Decreased blood lead levels in residents of Stockholm for the period 1980-1984.

A number of measures have been taken to decrease the spread of lead to ambient air and food. In a study of the effect of these and other preventive measures, blood samples from approximately 100 persons living in the inner city area of Stockholm were collected and analyzed for lead content on three different occasions, in 1980, 1983, and 1984. The same subjects were examined on at least two occasions and the analytical method, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, was carefully controlled by means of reference samples on each occasion. The blood lead levels decreased during the observation period. The average blood lead concentrations for all the examined persons were 0.37, 0.26, and 0.25 mumol/l for 1980, 1983, and 1984, respectively. The mean of the differences in individual blood lead levels for 1980 and 1984 was 0.12 mumol/l. This figure corresponds to an average decrease in blood lead of 34% for all the subjects examined in 1980. The decrease occurred mainly during the period 1980-1983 (mean 0.11 mumol/l) and, thereafter, was only slight for the period 1983-1984 (mean 0.01 mumol/l). Factors such as age, sex, and change of residence during the observation period did not influence the final results.

Blood coagulation studies in 45 patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease and 44 patients with venous thromboembolic disease.

Forty-five patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICD) and 44 with deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE) have been investigated in a non-active state of the disease with VIIIR:Ag, plasminogen activator before and after stasis, antiplasmin, antithrombin (activity, antigen, activity/antigen ratio) and spontaneous platelet aggregation. Control groups of 20 respectively 80 healthy females and males were used in the study. VIIR:Ag was elevated in the group with deep venous thromboembolic disease compared with the ICD group and a control group. VIIIR:Ag in the ICD group was elevated compared with the control group. Plasminogen activator determined before and after stasis was lowered in the two diseased groups. There was no statistically significant difference in any of the blood coagulation variables between patients on or off coumarol treatment. The patients on courmarol were, however, not reinvestigated when this medication had been withdrawn. Antithrombin levels below the reference interval of the control group of 80 blood donors were found in 11.4% of the patients with DVT/PE, whiel no patient in the ICD group had low antithrombin values.