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The purpose of this study is to investigate the safety of and to try to find the best plan to cope with exposure to FA for students during a gross anatomy dissection course. The FA exposure level and subjective symptoms was estimated. The relationship between exposure to FA and subjective symptoms of irritation were discussed for times; before, in the beginning period, in the middle period, and upon completion of the Anatomy Dissection Course. The geometric means of FA concentration were 32.7 micrograms/m3 (before), 891.3 micrograms/m3 (beginning), 763.3 micrograms/m3 (middle), and 238.9 micrograms/m3 (completion), respectively. Among them, FA-related symptoms were observed in 61.1 percent; 28.0 percent fell strong stress during the course, and 27.4 percent complained that their normal life situation was affected. Our results indicate that such subjective symptoms during the anatomy dissection course were related to the period spent in the anatomy dissection room. Our study suggests that shortening the time of each anatomy dissection practical class and reduction of the number of cadaver tables could help to reduce symptoms.

For fluorometry of selenium in human blood, hair, and liver and in leaves, we wet-ashed the samples with conventional nitric and perchloric acids, and then extracted piazselenol (complex of Se and 2,3-diaminonaphthalene) in cyclohexane. Selenium was back-extracted from the cyclohexane into nitric acid to remove the fluorometric interferences of trace amounts of organic compounds. This fluorometric method is rapid and suitable for routine analysis. We applied the method to human hair samples and compared it with the data for non-destructive neutron activation analysis of the hair.

University-Myoga is a fragrant plant which is the special product of Japan and is cultivated throughout Japan. According to our earlier investigation (unpublished data) of myoga cultivators in Japan, 8 of 35 cultivators experienced contact dermatitis in the harvest season. The purpose of this study was to assess the allergenicity of myoga and its major volatile components. The volatile components of myoga were analyzed by gas chromatograph (GC). They included α-pinene, β-pinene and R-(+)-limonene. We performed a toxicity study of each of the major fragrant components of myoga using acute dermal irritation assays and the Guinea-Pig Maximization test (GPMT) in order to probe the mechanism of allergic contact dermatitis. In acute dermal irritation assays, α-pinene, β-pinene and limonene showed positive responses at concentrations of 4%; limonene oxide at 20% and myoga showed a positive response at concentrations of 100%. From the results of the GPMT, according to Kligman scores, limonene oxide was identified as an extreme skin sensitizer and myoga as a mild skin sensitizer. The results of the present study show that R-(+)-limonene is the most important allergen amongst the chemical components of myoga, and we consider it to be the reason why myoga cultivators experience allergic contact dermatitis. (J Occup Health 2006; 48: 480-486)