Indoor air quality in a restaurant kitchen using margarine for deep-frying

Indoor air quality has a great impact on human health. Cooking, in particular frying, is one of the most important sources of indoor air pollution. Indoor air CO, CO2, particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations, including aldehydes, were measured in the kitchen of a small establishment where a special deep-frying margarine was used. The objective was to assess occupational exposure concentrations for cooks of such restaurants. While individual VOC and PM2.5 concentrations were measured before, during, and after frying events using active sampling, TVOC, PM10, CO, CO2, temperature, and relative humidity were continuously monitored through the whole period. VOC and aldehyde concentrations did not increase to considerable levels with deep-frying compared to the background and public indoor environment levels, whereas PM10 increased significantly (1.85 to 6.6 folds). The average PM2.5 concentration of the whole period ranged between 76 and 249 μg/m3. Hence, considerable PM exposures could occur during deep-frying with the special margarine, which might be sufficiently high to cause health effects on cooks considering their chronic occupational exposures.Dokuz Eylul University (BAP-2011.KB.SAG.017

Comparative Assessment of Copper, Iron, and Zinc Contents in Selected Indian (Assam) and South African (Thohoyandou) Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) Samples and Their Infusion: A Quest for Health Risks to Consumer

The current study aims to assess the infusion pattern of three important micronutrients namely copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) contents from black tea samples produced in Assam (India) and Thohoyandou (South Africa). Average daily intakes and hazardous quotient were reported for these micronutrients. Total content for Cu, Fe, and Zn varied from 2.25 to 48.82 mg kg−1, 14.75 to 148.18 mg kg−1, and 28.48 to 106.68 mg kg−1, respectively. The average contents of each of the three micronutrients were higher in tea leaves samples collected from South Africa than those from India while the contents in tea infusions in Indian samples were higher than in South African tea samples. Results of this study revealed that the consumption of 600 mL tea infusion produced from 24 g of made tea per day may be beneficial to human in terms of these micronutrients content. Application of nonparametric tests revealed that most of the data sets do not satisfy the normality assumptions. Hence, the use of both parametric and nonparametric statistical analysis that subsequently revealed significant differences in elemental contents among Indian and South African tea

Duloxetine Inhibits Effects of MDMA (“Ecstasy") In Vitro and in Humans in a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Laboratory Study

This study assessed the effects of the serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) transporter inhibitor duloxetine on the effects of 3,4–methylenedioxy­methamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) in vitro and in 16 healthy subjects. The clinical study used a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, four-session, crossover design. In vitro, duloxetine blocked the release of both 5-HT and NE by MDMA or by its metabolite 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine from transmitter-loaded human cells expressing the 5-HT or NE transporter. In humans, duloxetine inhibited the effects of MDMA including elevations in circulating NE, increases in blood pressure and heart rate, and the subjective drug effects. Duloxetine inhibited the pharmacodynamic response to MDMA despite an increase in duloxetine-associated elevations in plasma MDMA levels. The findings confirm the important role of MDMA-induced 5-HT and NE release in the psychotropic effects of MDMA. Duloxetine may be useful in the treatment of psychostimulant dependence

New Pharmacological Agents to Aid Smoking Cessation and Tobacco Harm Reduction: What has been Investigated and What is in the Pipeline?

A wide range of support is available to help smokers to quit and aid attempts at harm reduction, including three first-line smoking cessation medications: nicotine replacement therapy, varenicline and bupropion. Despite the efficacy of these, there is a continual need to diversify the range of medications so that the needs of tobacco users are met. This paper compares the first-line smoking cessation medications to: 1) two variants of these existing products: new galenic formulations of varenicline and novel nicotine delivery devices; and 2) twenty-four alternative products: cytisine (novel outside of central and eastern Europe), nortriptyline, other tricyclic antidepressants, electronic cigarettes, clonidine (an anxiolytic), other anxiolytics (e.g. buspirone), selective 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors, supplements (e.g. St John’s wort), silver acetate, nicobrevin, modafinil, venlafaxine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), opioid antagonist, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) antagonists, glucose tablets, selective cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonists, nicotine vaccines, drugs that affect gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transmission, drugs that affect N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA), dopamine agonists (e.g. levodopa), pioglitazone (Actos; OMS405), noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, and the weight management drug lorcaserin. Six criteria are used: relative efficacy, relative safety, relative cost, relative use (overall impact of effective medication use), relative scope (ability to serve new groups of patients), and relative ease of use (ESCUSE). Many of these products are in the early stages of clinical trials, however, cytisine looks most promising in having established efficacy and safety and being of low cost. Electronic cigarettes have become very popular, appear to be efficacious and are safer than smoking, but issues of continued dependence and possible harms need to be considered

