Cadmium and hypertension in exposed workers: A meta-analysis

Abstrac

Exposure to Urban Pollutants and Serum Levels of IgG anti Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1

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Exposure to cadmium in male urban and rural workers and effects on FSH, LH and testosterone

Objective: This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the relationship between exposure to cadmium and circulating reproductive hormone levels in urban and rural male workers. Materials and Methods: Urinary cadmium, blood cadmium, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone were obtained from 86 non-smoking traffic policemen and 86 subjects working as roadmen in a rural area. All subjects were monitored to evaluate airborne exposure to cadmium. Results: The mean value of exposure to cadmium was 1.3ngm-3 in traffic policemen, while the mean value was less than 0.5ngm-3 in roadmen. The mean concentrations of urinary cadmium (1.4 vs. 0.9μgg-1 creatinine; p=0.001), blood cadmium (1.1 vs. 0.7μgl-1; p=0.000), FSH (2.6 vs. 3.2μlUml-1; p=0.02) and LH (2.6 vs. 3.1μlUml-1; p=0.03) were significantly different between traffic policemen and roadmen. No differences were found in the mean values of testosterone between the two groups. Multiple linear regression models showed associations between (a) urinary cadmium, airborne cadmium, working life, job category and consumption of water from water supply (b) blood cadmium, airborne cadmium and job category (c) the values of FSH and age, working life, job category, urinary cadmium and blood cadmium (d) the values of LH and both the age and working life. Conclusion: The above results must be confirmed by further studies, but they indicate the influence of exposure to the cadmium present in urban air on the circulating FSH, even at low doses. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Sensitive profiling of biogenic amines in human urine by capillary electrophoresis with field amplified sample injection

In order to monitor biogenic amines in human urine, a method based on field-amplified sample injection combined with capillary electrophoresis and direct UV absorption detection was developed. Dopamine, tyramine, tryptamine, serotonin and epinephrine were effectively separated and identified in human urine samples, and detection limits were 0.072, 0.010, 0.027, 0.010 and 0.120 mu mol/L, respectively. Detection limits comparable to laser-induced fluorescence detection or solid phase extraction combined with capillary electrophoresis were achieved. Parameters affecting electrophoretic system detection sensitivity were investigated. Optimal separation conditions were obtained using as background electrolyte a pH 6.5 mixture of 2-(morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid 20 mmol/L and 30 mmol/L phosphate buffer, containing 0.05% hydroxypropylcellulose and 10% v/v methanol. Injections of the sample solution were performed by applying a voltage of 12 kV for 50 s. Recovery and accuracy ranged between 89.4 and 94.9%, and 89 and 112%, respectively. The method was successfully applied on actual urine samples (from a healthy volunteer): target bioamine content was consistent with endogenous levels reported in the literature. The proposed method is simple, fast and inexpensive and can be conveniently employed in work-related stress studies. The affordability and noninvasive sampling of the method allow epidemiological studies on large number of exposed persons to be performed. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd