The effects of age on DNA fragmentation, the condensation of chromatin and conventional semen parameters in healthy nonsmoking men exposed to traffic air pollution.

Background: Numerous studies have investigated age-based declines in semen traits, but the impact of paternal age on semen parameter values remains inconclusive.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to detect an impact of age on semen quality was studied in healthy nonsmoking men exposed to traffic air pollution.

Methods: Semen samples from 150 Prague City policemen aged 23 to 63 years were examined for standard semen parameters, sperm DNA fragmentation and high DNA stainability.

Relation between personal exposure and outdoor concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during smog episode.

Objectives: To our knowledge this is the first study measuring personal exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) bound to airborne particulate matter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM) in periods of high air pollution (smog episode) in which citizen were tracked.

Methods: Measurements were performed in industrial regions of the Czech Republic: Ostrava, Karviná, Havířov.

Gene expression profiling in healthy newborns from diverse localities of the Czech Republic.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with intrauterine growth restriction and low birth weight. Gene expression changes in newborns in relation to air pollution have not been sufficiently studied. We analyzed whole genome expression in cord blood leukocytes of 202 newborns from diverse localities of the Czech Republic, differing among other factors in levels of air pollution: the district of Karvina (characterized by higher concentration of air pollutants) and Ceske Budejovice (lower air pollution levels).

Adaptation of the human population to the environment: Current knowledge, clues from Czech cytogenetic and "omics" biomonitoring studies and possible mechanisms.

The human population is continually exposed to numerous harmful environmental stressors, causing negative health effects and/or deregulation of biomarker levels. However, studies reporting no or even positive impacts of some stressors on humans are also sometimes published. The main aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the last decade of Czech biomonitoring research, concerning the effect of various levels of air pollution (benzo[a]pyrene) and radiation (uranium, X-ray examination and natural radon background), on the differently exposed population groups.

Oxidative stress in newborns by different modes of delivery.

Objectives: The aim of our study is to investigate the impact of the type of delivery - vaginal vs. cesarean section on oxidative damage determined as the lipid peroxidation (15-F2t-isoprostane (15-F2t-IsoP) in the cord blood of newborns and venous blood from mothers in two localities with different levels of air pollution: Ceske Budejovice (CB), a locality with a clean air, and Karvina, a locality with high air pollution.

Resutls: In Karvina, the concentration of PM2.

Impact of Air Pollution to Genome of Newborns.

The Northern Moravia Region is the most polluted region in the Czech Republic by particulate matter (PM) and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs) as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) by heavy industry and local heating. This specific situation was used to study the impact of air pollution on newborns in the exposed Karviná district and control district of České Budějovice. Biological material from newborns and mothers was collected in summer and winter seasons.

Evaluation of 11 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites in urine of Czech mothers and newborns.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a large group of ubiquitous contaminants of the environment, including food chain where they are released as by-products of incomplete combustion of an organic matter. Epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to PAHs correlated with increased incidence of cancer. Carcinogenicity is associated mainly with metabolites that are formed during metabolic degradation of these substances in exposed organism.

Systematic review of the use of the lymphocyte cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay to measure DNA damage induced by exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The effect of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to induce micronuclei (MN) measured using the lymphocytes cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay were evaluated in 34 studies according to the exposure: 20 studies in coke oven workers, 7 studies in different occupational exposures as alluminium industry workers, rubber factory workers, road construction workers, airport workers and diesel exposed workers, 6 studies on environmentaly exposed groups as police, volunteers and children. Reviewed papers indicate that the CBMN assay is a sensitive biomarker of PAHs exposure in polluted air. Reviewed studies confirmed previous conclusions, that the frequency of MN measured using the lymphocyte CBMN is not significantly affected by smoking, females are more sensitive to PAHs than males, the frequency of MN is increased with age.

An evaluation tool kit of air quality micro-sensing units.

Recent developments in sensory and communication technologies have made the development of portable air-quality (AQ) micro-sensing units (MSUs) feasible. These MSUs allow AQ measurements in many new applications, such as ambulatory exposure analyses and citizen science. Typically, the performance of these devices is assessed using the mean error or correlation coefficients with respect to a laboratory equipment.

Impact of air pollution on oxidative DNA damage and lipid peroxidation in mothers and their newborns.

Ambient air particulate matter (PM) represents a class of heterogeneous substances that form one component of air pollution. Oxidative stress has been implicated as an important action mechanism for PM on the human organism. Oxidative damage induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) may affect any cellular macromolecule.

Reduced gene expression levels after chronic exposure to high concentrations of air pollutants.

We analyzed the ability of particulate matter (PM) and chemicals adsorbed onto it to induce diverse gene expression profiles in subjects living in two regions of the Czech Republic differing in levels and sources of the air pollution. A total of 312 samples from polluted Ostrava region and 154 control samples from Prague were collected in winter 2009, summer 2009 and winter 2010. The highest concentrations of air pollutants were detected in winter 2010 when the subjects were exposed to: PM of aerodynamic diameter <2.

Comparison of child morbidity in regions of Ostrava, Czech Republic, with different degrees of pollution: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: To confirm or refute the hypothesis that the morbidity of children (since birth to age 5) born and living in the heavily polluted (PM10, benzo[a]pyrene) eastern part of Ostrava, Czech Republic, was higher than the morbidity of children living in other parts of the city.

