Merchant J A, Lumsden J C, Kilburn K H, Germino V H, Hamilton J D, Lynn W S, Byrd H, Baucom D
Br J Ind Med. 1973 Jul;30(3):237-47. doi: 10.1136/oem.30.3.237.
237-247. A fundamental approach of cleaning or deactivating cotton prior to manufacturing has long been advocated to prevent byssinosis, but no trial had been conducted to test the feasibility of such an approach. In the study described, it was possible to be directed by both biological observations and the results of manufacturing trials. An exposure chamber was built in a cotton textile mill which had been previously studied as part of a large cross-sectional survey. The chamber was provided with an independent air conditioning system and a carding machine which served as a dust generator. Sixteen subjects, who had shown reductions in expiratory flow rate with exposure to cotton dust, were chosen to form a panel for exposure to raw cottons and cottons which had been preprocessed by heating, washing, and steaming. Indicators of effects were symptoms of chest tightness and/or dyspnoea, change in FEV, and fine dust levels over 6 hours of exposure. Exposure of the panel to no cotton dust resulted in no change in FEV and served as the control for subsequent trials. Exposure to strict middling cotton resulted in a byssinosis symptom prevalence of 22%, a significant decrement in FEV of 2·9%, and a fine dust level of 0·26 mg/m. Exposure to strict low middling cotton resulted in a byssinosis symptom prevalence of 79%, a decrement in FEV of 8·5%, and a fine dust level of 0·89 mg/m. Oven heating strict low middling cotton resulted in a byssinosis symptom prevalence of 56% and a relatively greater drop in FEV of 8·3% for 0·48 mg/m of fine dust. Washing the strict low grade cotton eliminated detectable biological effects with a symptom prevalence of 8%, an increase of 1·4% in FEV, and a dust level of 0·16 mg/m, but the cotton proved to be difficult to process. As an alternative method, strict low middling cotton was steamed initially in large dyeing vats, on a conveyor, in an autoclave, and in a modified yarn dyeing apparatus or pipe' steamer. Of these methods, autoclaving cotton was the most successful, reducing symptom prevalence to 8%, the drop in FEV to 0·4%, and the dust level to 0·23 mg/m. Development of a high capacity cotton steamer based on the small pipe' steaming model resulted in a symptom prevalence of 8%, a decrement in FEV of 0·8%, and a mean dust level of 0·27 mg/m. Regressions calculated from raw and high capacity steaming trials indicate that at low dust levels steamed cotton dust was roughly one half as biologically active as raw cotton dust.
237 - 247。长期以来一直提倡在制造前对棉花进行清洁或使其失活的基本方法，以预防棉尘肺，但尚未进行试验来测试这种方法的可行性。在所描述的研究中，可以根据生物学观察结果和制造试验结果进行指导。在一家棉纺织厂建造了一个暴露室，该厂此前作为一项大型横断面调查的一部分进行过研究。该室配备了独立的空调系统和一台用作粉尘发生器的梳棉机。选择了16名在接触棉尘时呼气流量率降低的受试者，组成一个小组，使其接触原棉以及经过加热、洗涤和蒸煮预处理的棉花。效应指标为胸闷和/或呼吸困难症状、第一秒用力呼气容积（FEV）的变化以及暴露6小时期间的细粉尘水平。该小组不接触棉尘时，FEV没有变化，作为后续试验的对照。接触严格中等棉花导致棉尘肺症状患病率为22%，FEV显著下降2.9%，细粉尘水平为0.26毫克/立方米。接触严格低中等棉花导致棉尘肺症状患病率为79%，FEV下降8.5%，细粉尘水平为0.89毫克/立方米。对严格低中等棉花进行烘箱加热，导致棉尘肺症状患病率为56%，对于0.48毫克/立方米的细粉尘，FEV下降幅度相对更大，为8.3%。洗涤严格低等级棉花消除了可检测到的生物学效应，症状患病率为8%，FEV增加1.4%，粉尘水平为0.16毫克/立方米，但这种棉花被证明难以加工。作为一种替代方法，对严格低中等棉花最初在大型染缸、传送带上、高压灭菌器以及改良的纱线染色设备或“管道”蒸锅中进行蒸煮。在这些方法中，对棉花进行高压灭菌最为成功，症状患病率降至8%，FEV下降至0.4%，粉尘水平降至0.23毫克/立方米。基于小型“管道”蒸煮模型开发的大容量棉花蒸锅，导致症状患病率为8%，FEV下降0.8%，平均粉尘水平为0.27毫克/立方米。根据原棉和大容量蒸煮试验计算的回归分析表明，在低粉尘水平下，蒸煮后的棉尘生物学活性大约只有原棉尘的一半。