POPs in a major conurbation in Turkey: ambient air concentrations, seasonal variation, inhalation and dermal exposure, and associated carcinogenic risks

Semi-volatile organic compounds were monitored over a whole year, by collection of gas and particle phases every sixth day at a suburban site in Izmir, Turkey. Annual mean concentrations of 32 polychlorinated biphenyls (∑32PCBs) and 14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (∑14PAHs) were 348 pg/m3 and 36 ng/m3, respectively, while it was 273 pg/m3 for endosulfan, the dominant compound among 23 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). Monte Carlo simulation was applied to the USEPA exposure-risk models for the estimation of the population exposure and carcinogenic risk probability distributions for heating and non-heating periods. The estimated population risks associated with dermal contact and inhalation routes to ∑32PCBs, ∑14PAHs, and some of the targeted OCPs (α-hexachlorocyclohexane (α-HCH), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, α-chlordane (α-CHL), γ-chlordane (γ-CHL), and p,p′-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p′-DDT)) were in the ranges of 1.86 × 10−16–7.29 × 10−9 and 1.38 × 10−10–4.07 × 10−6, respectively. The inhalation 95th percentile risks for ∑32PCBs, ∑14PAHs, and OCPs were about 6, 3, and 4–7 orders of magnitude higher than those of dermal route, respectively. The 95th percentile inhalation risk for ∑32PCBs and OCPs in the non-heating period were 1.8- and 1.2–4.6 folds higher than in the heating period, respectively. In contrast, the 95th percentile risk levels for ∑14PAHs in the heating period were 4.3 times greater than that of non-heating period for inhalation, respectively. While risk levels associated with exposure to PCBs and OCPs did not exceed the acceptable level of 1 × 10−6, it was exceeded for 47 % of the population associated with inhalation of PAHs with a maximum value of about 4 × 10−6

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in background air around the Aegean: implications for phase partitioning and size distribution

The occurrence and atmospheric behavior of tri- to deca-polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were investigated during a 2-week campaign concurrently conducted in July 2012 at four background sites around the Aegean Sea. The study focused on the gas/particle (G/P) partitioning at three sites (Ag. Paraskevi/central Greece/suburban, Finokalia/southern Greece/remote coastal, and Urla/Turkey/rural coastal) and on the size distribution at two sites (Neochorouda/northern Greece/rural inland and Finokalia/southern Greece/remote coastal). The lowest mean total (G + P) concentrations of ∑7PBDE (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-66, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154) and BDE-209 (0.81 and 0.95 pg m−3, respectively) were found at the remote site Finokalia. Partitioning coefficients, KP, were calculated, and their linear relationships with ambient temperature and the physicochemical properties of the analyzed PBDE congeners, i.e., the subcooled liquid pressure (PL°) and the octanol-air partition coefficient (KOA), were investigated. The equilibrium adsorption (PL°-based) and absorption (KOA-based) models, as well as a steady-state absorption model including an equilibrium and a non-equilibrium term, both being functions of log KOA, were used to predict the fraction Φ of PBDEs associated with the particle phase. The steady-state model proved to be superior to predict G/P partitioning of BDE-209. The distribution of particle-bound PBDEs across size fractions < 0.95, 0.95–1.5, 1.5–3.0, 3.0–7.2, and > 7.2 μm indicated a positive correlation between the mass median aerodynamic diameter and log PL° for the less brominated congeners, whereas a negative correlation was observed for the high brominated congeners. The potential source regions of PBDEs were acknowledged as a combination of long-range transport with short-distance sources