Morbidity and immunological test in miners working in mines with low ionizing radiation level.

Total count of morbidity as well as prevalence of upper respiratory tract diseases (RTD) were followed in 210 miners working in shale mines with a low level of ionizing radiation regarding their smoking habits. After one and half year of observation were performed some tests of humoral immunity in the blood serum and saliva (immunoglobulins G, A, M and sIgA) as well as some tests of non-specific indices (alpha 2 macroglobulin -A 2M, transferrin -TRF, lysozyme -- LYS). The number of healthy non--smokers reached 41.3%, whereas the number of healthy smokers was only 26.5% (P less than 0.05). The greater was the number of diseases in single subjects, the greater was the difference between smokers and non-smokers (P less than 0.005). The difference between RTD morbidity of smokers and non-smokers was not significant in the subgroup of miners employed less than 10 years, but the length of employment it rose significantly (P less than 0.002) in disfavour of the smokers. The difference between smokers and non-smokers is emphasized by ageing. The mean levels of immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) are significantly higher in healthy non-smokers in comparison with other miners; that is stressed also by distribution analysis. The distribution analysis. The distribution of A 2M values is also significantly different in the subgroup of healthy non-smokers compared with other miners. Highly significant differences were found between healthy non-smokers and other miners by discrimination analysis of coupled tests. The differences among the paired comperformed some tests of humoral immunity in the blood serum and saliva (immunoglobulins are apparently cooperative in the prevention of RTD. In contrast to that the level of A 2M are in reverse relationship to the levels of Ig; in the subgroup of healthy non-smokers low levels of A 2M are in connection with high levels of Ig of all three classes. The results are discussed from the point of view of the smoker's habits, the length of employment in mine's environment, the age of the miners and the supposed genetical factors.

Indicators of humoral immunity in smokers and nonsmokers working underground.

A group of 215 underground shale miners (148 smokers and 67 nonsmokers) was examined for levels of immunoglobulins in sera (IgG, IgA, IgM) and saliva (sIgA), transferrin (TRF), alpha 2-macroglobulin (A 2M) and lysozyme levels in sera (LYS) and saliva (sLYS). The control group consisting of 95 healthy men was selected to match the age of the exposed miners. The mine environment was characterized by the presence of ionizing radiation, due to a geological configuration of the rock. The study revealed that the decline of IgG, IgA and sLYS levels in smokers was significantly deeper than in nonsmokers and controls. The levels of sIgA and serum LYS levels were increased both in smokers and nonsmokers. The change in the serum LYS and A 2M levels in miners did not depend on the smoking habits, except of A 2M levels in miners employed for more than 21 years. The differences were, as a rule, less pronounced in younger miners and tended to increase with the increasing length of work underground. The distribution analysis revealed some inter-miner differences in the susceptibility to these changes and the formation of smaller subgroups of miners with more or less subnormal test values, which supports the hypothesis on the heterogeneity of this population group. The tests showed that the statistical analysis of abnormal test values might play an important role in the assessment of the health risk in individuals. A simultaneous detection of subnormal values in some of pairs of tests may provide decisive data allowing a reliable differentiation between the afflicted miners and the healthy control subjects.

The values of alpha 2-macroglobulin in the serum of persons at work with x-rays.

A group of 86 persons (65 women, 21 men) working at the risk of ionizing radiation (IR) was examined for the levels of alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M), and compared to a group of age matched healthy population. Whereas the difference in men did not reach a level of significance, significant difference was assessed in women: in a subgroup older than 40 y exposed to the IR a rise of alpha 2-M levels was noted in correlation with the age. Multiple correlation coefficients showed a synergistic influence of both age and exposure to IR. The results are discussed from the point of view of the hypothesis that in exposed women a shifting realizes of usual old age changes to younger age group. A possibility is suggested to use the examination of alpha 2-M levels for preventive control of workers at the risk of IR.