• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 1998

To evaluate the effects on health by exposure to low dose organic solvents, the author analyzed the air concentration of mixed organic solvents (toluene, xylene, butylacetate) at worker's breathing zone during painting, some laboratory findings of blood (WBC, RBC, Hb, Hct, SGOT, SGPT, TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, IgG, IgM, IgA and IgE) and urine (hippuric acid, urinary protein, urobilinogen), surveyed the subjective symptoms those were obtained from 35 male workers exposed to mixed organic solvents, and 25 male workers not exposed to organic solvents who worked in car repair workshops in Taejon area from December 1, 1995, to February 29, 1996. The results were as follows: 1. The mean concentration of urinary hippuric acid of car painting worker group (organic solvent exposure group) was 0.76$\pm$ 0.21 g/l, which is significantly higher than that of non-exposed group. 2. In hematologic findings, the values of RBC, TC, LDL-C, IgG and IgE in the exposure group were significantly lower than those of the nonexposed group, but SGOT and SGPT in the exposure group were significantly higher than those of the non-exposed group. 3. Urinary hippuric acid levels showed positively correlated with toluene, urobilinogen and HDL-C levels, but those were negatively correlated with RBC, LDL-C, IgM levels. 4. Rates of the subjective symptoms such as "dizziness", "appetite loss", "weight loss", "palpitation", "chest tightness", "sore throat and eye discomfort", "tingling sense and acrodynia", "illusion or hallucination" and "decreaased motor power" were significantly higher in the exposure group than those of the non-exposed group.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.1.1-2
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• 2002

Ultimate objective of industrial hygiene is the prevention of health impairment that may result from exposure to chemicals at workplaces. This implies the definition of permissible levels of exposure, that is, levels that according to the present status of knowledge are estimated to cause no adverse health effects during the lifetime of the workers, and the regular assessment of the possible health risk associated with exposure by comparing the current or the integrated exposure with the permissible exposure limits. Workers in solvent thinner-using occupation environment might be highly exposed to VOCs(volatile organic compounds) because solvent thinner has been used extensively such as painting, spraying, degreasing, coating and so on in Korea. The purpose of this study was to recognize, evaluate and propose the alternative control the VOCs from solvent thinner-using workplace.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.295-298
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• 1984

The subjective symptom and other responded relations for 69 male workers handling organic solvent in xxx a pharmacy as exposure group and 87 male workers in noise workshop were studied and analyzied. It was concluded as follows. 1. The age of both exposure group and control group with the subjective symptom indicated a negative correlation. 2. Drinking and smoking of the exposure group complained of the subjective symptom shown the negative correlation and the control group also shown the positive correlation. 3. The occupational experience of the exposure group complained of the subjective symptom indicated the negative correlation and the control group also indicated the positive correlation.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.66-71
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• 1998

This study was investigated to evaluate worker exposures to organic solvents by type of print industry. Results were as follows; 1. Workers were exposed to mixture of toluene, isopropyl alcohol(IPA), methyl ethyl ketone(MEK), n-hexane, ethylacetate(EA), acetone. The components of high exposure solvents were toluene, IPA and MEK. 2. Considering additive effects of the compounds, exposure indices(Em) were calculated. The Mean of exposure indices were 1.79 for Gravere, 0.41 for Screen and 0.14 for Opset workplace. The workers of Gravere workplace were estimated to overexpose for solvents. 3. The highest overexposed solvent was toluene for a single component. The rate of overexposed level for toluene was 7.41% for some print workplace and for mixed solvent was 1.85％. 4. Local exhaust systems were inappropriate and respiratory protective devices were not supplied to the workers. 5. Sound level was over 90dB(A) in Opset print workplace and some measures should be performed to get down the sound level.

• 월간산업보건
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• s.329
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• pp.49-52
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• 2015

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.4 s.63
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• pp.628-643
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• 1998

