relationship between lifestyle and body mass index among university students in Kuwait

The aim of the study was to identify Body Mass Index [BMI] among youth, to assess whether lifestyle has an association with BMI in youth of Kuwait and to examine the gender differences in lifestyle and BMI. A cross sectional survey study was conducted using self administered questionnaire, among 320 students of Kuwait University. The questionnaire included sociodemographic data, life style aspects like smoking, physical activity, dietary habits and emotional eating. Assessment of BMI was performed. Among participants, 69.7% were males and 30.3% were females. Mean BMI was 30.94 +/- 4.06, obese and overweight subjects constituted 93.4% of the studied sample [69.9% males and 30.1% females] while only 6.6% were normal weight. Females were significantly more regular in vegetable consumption than their male counterparts. Significant variables associated with obesity and overweight were regular fast food and sweet consumption, and sedentary life style behaviors. Some of the factors associated with overweight and obesity among young people can be modified. Eating more fruit and vegetables, increasing physical activity and devoting less time to sedentary activities such as watching television and playing video games may help reverse the upward trend

cytogenetic study on workers formulating pesticides

The objective of this study is to find out the cytogenetic changes that may occur among workers formulating pesticides as measured by chromosomal aberrations [CA] and sister chromatid exchanges [SCEs] endpoints in their peripheral lymphocytes. Forty three workers from Kafr Ziat pesticide company, Egypt, which formulating variety of pesticides [mainly Organophosphorus] were *matched as regards to age, sex and socioeconomic status with twenty individuals working as clerks. All subjects were not exposed to x-ray-drug therapy or viral infection at least six months prior to the study. Smoking as a confounding factor was taken into consideration. Two whole blood cultures were setup for each individual. Harvest was made at 48 hrs and 72 hrs for [CA] and [SCEs] respectively. All studied individuals were males. Age was 43 +/- 7.3 ys among exposed workers compared to 40.7 +/- 6.1 ys among controls. [p>0.05], the duration of formulating pesticides was 17+2 +/- 5.4 ys. The range of [CA] among exposed group was [2-8%] with average frequency 5.4% compared to 2.8% among control, the difference proved to be statistically significant, [p<0.001]. Types of damage were mainly of chromarid type aberrations as gaps and breaks. Dicentrics and exchange figures were also reported. As regards SCEs [Mean +/- SD], they were 9.7 +/- 3.5 among exposed group versus 5.6 +/- 2.4 among control. Again, the difference proved to be statistically highly significant [p<0.001]. We conclude that formulating pesticides have a high risk effects on human genome

Elevated frequency of sister chromatid exchanges in lymphocytes of breast cancer patients

Forty female patients with breast cancer and 40 healthy female controls matched as regard age and socio-economic status were studied for spontaneolis and mutagen-induced sister chromatid exchange [SCEs] frequencies in their peripheral blood lymphocytes. All were non smokers, had normal children, no specific medication, x-ray exposure or recent viral infection. History of contraceptive pills was considered. Spontaneous Mean SD of SCEs/cell was 10.57 1.5 for breast cancer patients, compared to 6.22 1.9 among controls, difference proved to be statistically highly significant [p < 0.0001]. Mitomycin C [MMC] was used as a mutagen at a concentration of 0.015 ug/ml. No significant difference was observed in rates of SCEs in cultures with [MMC] between breast cancer patients and controls. However, significant difference was observed in rate of SCEs in control cultures with [MMC] between contraceptive pills users and non-users, [p < 0.01]. We conclude that metabolic stress evoked by the tumor or some clastogenic secretion of malignant cells was responsible for increased SCEs frequency in lymphocytes of breast cancer patients. Moreover, malignancy had no effect on MMC-induced SCEs rates

Cytogenetic study among workers exposed to manganese

The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytogenetic effect of manganese among the exposed workers. Twenty exposed workers were matched as regard to age, sex, socioeconomic status and smoking habits with 20 controls. All subjects were not exposed to X rays, drug therapy and viral infection for at least six months prior to the study. Smoking habit was taken into consideration. Two cytogenetic assays were conducted namely, chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges, harvest was done after 48 hr and 72 hr, respectively. The mean manganese level in the blood among the exposed subjects was 11.24 +/- 3.74 micro g/100 cc and among the controls was 3.5 +/- 1.4 micro g/100 cc, the difference was statistically significant [P < 0.05]. The cytogenetic findings revealed minimal elevation in the percentage of chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchange frequencies among the exposed subjects relative to the controls; however, the differences were not statistically significant [P > 0.05]. As regard smoking, the percentage of chromosomal damages and sister chromatid exchange frequencies were significantly higher in smokers compared to non smokers in both exposed and control subjects [P < 0.05]