Asthma in pesticide users: an update from the Great Britain Prospective Investigation of Pesticide Applicators' Health (PIPAH) cohort study

[Pesticide exposure and chronic respiratory diseases]

INTRODUCTION

Pesticides are used worldwide, mainly in agriculture as a means of controlling pests and protecting crops. That said, the entire world population is ultimately subject to pesticide exposure (consumption of fruits and vegetables, living near treated fields…), with varying degrees of toxicity involved.

STATE OF THE ART

In recent decades, epidemiological studies have contributed to the identification of chemical pesticide families with detrimental effects on human health: cognitive disorders, Parkinson's disease, prostate cancer… and impairment in respiratory functioning. Current scientific evidence points to the implication of the active substances in insecticides, herbicides and fungicides in chronic respiratory diseases, two examples being chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in exposed workers, and asthmatic wheezing in children during prenatal or postnatal exposure.

PERSPECTIVES

The safety of individuals exposed to pesticides is of key importance in public health. Further epidemiological investigations are needed to identify the chemical families affecting certain populations.

CONCLUSIONS

The scientific literature suggests strong links between pesticide exposure and respiratory health. Whether it be environmental or occupational, pesticide exposure can lead to respiratory disorders and symptoms of varying severity.

Avoidance of Inhaled Pollutants and Irritants in Asthma from a Salutogenic Perspective

Much is known about the role of aeroallergens in asthma, but little is described about the damage caused by inhaled pollutants and irritants to the respiratory epithelium. In this context, the most frequent pollutants and irritants inhaled in the home environment were identified, describing the possible repercussions that may occur in the respiratory tract of the pediatric population with asthma and highlighting the role of the caregiver in environmental control through a salutogenic perspective. Searches were carried out in the MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Lilacs and Scopus databases for articles considered relevant for the theoretical foundation of this integrative review, in which interactions between exposure to pollutants and inhaled irritants and lung involvement. Articles published in the last 10 years that used the following descriptors were considered: air pollution; tobacco; particulate matter; disinfectants; hydrocarbons, fluorinated; odorants; chloramines; pesticide; asthma; and beyond Antonovsky's sense of coherence. Exposure to smoke and some substances found in cleaning products, such as benzalkonium chloride, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and monoethanolamine, offer potential risks for sensitization and exacerbation of asthma. The vast majority of the seven main inhaled products investigated provoke irritative inflammatory reactions and oxidative imbalance in the respiratory epithelium. In turn, the caregiver's role is essential in health promotion and the clinical control of paediatric asthma. From a salutogenic point of view, pollutants and irritants inhaled at home should be carefully investigated in the clinical history so that strategies to remove or reduce exposures can be used by caregivers of children and adolescents with asthma.

Association of urinary chlorpyrifos, paraquat, and cyproconazole levels with the severity of fatty liver based on MRI

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study was to detect the urinary levels of chlorpyrifos, paraquat, and cyproconazole in residents living in Fuyang City and to analyze the correlation between these urinary pesticides levels and the severity of fatty liver disease (FLD).

METHODS

All participants' fat fraction (FF) values were recorded by MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging). First-morning urine samples were collected from 53 participants from Fuyang Peoples'Hospital. The levels of three urinary pesticides were measured using β-glucuronidase hydrolysis followed by a. The results were analyzed by using Pearson correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis to reveal the correlation between three urinary pesticides and the severity of fatty liver.

RESULTS

53 individuals were divided into 3 groups based on the results from MRI, with 20 cases in the normal control group, 16 cases in the mild fatty liver group, and 17 cases in the moderate and severe fatty liver group. Urinary chlorpyrifos level was increased along with the increase of the severity of fatty liver. Urinary paraquat level was significantly higher both in the low-grade fatty liver group and moderate & serve grade fatty liver group compared with the control group. No significant differences in urinary cyproconazole levels were observed among the three groups. Furthermore, urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat levels were positively correlated with FF value. And chlorpyrifos was the risk factor that may be involved in the development of FLD and Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC curve) analysis showed that chlorpyrifos and paraquat may serve as potential predictors of FLD.

CONCLUSION

The present findings indicate urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat were positively correlated with the severity of fatty liver. Moreover, urinary chlorpyrifos and paraquat have the potential to be considered as the predictors for development of FLD. Thus, this study may provide a new perspective from the environmental factors for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of FLD.