To investigate the exposure levels of organic solvents and subjective symptoms of dry-cleaning workers, 77 male and 52 female dry-cleaning workers who had been worked in a small city of Chungnam province, and a large city, Taejon were selected for the study group. Air concentrations of organic solvents in the working environment were analyzed, and subjective symptoms of dry-cleaning workers were surveyed, from July to August 1996. The results obtained were as follows : 1. The concentrations of organic solvents in the working environment were within permissible TLV-TWA limits. 2. For the 13 symptom clusters, the most frequently complained symptom clusters were fatigue as 71.3%, and followed by depression and urinary disturbances as 53.5% and 51.9%. Other symptom clusters complained were below 50%. 3. Positive response rates of subjective symptoms were significantly higher in worker groups such as lived in a large city, female, higher education level, more frequently alcohol drinking, higher concentration of organic solvent in working environment, work in alone. 4. Workers who had used solvent B showed 2.3 point higher scores of subjective symptoms than those of solvent A. Of the subjective symptoms scores, amnesia and nervousness were higher in solvent B user group than solvent B user group. 5. As a result of factor analysis, 3 factors such as depression, urinary disturbance and neurologic disturbance were selected. 6. As a result of the logistic regression analysis, sex, the number of fellow workers, working time, region, job tenure, smoking, alcohol drinking, ventilating system, concentration of organic solvent in working environment and place of residence were selected for the related variables. For the conclusion, even though the concentrations of organic solvents in the working environments of dry-cleaning workers were within permissible limit of TLV-TWA, many dry-cleaning workers complained symptoms, such as fatigue, depression, urinary disturbances and so on. And the factors affecting to the symptoms of dry-cleaning workers were the number of fellow workers, work hours, region, job tenure, smoking and alcohol drinking.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.345-353
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine the health of beauty salon workers through the utilization of questionnaires concerning the extent of exposure to organic solvents found in the air of some beauty salons and any resultant symptoms in employees. The subjects were 36 employees from 10 beauty salons who agreed to participate in this study. The degree of exposure to organic solvents in the air of beauty salons was measured from September 1, 2008 to September 30, 2008. A survey of symptoms that occurred due to exposure to these solvents was also performed. The results were as follows: questionnaires were collected and analyzed from a total of 36 subjects. Of these, 28(77.8%) were female and 8(22.2%) were male. The mean age was 29.08. The mean working period was 7.13 years. Sixteen subjects attended programs at universities while 11 went to beauty schools for vocational education. When testing the concentration of organic solvents in the air of beauty salons, the highest value found was Isopropyl alcohol 511.85 ppb followed by butyl acetate, toluene, acetone, xylene, ethyl benzene, styrene, and chlorobenzene. A logistic regression analysis was performed as follows: the point of each factor was the dependent variable while sex, age, drinking, smoking, educational level, work experience, hairdresser's license, and organic solvents were the independent variables. Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was shown in the hairdresser's license among Factor 1 and in Xylene among Factor 2; however, difference was not shown in the other variables.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.166-176
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• 1993

In order to investingate the renal dysfunction in workers exposed to aromatic organic solvents, 105 male exposed workers and 109 controls were participated in this study. This study was conducted to examine the correlation among the concentration of aromatic organic solvents in air, worker's urinary NAG activity and urinary hippuric acid. The results were as follows : 1. The exposure level of aromatic organic solvent mixture caculated by the equation proposed by ACGIH was ranged from 0.27 to 0.54 and toluene concentration was ranged from 18.3ppm to 48.3ppm. 2. NAG activity in the urine of control and exposed group were $36.1{\pm}14.2nmolMU/mg$ creatinine and $52.4{\pm}26.1nmolMU/mg$ creatinine, respectively. Hippuric acid concentration in the urine of control and exposed group were $191.1{\pm}194.2mg/g$ creatinine and $789.3{\pm}784.1mg/g$ creatinine, respectively. 3. Correlation coefficent between the exposure level of aromatic organic solvent mixture was significantly related to urinary NAG activity(r=0.542) and urinary hippuric acid(r=0.752). 4. Correlation coefficient between NAG activity and hippuric acid concentration was 0.357. This study suggested that urinary NAG activity was a good renal function index for aromatic organic solvents exposure and urinary hippuric acid was an index for the biological monitoring of toluene exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 1998

Korea has been rapidly industrialized during the past 35 years. During this period, Korea has emphasized only production and workers health has been ignored. Workers are most frequently exposed to organic vapors, such as thinners. This study was performed to evaluate worker exposures to organic solvents by size and type of industry. Results are summarized below. Workers were exposed to mixtures of toluene, xylenes, trichloroethylene, n-hexane, acetone, methanol, n-butanol, n-butyl acetate, and MIBK. Considering additive effects of the compounds, exposure indices (EIs) were calculated. It was found that worker exposures to organic solvents were highest in small industries and lowest in large industries. During a day shift, the highest exposure was indicated 3 - 5 p.m. in the afternoon. Workers in small industries had potential exposures exceeding permissible exposure limits for organic solvents. Local exhuast systems were inappropriate and respiratory protective devices were not supplied to the workers in small industries. Neither program for safe use and storage of toxic materials nor program for respirators was found in any of the plants investigated. Based on the results of the study, workers of small scale industries should be considered first in industrial health.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.92-96
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• 2006

Enzymes in organic media afford many advantages such as chiral synthesis and resolution, modification of fats and oils and production of biodegradable polymers. However, the nature of solvents influences the activity and stability of enzymes, and the presence of organic solvents always constitute a risk of enzyme inactivation. Heat-shock protein Hsp90, one of the molecular chaperone, was applied for understanding of enzyme inactivation and for increasing of enzyme stability in water-miscible organic solvent. Hsp90 showed stabilization effect on HRP in the 30％ of DMSO, in the 30％ and 50％ of dioxane. Hsp90 also showed reactivation effect on the inactivated HRP by water-miscible organic solvent such as dioxane and DMSO. In addition, structural analysis using fluorescence spectrophotometry and circular dichroism showed that exposure of HRP in water-miscible organic solvent caused appreciable conformational changes and enzyme inactivation, and the unfolded HRP by water-miscible organic solvent was refolded by Hsp90.