Sustainable and Safe Recycling: Protecting Workers Who Protect The Planet

A new study by environmental, occupational safety, and community benefits experts in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, finds that recycling work is unnecessarily hazardous to workers' health and safety. Seventeen American recycling workers died on the job from 2011 to 2013. Recycling workers are more than twice as likely to be injured at work as the average worker.By ensuring health and safety compliance across the industry, the study's authors say cities can create good and safe recycling jobs, and they offer concrete policy recommendations for cities.Key findings from the report include:The industry's high injury and fatality rates are a result of unsafe working conditions around heavy machinery and exposure to hazardous items on the sort line, like hypodermic needles, toxic chemicals, and animal carcasses.Many waste and recycling companies rely heavily on temporary workers, who have fewer workplace protections and are less likely to be informed of their legal right to a safe and healthy workplace

Surwiwina – czynnik prognostyczny w nowotworach u ludzi – praca poglądowa

Accurate diagnosis and proper monitoring of cancer patients remain important obstacles for successful cancer treatment. The search for cancer biomarkers is carried out in order to quickly identify tumor cells and predict treatment response, ultimately leading to a favorable therapeutic outcome. One such prognostic marker seems to be survivin. Many studies have shown that survivin is strongly expressed in a vast majority of cancers. Its overexpression was demonstrated in breast and lung cancer, prostate, gastric, colon, bladder, and esophageal carcinomas, osteosarcomas, and lymphomas. In many of those tumors, high activity of the survivin gene was associated with a poor prognosis and worse survival rates. Moreover, survivin expression was correlated with resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy-induced apoptosis. Since survivin may be identified as an independent prognostic factor and inhibitor of apoptosis, it may prove to be a useful therapeutic target in cancer therapy.Trafne rozpoznanie i właściwa kontrola pacjentów z chorobami nowotworowymi są nadal jednymi z najistotniejszych czynników skutecznego leczenia nowotworów złośliwych u ludzi. Pomocnymi w szybkiej identyfikacji komórek nowotworowych i przewidywaniu ich odpowiedzi na leczenie, a w konsekwencji mającymi korzystny wpływ na wyniki leczenia mogą być badania skupiające się na poszukiwaniu markerów specyficznych dla guzów. Jednym z takich markerów prognostycznych wydaje się być surwiwina. Liczne badania wykazały między innymi, iż ulega ona silnej ekspresji w większości nowotworów złośliwych. Jej nadmierną ekspresję wykazano w nowotworach piersi, prostaty, żołądka, jelita grubego, pęcherza moczowego, raku przełyku, płuc, kostniakomięsakach oraz chłoniakach. W większości badanych przypadków wysoka aktywność genu surwiwiny wiązała się ze złym rokowaniem i krótszym czasem przeżycia pacjentów. Wykazano dodatkowo, że ekspresja surwiwiny korelowała z opornością na chemio i radioterapię, apoptozozależną. Od czasu kiedy surwiwina została zidentyfikowana jako niezależny czynnik prognostyczny i inhibitor apoptozy, stała się ona ważnym celem w terapii przeciwnowotworowej

Human Exposure to Selected Animal Neurocarcinogens: A Biomarker-Based Assessment and Implications for Brain Tumor Epidemiology

This review is based on the proceedings from the Second Lebow Conference held in Chicago in 2007. The conference concentrated on developing a framework for innovative studies in the epidemiology of environmental exposures, focusing specifically on the potential relationship with brain tumors. Researchers with different perspectives, including toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and epidemiological exposure assessment, exchanged information and ideas on the use of biomarkers of exposure in molecular epidemiology studies and summarized the current knowledge on methods and approaches for biomarker-based exposure assessment. This report presents the state of science regarding biomarker-based exposure assessment of the 4 most common neurocarcinogens: acrylamide, 1,3-butadiene, N-nitroso compounds, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Importantly, these chemicals are also carcinogenic in other organs; therefore, this discussion is useful for environmental epidemiologists studying all cancer types

Application of mutagen sensitivity assay in a glioma case-control study

Few risk factors for glioma have been identified other than ionizing radiation. The alkylating agent acrylamide is a compound found in both occupational and the general environment and identified as one of the forty known or suspected neurocarcinogens in animal models. The mutagen sensitivity assay (MSA) has been used to indirectly show reduced DNA repair capacity upon exposure to ionizing radiation in those with glioma compared to controls. In this study, MSA was used to assess its applicability to a glioma case-control study and to test the hypothesis that subjects with glioma may have lower DNA repair capacity after exposure to selected potential human neurocarcinogens (i.e. acrylamide), compared to controls. Approximately 50 case and 50 control subjects were identified from a clinic-based study that investigated environmental risk factors for glioma, who completed an exposure survey, and had frozen immortalized lymphocytes available. A total of 50 metaphase spreads were read and reported for each participant. The association of case-control status with MSA for acrylamide, i.e. breaks per spread, was examined by multivariable logistic regression models. The mean number of breaks per slide was similar between hospital-based controls and cases. In addition, case-control status or exposure categories were not associated with the number of breaks per spread. Although the MSA has been shown as a useful molecular epidemiology tool for identifying individuals at higher risk for cancer, our data do not support the hypothesis that glioma patients have reduced DNA repair capacity in response to exposure to acrylamide. Further research is needed before the MSA is utilized in large-scale epidemiological investigations of alkylating agents. Keywords: DNA repair, Assay interaction, Acrylamid