Bickley L M, Martell J, Cowan D, Wilken D, Yan W, McNeill F E, Zarnke A, Hedges K, Chettle D R
Department of Physics & Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
J Occup Environ Hyg. 2022 Jun;19(6):335-342. doi: 10.1080/15459624.2022.2063876. Epub 2022 May 4.
A small pilot study was conducted to test whether the technique of in vivo neutron activation analysis could measure bone aluminum levels in 15 miners who had been exposed to McIntyre Powder over 40 years prior. All miners were over 60 years of age, had worked in mines that used McIntyre Powder, and were sufficiently healthy to travel from northern to southern Ontario for the measurements. Individual aluminum levels were found to be significantly greater than zero with 95% confidence ( < 0.05) in 7 out of the 15 miners. The inverse variance weighted mean of the 15 participants was 21.77 ± 2.27µgAl/gCa. This was significantly higher ( < 0.001) than in a group of 15 non-occupationally exposed subjects of a comparable age from Southern Ontario who had been measured in a previous study. The inverse variance weighted mean bone aluminum content in the non-occupationally exposed group was 3.51 ± 0.85µgAl/gCa. Since the use of McIntyre Powder ceased in 1979, these subjects had not been exposed for more than 40 years. Calculations of potential levels at the cessation of exposure in the 1970s, using a biological half-life of aluminum in bone of 10 to 20 years predicted levels of bone aluminum comparable with studies performed in dialysis patients in the 1970s and 1980s. This pilot study has shown that the neutron activation analysis technique can determine differences in bone aluminum between McIntyre Powder exposed and non-exposed populations even though 40 years have passed since exposure ceased. The technique has potential application as a biomarker of exposure in cross-sectional studies of the health consequences of exposure to McIntyre Powder.
开展了一项小型试点研究，以测试体内中子活化分析技术能否测量15名40多年前接触过麦金太尔粉末的矿工的骨铝水平。所有矿工均超过60岁，曾在使用麦金太尔粉末的矿井工作，且身体健康，足以从安大略省北部前往南部进行测量。在15名矿工中，有7名的个体铝水平在95%置信度下显著大于零（<0.05）。15名参与者的逆方差加权平均值为21.77±2.27µgAl/gCa。这显著高于（<0.001）先前一项研究中测量的15名来自安大略省南部、年龄相仿的非职业暴露受试者群体。非职业暴露组的逆方差加权平均骨铝含量为3.51±0.85µgAl/gCa。自1979年停止使用麦金太尔粉末以来，这些受试者的暴露时间已超过40年。利用骨中铝的生物半衰期为10至20年，计算出20世纪70年代接触停止时的潜在水平，预测的骨铝水平与20世纪70年代和80年代对透析患者进行的研究结果相当。这项试点研究表明，尽管自接触停止以来已过去40年，但中子活化分析技术仍可确定接触和未接触麦金太尔粉末人群之间的骨铝差异。该技术在对接触麦金太尔粉末的健康后果进行横断面研究中，有作为暴露生物标志物的潜在应用价值。
