[Epidemiology studies on associations between gene polymorphisms and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

The incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has been increasing in last twenty years. However, the etiology of NHL is not unclear. Gene polymorphisms were demonstrated to play important roles in human susceptibility to diseases such as cancers. This paper reviews epidemiology studies of associations between polymorphisms in genes involved in immunity regulation, chemical and folate metabolism, DNA repair, cell cycle and oncogenes and NHL. Although some positive associations between gene polymorphisms and NHL incidence risk were observed, more epidemiology studies are necessary. In future studies, haplotype tagging SNPs and gene-environmenal interactions should be identified.

An overview of published benzene exposure data by industry in China, 1960-2003.

This article presents an overview of occupational benzene exposures in China based on data published in Chinese medical journals. The data were derived from 384 reports of benzene poisoning or industrial hygiene surveys published in Chinese medical journals between 1960 and 2003. The following information was extracted whenever available: industry, occupation, task, date, benzene levels, sampling location, workplace descriptions and, for case reports, medical diagnosis. Each paper provided one or more sets of benzene data, each set representing a sampling location or job title with one to several measurements including, mainly, breathing zone area concentration measurements, and much less frequently personal monitoring. Two criteria based on data quality were applied to select suitable data for analyses. The selected exposure data were analyzed by industry and time period. Nine hundred five sets of benzene measurements from 72 industries were reported in the 384 papers selected for this review, and 621 sets (68.6%) presented average benzene concentrations, which covered 55 industries. The distribution of the reported average benzene exposures was skewed with a median of 51.5 mg/m3. The average benzene concentrations were below 100 mg/m3 for 406 (65%) of the 621 reported average concentrations. The medians of the reported averages in mg/m3 for the five industries with the highest exposures were: 124.8 for leather products, 98.7 for electronic devices, 75.4 for machinery, 50.4 for shoes, and 50.3 for office supplies and sports equipment manufacturing. These data describe the concentrations and changing patterns of occupational benzene exposure by industry and time period in China.