PURPOSE To investigate whether exposure to occupational levels of organic solvents in the dry cleaning industry is associated with neurotoxic symptoms and visual deficits in the perception of basic visual features such as luminance contrast and colour, higher level processing of global motion and form (Experiment 1), and cognitive function as measured in a visual search task (Experiment 2). M...

The use of a petroleum-derived cleaning solvent for dry cleaning, instead of tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene, PCE), has increased. The cleaning solvent may induce immunological alteration. In this study, murine macrophage-lineage J774.1 cells were exposed to the cleaning solvent at 0, 25, 50, and 75 µg/ml or PCE at 0, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000 µg/ml by vigorous vortexing. Cell viability w...

We have studied the removal of submicrometer particles from silicon wafers by the steam laser cleaning (SLC) and dry laser cleaning (DLC) processes. These processes are currently being investigated as new promising cleaning technologies for complementing traditional methods in industrial applications. For SLC a thin liquid layer (e.g. a water-alcohol mixture) is condensed onto the substrate, an...

Tetrachloroethylene (also called perchloroethylene, or perc), a volatile organic compound, has been the predominant solvent used by the dry-cleaning industry for many years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified perc as a hazardous air pollutant because of its potential adverse impact on human health. Several occupational studies have indicated that chronic, airborne perc ex...

Introduction The preparation of surfaces free of particle contamination is one of the crucial prerequisites for a further increase in the integration density of ICs and for the progress in nanotechnology. Therefore the removal of sub-micron sized particles from silicon wafers is of great interest. For this purpose a variety of cleaning methods is currently under investigation. In semiconductor ...

OBJECTIVES The emergence of drug-resistant lice has created the need for new therapies. This study assesses a new method without neurotoxins, extensive household cleaning, or nit removal. METHODS One hundred thirty-three subjects participated in 2 open clinical trials. In the first trial, 93 subjects completed treatment using a nontoxic, dry-on, suffocation-based, pediculicide lotion, minimal...

At international level LCA is being increasingly used to objectively evaluate the performances of different Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management solutions. One of the more important waste management options concerns MSW incineration. LCA is usually applied to existing incineration plants. In this study LCA methodology was applied to a new Italian incineration line, to facilitate the predictio...