Benzene and lipid asset

Background: In relation to the medico-social and medico-legal aspects of urban pollution we studied the effects of benzene present in urban pollution on outdoor workers exposed to physical, chemical, and psychosocial stressors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possible correlation between the levels of benzene and its urinary metabolites in the blood (Trans muconic acid and S-phenylmecapturic acid) and the parameters of the lipid structure: Total cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), triglycerides and blood sugar. Materials and methods: From an initial group 1,500 we selected a group of 199 subjects. A blood sample was taken for each worker to assess blood benzene levels and urinalysis to determine the levels of trans, trans-muconic acid and S-phenyl mercapturic acid. We compared the mean and standard deviation of the following lipid parameters: Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Triglycerides and glycemia with benzene and urinary metabolites; we excluded the workers with confounding factors and performed the Pearson’s correlation between lipid parameters and urinary metabolites in the total sample and also among age, seniority, sex and BMI; multiple linear regression was performed for the evaluation of the main confounding factors. Results: We did not find a statistically significant alteration between the values of the lipid structure between the two groups of workers and the parameters of benzene. Triglycerides and HDL are statistically significantly influenced by sex (p=0.001) and (p=0.00) and BMI (p=0.00) and (p=0.001) as well as total cholesterol is influenced in a statistically significant way from age (p=0.003) and blood glucose from BMI (p=0.002) A statistically significant difference was found among the averages of phenylmercapturic S acid values of traffic policeman and police drivers (p<0.05), where higher values were among drivers. Conclusions: The results suggest that occupational exposure to levels of benzene, present in urban pollution, would appear not to influence the values of the lipid parameters in traffic policeman

Work-related stress in three groups with specific homogeneous tasks

In relation to the medico-social and medico-legal aspects of stress we have studied the effects of stress on different working populations. Background: Stress is the second most common work-related health problem, affecting about 22% of workers in the EU. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2000) defines work-related stress as a condition that "occurs when the demands of the work environment exceed the ability of workers to cope with it". In the evaluation of this work-related stress it is of fundamental importance to identify the factors capable of generating and increasing it in order to identify categories of subjects particularly at risk and plan interventions for the prevention, elimination or reduction of risk. Material and methods: Tasks analysed: -Administrative (n.519) -Drivers/porters/doormen/workers (n.103) -Social workers/educators/teachers (n. 31) Subjective: Stress was first assessed in the three groups, and then stratification by sex was carried out, assessing stress in the male-female subgroups. Results: The new and original results allow the correction of situations defined as critical, through original and new, preventive, never applied, protocols, which are at the forefront of the preventive technological procedures already known. Conclusions: Our research showed that for most of the tasks analysed, in the various and specific tasks in comparison with each other, never studied before and compared with each other, the level of stress for some areas was found in comparison to be much higher in some tasks

Clinical implications of patent foramen ovale in migraine with aura

The high incidence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in migraine with aura (MWA) is well known. In this study we evaluated the relationship between PFO and aura features, and the relative impact of this association on stroke risk. We recruited patients with a diagnosis of MWA. PFO was assessed by contrast transcranial Doppler and confirmed by transoesophageal echocardiography. The 65 patients enrolled were divided into two groups on the basis of the clinical features of their aura: typical in 63.1% (Group 1) and atypical in 36.9% (Group 2). A statistically significant difference was found in PFO prevalence between the two groups (46.3% in Group 1 and 79.2% in Group 2; p=0.009). We did not observe any statistical difference between the two groups in the prevalence of classic stroke risk factors or in the profile of the thrombophilic markers. Our results underline the need to look for PFO particularly in subjects with atypical features of aura, but the underlying pathophysiology of the association is not clea