In-situ quantitative prediction of pesticide residues on plant surface by ATR-FTIR technique coupled with chemometrics

Pesticide residues on plant surfaces pose a severe threat to food security, yet most research has focused on monitoring the liquid matrix, with few reports conducting in-situ analysis of the residues. This study was the first to attempt to utilize portable attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) for in-situ characterization of broad-spectrum fungicide boscalid residues on plant surfaces. ATR-FTIR scanning of tomato fruits with pre-determined concentrations of boscalid residues was conducted without any pre-treatment, and the obtained spectra were then processed using chemometrics methods. The results demonstrated a negative correlation between the residual concentrations and their corresponding absorption intensities of several well-resolved peaks from the spectra, resulting in a high accuracy of 93.33% for the classification model created by probabilistic neural network (PNN) coupled with principal component analysis (PCA). By employing correlation analysis and the interval partial least squares method (iPLS), quantitative analysis was conducted on the wavenumber ranges of 1000-1800 cm-1 and 2700-2900 cm-1 from the spectra. The regression model, established through partial least squares regression (PLSR), demonstrated exceptional performance with an R2 value of 0.80, RMSE of 1.02 μg/cm2, RPD of 2.0, and RPIQ of 2.1 for validation. Meanwhile, the detection limit (LOD) of the model was calculated as 3.06 μg/cm2. This report highlights the potential of using portable ATR-FTIR for conducting qualitative and quantitative monitoring of pesticide residues both in-situ and on-site. It also provides references for other measuring techniques.

Occupational exposure and health surveys at metal additive manufacturing facilities

Introduction

Additive manufacturing is a novel state-of-the art technology with significant economic and practical advantages, including the ability to produce complex structures on demand while reducing the need of stocking materials and products. Additive manufacturing is a technology that is here to stay; however, new technologies bring new challenges, not only technical but also from an occupational health and safety perspective. Herein, leading Swedish companies using metal additive manufacturing were studied with the aim of investigating occupational exposure and the utility of chosen exposure- and clinical markers as predictors of potential exposure-related health risks.

Methods

Exposure levels were investigated by analysis of airborne dust and metals, alongside particle counting instruments measuring airborne particles in the range of 10 nm-10 μm to identify dusty work tasks. Health examinations were performed on a total of 48 additive manufacturing workers and 39 controls. All participants completed a questionnaire, underwent spirometry, and blood and urine sampling. A subset underwent further lung function tests.

Results

Exposure to inhalable dust and metals were low, but particle counting instruments identified specific work tasks with high particle emissions. Examined health parameters were well within reference values on a group level. However, statistical analysis implied an impact on workers kidney function and possible airway inflammation.

Conclusion

The methodology was successful for investigating exposure-related health risks in additive manufacturing. However, most participants have been working <5 years. Therefore, long-term studies are needed before we can conclusively accept or reject the observed effects on health.

Biomarkers of organophosphate insecticides exposure and asthma in general US adults: findings from NHANES 1999-2018 data

The limited evidence linking exposure to organophosphate insecticides (OPIs) and asthma in the general population prompted us to investigate this association. Our study focused on US adults and utilized representative samples from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). From the 7 NHANES waves (1999-2018), we detected OPIs exposure using the urinary concentrations of six metabolites of dialkyl phosphates (DAPs). To evaluate the relationship between these OPIs and asthma, we employed three statistical methods: survey-multivariable logistic regression (SMLR), generalized weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). Stratified analyses were done based on the relevant variable subgroups, and sensitivity analyses were carried out to evaluate the robustness of findings. A total of 6009 adults aged from 20 to 85 years old, representing the 313.5 million adults in the non-institutionalized US population, were included in our analyses. Among them, 842 participants were determined as asthma patients with an age-adjusted prevalence of 14.2%. Our results showed that dimethyl phosphate (DMP) (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) = 1.471, 95% CI: 1.086, 1.993), diethyl phosphate (DEP) (AOR = 1.453, 95% CI: 1.118, 1.888), dimethyl thiophosphate (DMTP) (AOR = 1.454, 95% CI: 1.071, 1.973), and dimethyl dithiophosphate (DMDTP) (AOR = 1.478, 95% CI: 1.119, 1.953) had a positive correlation with asthma in adults. This association was stronger in females, non-Hispanic White populations and those with a small amount of physical activity. Our study findings indicated that exposure to OPIs may elevate the risk of asthma in US general adults. Specifically, females, individuals from non-Hispanic White backgrounds, and those with lower levels of physical activity are more susceptible to developing asthma when exposed to OPIs.