Particulate matter emissions of less harmful-looking super-slim size cigarettes appealing to women: a laser spectrometric analysis of second-hand smoke.

Slim tobacco products shall appear by their look less harmful. In 2013, the European Union ministers discussed to ban them. However, only a ban on small package sizes was realized. To add more data for exposure risk assessment of slim tobacco products, the particulate matter (PM) amount in second-hand smoke (SHS) of super-slim size cigarettes compared with a king size brand was investigated. PM amount of four super-slim size cigarette types of the brand Couture was analysed in comparison with the king-size reference cigarette. Therefore, SHS was produced in an enclosed space with a volume of 2.88 m3 by an automatic environmental tobacco smoke emitter. PM size fractions PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 were measured in real time using a laser aerosol spectrometer. SHS of Couture Gold contained about 36% and Couture Purple about 28% more PM than the reference cigarette. In contrast, Couture Green emitted about 37% and Couture Silver about 53% less PM than the reference cigarette. Depending on the brand, the PM2.5 mean concentrations increased up to 1538 µg/m3. This exceeds the 24-h mean concentration of at most 25 µg/m3 according to the WHO Air quality guidelines about 62-fold. Smoking in enclosed rooms leads to a massive increase of PM. The PM pollution by slim-size tobacco products are substantial and sometimes higher than by king size tobacco products. Therefore, SHS exposure from slim-size tobacco products is not less harmful to health. Decision makers should take this aspect in consideration.

Expressiveness of Bone Markers in Breast Cancer with Bone Metastases.

INTRODUCTION: On a global scale, the malignant growth of mammary gland is the most common type of cancer in women. In the progress of mammary carcinoma, osseous metastatic invasion has a pivotal significance because it is a frequent complication occurring at an early stage of the disease. BACKGROUND: Bone metastases in breast cancer patients lead to increased mortality and decreased health-related quality of life. Therefore, early diagnostic assessment and treatment is requested. Meanwhile the progress of the disease should be monitored closely. Regarding health-related quality of life and lifetime prolongation, osseous metastases should be early diagnosed, therapied, and monitored. Up to date the gold standard is the whole-body scintigraphy. This kind of bone imaging features has high sensitivity but shows loss of specificity. AIM: This study aims to investigate the diagnostic versatility of bone markers in its resorption and formation function to detect bone metastases in patients with breast cancer. PATIENTS, MATERIALS, AND METHODS: For this purpose, the concentration of competing bone processing tumor markers in serums of 78 patients was detected and analyzed. Two groups of women with mammary carcinoma with and without osseous metastases were built to examine the presence (or absence) of statistically significant disparity of tumor marker concentration. The tumor markers employed in this study were the carboxyterminal collagen type I telopeptid (CTX), known as beta-crosslaps (ß-CTx), the alkaline phosphatase (AP), and its isoenzymes (especially the bone-specific AP [B-AP]). Additionally, the tumor markers for breast cancer (CA 15-3 and CEA) were analyzed in both groups. RESULTS: Our results provide evidence that in both groups, tumor markers such as ß-CTx and B-AP were a promising tool for the detection and exclusion of bone metastases in breast cancer. This comprehensive investigation shows both ß-CTx and B-AP are able to fulfill the conditions of a competent appliance to detect osseous metastases of patients with mammary carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Concerning the urgency of early and frequent detection, staging, and disease monitoring of mammary carcinoma with osseous metastases, this study renewed and underlined the importance of biochemical tumor markers - especially ß-CTx and B-AP - and laid a clinical-based cornerstone to build up on a prospective research.

Indoor Air Pollution in Cars: An Update on Novel Insights.

From a global viewpoint, a lot of time is spent within the indoor air compartment of vehicles. A German study on mobility has revealed that, on average, people spend 45 minutes per day inside vehicles. In recent years the number of cars has increased to around 43 million vehicles in private households. This means that more than one car can be used in every household. The ratio has been growing, especially in eastern Germany and rural areas. "Overall and especially outside the cities, the car remains by far number one mode of transport, especially in terms of mileage". Therefore, numerous international studies have addressed different aspects of indoor air hygiene, in the past years. In this paper, meaningful original studies on car indoor air pollution, related to VOCs, COx, PMs, microbials, BFRs, OPFRs, cigarettes, electronic smoking devices, high molecular weight plasticizer, and NOx are summarized in the form of a review. This present review aimed to summarize recently published studies in this important field of environmental medicine and points to the need for further studies with special recommendations for optimizing the interior air hygiene.