood was determined by a flameless method using an atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The body iron was evaluated with values of hemoglobin, hematocrit, RBCs, serum total iron, unsaturated iron binding capacity, total iron binding capacity and ferritin. The mean concentration of blood lead in adult was $3.31{\mu}g/dL$. The concentration was higher in male ($3.97{\mu}g/dL$) than in female ($2.86{\mu}g/dL$). The blood lead was influenced by residental area, life-style, smoking and drinking, occupation and diet habit of subjects, but not by age. A positive correlation was observed between the blood lead level and the serum iron or ferritin. These results suggest that environmental lead exposure in Korean adult may not be higher than other developed and developing countries. It is further indicated that blood lead in adult could be influenced by life-style, and environmental and genetic factors but no inverse relation with body iron as shown in children.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2013

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the workloads of industrial and automobile storage battery industries and their association to biological exposure indices. Background: Occupational lead exposure at battery manufacturing workplace is the most serious problem in safety and health management. Method: We surveyed 145 workers in 3 storage battery industries. Environmental factors(lead in air, temperature, humidity and vibration)), biological exposure indices(lead in blood and zinc protoporphyrin in blood) and individual workload factors(process type, work time, task type, weight handling and restrictive clothing) were measured in each unit workplace. Results/Conclusion: Air lead concentration is statistically significant in associations with workload factors(process type, work time, task type, and restrictive clothing) and environmental factors (humidity and vibration), whereas zinc protoporphyrin in blood are significantly associated with work time and weight handling. And lead in blood is significantly associated with work time, weight handling and temperature. Application: The results of this study are expected to be a fundamental data to job design.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.418-428
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the cross-sectional relationship between low blood lead levels and increasing blood pressure among Korean adults using a nationally representative sample of the Korean population: the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008. Methods: A total of 918 subjects aged 40 and older and not currently being treated for hypertension participated in this study. Information about age, gender, smoking status, alcohol consumption, education level, and the use of anti-hypertensive medication was collected. The blood pressure was defined as the mean of the second and the third measurements after three time measurements. Lead levels were determined by an analysis of blood samples. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were implemented after adjusting for covariates including age, gender, educational level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and BMI. Results: This study showed that the average differences in systolic and diastolic blood pressure comparing the lowest to highest quintile of blood lead were 4.33 mmHg (95% CI, 0.66-8.00; p for trend = 0.027) and 2.66 mmHg (95% CI, 0.26-5.06; p for trend = 0.021), respectively. After multivariate adjustment for covariates, the prevalence odds ratio (POR) of subjects in the highest quintile was associated with a 1.70-fold increase in the risks of hypertension (95% CI, 0.83-3.49; p for trend test = 0.112) over those in the lowest quintile of blood lead concentration, However, it was not statistically significant. Conclusions: This study provided evidence for an association between low- levels of blood lead and elevations in blood pressure and risk for hypertension in the general population of Korea.

• 산업보건소식
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• no.46
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• pp.3-13
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• 1987

For the purpose of investigating the effect of occupational health service in terms of environmental control and health provision of workers on the improvement of worker's health, authors analysed the data of environmental measurement and health check-up of one lead using industry who started his investment to environmental improvement from 1980. Six hundred million won was invested for environmental improvement from 1980 to 1986. This investment brought about apparent improvement of working conditions of all of the workplaces from mean concentration of lead in air over 0.15mg/$m^3$ 1981 to mean concentration of lead in air less than 0.15mg/$m^3$. Environmental control reduced mean blood lead level from 51.2 $\pm$ 11.5ug/이 in 1983 to 39.2 $\pm$ 16.0ug/dl in 1986, and delta-aminolevulinic acid concentration 3.15 $\pm$ 2.1mg/l in 1982 to 1.96 $\pm$ 1. 7mg/l in 1986, respectively. Blood ZPP levels were decreased from 76.1 $\pm$ 58.9ug/dl in 1983 to 42.23 $\pm$ 30.3ug/dl in 1986. If 150ug/dl of blood ZPP is considered as unacceptable limit of lead intoxication, more than 10 percent of workers belonged to this category in 1983, but only 0.5 of workers showed their blood ZPP level over the 150ug/dl in 1986 It was observed that no workers whose work duration were less than one year showed their blood ZPP level over 100ug/dl, but there were high percentages of lead workers with high blood ZPP (over 150 ug/dl) who were working in uncontrolled had working condition and whose work duration were less than one year.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2000

This study was carried out to investigate relationship between plasma $\delta$ - aminolevulinic acid (ALAP) and lead exposure indices in exposure to lead. The subjects were 218 male workers in 2 storage battery companies and 2 secondary smelting companies. Blood lead(PbB), blood zinc-protoporphyrin( ZPP), urinary $\delta$ - aminolevulinic acid (ALAU), hemoglobin(Hb), and hematocrit(Hct) were measured as lead exposure indices. The results were as follows, 1. The means of blood lead and blood ZPP concentration of subjects were $27.2{\pm}14.0{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ and $55.1{\pm}47.6{\mu}g/d{\ell}$, respectively. The means of plasma $\delta$ - ALA and urinary $\delta$ - ALA concentration were $18.9{\pm}25.1{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ and $2.1{\pm}4.6mg/{\ell}$, respectively. 2. The concentration of ALAP was $11.2{\mu}g/{\ell}$ for below $20{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ PbB, $12.8{\mu}g/{\ell}$ for from $21-40{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ PbB, and $51.2{\mu}g/{\ell}$ for over $40{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ PbB, respectively. 3. ALAP was significantly correlated with ALAU(r=0.829, p<0.01), ZPP(r=0.724, p<0.01) and PbB(r=0.552, p<0.01).

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.224-236
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• 1998

A study was conducted to investigate the blood lead and zinc protoporphyrin(ZPP) concentrations of the underground parking lot workers who exposed to vehicular exhaust aerosols which contained lead. The blood samples were collected from 25 study subjects of underground parking lot and from 33 controls in Taegu, from July to October, 1997. And also the related factors to the blood lead and ZPP concentrations were investigated. Blood lead concentration and ZPP concentration were measured by flameless furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (1L.551) and hemetofluorometer, respectively. The mean blood lead concentrations of study subjects and controls were $23.10{\pm}20.77{\mu}g/dl$ and $12.99{\pm}12.71{\mu}g/dl$, respectively(p<0.05), and the mean blood ZPP concentrations of study subjects and controls were $40.72{\pm}9.46{\mu}g/dl$ and $38.21{\pm}10.97{\mu}g/dl$, respectively. No significant correlations were observed between the blood lead concentration of the study subjects and their job duration and between blood ZPP concentration of the study subjects and their job duration. There were no statistically significant differences in the blood lead concentration and the blood ZPP concentration of smokers and nonsmokers. In multiple regression analysis on blood lead concentration of the study subjects and controls, occupation was a only significant dependent variable. In case of bood ZPP concentration, age was a only significant dependent variable in the study subjects and controls.