Antinuclear antibodies: association with farming and occupational exposures to pesticides

Exposure to environmentally and occupationally encountered toxicants can be associated with the development of certain autoimmune diseases and with the induction of antinuclear antibodies. Chemicals used in agriculture are known to affect immune function, but their roles in the induction of autoimmunity in general and ANA in particular have not been reported previously. This study was undertaken to compare the prevalence of ANA between urban and rural dwellers and to determine environmental and occupational exposures with which ANA production is associated. A personal, medical and occupational questionnaires as well as blood samples were collected from one hundred rural residents, half of them practice farming as their occupation and the remaining fifty were only rural residents but they work else than farming and eighty urban residents. ANA were assayed in their sera by Hep-2 cell immuno fluorescence technique and a titer of 1/40 was considered as positive reaction. ANA were more prevalent among rural dwellers than urban dwellers, the median ANA titer was 1/40 among rural dwellers who practice farming and urban dwellers, while it was 1/60 among rural dwellers with no farming practices, 6% of the first group [Rural dwellers with farming practice] got a titer of 1/160 or more in comparison to 2% of the second group [Rural dwellers with no farming practices] compared to none of the third group [Urban dwellers].No statistical significant risks of ANA production was demonstrated in any of the occupation practiced by neither the second nor the third group; however cotton production was found to elevate the risk of ANA significantly by 1.88 times in the univariate analysis but not in the multivaniate analysis, also the use of organochlorine insecticides was significantly associated with ANA production [OR=2.68, 95% CI=1.17-4.81, p=.028]. No significant risk was found among animal husbandry producers. The data indicate that some farming practices and exposures could be incriminated in the production of ANA, a serologic expression of many autoimmune diseases

Neurological dysfunctions among workers exposed to inorganic lead

This study was carried out to detect the electroencephalographic [EEG] changes as well as its pattern and to study the relation between motor conduction and presence of EEG changes among workers exposed to inorganic lead. Twenty workers occupationally exposed to inorganic lead and another twenty workers not exposed to lead were chosen as index and control groups respectively. The following investigations were performed for both groups. haemoglobin [Hb], blood lead [BPb], urine delta aminolevulinic acid [ALA], motor nerve conduction velocity [MNCV] and distal latency [DL] of right radial nerve, and EEG. EEG chages were significantly more among exposed group [5 workers, 25%] than control group [0%]. Left temporal discharge was noticed among the five workers and generalized bilateral epileptic activity among only 2 of them. Among exposed group, no significant differences were seen between exposed workers with and those without EEG changes as regards all investigations. There were insignificant correlations between duration of exposure, BPb, urine ALA, MNCV and DL, and presence of EEG changes among exposed workers

Prognostic value of nucleolar organizer regions in urothelial carcinoma in relation to grading and staging

Using a silver staining technique, nucleolar organizer regions were identified in routinely processed paraffin sections of 40 cases of epithelial urinary bladder lesions. The technique shows argyrophilic NOR associated proteins [AgNORs], which are seen in nuclei as black dots. There was a significant difference between benign urothelial hyperplasia and carcinoma [t=5.301] as well as between the different grades of urothelial carcinoma; grade 1 and 2 [t=4.697] and grade 2 and 3 [t=5.717], where there was an inverse relationship between the number of AgNORs and degree of differentiation. There was no significant difference between in situ and grade 1 urothelial carcinoma. [t=0.323]