The background Pb exposure in the Chinese population was higher than that in the Japanese population, whereas Cd exposure was lower in Chinese women than in their Japanese counterparts.

Occupational toxic neuropathies--an update.by He F This article in PubMed: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2999969 REVIEWS Scand j work environ health II (1985) [321][322][323][324][325][326][327][328][329][330] Occupational toxic neuropathies -An update by Fengsheng He, MD1 HE F. Occupational toxic neuropathies -An update. Scand J Work Environ Health II (1985) 321-330. Peripheral neuropathy is the commonest neurol ogical syndrome produced by indu strial and agricultural chemicals. A number of chemicals have been recently found to be neurotoxins; in addition some known occupational neurotoxic hazards more often produ ce subtle alterat ions in the peripher al nervous system. Ther e have been problem s of both evaluating neuroto xic effects and identifying toxic causes. This article reviews and discusses th e current research and progress covering neurophysiological, neuropathological, biochemical , and epidemiologic approaches in clinical and experimental neurotoxicology, as related to the assessment and path ogenesis of occupa tion al toxic neuropathies.Key terms: assessment , clinical neur ophysiological testing, distal axonopathy, epidemiologic investigation, identi fication, neuropathological approach, pathogenesis, toxic causes.Alon g with the development of various chemical industries there has been a growing list of indu strial chemicals which can cause damage to the peripheral nervous system . On the other hand, occupational exposure to low levels of known neurotoxins more oft en causes subtle alterations of peripheral nervous function. This occurrence raises problems in occupational health practice and stimulates research concerning the early diagnosi s and prevention of occupational toxic neuropathies. In the meantime , modern technique s of neurophysiology, neuropathology, and biochemistry have been introduced and utilized to explore the mechani sms of some neurotoxic effects . All these methods lead to a substantial amount of progress in evaluat ing and understanding occupational toxic neuropathies, which have been reviewed in this article. PROGRESS IN ASSESSMENT AND IDENTIFICATIONThe diagnosis of chemically-induced neuropathies can be reasonably made in those subj ects who have a verified history of exposure to neurotoxins and characteristic clinical evidence of neuropathy with exclusion of other causative factors. But there are some asymptomatic individuals under neurotoxicologic risk who may be suspected of having subclinical peripheral neuropathies and, on the other hand, a number of symptomatic patients having the presumptive diagnosis of polyneuropathy without a known etiology. In these cases, the question of either the existence or the etiology of the peripheral neuropathies remain s to be settled. Detection of neurotoxic effects on the peripheral nervous system