The effects of environmental conditions on stress responses to mental work, were examined by measuring urinary catecholamine and cortisol excretion and salivary cortisol concentrations before, during and after an arithmetic calculation task under 90 dB(A) white noise and quiet conditions. Adrenaline excretion increased similarly during the task under both environmental conditions. The salivary cortisol level was significantly higher than the pre-task level during the task with noise, but not under quiet, conditions. The subjects reported that they felt more irritable when performing the task with noise, than under quiet conditions.The results suggest that environmental conditions may affect on the pattern of hormonal response to mental work, which may be related to psychological states of the subjects.

No abstract

No abstract

Rats were exposed to toluene and xylene at 200-800 ppm for 30 days. After exposure, changes in the dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, acetylcholine (ACh), cyclic AMP, cyclic GMP, GABA, glutamic acid, glutamine, aspartic acid, taurine, glycine and alanine content of different areas of the brain were investigated. ACh ih the striatum and whole brain were reduced dose-dependently by toluene and xylene. The reduction at 800 ppm of the solvents was in the range of 10 to 20% of the ACh content of the control rats. Toluene and xylene caused different changes in monoamine content other than ACh, but the changes were not dosedependent. Among the seven free amino acids that are the main amino acid components of the brain, the glutamine content was increased by toluene and xylene at 800 ppm. Decrease in ACh and increase in glutamine in the brain appear to be phenomena common to many kinds of organic solvents including toluene and xylene after acute and subacute exposure.

To investigate physiological and psychological effects of industrial noise, a survey was performed on 50 female workers exposed to machinery noise [93-100 dB(A)] (noise group) and 25 female workers in less-noisy environments [71-75 dB(A)] (control group) in a textile factory in Vietnam. Urine was collected for analysis of catecholamines and cortisol. The subjects were also asked to fill out a questionnaire. Each subject was examined over 2 working days. The workers in the noise group were asked to put earplugs in their ears during the working hours of the 2nd day. On the 1st day without earplugs, urinary excretion of catecholamines in the noise group were greater than those in the control group. Cortisol in urine showed a similar tendency.Differences in catecholamine excretion between the noise group and the control group decreased on the 2nd day when the earplugs were used for attenuation of noise level in the noise group.Frequency of subjective fatigue symptoms was lower on the 2nd day than that on the 1st day in the noise group, while the control group showed almost no day-difference. The results indicate that the catecholamine response to noise in workers was reduced through the use of earplugs.