Plasma-aminothiols status and inverse correlation of total homocysteine with B-vitamins in arsenic exposed population of West Bengal, India.

Chronic arsenic toxicity is a serious environmental health problem across the world. Bangladesh and India (particularly the state of West Bengal) are the worst affected countries with such problem. The present study reports plasma-aminothiols (p-aminothiols) like L-cysteine (L-Cys), cysteinyl glycine (Cys-gly), total homocysteine (t-Hcy) and glutathione (GSH) status, and the inverse relationship of t-Hcy with B-vitamins (B1, B6, B9 and B12) in arsenic exposed population of West Bengal, India.

Work-exposure to PM and aromatic volatile organic compounds, excretion of urinary biomarkers and effect on the pulmonary function and heme-metabolism: A study of petrol pump workers and traffic police personnel in Kolkata City, India.

This study focused work-exposure to particulate matter ≤ 10 µm (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and biological monitoring of major VOCs (BTEX) to observe the significant effects of traffic related pollutants on respiratory and hematological systems of workers engaged in two occupational settings, petrol pumps and traffic areas of Kolkata metropolitan city, India. PM was assessed by personal sampling and particle size distribution by 8-stage Cascade Impactor. VOCs were analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and five urinary metabolites, trans trans- mercapturic acid (tt-MA), S-phenyl mercapturic acid (SPMA), hippuric acid (HA), mandelic acid (MA) and methyl hippuric acid (MHA) of VOCs, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX) by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).