Semen quality and fertility of men employed in a South African lead acid battery plant

Previous studies of the associations of measures of occupational lead exposure with measures of semen quality and infertility among male workers have produced conflicting results. The current study was undertaken to examine these associations among a population of workers with a broad range of measures of current and historical lead exposure. Ninety-seven lead-exposed workers from a South African lead acid battery facility provided semen samples that were analyzed for sperm density, sperm count, sperm motility, sperm morphology, and presence of antisperm antibodies. Questionnaire data were collected for reported histories of sub- or infertility. Current blood leads ranged from 28 to 93 μg/dl. Semen lead ranged from 1 to 87 μg/dl. Reasonably consistent and significant associations were found between an increased percentage of sperm with abnormal morphology and higher measures of current blood lead, cumulative blood lead, and duration of exposure. An increased percent of immotile sperm was associated only with zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) among the lead exposure measures. There were no associations of sperm density or sperm count with any of the lead exposure measures. A weak association of increased percent of sperm with antisperm antibodies with increased semen lead was present. There were no consistent associations of measures of lead exposure with measures of fertility or procreativity. This study, while supporting the association of lead exposure with increased risk of abnormal sperm morphology seen in some previous studies, does not lend support to previously reported associations of sperm density or count or infertility with measures of lead exposure. However, the relatively high range of current blood leads, high prevalence of abnormalities in semen quality, and the lack of a control population, suggest that these negative findings should be interpreted with caution. Am. J. Ind. Med. 32:369–376, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34817/1/8_ftp.pd

A framework for successful new product development

To exploit the competitive advantage of a core competency, such as new technology development, an organisation must be capable of developing that technology efficiently and effectively. The purpose of this research was to study the new product development success and failure factors in a chemical company, and recommend improvements to the existing new product development framework. The study is significant in that new product development performance needs to be improved to remain competitive in the current economic and environmental climate. The same new product development model is applied to all projects in the company under investigation. A preliminary investigation suggested that the success rate of these projects fluctuates significantly. Qualitative case study research was conducted through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. A thematic approach was used to organise and interpret the interview data. As the data was coded, several sub-themes emerged, and from these themes critical success factors and critical failure factors were identified. All of these factors were discussed and compared against the literature for relevance. The critical success factors and critical failure factors were divided into three categories: input requirements, stage kick-off guidelines, and continuous prompts. In this format these factors are recommended as potential improvements to the organisation’s existing new product development framework.Presented at the 30th annual conference of the Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering (SAIIE), held from 30 September – 2 October 2019 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa,.http://sajie.journals.ac.zapm2020Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM