Effect of ammonia in cigarette tobacco on nicotine absorption in human smokers.

The function of ammonia as tobacco additive is subject of scientific debate. It is argued that ammonia, by increasing the proportion of free nicotine, increases the absorption of nicotine in smokers. As a result of the addition of ammonia to cigarettes, smokers get exposed to higher internal nicotine doses and become more addicted to the product.

Asthmatic symptoms after exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamates and other pesticides in the Europit field studies.

We conducted a multicenter prospective study to assess the effects of occupational exposure to ethylenebisdithiocarbamate fungicides and/or other pesticides on self-reported asthma and asthmatic symptoms. This multicenter study was conducted among 248 workers exposed to pesticides and 231 non-exposed workers from five field studies. The five field studies were carried out in The Netherlands, Italy, Finland, and two studies in Bulgaria.

Toxicological evaluation of the immune function of pesticide workers, a European wide assessment.

In this study, the prolonged low-dose exposure of mixtures of pesticides has been examined on hematological parameters and components of the immune defense in occupationally exposed humans. This investigation was carried out in five field studies in: the Netherlands (flower bulb growers, mainly re-entry workers), Italy (vineyard workers), Finland (potato farmers), and Bulgaria (workers from a zineb factory and greenhouse workers). Immunotoxicity was studied by measuring hematological parameters, complement, immunoglobulins, lymphocyte subpopulations, natural killer cells, autoimmunity, and antibody responses to hepatitis B vaccination.

Changes in serum markers indicative of health effects in vineyard workers following exposure to the fungicide mancozeb: an Italian study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the health effects induced by exposure to the fungicide mancozeb in Italian vineyard workers. Ninety-three Italian subjects entered the study - 48 vine-growers intermittently exposed to mancozeb and 45 healthy controls. The subjects were investigated three times: before the seasonal application of pesticides (T0), 30 days after the beginning of the application period (T30), and 45 days after T0 (T45).

Relation between sources of particulate air pollution and biological effect parameters in samples from four European cities: an exploratory study.

Given that there are widely different prevalence rates of respiratory allergies and asthma between the countries of Europe and that exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) is substantial in urban environments throughout Europe, an EU project entitled "Respiratory Allergy and Inflammation Due to Ambient Particles" (RAIAP) was set up. The project focused on the role of physical and chemical composition of PM on release of cytokines of cells in vitro, on respiratory inflammation in vivo, and on adjuvant potency in allergy animal models. Coarse (2.