Publications by authors named "Ubirani Otero"

Brazil is one of the world's largest consumers of pesticides. This intense use impacts the environment and exposes a wide range of individuals to pesticides, including rural workers who are occupationally exposed and rural residents who are environmentally exposed. We aimed to evaluate the effects of occupational exposure to pesticides on the health of rural workers and rural residents.

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Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) is a malignancy of the lymphoid lineage of the hematopoietic system has worldwide, especially in developed countries. Better diagnostic and recording techniques, longer life expectancy, and greater exposure to risk factors are hypotheses for this growing incidence curve. Occupational exposures to chemical, biological, and physical agents have also been associated with NHL development, but the results are still controversial.

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To obtain a history of occupational exposure in the workplace, the questionnaire is one of the main sources of information. The aim of this study was to develop an online questionnaire using the REDCap data management platform based on the Work-Related Cancer Surveillance Guidelines, reported by the Brazilian National Cancer Institute. Several issues were taken into consideration for its routine application.

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(1) Background: Benzene, toluene, and xylene isomers (BTX) are present in gasoline. Exposure to benzene may lead to the appearance of a series of signs, symptoms, and complications, which are characterized by benzene poisoning, which is an occupational disease. This study evaluated the presence of signs and symptoms related to occupational exposure and whether occupational exposure to BTX is associated with the development of hematological changes.

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This article aims to describe the distribution of cancer among the benefits granted by the General Social Security Registry, from 2008 to 2014, in Brazil. Ecological study using data given by the National Social Security Institute. The proportion of accidental (work-related) and social security (general) benefits granted by cancer in Brazil was determined, among the benefits granted for all causes, and a spatial analysis was conducted to assess the geographical distribution of these proportions, with the states Brazilians as a unit of analysis.

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Gasoline is the most common transportation fuel in Brazil, with up to 1% of benzene. Benzene is a health-damaging organic solvent that is extensively used worldwide, being classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Group 1). Many workers at filling stations are exposed to benzene, present in gasoline.

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The main volatile organic compounds found at gasoline stations are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (BTEX). They cause several harmful effects on human health. Regulatory Norm 7 (1978) provides that, in Brazil, biological monitoring of toluene and xylene is carried out by measuring the urinary metabolites hippuric acid (HA) and methylhippuric acid (MHA), respectively.

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Chronic exposure to benzene is a risk factor for hematological malignancies. Gasoline-station workers are exposed to benzene in gasoline, via both inhalation and dermal contact (attendants and managers) or inhalation (workers in the on-site convenience stores and offices). We have studied the exposure of these workers to benzene and the resulting genotoxic and immunotoxic effects.

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Purpose: Gas station workers (GSWs) are exposed to carcinogenic agents. The aim was to study the association of high somatic chromosome alterations (CAs) rates in the blood of GSWs and the polymorphisms of three genes playing a role in DNA double-strand break repair.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 114 GSWs and 115 age-matched controls.

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This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of the green tobacco sickness (GTS) and its associated factors in tobacco familiar farmers residing in Dom Feliciano, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted evaluating the sickness in 354 small tobacco farmers, between October 2011 and March 2012. The urinary concentration of cotinine, a biomarker of exposure to nicotine, was determined during the tobacco harvest period.

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In Brazil, gas station workers are occupationally exposed to the benzene present in gasoline. Brazilian law indicates the use of trans,trans-muconic acid(t,t-MA) as a biomarker of benzene exposure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of exposure to benzene in gas station workers, through the quantification of t,t-MA present in urine.

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Background And Objective: Gas station attendants are occupationally exposed to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) compounds and thus more susceptible to the biological effects of this mixture present in gasoline, especially due to the carcinogenicity of benzene. Furthermore, the harmful effects of BTEX exposure may be potentiated by genetic and epigenetic inactivation of critical genes. The objective was to evaluate such gene-BTEX interactions accessing the promoter methylation status of p14ARF, p16INK4A and GSTP1 in peripheral blood leukocyte samples.

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Background: Accidents involving biological materials among healthcare providers represent a significant public health problem since they increase the risk of acquisition of viral infections considered to be risk factors for cancer.

Objective: To describe the profile of workplace accidents involving biological materials for healthcare providers.

Method: The profile of accidents for the period from 2011 to 2015 was described based on several sociodemographic, occupational and health variables.

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Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world with great impact on public health and leukemia is a hematological cancer directly related to different exposures at work. This study aimed to describe the occupational profile of individuals diagnosed with leukemia. This is a cross-sectional study of cases registered between 2007 and 2011 in the Integrador RHC database.

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Gas station workers are exposed to chemicals known to be carcinogenic, especially benzene. The objective was to analyze the health problems of female gas station workers by means of sociodemographic and clinical questionnaires, and laboratorial exams. We performed the genotyping of the polymorphisms BRCA1/P871L and BRCA1/Q356R by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism, and of variant allele BRCA2/N372H through direct sequencing.

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Background: Brazilian gas station workers are chronically exposed to benzene, toluene, xylene (BTX) during their working time. Describe below two cases of latin female gas station workers with benzene poisoning symptoms and miscarriage history.

Case Presentation: In both cases were identified complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCR) with fluorescence in situ hybridization, applied to whole chromosome paints by chromosomes 1, 2 and 4.

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Many human cancers develop as a result of exposure to risk factors related to the environment and ways of life. The aim of this study was to estimate attributable fractions of 25 types of cancers resulting from exposure to modifiable risk factors in Brazil. The prevalence of exposure to selected risk factors among adults was obtained from population-based surveys conducted from 2000 to 2008.

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Benzene is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant and an important industrial chemical present in both gasoline and motor vehicle emissions. Occupational human exposure to benzene occurs in the petrochemical and petroleum refining industries as well as in gas-station workers, where it can lead to benzene poisoning (BP), but the mechanisms of BP are not completely understood. In Brazil, a significant number of gas-station service workers are employed.

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Background: Chronic exposure of BTX (benzene, toluene, xylene) may lead to progressive degeneration of bone marrow, aplastic anemia and/or leukemia. In Brazil there is no self-service fuel in gas stations and attendants fill the fuel themselves. Due to this they are chronically exposed to high concentration of BTX.

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This study was based on a prospective cohort of university staff in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the Estudo Pró-Saúde). In this article the association between socioeconomic position (SEP) earlier and later in life and age at menopause is investigated. The main indicators investigated were for earlier SEP: mother's and father's schooling; stature; leg and trunk length.

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Objective: To investigate the association between age at menarche and age at menopause among Brazilian women.

Methods: This study is based on cross-sectional data obtained in 1999 from technical and administrative employees who were recruited for participation at the Pró-Saúde cohort study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The final study population consisted of 1462 women.

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Objective: To evaluate self-rated health and physical disabilities due to health problems.

Methods: Population-based cross-sectional study carried out in 18 Brazilian cities between 2002 and 2005. There were interviewed 26,424 residents (aged 15 years or more) of households selected by a two-stage probabilistic sampling.

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It is essential to understand that not all smokers are equal, and that certain smokers need to be "won" as "potential clients" of an intervention program aimed at addressing their specific needs. Thus, the objective of the article was to compare the profile of smokers recruited for a smoking cessation clinical trial with that of the general smoking population in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the years 2002-2003. Heterogeneities observed may indicate the need for adopting different recruitment strategies, associated with the existing interventions, to encourage as many and as diverse eligible individuals as possible.

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