High consumption of pesticides in agricultural fields leads to prevalence of cancer cases in rural pockets of eastern India: A case study

This study was performed to evaluate the carcinogenic health risk of pesticides used in agricultural field in rural pockets of eastern India. The analysis of pesticide residue in rice grain sample was performed by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). It was observed that for pesticide DDT, the HR values was ranging between 0.5 to 3.2 and for lindane HR was 0.4 to 1.1, respectively. The DDT and Lindane exhibited HR values >1 in some sampling sites which revealed the carcinogenic effects and HR <1 in some sampling sites which revealed non carcinogenic effects of same pesticide. These results revealed a clear indication of potential carcinogenic health risk to human health through consumption of contaminated rice in some areas of Bargarh district. DDT has a long half-life, so it persists in the environment for a longer period of time and induces carcinogenic risk to human health predominantly than other pesticide lindane. A case study on cancer prevalence in Bargarh district was also carried out to support the findings of quantitative analysis. The primary data collected from the cancer affected area by personal questionnaires method to the person concern and the secondary data collected from the Bargarh District Head Quarters Hospital's register. The cancer death reported by the from the year 2015 to 2021 was 320, 380, 293, 323, 278, 409, 346 in the year of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 respectively, with the total number of 2349 cases. From the questionnaire data, it was observed that the occurrence of male and female cancer cases was 51.75% and 48.25%, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that there was no significant difference in gender wise cancer prevalence. The most affected age group was 51–60, that is, 26.92% followed by 41–50, that is, 23.42%. Therefore, it was concluded that the middle-aged adults (40–60) were more vulnerable to the cancer than young adults (3–40) and old adults (60–100). The most prevalent cancer was breast (22.72%) followed by stomach (14.33%).     

Genotoxic biomonitoring of agricultural workers exposed to pesticides in the north of Sinaloa State, Mexico

Genotoxic damage was evaluated in 70 agricultural workers, 25 women and 45 men, exposed to pesticides in Las Grullas, Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, with an average of 7 years of exposure. The effect was detected through the sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) in lymphocytes of peripheral blood and micronuclei (MN) and other nuclear anomalies (NA) in buccal exfoliated cells. Also, the influence on cellular proliferation kinetics (CPK) was studied by means of the replication index (RI) and the cytotoxic effect was examined with the mitotic index (MI). The non-exposed group consisted of 70 other persons, 21 women and 47 men from the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Significant differences between the exposed and the non-exposed groups were observed in SCE, CPK, MI, MN and NA. Analysis of variance revealed that age, gender, smoking and alcohol consumption did not have a significant effect on genetic damage. However, there was a correlation between exposure time to pesticides and SCE frequency. These results could have been due to the exposure of workers to pesticides containing different chemical compounds. This study afforded valuable data to estimate the possible risk to health associated with pesticide exposure.     

Degradation of MTBE and TBA by a new isolate from MTBE-contaminated soil

Methyl ten-butyl ether （MTBE）, a gasoline additive, possesses serious problems to the environmental health. In the present study, a bacterial culture named A-3 which could effectively degrade MTBE was isolated from the MTBE contaminated soil. The isolate was identified as Chryseobacterium sp., a new species capable of degrading MTBE. In order to enhance its degradation ability, selected environment factors were investigated. The results showed that the optimal temperature was in the range of 25-30℃, the pH was 7.0, the inoculum size was 2 × 10^8 CFU/ml and the optimal concentration of MTBE was from 50 to 100 mg/L. The maximum MTBE utilization rate （Vmax） was 102 nmol MTBE/（mg cell protein.h）. Furthermore, it was found that the isolate could also degrade tert-butyl alcohol （TBA）. The degradation rates of TBA were much faster than those of MTBE. The additional TBA would lead to the decrease of the initial MTBE degradation rate and the inhibitory effect of TBA increased with the increase of TBA concentration. Similar protein profiles at least seven peptides were demonstrated after SDS-PAGE analysis of crude extracts obtained from the cells growing in MTBE and TBA culture.     

