Comparison of Thyroid Hormone Levels between Women Farmers and Non-Farmers in Banten Indonesia.

Pesticides are suspected of being endocrine disruptors. This cross-sectional study measured serum samples for levels of thyroid hormones including thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), free T3 (FT3), and free T4 (FT4) among Indonesian female farmers (n = 127) and non-farmers (n = 127). A questionnaire was used to collect information on demographics and risk factors including work characteristics and frequency, and the use of home and agricultural pesticides. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the distribution of the clinical categories of thyroid levels between farmers and non-farmers except for FT3 and T4. However, in multivariable regression controlling for confounders, FT3 and T4 were significantly higher for farmers compared to non-farmers. In addition, 32% of farmers had clinically low iodine levels and 49% of non-farmers had clinically high iodine levels. We conclude that pesticide exposure may not be as important as iodine intake in explaining these findings. We recommend counseling by health workers about the importance of using iodized salt for farmers and counseling about high iodine foods that need to be avoided for non-farmers.

The Effect of High Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acid (PUFA) Dietary Supplementation on Inflammatory Status of Patients with Advanced Cervical Cancer on Radiation Treatment.

AIM: to identify the effect of high-PUFA dietary supplementation on inflammatory status of patients with advanced cervical cancer. METHODS: a randomized double-blind clinical trial was conducted in patients with advanced cervical cancer who had undergone external radiation therapy at Department of Radiotherapy, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta, between April 2013 and April 2014. The inflammatory status was evaluated based on serum prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels using ELISA method. The dietary supplementation was isocaloric, isoprotein and contained PUFA with a ratio of -6: -3 fatty acid = 1.27:1 and supplementation without PUFA. Data were analyzed with statistical tests, including Shapiro-Wilk test, independent T-test and Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: there was statistically no significant difference on PGE2 level between treatment and control groups (p=0.127). However, there was clinically significant difference, in which the treatment group had reduced PGE2 level by 8.9%; while the control group had increased level by 28.1%. CONCLUSION: dietary supplementation enriched with PUFA can reduce inflammatory status in patients with advanced cervical cancer. Reduced PGE2 level will lower the survival of cancer cells; therefore dietary supplementation enriched with PUFA with a ratio of -6 : -3 fatty acid = 1.27 : 1 along with radiation therapy may improve tumor response to radiation.