Cotton mills

It is said that Alexander the Great introduced Indian cotton into Egypt in the fourth century BC, and from there it spread to Greece, Italy, and Spain. During the year AD 700, China began growing cotton as a decorative plant, and AD 798 saw its introduction into Japan. Early explorers in Pern found cotton cloth on exhumed mummies that dated to 200 BC. Cotton was found in North America by Columbus in 1492. About 300 years later, the first cotton mill was built in Beverly, Massachusetts, and in 1794 EH Whitney was granted a patent for the invention of the cotton gin. 

Kattun, m. calico, cotton (cloth), -druck, m. calico, printing., -druckerei, /. calico printing calico printery. -fabrik,/calico factory, cotton mill, -fkrberei, /. cotton (cloth) dyeing or dye works, -presse, /. calico press.. KatzcheUi n. kitten catkin. 

The early nineteenth century saw the beginning of factory production systems, particularly in the cotton mills of Lancashire and woolen mills in Yorkshire. Accidents arising from the use or misuse of steam plant, particularly boilers, became common and led not only to damage and destruction to property but also to death and bodily injury to persons in or about the scene of the explosions. 

A measured volume, 10.00 liters, of the waste process water from a cotton mill require 23.62 ml of 0.1000 M hydrochloric acid to produce a neutral solution. What is the hydroxide ion concentration in the waste ... 

This was a problem to all the Allies but it was a Picatinny researcher who solved it. Thru patient burning of samples of cotton cloth, for burning time and amount of residual ash, he narrowed down the fabrics to a few good possibilities. Then he traveled to cotton mills in New England and the South to seek still better cloth. Finally a cotton fabric was developed as a suitable substitute for silk... 

Slater s mill of a generation of millwrights a id textile workers (line 2 5) provided the catalyst for the spread of cotton mills in New England. 

Cotton growth regulators, 13 54 Cotton insecticide use, 18 533-534 Cotton mill, 8 1... 

It is not known if platelets are actually involved in bysslnosis however, a reduction of platelets has been shown in cotton mill workers on the first day of the work week (118). 

Small airway constriction and recruitment of leukocytes on pulmonary surfaces are prominent, documented responses to the inhalation of cotton dust. Currently, one or both of these effects are generally ascribed to endotoxin (8-10), to antigen-antibody reactions (11), to lacinilene C-7 methyl ether (1, 13), to a low molecular weight ( 1000 daltons), neutral, highly water soluble substance that is stable in boiling water and found in cotton bracts (14), to chemotaxins present in cotton mill dust extracts (15, 16) or to histamine releasing substances (17). 

Mean Immunoglobulin Concentrations in Sera of Byssinotic and Non-Byssinotic Cotton Mill Workers At Different Time Intervals... 

In vitro studies indicate that cotton mill dust extracts do activate complement by the alternative pathway. Kutz et al. (36) proposed that endotoxin is not the only agent responsible for complement activation, as microgram rather than nanogram quantities of purified endotoxin are required to induce the degree of complement activation observed with crude cotton dust extract. Several investigators (36, 37) have thus proposed endotoxin... 

Our data showing normal serum complement levels in cotton mill workers (normal and byssinotic) does not support a complement activation mechanism for the pathogenesis of byssinosis, but the data does not eliminate the possiblity of complement activation in the etiology of byssinosis (Table V). As complement activation is a local reaction, small amounts of complement fragments sufficient... 

Histamine Releasing Agents in Extracts of Cotton Mill Dust and Cotton Bract... 

Unfortunately in our laboratories (46) and in other s (47), the use of chopped lung tissues has appeared excessively laborious, not always reliable and extremely insensitive (48). We subsequently devised a simple, sensitive and reliable bioassay procedure using pig platelets for the assessment of histamine releasing factors in cotton mill dust (46). 

The platelet hist UIline release assay demonstrated that cotton mill dust extract, cotton bract extract, cotton leaf extract, dialyzed CMD extract, polyphenols, compound 48/80, rutin, trimethylamine HCl, quercetin, catechin, tannic acid, ellagic acid and sodium metasilicate all release histamine directly (48). Thus not only do tannin compounds induce histamine release, but they may also form higher molecular weight polymers and contain components that survive acid hydrolytic conditions (48). Tannins are widely distributed in the plant kingdom. 

Clinical studies of cotton mill workers who had previously demonstrated a decreased expiratory flow measured by flow volume curves and FEV during cotton dust exposure showed an increase in WBC to 25.5% after 4 hours of exposure. Segmented neutrophils increased most (33%), while eosinophil mean counts did not change. The ratio of segmented neutrophils to epithelial cells from nasal mucosal swabs increased from 0.56 before to 1.84 after 4 hours of exposure. Peripheral blood and PMN counts increased upon exposure to cotton dust, and PMN were recruited to the nasal mucosa. Chest tightness and decreased flow were temporarily correlated with leukocyte recruitment following cotton dust exposure (2). 

In studies on hamsters and guinea pigs exposed to aerosols of crude and refined extracts from cotton mill trash and CMD, Kilburn et al (59) has further demonstrated recruitment of PMN beneath the basement membrane and on luminal surfaces of intrapulmonary airways and tracheas. When administered as aerosols or dust, polyphenolic extracts from cotton trash and pure and oxidization-polymerization products of quercetin also recruit PMN from the trachea to terminal bronchioles in hamsters (60). 

As the major clinical manifestation of the acute byssinotic reaction is a drop in FEV, it is interesting to speculate that the bronchoconstriction observed in cotton mill workers may be in part or in full the result of constrictor substances in inhaled cotton dust. 

If the receptors involved in the acute byssinotic reaction can be determined, pharmacologic blocking agents may be used to treat affected cotton mill workers or, conversely, preprocessing of cotton to eliminate the constrictor might prove feasible. 

A survey of 486 textile workers, from three cotton mills and one man-made fibers plant, was completed by investigators of Tulane Medical School (32). Measurements of dust, ° respiratory symptoms by the Schilling questionnaire and of ventilatory function were analyzed for correlation. The results indicated... 

The subject of possible relation of the acute byssinotic response in a cotton mill to asthma in general and to atopy is one on which there appears to be relatively little information. 

Certain Investigators, however, have expressed interest in the matter recently. The possibility that a history of asthma may increase the probability of an acute byssinotic reaction to cotton dust is suggested by a paper by Hamilton et al. ( ). The senior author of this paper had had asthma as a child. Promptly after exposure to the air in a dusty part of a cotton mill he exhibited pronounced shortness of breath with tightness in the chest and accompanying major temporary decreases in FEVi and arterial oxygen tension. The episode is described as "byssinosis". The authors remark It is unlikely that many textile workers with an initial response to cotton dust such as the one described here would remain working in dusty areas." Although the authors state that "It is not possible from the present study to conclude that a prior history of atopy confers sensitivity to cotton dust", the present writers were left with the impression that the authors suspect that such may be the case. 

There is therefore a need to investigate atopy, particularly as that variable may interact with dust exposure, in cotton textile mills." The reader is left with the thought that perhaps "reactors" who exhibit symptoms of acute byssinosis in a cotton mill might be in some sense people who are not obvious asthmatics but who, however, have some minimal or borderline type of asthma or other mildly increased bronchial sensitivity. Merchant et al. (51) tested workshift declines in FEVi workers exposed to cotton dust. In their summary they state "The patterns of FEVi response over a week suggest that there are distinct individual patterns of response not dependent upon previous cotton dust exposure."... 

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