Papers by Silvia Fustinoni
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2015
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Chemico-Biological Interactions, 2001
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Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 2007
An ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometric procedure was devised for the determination of polycyclic ... more An ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometric procedure was devised for the determination of polycyclic aromatic compound-oriented organic soluble matter in vapors and particulate collected from emissions of hot asphalt mix. Ultrasonic extraction was carried out with acetonitrile, followed by UV measurements at 254 nm. Polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in volatile and particulate fraction were quantified as phenanthrene or benzo[k]fluoranthene equivalents. A comparison between UV and high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection showed that PACs were one to three orders of magnitude higher than the sum of 15 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); still, significant correlations were found between volatile or particulate PACs and, respectively, total volatile or particulate PAHs. Moreover, in the particulate phase, PACs correlated with total particulate matter quantified by gravimetry. The proposed procedure was employed in a field study for monitoring personal exposure to asphalt emissions of workers engaged in road construction. Observed levels of acetonitrile-soluble PACs in air samples were very low (2-20 microg/m3); however, asphalt pavers were exposed to significantly higher concentrations of volatile PACs than construction workers (geometric mean, 5.9 microg/m3 vs. 4.1 microg/m3). This method for estimating the global content of volatile or particulate PACs in air samples satisfies our requirements of simplicity and is suitable for conducting an initial screening to assess exposure to airborne polyaromatic organics in asphalt pavers.
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La Medicina Del Lavoro, Jul 15, 2014
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La Medicina del lavoro
Lo spunto per la preparazione di questo editoriale è venuto dal rilascio, lo scorso 30 luglio, de... more Lo spunto per la preparazione di questo editoriale è venuto dal rilascio, lo scorso 30 luglio, dei valori di impact factor 2013 da parte del Journal of Citation Records. L'impact factor è un parametro bibliometrico che qualifica il prestigio di una rivista....
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Journal of Chromatography A, 1998
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Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2016
Hydroquinone (HQ) is an important benzene-derived metabolite associated with acute myelogenous le... more Hydroquinone (HQ) is an important benzene-derived metabolite associated with acute myelogenous leukemia risk. Although altered DNA methylation has been reported in both benzene-exposed human subjects and HQ-exposed cultured cells, the inventory of benzene metabolite effects on the epigenome is only starting to be established. In this study, we used a monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from cord blood to investigate the effects of HQ treatment on the expression of the three most important families of retrotransposons in the human genome: LINE-1, Alu and Endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), that are normally subjected to tight epigenetic silencing. We found a clear tendency towards increased retrotransposon expression in response to HQ exposure, more pronounced in the case of LINE-1 and HERV. Such a partial loss of silencing, however, was generally not associated with HQ-induced DNA hypomethylation. On the other hand, retroelement derepression was also observed in the same cells in response to the hypomethylating agent decitabine. These observations suggest the existence of different types of epigenetic switches operating at human retroelements, and point to retroelement activation in response to benzene-derived metabolites as a novel factor deserving attention in benzenecarcinogenesis studies.
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Atmos Environ, 1998
Air quality inside buildings, whether naturally or mechanically ventilated, is strongly dependent... more Air quality inside buildings, whether naturally or mechanically ventilated, is strongly dependent on that of ambient external air in the surrounding atmosphere. This paper describes results obtained in the assessment of urban air quality influence in the neighbouring of a tall, multistorey building with mechanical ventilation on its indoor air quality. Within the study, which lasted for more than 30 d of continuous monitoring, the concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), of total and grossly speciated classes of airborne organic vapours and of PM10 airborne particulate were measured both outdoors, at ground and at various heights between street level and the top of the tower building (approximately 100 m) and inside the building. The daily variation of airborne pollutants in the urban atmosphere in the neighbouring of the tower building was traced as the contribution of both time-dependent pollutant production from urban outdoor sources (mainly vehicular traffic) and of the variation of meteoclimatic conditions influencing pollutant diffusion from street level upwards. In particular, a steady concentration decrease with increasing height of the concentration of automotive-related pollutants, such as of PM10 airborne particulate, of a mixture of volatile aromatic compounds (TAAC) and of CO could be measured in the immediate neghbouring of the tower building (values of 40 μg m-3 of PM10 airborne particulate decreasing to 32 μg m-3 at 80 m; of 5 mg of benzene equivalents m-3 at ground level with a 30% decrease at 100 m height; of 3 mg m-3 of CO decreasing to 2.2 mg m-3 at 100 m). The acquired information was employed to advice the building management on the improvement of indoor air quality attainable by moving the air feed grid of the HVAC system to a higher level from ground. An example is reported, which shows the improvement of the indoor air quality in a three-storey peripheral building of the same complex subject to scheduled refurbishing, obtained by moving the HVAC air feed point, originally at +4 m in an internal courtyard, to the building roof, at about +11 m.
