title: Hair selenium as a monitoring tool for occupational exposures in relation to clinical profile.
abstract: Nineteen workers exposed to low levels of selenium (0.047-0.202 mg/m3 air) along with 15 control subjects were studied for clinical, hematological, radiological, and neurobehavioral variables in relation to selenium concentration in hair. The levels of selenium in the hair of exposed subjects (1.44 +/- 0.37 micrograms/g) were significantly higher than those of control subjects (0.78 +/- 0.18 microgram/g). The levels of selenium in the hair of 22 nonvegetarian subjects were found to be significantly higher as compared to 12 vegetarian subjects. Complaints of weakness and/or fatigue were found to be more prevalent in the exposed subjects. The study holds promise that hair selenium may be used as a monitoring tool for low-level occupational exposure to selenium.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Division, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, India.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bihari
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gaur
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mathur
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects; D004064:Digestive System / Q000187:drug effects; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D012643:Selenium / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D012867:Skin / Q000187:drug effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D012643:Selenium