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Cigarette smokers have decreased lymphocyte and platelet alpha-tocopherol levels and increased excretion of the gamma-tocopherol metabolite gamma-carboxyethyl-hydroxychroman (gamma-CEHC)
Cigarette smoking is associated with increased oxidative stress and increased risk of degenerative disease. As the major lipophilic antioxidant, requirements for vitamin E may be higher in smokers due to increased utilisation. In this observational study we have compared vitamin E status in smokers and non-smokers using a holistic approach by measuring plasma, erythrocyte, lymphocyte and platelet alpha- and gamma-tocopherol, as well as the specific urinary vitamin E metabolites alpha- and gamma-carboxyethylhydroxychroman (CEHC). Fifteen smokers (average age 27 years, smoking time 7.5 years) and non-smokers of comparable age, gender and body mass index (BMI) were recruited. Subjects completed a 7-day food diary and on the final day they provided a 24 h urine collection and a 20 ml blood sample for measurement of urinary vitamin E metabolites and total vitamin E in blood components, respectively. No significant differences were found between plasma and erythrocyte alpha- and gamma-tocopherol in smokers and non-smokers. However, smokers had significantly lower ce-tocopherol (mean +/-SD, 1.34+/-0.31 mumol/g protein compared with 1.94+/-0.54, P = 0.001) and gamma-tocopherol (0.19 +/- 0.04 mumol/g protein compared with 0.26 +/- 0.08, P = 0.026) levels in their lymphocytes, as well as significantly lower (alpha-tocopherol levels in platelets (1.09 +/- 0.49 mumol/g protein compared with 1.60 +/- 0.55, P = 0.014; gamma-tocopherol levels were similar). Interestingly smokers also had significantly higher excretion of the urinary gamma-tocopherol metabolite, gamma-CEHC (0.49 +/- 0.25 mg/g creatinine compared with 0.32 +/- 0.16, P = 0.036) compared to non-smokers, while their (alpha-CEHC (metabolite of a-tocopherol) levels were similar. There was no significant difference between plasma ascorbate, urate and F-2-isoprostane levels. Therefore in this population of cigarette smokers (mean age 27 years, mean smoking duration 7.5 years), alterations to vitamin E status can be observed even without the more characteristic changes to ascorbate and F-2-isoprostanes. We suggest that the measurement of lymphocyte and platelet vitamin E may represent a valuable biomarker of vitamin E status in relation to oxidative stress conditions
Athenian eye cups in context.
Since the late 1970s, scholars have explored Athenian eye cups within the presumed context of the symposion, privileging a hypothetical Athenian viewer and themes of masking and play. Such emphases, however, neglect chronology and distribution, which reveal the complexity of the pottery trade during the late sixth and the fifth centuries B.C.E. Although many eye cups have been found in Athens—namely on the Acropolis and mainly from late in the series—the majority come from funerary, sanctuary, and domestic contexts to the west and east. Most of the earliest, largest, and highest-quality examples were exported to Etruria, where the symposion as the Athenians knew it did not exist. Workshops and traders were clearly aware of their audiences at home and abroad and shifted production and distribution of vases to suit. The Etruscan consumers of eye cups made conscious choices regarding their purchase and use. Tomb assemblages from Vulci and elsewhere reveal their multivalent significance: they are emblematic of banqueting in life and death, apotropaic entities, likely with ritual uses. Rather than being signs of hellenization in a foreign culture, Athenian eye cups—like all Greek vases—were brought into Etruria, then integrated, manipulated, and even transformed to suit local needs and beliefs