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Environmental Research, 2016
The aims of this study were (1) to explore the behavioral and sociodemographic factors influencin... more The aims of this study were (1) to explore the behavioral and sociodemographic factors influencing urinary cotinine (COT-U) levels in active smokers and in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)-exposed individuals, (2) to assess the specificity and sensitivity of the questionnaire for identifying active smokers and nonsmokers, and (3) to derive the upper reference value of COT-U in non-ETS exposed individuals. The COT-U levels of 495 adults (age range 18-69 years) who classified themselves as active smokers (29%) or as nonsmokers with (17%) or without (83%) ETS exposure were quantified by LC-MS-MS (quantification limit: 0.1µg/L, range of linearity: 0.1-4000µg/L). Median COT-U levels in these groups were 883, 1.38, and 0.39µg/L, respectively. Significant determinants of COT-U levels in active smokers were the number of cigarettes per day, type of smoking product, smoking environment, as well as time between the last cigarette and urine collection. Among ETS-exposed nonsmokers, significant determinants were living with smokers, being exposed to smoke at home, ETS exposure duration, as well as time between the last exposure and urine collection. When a 30-µg/L COT-U cut-off value was used to identify active daily smoking, the sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were 94% and 98%, respectively. For ETS exposure, the COT-U value of 1.78 (0.90 confidence interval 1.75-1.78) µg/L, corresponding to the 95th percentiles of the COT-U distribution in non-ETS-exposed participants, is proposed as upper reference value to identify environmental exposure.
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La Medicina Del Lavoro, 2009
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Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2015
To assess exposure to benzene (BEN) and other aromatic compounds (toluene, ethylbenzene, m+p-xyle... more To assess exposure to benzene (BEN) and other aromatic compounds (toluene, ethylbenzene, m+p-xylene, o-xylene) (BTEX), methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), and ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) in petrol station workers using air sampling and biological monitoring and to propose biological equivalents to occupational limit values. Eighty-nine petrol station workers and 90 control subjects were investigated. Personal exposure to airborne BTEX and ethers was assessed during a mid-week shift; urine samples were collected at the beginning of the work week, prior to and at the end of air sampling. Petrol station workers had median airborne exposures to benzene and MTBE of 59 and 408 µg m(-3), respectively, with urinary benzene (BEN-U) and MTBE (MTBE-U) of 339 and 780ng l(-1), respectively. Concentrations in petrol station workers were higher than in control subjects. There were significant positive correlations between airborne exposure and the corresponding biological marker, with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) values of 0.437 and 0.865 for benzene and MTBE, respectively. There was also a strong correlation between airborne benzene and urinary MTBE (r = 0.835). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the urinary levels of benzene were influenced by personal airborne exposure, urinary creatinine, and tobacco smoking [determination coefficient (R (2)) 0.572], while MTBE-U was influenced only by personal exposure (R (2) = 0.741). BEN-U and MTBE-U are sensitive and specific biomarkers of low occupational exposures. We propose using BEN-U as biomarker of exposure to benzene in nonsmokers and suggest 1457ng l(-1) in end shift urine samples as biological exposure equivalent to the EU occupational limit value of 1 p.p.m.; for both smokers and nonsmokers, MTBE-U may be proposed as a surrogate biomarker of benzene exposure, with a biological exposure equivalent of 22 µg l(-1) in end shift samples. For MTBE exposure, we suggest the use of MTBE-U with a biological exposure equivalent of 22 µg l(-1) corresponding to the occupational limit value of 50 p.p.m.
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Giornale Italiano Di Medicina Del Lavoro Ed Ergonomia, 2003
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Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
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Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
This survey was carried out in the molding of plastics and rubbers, in the "Professional Can... more This survey was carried out in the molding of plastics and rubbers, in the "Professional Cancer Prevention Project" sponsored by the Lombardy region with the objective of developing and implementing protocols for evaluating exposure to carcinogens through the biological monitoring. The realities of molding the thermoplastic polymer ABS, rubber, and thermosetting plastics containing formaldehyde were examined. The carcinogenic substances identified in these processes were: 1,3-butadiene, acrylonitrile and styrene in molding ABS, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in molding rubber, and formaldehyde in molding the thermosetting plastics. Only for some of these substances biological indicators are available. The limited exposure to airborne chemicals in molding ABS and the intrinsic characteristics of biological indicators available for 1-3 butadiene have determined the non applicability of biological monitoring to this situation. The absence of a biological indicator of ...
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Giornale italiano di medicina del lavoro ed ergonomia
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La Medicina del lavoro
Low-dose exposures to mixtures of substances have received increasing interest and they involve m... more Low-dose exposures to mixtures of substances have received increasing interest and they involve many different occupational and environmental situations. The presence in the population (working and general) of groups of susceptible individuals is an important public health issue that poses new challenges to science and society. To discuss the evolution from traditional occupational hygiene and toxicology to the new environmental (general and occupational) hygiene and toxicology. Environmental hygiene and toxicology have remarkably improved analytical tools available to solve most of the analytical issues posed by the present exposure scenario. Biomarkers of low-dose exposure, early effects and individual susceptibility are being intensively investigated. The challenge in this field for the coming years appears to be not the analytical but the medical and ethical implications.
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Toxicology Letters, 2002
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Papers by Silvia Fustinoni