Chronic exposure to gasoline: evaluation of immunological and genotoxic effects among filling station workers

Workers in gasoline service stations experience relatively high level exposures to fuel vapors, their consequences have not been fully elucidated. In this study, the relationship between occupational exposure to gasoline and immunotoxicity and genotoxicity was investigated. Sixty male non smoking workers in gasoline service stations were enrolled in this study; 30 of them have been exposed to gasoline for 3-5 years [group I] and the other 30 have been exposed for more than five years [group II]. Twenty non smoking males with no occupational exposure to gasoline were used as a control group. In conclusion, this study showed that occupational exposure to gasoline increases the risk of immunotoxicity and genotoxicity. This risk increases with increased duration of gasoline exposure

Immunological dynamics with oral contraceptives

Serum immunoglobulins [IgG and IgM] levels, T4 and T8 lymphocytes count were studied in 63 women to elucidate the effect of ethinyl estradiol "in oral contraceptives" on the immune functions. The women were divided into three groups; the "never users group" of 15 who never used oral contraceptive pills, "the current users group" of 25 who were using pills for 1-3 years and "the past users group" of 23 who stopped pills for 6 - 12 months. The current users group shoewed significant increased levels of both IgG and IgM, while the past users showed no significant difference when compared with the never users. T-cell count, in current users, showed a remarkable decrease in T4 and increase in TB but both were statistically insignificant when compared with the never users while the past users showed nearly similar figuresas never users. This study may prove the safety of the oral contraceptives on immune functions but it suggests that the potental estrogen immunosuppression may depend either on the dose and/or the period of use

Some cardiovascular and haematologic effects of a single sauna bathing in women

Twenty healthy females were exposed to a single sauna sitting at 100C for 30 minutes. Three blood samples were drawn from each woman one before, one immediately after and the last four days after sauna bathing. Similarly, three measurements of body weight, temperature, pulse and mean arterial blood pressure were recorded. The results of this study showed that immediately after sauna, body temperature and pulse rate were highly significantly elevated, while mean arterial blood pressure was highly significantly lowered and body weight did not show any significant change. There were high significant elevation of total leukocytic count and neutrophils, significant elevation of monocytes, significant decrease of eosinophils and basophils, and nonsignificant decrease of lymphocytes. Serum sodium and chloride showed highly significant elevations, while serum potassium was highly significantly lowered. Total serum proteins tended to increase due to increased globulins. Four days later, erythrocytic count, hemoglobin level and hematocrit value, which were not significantly changed immediately after sauna, showed significant elevations. The other parameters almost returned to the pre-sauna levels except for neutrophils and monocytes as regards platelets, they showed no significant difference between pre-sauna and post-sauna measurements. On conclusion, sauna proved to be beneficial for healthy persons and it may be a safe line of treatment of refractory anemia as it stimulates erythropoiesis. On the other hand, it should be avoided in patients with critical cardiovascular diseases. It is also concluded, that sauna is not an effective mean for weight reduction