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A pilot study was conducted to determine whether any relationship exists between micronucleated cell rates of female uterine cervical epithelium and current smoking status. Cervical uterine cells obtained from 118 pre-menopausal females, seen between September 1994 and June 1995 at the Occupational Medecine Interprofessional Association (AIMT), were tested for micronucleated cells by the micronucleus assay. Of the 68 subjects taken from this population that provided a least a 1000 analysed cells, 36 were non-smokers and 32 were smokers. Age distributions were different between smokers and non-smokers but results showed that age had no effect on micronucleated cell levels. Micronucleated cervical cell rates reached 0.66% in non-smokers and 1.11% in smokers: these two levels were not statistically different. No association was noted between number of cigarettes smoked and micronucleated cell levels. Results suggested that consuming 5-20 cigarettes per day was not enough to show a smoking effect on cervical micronucleated cells. A test with a greater number of female subjects would be necessary to confirm this. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: A qualitative study was conducted in 2008 of occupational physicians (OPs) in south-eastern France to document their attitudes, opinions and practices on prevention and screening of occupational cancers. This was done to provide elements to prepare the questionnaire of a quantitative study in 2009., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a structured interview guide with 20 OPs. The data collected were subjected to an analysis of thematic content type., Results: The analysis revealed that OPs face many difficulties when preventing occupational cancers. For most of OPs, these difficulties appeared related to "external factors": lack of involvement of employers and minimization of risks by employers and employees. Lack of time, overload and, for some OPs, perceived lack of independence towards employers, were also mentioned as barriers to cancer prevention. This study also suggested hypotheses related to OPs themselves (internal factors): perceived lack of effectiveness and, trend to minimize the risks of occupational cancer in their geographical area. Finally, the results suggest a significant heterogeneity of OPs' practices regarding occupational cancer screening., Conclusion: These results raise several hypotheses that will be addressed further in the quantitative survey. They warn about the difficulties of a profession that seems to encounter a demographic and identity crisis.

Objective: Cutaneous melanoma prevention has become a public health issue. The incidence of this cancer has been steadily growing for 50 years, and the related death ratio is not decreasing. Today, the surgical resection of a thin lesion is the only validated curative treatment. The early detection of melanoma represents a major line in the management of such tumours., Methods: Occupational physicians of the PACA area were invited to participate in a campaign for the screening of pigmented suspect cutaneous lesions for 2 years. Voluntary physicians were trained to use the ABCDEF diagnostic criterion. Lesions were detected during regular yearly consultations (1998/1999) and the data concerning the development and care of these lesions was collected during consultations over the following year (1999/2000)., Results: Two hundred and fifty occupational physicians of the PACA area participated in the campaign. Two pre-cancerous lesions and 10 cancers (5 melanoma and 5 pigmented basocellular carcinoma) were found among the 487 suspect lesions detected. Each melanoma had a Breslow score of less than 0.9 mm and were of good or even excellent prognosis., Conclusion: The cutaneous examination, although rapid, during the occupational medicine consultations, is an effective means of detecting the early onset tumoral lesions which, at that stage may potentially be cured. The ABCDEF criterion is a useful diagnostic tool and should be taught to the all the medical and paramedical staff.

DYNAMIC BALANCE: The antibiotic status of the human organism results from the dynamic balance between the antioxidant system and the production of reactive oxygen species. Oxidative stress occurs when this balance shifts in favor of pro-oxidants as can occur in several disease situations. ROS: Part of the oxygen used by cells is transformed into toxic metabolites, reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can be the cause or consequence of tissue and molecular disorders. Some of the most prominent diseases linked with oxidative stress include atherosclerosis, cancer, allergy, neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease. PERSPECTIVES FOR PREVENTION: Actions designed to prevent the environmental cause, such as eviction of a exposure to toxins or a change in eating habits, can be an effective means of reducing the lesions induced. Study of total antioxidant potential could be quite useful for detecting and monitoring environmental damage and for clinical follow-up. It could also help in determining, for each individual, the negative or positive development of a therapy on the anti-free radical action. Treatments must be personalized according to the tested response.

Unlabelled: AT RISK GROUPS: The incidence of latex hypersensitivity of latex hypersensitivity has increased over the last decade. The main at-risk groups for developing latex allergy are: health care workers and employees working in latex industries, patients with atopic diathesis and subjects with repeated surgical procedures during childhood. SENSITIZATION: The use of cornstarch powder gloves can sensitize healthy subjects and exacerbate symptoms of allergic patients as the powder spreads the latex allergens into the environment., Practical Attitude: We propose here some practical recommendations for prevention, both for the general population and for allergic subjects.

The influence of alpha-hederin (a saponin isolated from Hedera helix), chlorophyllin, the sodium-copper salt of chlorophyll, and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) on the direct clastogenicity of doxorubicin (Adriamycin) was investigated in vitro in human lymphocytes for the induction of micronuclei. In order to determine a possible mechanism of action responsible for the antimutagenic activity, treatments were performed for the three substances at different times of the culture (pre-treatment, simultaneous and post-treatment). Alpha-hederin (1.3 x 10(-2), 0.13, 1.3 and 13 nmol/ml) and chlorophyllin (0.14, 1.4 and 14 nmol/ml) were found to exert an antimutagenic effect against the clastogenicity of doxorubicin (1.5 x 10(-2) nmol/ml) in all treatments at all concentrations. Ascorbic acid (10 nmol/ml) was effective in reducing the micronucleus levels only in the simultaneous treatment, when it was previously incubated with doxorubicin for 2 h at 37 degrees C before being introduced into the culture. Our results suggested a desmutagenic effect for alpha-hederin, chlorophyllin and ascorbic acid. Chlorophyllin acted also through a bio-antimutagenic mechanism and alpha-hederin seemed to induce metabolic enzymes, which inactivated doxorubicin. Preliminary studies showed that the effective antimutagenic concentrations of alpha-hederin, chlorophyllin and ascorbic acid had no clastogenic or aneugenic effects in human lymphocytes. No cytotoxicity was observed for the three antimutagenic agents either.

Micronucleated cell rates were examined in exfoliated urothelial cells of 73 healthy donors not occupationally exposed to mutagens or aneugens. Micronucleated cell levels averaged 0.54 +/- 0.68% in the entire population: they reached 1.09% in smokers, 0.95% in ex-smokers and 0.24% in non-smokers. Among variation factors evaluated during this study, only smoking had a significant effect on micronucleated cell rates (P = 0.007) whereas age and sex had no effect (P = 0.101 and P = 0.918). No significant difference was observed between micronucleated cell rates of smokers and ex-smokers, suggesting that smoking could generate clones of basal micronucleated cells in urothelial tissues.