石棉表面改性对石棉诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基的影响

为了研究用柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠预处理温石棉对石棉诱导人胚肺(HEL)细胞产生羟基自由基(·OH)的影响,笔者用不同浓度的柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠溶液浸泡温石棉1小时后,再将其与人胚肺细胞共同孵育,利用电子自旋捕获法测定反应体系中羟基自由基信号。结果显示,石棉可诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基,并且所产生的自由基信号(峰高)随石棉浓度升高而增强,呈一定的剂量依赖性。经3种化合物预处理的温石棉组人胚肺细胞所产生的自由基信号(峰高)均明显低于未处理温石棉组。上述结果表明,温石棉可诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基,但用3种化合物预处理温石棉,均可抑制温石棉诱导人胚肺细胞产生羟基自由基。     

几种化合物对温石棉诱导入胚肺细胞蛋白激酶C活性的影响

为了探讨几种化合物对温石棉诱导人胚肺（HEL）细胞蛋白激酶C（PKC）活性的影响，该研究用不同浓度的柠檬酸铝、混合稀土或亚硒酸钠溶液浸泡温石棉1小时后，再将其与HEL细胞共同孵育24小时，测定了HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中PKC的活性。其结果显示：随着石棉剂量的增加，HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中的PKC活性逐渐升高，均呈明显的剂量依赖性；经3种化合物预处理的石棉，其所诱导的HEL细胞胞浆和胞膜中的PKC活性均明显低于未处理温石棉组。笔者提示：温石棉可能通过改变细胞内PKC的活性进一步促进肿瘤的发生；用3种化合物预处理温石棉，均可抑制温石棉对HEL细胞PKC活性的诱导作用。     

Detection and isolation of fetal cells from maternal blood using the flourescence-activated cell sorter (FACS)

The presence of fetal cells in the maternal circulation during pregnancy has been suggested by repeated observations of small numbers of cells containing Y chromatin or a Y chromosome in the blood of pregnant women. With the fluorescence-activitated cell sorter (FACS), we have used antibodies to a paternal cell surface (HLA) antigen, not present in the mother, to select fetal cells from the lymphocyte fractions of a series of maternal blood samples, collected as early as 15 weeks of gestation. These sorted cells have been examined for a second paternal genetic marker, Y chromatin. Y chromatin-containing cells were found among the sorted cells from prenatal maternal blood specimens in 8 pregnancies subsequently producing male infants whose lymphocytes reacted with the same antibodies to paternal antigen used for sorting with the FACS. In each of 17 pregnancies resulting in male infants who failed to inherit the antigen detected by the antibodies used for cell sorting, Y chromatin-containing cells were not found prenatally. The use of two paternal genetic markers, a cell surface antigen and nuclear Y chromatin, to identify fetal cells in maternal blood permits us to conclude that these cells are present in the mother's circulation, as early as 15 weeks gestation. Further development of the techniques reported here could lead to widespread screening of maternal blood samples during pregnancy for detection of fetal genetic abnormalities.     

彗星试验的改良及其在工业废水监测中的应用

为了探讨彗星试验在工业废水监测中的应用,本文将常规的细胞暴露方式改良为浸泡染毒,既提高了实验的敏感性,又使得该试验直接用于监测工业废水的遗传毒性成为可能．作者用改良彗星试验直接检测了几种工业废水所引起的V79细胞DNA损伤．结果表明,所测的各种工业废水均含有DNA损伤剂,能够诱发培养的V79细胞DNA链断裂,其中以制革厂废水的DNA损伤作用最强．本研究显示出改良彗星试验在综合评价各种废水遗传毒性方面的广阔应用前景．     

三峡库区大宁河藻细胞昼夜垂直迁移研究

旨在准确为三峡库区藻华预警提供基础数据,本研究于2011年7月底在三峡库区大宁河流域进行藻细胞昼夜垂直迁移试验.结果表明,大宁河在此期间,藻细胞主要以绿藻、蓝藻、硅藻和甲藻为主;藻细胞在水体中的分布不均匀,72.5%～76.2%的藻细胞集中在0.5～4.0 m水体之间,0～0.5 m处藻细胞较少,占垂直水体藻密度的7.5%～16.3%,白天藻细胞Morisita指数(MI)为1.41～1.97,夜晚MI指数为1.17～1.55,叶绿素a白天MI指数为1.31～1.59,而夜晚MI指数为1.17～1.39.藻细胞在水体中存在明显的昼夜垂直迁移现象,该现象主要发生在0.5～4.0 m水体之间.水体中的藻密度受营养盐的影响较小,与可溶解性总磷显著相关(r=0.89),藻密度主要受温度、pH值和导电率影响,藻密度与温度、pH值和导电率呈极显著相关,相关系数分别为0.96、0.97和-0.99.