Antineoplastic Drugs as a Potential Risk Factor in Occupational Settings: Mechanisms of Action at the Cell Level, Genotoxic Effects, and Their Detection Using Different Biomarkers

U članku je prikazana osnovna podjela antineoplastičnih lijekova prema mehanizmima djelovanja na razini stanice. Objašnjeni su mehanizmi genotoksičnosti najvažnijih vrsta lijekova koji se primjenjuju u okviru uobičajenih protokola za liječenje zloćudnih novotvorina. Navedena je važeća klasifi kacija antineoplastika prema kancerogenom potencijalu, podaci o mutagenom potencijalu te je prikazana njihova podjela u skladu s anatomsko-terapijsko-kemijskim sustavom klasifi kacije. Sustavno su prikazani najvažniji rezultati svjetskih i hrvatskih istraživanja na populacijama radnika izloženih antineoplasticima, provedenih u razdoblju 1980.-2009. s pomoću četiri najčešće primjenjivane metode: analize izmjena sestrinskih kromatida, analize kromosomskih aberacija, mikronukleus-testa i komet-testa. Objašnjena su osnovna načela navedenih metoda te raspravljene njihove prednosti i nedostaci. Biološki pokazatelji daju važne podatke o individualnoj osjetljivosti profesionalno izloženih ispitanika koji mogu poslužiti unaprjeđenju postojećih uvjeta rada i upravljanju rizicima pri izloženosti genotoksičnim agensima. Na osnovi prednosti i nedostataka citogenetičkih metoda zaključeno je da je mikronukleus-test, koji podjednako uspješno dokazuje klastogene i aneugene učinke, jedna od najboljih metoda dostupnih za otkrivanje štetnih djelovanja antineoplastičnih lijekova koji su u aktivnoj primjeni.This article brings an overview of the mechanisms of action of antineoplastic drugs used in the clinical setting. It also describes the genotoxic potentials of the most important classes of antineoplastic drugs involved in standard chemotherapy protocols. Classifi cation of antineoplastic drugs according to the IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans is accompanied by data on their mutagenicity and the most recent updates in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classifi cation System. We report the main fi ndings of biomonitoring studies that were conducted in exposed healthcare workers all over the world between 1980 and 2009 using four biomarkers: sister chromatid exchanges, chromosome aberrations, micronuclei. and the comet assay. The methods are briefl y explained and their advantages and disadvantages discussed. Biomarkers provide important information on individual genome sensitivity, which eventually might help to improve current working practices and to manage the risks related with exposure to genotoxic agents. Taking into consideration all known advantages and drawbacks of the existing cytogenetic methods, the micronucleus assay, which is able to detect both clastogenic and aneugenic action, is the most suitable biomarker for assessing harmful effects of antineoplastic drugs currently used in health care

Analysis of Development of Czech Foreign Trade in Foods and Beverages

The aim of this paper is to analyse the development of Czech foreign trade in food products and beverages (the CPA groups 10 and 11 within the Classification System) and to evaluate the position of individual CPA groups and their products, even within the EU, using two indices of comparative advantage (RCA) and trade balances. The purpose is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the given issue as the analytical work dealing with whole Czech agrarian foreign trade is less focused on foods and drinks. However, they should be a core area of business, especially with regard to competitiveness of the agricultural sector. The sources of data on foreign trade are public databases of Czech Statistical Office (External Trade Database) and Eurostat (International Trade database ComExt). Regarding the time series, period of the years 2005-2013 is analysed. Significant changes in the sales and purchases of foodstuff and beverages were occurred in the context of accession to the EU but these changes are not in focus yet. The paper is engaged in the period when the Czech Republic has already been a member of the EU, and fully entrenched. The point is which results in foreign trade with. Results showed that value of Czech imports of food products and beverages in the years 2005-2013 increased in the larger extent than exports, and negative trade balance deepened by 51 % to 29.3 Bn CZK. The degree of coverage of imports by exports, however, improved from 73.0 % to 77.3 % due to lower dynamics of growth of imports than exports. Besides of the own assessment of the Czech food and beverage foreign trade, our work has consisted in specific transfer of the Combined Nomenclature to the nomenclature CPA. The methodological contribution is then our own list of customs codes, respectively their aggregations, belonging to the individual CPA disciplines. This should be useful for next analysis

Czech Agrarian Foreign Trade According to the Degree of Processing

Added value of Czech agrarian trade is a frequently discussed topic. The goal of the New Strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture with the outlook until 2030 and of the Export Strategy of the Czech Republic for 2012-2020 is to improve the commodity structure of Czech agrarian exports and to increase the proportion of exported processed products and food with high added value. One of the key aspects to understanding the current state of the development of agrarian trade added value is methodology used for trade performance analysis. In fact, there are several methodologies related to attempts to estimate the real state of added value distribution in relation to foreign trade performance. None of the methods seems flawless, each is suitable for a different purpose in understanding the commodity structure specifics. Czech authorities apply methodology originally proposed by Regmi (2005) which, however, does not truly reflect the real state of the current commodity structure. The Research Institute of Agricultural Economics and Informatics is interested in developing its own method suitable for better understanding of the Czech agrarian foreign trade specifics. The objective of this paper is to specify the basic idea of the proposed methodology, to compare it with the already applied methodology and to present basic differences between the old and the new approaches. Presumably, the new classification can serve as a suitable tool for Czech agrarian trade analysis and provides a more precise overview of the degree of processing of traded commodities than other types of categorisation. Its advantages prevail over the disadvantages, which are less important. The new classification of unprocessed and processed products requires regular inspection and more frequent updates, as the 8-digit codes of the customs nomenclature continually change. At the end of the paper the agricultural trade performance is calculated according to the currently applied methodology and also according to the new proposed methodology. The results between both applied approaches are significant especially in mutual relation between processed and unprocessed items share in total trade. There are significant differences both in relation to EU countries and also non-EU countries

Specialisation in agricultural and food exports of Lithuania

The analysed research problem answer the question of how the changing trade conditions affect Lithuanian agricultural and food exports. The paper aims to assess the level of specialization in the agricultural and food sector exports of Lithuania. Assessment of the level of specialization was based on calculation of the trade coverage, revealed comparative advantage and intra-industry trade indices and their aggregation. Empirical research covers the period of 1999–2014. The export of agricultural and food products of Lithuania has been positively affected by trade liberalisation and achieved the effect of synergy due to regional integration processes (membership in the EU). It is characterised by high level of specialisation; nevertheless, this does not contribute to increasing of added value in agriculture