Determination of pararosaniline hydrochloride in workplace air.

Pararosaniline hydrochloride (CPR) is a dye used for colouring paper, leather and natural and artificial fibres. It is also used in analytical and microbiological laboratories. It is a carcinogenic substance of category 1B. In analytical chemistry, it is used for detecting the following among others: bromates, formaldehyde, ozone, sulphite and sulfur dioxide. CPR is a dye commonly used in microbiology for staining preparations, for staining bacteria, antibodies or other organisms. In Poland, about 800 employees were exposed to this substance. The lack of methods for the determination of pararosaniline hydrochloride in workplace air makes it impossible to assess the occupational exposure of workers to this substance. For this reason, a determination method has been developed, which allows for the determination of pararosaniline hydrochloride in the air. This method makes it possible to determine the concentration of CPR in the air at the workplace within the range from 0.002 to 0.04 mg/m3 (for an air sample of 120 L). The method is based on the adsorption of pararosaniline hydrochloride present in the workplace air on a polypropylene filter, eluting the substance deposited on the filter with methanol and analysing the solution thus obtained using high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (wavelength of 544 nm). Using an Ultra C18 (250 mm length) chromatographic column at a temperature of 23 °C and the mobile phase of methanol:0.1% phosphoric acid(V) (95:5, v/v) at flow rate of 0.6 mL/min makes it possible to determine the content of pararosaniline hydrochloride in the presence of aniline, nitrobenzene and 4-tolylamine. Limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.17 ng/mL and 0.51 ng/mL, respectively.

Occupational exposure to harmful chemical substances while processing phenol-formaldehyde resins.

Air pollutants emitted while processing phenol-formaldehyde resins have been investigated. Gas chromatography-mass-selective detection was used to separate and identify chemical compounds. It was determined that workers were exposed to formaldehyde in all workplaces. Besides, phenol, acetaldehyde, acrylaldehyde, 2-furaldehyde, xylene, ethylbenzene, toluene, tetrachlorethene, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate were found during the production of frictional materials; and 2-furaldehyde, phenol, naphthalene, 2-furanmethanol, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during the production of abrasive materials. Quantitative analyses were performed with gas chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography. Assessment of occupational exposure indicated that chemical compounds emitted during the investigated processes might be dangerous for human health, mainly because of suspected carcinogenic compounds: formaldehyde and PAHs.

[Estimation of bleomycin-induced chromosome aberrations in lymphocytes of laryngeal cancer subjects. Preliminary report]. / Ocena indukowanych bleomycyna aberracji struktury chromosomów w limfocytach chorych na raka krtani. Doniesienie wstepne.

Chromosome instability is associated with an increased risk of malignancy. However, the quantitative analysis of chromosome breaks provided by the bleomycin test requires additional analysis aimed for the localisation of chromosome aberrations. For this reason, the metaphasis slides prepared for bleomycin test were stained with fluorochrome DAPI to estimate chromosome breaks in particular chromosomes. The additional staining of chromosomes can be recognised as an extension of the classical bleomycin test addressed for identification of structural aberrations. Preliminary results indicate that the most frequent chromosome breaks were found in chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 7 and 13.