Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA virus shedding and lymphopenia are hallmarks of COVID-19 in cancer patients with poor prognosis.

Patients with cancer are at higher risk of severe coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the mechanisms underlying virus-host interactions during cancer therapies remain elusive. When comparing nasopharyngeal swabs from cancer and noncancer patients for RT-qPCR cycle thresholds measuring acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 1063 patients (58% with cancer), we found that malignant disease favors the magnitude and duration of viral RNA shedding concomitant with prolonged serum elevations of type 1 IFN that anticorrelated with anti-RBD IgG antibodies. Cancer patients with a prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection exhibited the typical immunopathology of severe COVID-19 at the early phase of infection including circulation of immature neutrophils, depletion of nonconventional monocytes, and a general lymphopenia that, however, was accompanied by a rise in plasmablasts, activated follicular T-helper cells, and non-naive Granzyme B+FasL+, EomeshighTCF-1high, PD-1+CD8+ Tc1 cells. Virus-induced lymphopenia worsened cancer-associated lymphocyte loss, and low lymphocyte counts correlated with chronic SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding, COVID-19 severity, and a higher risk of cancer-related death in the first and second surge of the pandemic. Lymphocyte loss correlated with significant changes in metabolites from the polyamine and biliary salt pathways as well as increased blood DNA from Enterobacteriaceae and Micrococcaceae gut family members in long-term viral carriers. We surmise that cancer therapies may exacerbate the paradoxical association between lymphopenia and COVID-19-related immunopathology, and that the prevention of COVID-19-induced lymphocyte loss may reduce cancer-associated death.

Assessment of nanoparticles and metal exposure of airport workers using exhaled breath condensate.

Aircraft engine exhaust increases the number concentration of nanoparticles (NP) in the surrounding environment. Health concerns related to NP raise the question of the exposure and health monitoring of airport workers. No biological monitoring study on this profession has been reported to date. The aim was to evaluate the NP and metal exposure of airport workers using exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as a non-invasive biological matrix representative of the respiratory tract. EBC was collected from 458 French airport workers working either on the apron or in the offices. NP exposure was characterized using particle number concentration (PNC) and size distribution. EBC particles were analyzed using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy coupled to x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Multi-elemental analysis was performed for aluminum (Al), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) EBC contents. Apron workers were exposed to higher PNC than administrative workers (p < 0.001). Workers were exposed to very low particle sizes, the apron group being exposed to even smaller NP than the administrative group (p < 0.001). The particulate content of EBC was brought out by DLS and confirmed with SEM-EDS, although no difference was found between the two study groups. Cd concentrations were higher in the apron workers (p < 0.001), but still remained very low and close to the detection limit. Our study reported the particulate and metal content of airport workers airways. EBC is a potential useful tool for the non-invasive monitoring of workers exposed to NP and metals.

Collective dosimetry to distinguish occupational exposure to natural uranium from alimentary uranium background in bioassay measurements.

PURPOSE: To assess occupational exposure from uranium bioassay results which are low and impacted by dietary intakes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: First, the bioassay results of a group of workers exposed to UO2 were compiled along with results of a control group. A Bayesian approach was developed to account for dietary intakes in the calculation of the committed effective dose from occupational exposure of a group of workers. RESULTS: Significant differences in uranium bioassay between the exposed and control groups were found establishing an occupational contamination of the exposed group of workers. Because uranium alimentary excretion estimated from the control group is very variable leading to unreliable individual dose assessment, a collective dosimetric approach was chosen. Applying the Bayesian method, all annual committed effective doses for the exposed group were estimated to be below 0.5 mSv with 95% confidence. CONCLUSIONS: The Bayesian method presented here is well designed to derive best estimate and dose distribution for a group of workers when a contamination is difficult to discriminate from a natural background or alimentary excretion.

The airport atmospheric environment: respiratory health at work.

Air traffic is increasing, raising concern about local pollution and its adverse health effects on the people living in the vicinity of large airports. However, the highest risk is probably occupational exposure due to proximity. Jet exhaust is one of the main concerns at an airport and may have a health impact, particularly on the respiratory tract. Current studies are neither numerous enough nor strong enough to prove this kind of association. Yet, more and more people work in airports, and occupational exposure to jet exhaust is a fact. The aim of this review was to evaluate the existing knowledge regarding the impact of airport pollution on respiratory health. We conducted systematic literature searches to examine workplace exposures.