A nonlinear dosimetric model for hemoglobin adduct formation by the neurotoxic agent acrylamide and its genotoxic metabolite glycidamide.

Hemoglobin (Hb) adducts, formed by the neurotoxic agent acrylamide (AA) and its genotoxic metabolite glycidamide (GA), were measured in the rat by means of a method for simultaneous determination of the adducts formed to cysteine. A novel, nonlinear dosimetric model was developed to describe Hb adduct formation. This model incorporates the saturable kinetics of the metabolic conversion in vivo of AA to GA. The pharmacokinetic parameters Vmax and Km and the first-order rates of elimination, k1 and k2, for AA and GA from all processes except conversion of AA to GA, were estimated directly from Hb adduct data to 19 M hr-1, 66 microM, 0.21 hr-1, and 0.48 hr-1, respectively. At low concentrations, approximately 60% of AA was metabolized to GA. The nonlinear dosimetric model for adduct formation has potential general applicability in high-to-low-dose extrapolation of genotoxic effects

Exposure assessment of process-related contaminants in food by biomarker monitoring

Exposure assessment is a fundamental part of the risk assessment paradigm, but can often present a number of challenges and uncertainties. This is especially the case for process contaminants formed during the processing, e.g. heating of food, since they are in part highly reactive and/or volatile, thus making exposure assessment by analysing contents in food unreliable. New approaches are therefore required to accurately assess consumer exposure and thus better inform the risk assessment. Such novel approaches may include the use of biomarkers, physiologically based kinetic (PBK) modelling-facilitated reverse dosimetry, and/or duplicate diet studies. This review focuses on the state of the art with respect to the use of biomarkers of exposure for the process contaminants acrylamide, 3-MCPD esters, glycidyl esters, furan and acrolein. From the overview presented, it becomes clear that the field of assessing human exposure to process-related contaminants in food by biomarker monitoring is promising and strongly developing. The current state of the art as well as the existing data gaps and challenges for the future were defined. They include (1) using PBK modelling and duplicate diet studies to establish, preferably in humans, correlations between external exposure and biomarkers; (2) elucidation of the possible endogenous formation of the process-related contaminants and the resulting biomarker levels; (3) the influence of inter-individual variations and how to include that in the biomarker-based exposure predictions; (4) the correction for confounding factors; (5) the value of the different biomarkers in relation to exposure scenario’s and risk assessment, and (6) the possibilities of novel methodologies. In spite of these challenges it can be concluded that biomarker-based exposure assessment provides a unique opportunity to more accurately assess consumer exposure to process-related contaminants in food and thus to better inform risk assessment

En flexibel arbetsrätt inom personlig assistans?

Denna artikel handlar om några aspekter av arbetsrätten inom personlig assistans. Artikeln inleds med en redogörelse för ett förhållande som har bidragit till att anställnings- och arbetsvillkoren på området är särpräglade. Det gäller den starka betoningen på självbestämmande för de funktionshindrade i den lag som reglerar rätten till personlig assistans, nämligen lagen (1993:387) om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade. Kravet på självbestämmande och valfrihet har tillsammans med en allmän tendens till privatisering lett till att såväl assistansanordnare av olika slag som assistansmottagaren själv kan ha rollen av arbetsgivare.

"Byta spår" : ett nålsöga mellan asyl och arbete

Detta kapitel handlar om den särskilda möjligheten att få tidsbegränsat uppehållstillstånd för arbete för en utlänning vars ansökan om asyl har avslagits. För detta är det en förutsättning att personen sedan minst fyra månader har en anställning som gör det möjligt att försörja sig och att lönen, försäkringsskyddet och övriga anställningsvillkor inte är sämre än enligt svenska kollektivavtal. Anställningen måste också avse en tidsperiod om minst ett år från ansökningstillfället.  Kraven är med andra ord höga. Relativt få personer har ansökt om att få byta spår under de år som möjligheten har funnits och betydligt färre har fått bifall till sin ansökan. Syftet med kapitlet är att närmare undersöka möjligheten att ”byta spår” för personer som fått avslag på sin ansökan om asyl, att problematisera reglerna och tillämpningen och om möjligt komma med förslag till ändringar. Några frågor som ställs är: Varför har en möjlighet att söka tillstånd för arbete på dessa villkor införts? Vilka intressen styr regleringen? Vilka anställningserbjudanden har de sökande fått? På vilka grunder avslås en stor andel av ansökningarna? Är tillämpningen rättssäker/förutsägbar för de sökande? Vilka kan effekterna bli av reglerna och deras tillämpning?

Women's employment protection

This book deals with women's employment protection. Legislation about women's waged labour has balanced the needs of the labour market and society's need for family sta­bility and childrearing. This balancing has added to the sub­ordination of women in waged labour and to the institutio­nalization of part-time labour for women. Housework, which is the basis for the inequality between women and men in the labour market, has been excluded from legislation as has waged work that is similar to housework. Although the Swe­dish employment protection law should give the same pro­tection to women as to men, important resolutions in it can be overridden by contracts between the employers and the unions. An investigation of 75 workplaces presented in this book, shows that although women's employments are almost as long as men's, women are fired more often than men, due to negotiated exceptions from the legal rules. The firing of the women is connected with the kind of work they are doing and very often with the fact that they are part-time workers. Other women have had their hours of employment reduced. Women who are pregnant and women who are on maternity leave have been fired. Women's right to keep their jobs has also been influenced by their marriages or relation­ships to male bosses or more qualified co-workers.Denna bok är en omarbetning av en licentiatuppsats i arbetsrätt. Uppsatsen blev färdig 1989.digitalisering@um