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Summary Background: The association between coxib or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use with gastrointestinal symptoms and drug prescriptions in ambulatory elderly patients is not well defined. Aim: To evaluate the association between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug NSAID and coxib use with gastrointestinal symptoms and therapies in elderly subjects managed by their general practitioner. Materials: The study was carried out by 133 general practitioners in Italy. By using a structured interview, sex, age, physical function, current medications, new drug prescriptions and upper gastrointestinal symptoms were registered from all elderly subjects who were referred to their general practitioners during a 2-week period. The numbers of hospitalizations, gastrointestinal bleeding events and gastrointestinal diagnostic procedures occurring during the last 6-month period were recorded. Results: Included in this study were 5515 elderly subjects. The overall prevalence of drug use was 92%. Musculo-skeletal drugs were taken by 15% of patients; NSAIDs were taken by 6%, and coxibs by 3% of patients. A significantly higher prevalence of upper gastrointestinal symptoms was observed in elderly NSAID users compared with coxib users and non-users of musculo-skeletal drugs (44% vs. 33% vs. 32% respectively, P = 0.001). The prescriptions of drugs for acid-related disorders were significantly higher in patients who were concomitantly taking NSAID rather than coxibs (13% vs. 6%, P

In recent years the increasing use of platinum (Pt) both in medical and in industrial applications has caused its growing anthropogenic emission and spread in the environment. Pt is released into the atmosphere by exhaustcatalytic converters, and Pt compounds are often used in antitumour therapies. As a consequence, significant amounts of Pt can be detected in hospital wastewaters. This can lead to an increase in the exposure levels to Pt, especially in urban areas. It is therefore necessary to determine Pt reference values in the general population, by using suitable procedures able to achieve adequate analytical performances. Several measurements of Pt in biological fluids have been reported, but the analytical methods used for the determination of Pt often lack information about the uncertainty of the results, especially for low concentrations of urinary Pt in non-occupationally exposed subjects. The present paper considers the measurement of urinary Pt levels in a general population group from central Italy, by both quadrupole (Q) and sector field (SF) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The two procedures were validated and their expanded uncertainties were evaluated. The limits of detection (LODs), calculated taking into account dilution factors, were 0.18 and 0.05 ng L - 1 of Pt for the Q and SF procedures, respectively. The median value observed was 4.13 ng L - 1 of Pt in urine, while the relative combined uncertainty at 5 ng L - 1 was below 20% with both ICP-MS techniques. These data are in good agreement with those reported in the literature for similar studies.

A simple, sensitive and specific method for the quantification of N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)cysteine (AMCC) in urines of the general population and of exposed workers has been developed. Samples were first diluted with phosphate buffer followed by purification by solid-phase extraction (SPE) with SAX columns prior to analysis by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). An external standard was used for the quantification together with selected ion monitoring of m/z 219, [MH]−. The linear calibration curve showed a good correlation (r2 = 0.98, p

15 women with a positive patch test only to nickel (Ni) and without atopy and 10 control women were selected for the study. Blood and urine specimens were collected with a standard procedure either before (at 8 a.m.) or 4 and 24 h after the ingestion of 10 mg of Ni (as Ni sulfate). 7 of the Ni-sensitized patients showed a flare-up of eczema and/or urticaria during the test, while the other women were non-symptomatic. Serum and urine Ni of controls and Ni-sensitized women did not significantly differ. Serum and urine Ni levels determined before the oral Ni challenge were in the range of reference values recently reported by other authors (0.2-2.0 micrograms/l of serum or urine). Ni was greatly augmented in urine and serum 4 h after the challenge (25th-75th percentiles: 43-264 micrograms/l urine Ni and 15-52 micrograms/l serum Ni). 24 h after Ni ingestion, urine Ni was 41-153 micrograms/l and serum Ni 4-17 micrograms/l. Our study confirms a previous investigation showing similar levels of serum and urine Ni following ingestion of the metal in control and Ni-sensitized women without atopy.

Contact dermatitis among hairdressers is common and is one of the most frequent occupational dematoses due to continual exposure to water, detergents, hair dyes, permanent waves and metal equipment. Use of individual protection systems – as gloves – is considered a good measure of prevention. Few data exist about the real permeation resistance (PR) of gloves, also in term of time of PR. We tested two types of djsposable latex gloves different by thickness and density of the manufacture material. We used a permeation cell composed of two separated parts: in the upper part we introduced the hair colouring formulation and in the lower one the collection medium (NaHSO3 1% in water); the two parts were separated by a portion of the glove material. A 100 microL volume of the collection medium was collected and injected onto a HPLC apparatus after 1, 2, 4 and 24 hours. A diode array detector was utilised selecting two wavelengths in the UV range (240 and 275 nm) with a linear concentration gradient up to 60% of methanol/acetonitril mixture. We can simultaneously analyse 9 oxidation dyes and the detection limits were sufficient to determine these substances at very low concentrations. We obtained respectively a breakthrough time less than 24 hours for the lower thickness glove and of over 24 hours for the other one; the latex gloves are suitable for prevent the skin contamination during the preparation of the colourings mixture in the hairdresser activity. The obtained data show those latex gloves, of both thickness, have a very high PR. On the other hand, the use of latex gloves has been associated with the more frequent recognition of immediate-type hypersensitivity responses related to latex products. The prosecution of the study will evaluate the PR of latex-free gloves.