ABSTRACT
Background: The number of people found to be exposed to gasoline is of public health concern. In developed countries, unlike developing countries, measures are taken to dispense gasoline quickly and safely to reduce exposure. In Nigeria, roadside dispensers are a common sight, often with no any form of protection. This leads to high levels of exposure with the consequences including oxidative injuries. As cofactors in antioxidant reactions, antioxidant trace metals are consumed in the process of converting the free radicals generated by petrol. Methods: Antioxidant trace metals (zinc, manganese, copper, and selenium) were compared between 90 road side dispensers of gasoline and 90 matched controls. Plasma zinc, selenium, manganese and copper ware analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Results: The mean age of the exposed and control groups are 29.03±3.7 and 29.24±3.5 years respectively. Antioxidant trace metals zinc (64.7±6.09 µg/dl), manganese (7.93±1.32 µg/dl) and copper (77.8±7.38 µg/dl) of the exposed were significantly (p< 0.001) lower than the controls (100.2±9.58 µg/dl, 9.22±1.19 µg/dl and 103.8±20.09 µg/dl respectively). Selenium (0.03±0.008 µg/dl) was significantly (p< 0.001) higher in the exposed group compared to the controls (0.01±0.0023 µg/dl). Conclusion: This study has demonstrated lower level of antioxidant trace metals in roadside dispensers of gasoline compared to the controls. This indicates that those exposed are probably at greater risk of developing chronic diseases associated with increase oxidative stress. Enforcing legislation on roadside gasoline dispensing may reduce the risk.
ABSTRACT
Background: A number of studies have shown a high prevalence of insufficient vitamin D levels in humans in the North American, European and Asian regions. Various research works have also shown that low serum vitamin D levels play a major role in the pathogenesis of chronic, non-infective illnesses such as diabetes mellitus and cancer.Objective: This study was aimed at assessing the serum vitamin D status in relation to glucose homeostasis among men with Type-2 Diabetes mellitus and normal controls.Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study included 80 men with confirmed diagnosis of Type-2 diabetes mellitus and 49 normal adult male controls. Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D, fasting serum C-peptide and fasting plasma glucose levels were measured in both study groups.Results: There was a significant difference between the mean serum 25-OH vitamin D levels among the cases (36.55ng/mL) and the controls (42.96ng/mL) (p = 0.001). All the four 25-OH vitamin D-deficient subjects had diabetes. In the diabetes group, 43.8% had a normal insulin resistance compared to 61.8% of the control group (p = 0.054). In the diabetes group, 73.8% had sufficient vitamin D, 21.2% had insufficient vitamin D and 5% had vitamin D deficiency. In the control group, there was a significant negative correlation between serum 25-OH vitamin D and BMI and fasting plasma glucose. The mean HOMA2IR value for the diabetes group (3.09) was higher than the value for the controls (2.40).Conclusion: The mean serum 25-OH vitamin D level in the diabetes group was lower than that of the control group hence, hypovitaminosis D may be a contributor to the onset of diabetes mellitus among Nigerian men