[Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in doping and non-doping athletes]. / A szénhidrátszegény transzferrin értékének változásai doppingoló és nem doppingoló sportolóknál.

UNLABELLED: The determination of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) concentration is primarily used in social security studies as a proof of regular alcohol consumption exceeding the amount of 60 grams per day. AIMS: The present study was performed to investigate into how carbohydrate deficient transferrin CDT values in serum are affected by the so-called food supplements and chemicals included in doping lists. METHODS: The investigation was carried out in 15 bodybuilders of two sport clubs and in 10 boxers. All sportsmen were males. In both groups serum carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT%), median red blood cell volume and (MCV) gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase (GGT) values were measured. RESULTS: The authors found a significant difference between the two groups only in carbohydrate deficient transferrin CDT% that was the CDT% value in bodybuilders was twice as high as in boxers. CONCLUSION: Not all the details of the specificity of carbohydrate deficient transferrin (CDT) concentration are known, however, the remarkably high sensitivity of the method makes it suitable and probably economically effective as a pre-screening tool in doping tests.

Perception of Occupational Risks and Practices of Self-protection from Infectious Diseases Among Workers in Contact with International Migrants at Hungary's Border.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate employees' self-assessments of their occupational risks and health awareness as well as their perception of preventive methods. We also aimed to collect data on employees' perception of some selected alarming signs and symptoms that may encourage them to take further actions (such as separation and calling an ambulance). PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Between April and June 2013, an anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted with the participation of 70 employees working with migrants (both health-care and non-health-care staff) in 10 Hungarian settlements: 4 border crossing points along the eastern Schengen borderline, 3 asylum detention centers and 3 reception centers. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated an increased perception of certain biological and mental health hazards at work among those working with migrants: 63.7% of the health-care workers and even 37.3% of the non-health-care staff come into contact with human secretions (feces, urine, saliva) "frequently" or "sometimes". Self-assessed awareness of the signs and symptoms of infectious diseases was poor: only 12.8% of participants evaluated their awareness as "good" or "very good". Threat of verbal violence may be considered a common mental risk at work for participants: 35% "sometimes" or "frequently" and 5% "always" face verbal violence during their work. The most commonly used preventive measures against infectious diseases included the use of gloves, masks and disinfectants; these were generally available to 70 to 80% of the workers and properly applied. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate considerable deficiencies in the participants' preparedness in respect to their occupational health-related issues. Since it is essential for those having daily physical contact with migrants during their work to be properly informed about the occupational health hazards and consequences that may be associated with international migration, their training programs urgently require further development. More comprehensive knowledge may improve the preventive attitudes of employees, and conscious application of preventive measures may contribute to better public and occupation health safety.

Simultaneous determination of 4-substituted cathinones (4-MMC, 4-MEC and 4-FMC) in human urine by HPLC-DAD.

This study developed a selective and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection method for the confirmation of different cathinone derivates in human urine. Samples were prepared by solid-phase extraction (SPE) using procaine hydrochloride as the internal standard. The chromatographic separation was performed on a Kinetex PFP column using isocratic elution. The mobile phase was composed of a mixture of acetonitrile (33%, v/v) and 0.005M ammonium trifluoroacetate buffer (67%, v/v; pH 4.93 ± 0.03) with a flow rate of 0.350 mL/min. The diode array detection was performed at 262 nm. The method was linear over the concentration range of 25-2,400 ng/mL. Intra-day and inter-day precision values for cathinones were less than 1.26% (relative standard deviation). The limit of detection for any compounds extracted from human urine by the optimized SPE method was 40 ng/mL and the limit of quantification was 100 ng/mL in the urine. The recovery rate of SPE was between 71 and 82% with a lower relative standard deviation than 2.35%.

Effect of glutathione-S-transferase M1 and T1 allelic polymorphisms on HPV-induced cervical precancer formation.

AIM: The effect of GSTM1 and GSTT1 allelic polymorphisms was studied on the HPV-induced cervical carcinogenesis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred and fifty-three women with persistent high-risk HPV infection were involved in the study; 117 of them developed cervical high-grade dysplasia and/or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III during the 7-year follow-up period. Occurrence of GSTM1 and GSTT1 null genotypes was compared between women with and without dysplasia. RESULTS: Presence of GSTM1 (OR=1.78, 95% CI=1.06-2.97; p=0.028) and GSTT1 (OR=1.89, 95% CI=1.10-3.26; p=0.022) null genotypes was statistically significantly more frequent among women with cervical dysplasia than in the group without dysplasia. Participants with dual null genotype had an even more elevated risk of precancerous lesion (OR=2.35, 95% CI=1.17-4.73; p=0.017). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated the role of both GSTM1 and T1 null genotypes in the development of high-grade cervical dysplasia in a Caucasian population.

Alpha-1 antitrypsin binds preprohepcidin intracellularly and prohepcidin in the serum.

Recent discoveries have indicated that the hormone hepcidin plays a major role in the control of iron homeostasis. Hepcidin regulates the iron level in the blood through the interaction with ferroportin, an iron exporter molecule, causing its internalization and degradation. As a result, hepcidin increases cellular iron sequestration, and decreases the iron concentration in the plasma. Only mature hepcidin (result of the cleavage of prohepcidin by furin proteases) has biological activity; however, prohepcidin, the prohormone form, is also present in the plasma. In this study, we aimed to identify new protein-protein interactions of preprohepcidin, prohepcidin and hepcidin using the BacterioMatch two-hybrid system. Screening assays were carried out on a human liver cDNA library. Preprohepcidin screening gave the following results: alpha-1 antitrypsin, transthyretin and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein showed strong interactions with preprohepcidin. We further confirmed and examined the alpha-1 antitrypsin binding in vitro (glutathione S-transferase, pull down, coimmunoprecipitation, MALDI-TOF) and in vivo (ELISA, cross-linking assay). Our results demonstrated that the serine protease inhibitor alpha-1 antitrypsin binds preprohepcidin within the cell during maturation. Furthermore, alpha-1 antitrypsin binds prohepcidin significantly in the plasma. This observation may explain the presence of prohormone in the circulation, as well as the post-translational regulation of the mature hormone level in the blood. In addition, the lack of cleavage protection in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency may be the reason for the disturbance in their iron homeostasis.