Parental smoking behavior at home and sociodemographic variables may influence exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in children. A sample of 115 preschool children aged 3-6 years was enrolled in this study. ETS exposure was evaluated through a questionnaire about parents' smoking behavior and determinations of urinary cotinine F a biomarker of exposure F in children. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between the smoking behavior of each parent at home, sociodemographic factors and cotinine levels in children. The parental perception of smokiness in the home was significantly associated with urinary cotinine in children (r-partial coefficient ¼ 0.324; Po0.002). The father's education, mother's smoking status, and day of the week when urine was sampled (Tuesday) were also independently associated with levels of cotinine. These four variables explained 26.4% of the variance in the cotinine levels of children. In designing educational programs to reduce passive smoking among children, it is necessary to take into account those factors related with cotinine levels in children. Our results support the influence of the mothers' smoking status, the fathers' educational level, and the day of the week of sampling on cotinine in children. The perception of parents (smokers and nonsmokers) about the smokiness in the home could also be a useful indicator of the cotinine in children exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in the household.

Our results underline a greater influence of exposure to maternal smoking (prenatal and postnatal) than postnatal paternal smoking on the development of respiratory symptoms in young children.

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ASELLUS AQUATICUS L. IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA ASELLUS IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULAThe Isopod Asellus aquaticus is a common species in Europe, but up to now it had not been recorded in the Iberian Peninsula.The ranges inhabited by A. aquaticus in the study area were delimited by studying its distribution in the Genil basin, and by measuring the physico-chemical factors in the sampling sites.As recorded in other areas, the presence of A. aquaticus in the Genil river basin is associated with downstream stretches of river, with low altitude, high flow and organic pollution of domestic and agricultura1 origin.