Occupational Exposures and Environmental Health Hazards of Military Personnel.

Background: Military personnel are frequently exposed to environmental pollutants that can cause a variety of diseases.

Methods: This review analyzed publications regarding epidemiological and biomonitoring studies on occupationally-exposed military personnel.

Results: The exposures include sulfur mustard, organ chlorines, combustion products, fuel vapors, and ionizing and exciting radiations.

Atopic dermatitis in young adult Italian males: persistent and adult-onset varieties did not clinically differ, as for allergological variables.

Background: The prevalence of adult atopic dermatitis (AD) in general population range from 2.6% to 8% according to objective diagnosis in selected groups of people. The adult-onset AD is the clinical form arising de novo in adulthood.

Biological monitoring of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and to metallic elements in Italian Navy workers operating near the industrial area in Taranto (South Italy).

Objectives: To assess, by means of biological monitoring, exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and to metallic elements in Italian Navy workers operating near the industrial area in Taranto, and thereby estimate the health risk.

Methods: A total of 450 workers in the Italian Navy were examined; they had office type jobs, and 150 of them worked near the industrial area in Taranto (exposed group), 150 in Taranto but far from this area (internal control group) and 150 in Brindisi (external control group). The recruited workers were administered a questionnaire inquiring about current and previous working activities, personal medical history, lifestyle and dietary habits, and their residence location.