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Accumulating evidence indicates that aminophylline [theophylline(2) x ethylenediamine] markedly attenuates the anticonvulsant action of conventional antiepileptic drugs in experimental animal models of epilepsy and evokes severe seizure activity in patients treated with this methylxanthine. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of acute (single) and chronic (twice daily for 14 consecutive days) treatments with aminophylline on the anticonvulsant potential of gabapentin (a second-generation antiepileptic drug) in the mouse maximal electroshock seizure threshold model. Additionally, the effects of acute and chronic administration of aminophylline on the adverse effect potential of gabapentin in terms of motor coordination impairment were assessed in the chimney test. To evaluate pharmacokinetic characteristics of interaction between drugs, total brain concentrations of gabapentin and theophylline were estimated with high-pressure liquid chromatography and fluorescence polarization immunoassay, respectively. Results indicated that gabapentin (at doses of 75 and 100 mg/kg, i.p.) increased the threshold for electroconvulsions in mice. Aminophylline in non-convulsive doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg (i.p.), both in acute and chronic experiments, did not attenuate the anticonvulsant potential of gabapentin in the maximal electroshock seizure threshold test in mice. Similarly, aminophylline at a dose of 100 mg/kg had no impact on the adverse effect potential of gabapentin in the chimney test. Pharmacokinetic evaluation of total brain concentrations of gabapentin and theophylline revealed no significant changes in total brain concentrations of the drugs after both, acute and chronic applications of aminophylline in combination with gabapentin. The data show that aminophylline did not alter the ability of gabapentin to protect mice against seizures induced by electroconvulsive shock. The observed interaction between gabapentin and aminophylline in both acute and chronic experiments was pharmacodynamic in nature.

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Good occupational health and safety management not only protects workers from hazards and health impairment, but also contributes to the success of the enterprise as a whole. The internal control of working conditions in an enterprise, carried out by an employer, is one of the forms of occupational health and safety management implemented widely in many western countries, for example in Scandinavian countries and Ireland. This method may serve employers as an useful tool for stimulating and developing programmes aimed at improving working conditions and supporting workers' health protection against various hazards occurring in the work environment. The experience of the western countries in developing and implementing the internal control system, and the adaptation of the principles of this system to suit Polish conditions helped the authors to produce a set of general rules and guidelines addressed to employers who decide to use the method of internal control in their enterprises.

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One of the outcomes of the transformation process which has been lasting already for few years is a dynamic development of so called small business. The level of knowledge of work hygienic and sanitary conditions in very limited in this group of enterprises. The research project which is being now implemented attempt a comprehensive identification and then evaluation of working conditions in small enterprises as well as the disclosure of essential failures and their sources. The results obtained will be used as a basis for developing hygienic recommendations and guidelines for employers how to improve health and hygienic conditions. The first step in the project implementation was to select provinces (voivodships) and enterprises operating there, in which the research is going to be carried out and to develop a research instrument in the from of a questionnaire which will be used to collect information on working conditions in enterprises selected. The questionnaire is composed of two sections: (1) an essential one dealing with hygienic and sanitary aspects of the work environment and conditions understood in their broadest sense, and (2) a supplementary one addressed entirely to employers and raising the question of their awareness as to the hazards related to the work environment.

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The authors present the situation in the area of health care of workers in Sweden during the eighties which became a basis for developing an idea of internal controls (supervision of the working environment performed directly by an employer in his/her own enterprise). Employer's mandatory responsibilities, organization, performance and registration of internal controls as well as cooperation between the employer and employees under the system of internal control of the working environment are discussed.

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The authors discuss the system of the working environment control in Sweden. They presented the organizational structure, objectives, range of activities and priorities of the Labour Inspectorate--a state administration organ responsible for a direct supervision of individual establishments. Basic figures on the control and supervising activities of the Inspection for 1994 are given. The system how the National Board of Occupational Safety, Hygiene and Workers' Health--a body superior to the Labour Inspectorate--coordinates and monitors its activities, is also presented.

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The authors presented a general characteristics of Occupational Health Services in Sweden, their legislation, functioning, financing and objectives, with special reference to occupational safety and hygiene, and the working environment control. They discussed how the work environment is monitored by the external control bodies (Labour Inspectorate, National Board of Occupational Safety and Hygiene, and Workers' Health) and by employers in individual establishments (internal control). Major factors which have contributed to the success of the Swedish work environment policy were also highlighted.

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The aim of this paper is to present difficulties in establishing the causal relationship between many years' combined exposure to benzene and other aromatic hydrocarbons and the occurrence of a rare form of leukemia (hairy cell leukemia) in a worker of patients and lacquers factory. Usefulness of experimental and points epidemiologic studies is critically discussed in order to show the consequences of the etiology of combined occupational exposure.

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