Methods: Ten pediatricians in 5 districts of Ostrava abstracted the medical records of 1878 children born in 2001-2004 to list all illnesses of each child in ICD-10 codes. The children were divided into four groups according to their residence at birth and thereafter.

Health impact of air pollution to children.

Health impact of air pollution to children was studied over the last twenty years in heavily polluted parts of the Czech Republic during. The research program (Teplice Program) analyzed these effects in the polluted district Teplice (North Bohemia) and control district Prachatice (Southern Bohemia). Study of pregnancy outcomes for newborns delivered between 1994 and 1998 demonstrated that increase in intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) was associated with PM10 and c-PAHs exposure (carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the first month of gestation.

Personal exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Czech Republic.

Personal exposures to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (c-PAHs) bound to airborne particulate matter 2.5 μm (PM2.5) were measured in the context of a large-scale molecular epidemiological study in order to identify the impacts of air pollution on human health.

Analysis of biomarkers in a Czech population exposed to heavy air pollution. Part I: bulky DNA adducts.

The health of human populations living in industrial regions is negatively affected by exposure to environmental air pollutants. In this study, we investigated the impact of air pollution on a cohort of subjects living in Ostrava, a heavily polluted industrial region and compared it with a cohort of individuals from the relatively clean capital city of Prague. This study consisted of three sampling periods differing in the concentrations of major air pollutants (winter 2009, summer 2009 and winter 2010).

Personal exposure to volatile organic compounds in the Czech Republic.

Personal exposures to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in the three industrial cities in the Czech Republic, Ostrava, Karvina and Havirov, while the city of Prague served as a control in a large-scale molecular epidemiological study identifying the impacts of air pollution on human health. Office workers from Ostrava and city policemen from Karvina, Havirov and Prague were monitored in the winter and summer of 2009. Only adult non-smokers participated in the study (N=160).

Expression of XRCC5 in peripheral blood lymphocytes is upregulated in subjects from a heavily polluted region in the Czech Republic.

Air pollution causes oxidative damage to macromolecules, chromosomal aberrations and changes in gene expression. We investigated the levels of oxidative stress markers [8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), 15-F(2t)-isoprostane (15-F2t-IsoP), protein carbonyls] and cytogenetic parameters [genomic frequency of translocations (F(G)/100), percentage of aberrant cells (%AB.C.

DNA adducts and oxidative DNA damage induced by organic extracts from PM2.5 in an acellular assay.

The genotoxic activities of complex mixtures of organic extracts from the urban air particles collected in various localities of the Czech Republic, which differed in the extent and sources of air pollution, were compared. For this purpose, PM2.5 particles were collected by high volume samplers in the most polluted area of the Czech Republic--Ostrava region (localities Bartovice, Poruba and Karvina) and in the locality exhibiting a low level of air pollution--Trebon--a small town in the non-industrial region of Southern Bohemia.

Oxidative damage to biological macromolecules in Prague bus drivers and garagemen: impact of air pollution and genetic polymorphisms.

DNA integrity was investigated in the lymphocytes of 50 bus drivers, 20 garagemen and 50 controls using the comet assay with excision repair enzymes. In parallel, 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine and 15-F(2t)-isoprostane levels in the urine and protein carbonyl levels in the plasma were assessed as markers of oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins. Exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) and volatile compounds was measured by personal samplers for 48 and 24h, respectively, before the collection of biological specimens.

Urinary 8-oxodeoxyguanosine levels in children exposed to air pollutants.

Oxidative stress is believed to be one of the mechanisms of effects of air pollution to human health. We investigated levels of 8-oxodeoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), a marker of oxidative damage to DNA, in urine samples of 894 children from two districts in the Czech Republic: Teplice and Prachatice. We assessed the association between 8-oxodG levels and exposure to particulate matter of different size: View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Seasonal variability of oxidative stress markers in city bus drivers. Part I. Oxidative damage to DNA.

We investigated the seasonal variability of 8-oxodeoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), a marker of oxidative damage to DNA, in urine of 50 bus drivers and 50 controls in Prague, Czech Republic, in three seasons with different levels of air pollution: winter 2005, summer 2006 and winter 2006. The exposure to environmental pollutants (carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, c-PAHs, particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOC)) was monitored by personal and/or stationary monitors. For the analysis of 8-oxodG levels, the ELISA technique was used.

Seasonal variability of oxidative stress markers in city bus drivers. Part II. Oxidative damage to lipids and proteins.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the seasonal variability of markers of oxidative damage to lipids (15-F2t-isoprostane, 15-F2t-IsoP) and proteins (protein carbonyl levels) in 50 bus drivers and 50 controls from Prague, Czech Republic, and to identify factors affecting oxidative stress markers. The samples were collected in three seasons with different levels of air pollution. The exposure to environmental pollutants (carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, c-PAHs, particulate matter, PM2.

Oxidative and nitrosative stress markers in bus drivers.

Exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with many diseases. Oxidative and nitrosative stress are believed to be two of the major sources of particulate matter (PM)-mediated adverse health effects. PM in ambient air arises from industry, local heating, and vehicle emissions and poses a serious problem mainly in large cities.