title: Relationship between occupational exposure to cadmium, transaminases and γ-GT in workers exposed to urban stressors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The exposure to Cd has been linked to many disease and liver is the major target organ of Cd toxicity following acute or chronic exposure.No study has ever evaluated the association between liver function tests and exposure to Cd present in urban air in outdoor workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to assess the relationship between the exposure to urban Cd and the associated changes in liver functionality markers, we conducted a study on 110 municipal policemen divided into 2 groups according to their tasks: 60 traffic policemen and 50 drivers, underwent tests for the determination of the urinary values of Cd correlated with the blood levels of transaminases and ?-GT. Moreover we investigated the exposure to Cd in the air through a personal dosimetry on a subgroup of 40 subjects (20 traffic policemen 20 police drivers).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that the average personal exposure to air Cd was significantly higher in traffic policemen than drivers. Furthermore, in the subset of 40 subjects and in the total sample of 110 subjects, the mean values of urinary Cd were significantly higher in traffic policemen rather than in the police drivers. No significant difference was observed in the mean values of liver functionality in both groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the few studies on the effects of the exposure to Cd in big cities, the results of the present study offers useful information about occupational exposure to Cd on the road and in the car and the lack of effects on liver function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Medical-Legal and the Orthopedics, Unit of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University, of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciarrocca
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Pastena
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Antuono
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Iannattone
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caciari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000637:Transaminases / Q000097:blood*; D014505:Urban Population; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase; D000637:Transaminases