The study was conducted to estimate the relation between lead exposure and the risk of various symptoms of osteoporosis in male and female battery manufacturing workers by using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. A total of 18 female and 24 male workers were chosen with the same age range, duty hours per day, work history and weight. A total of 15 healthy controls were chosen with no previous history of bone illness and normal blood lead concentration. Blood lead concentration was measured in all workers and controls. Non-lead elevated subjects were excluded. Bone mineral density was measured by X-ray-based dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan machine. Spine, femur neck and radius sites were studied. Results showed that both male and female workers recorded significant elevated levels of lead concentration accompanied by osteoporosis when compared with control. Interestingly, the data revealed that fracture risk in female was significantly higher than male workers. It was concluded that lead poisoning may act as osteoporosis risk factor or co-factor in female workers by activating the conversion of osteopenia to osteoporosis.

The aim of this study is to assess the cleanliness of the latrine and its relation to occurrence of disease in children under 5 years old. A stratified random sample of 1327 households was conducted in 11 villages in Upper Egypt. It included a sub-sample of 541 children under 5 years living in households with latrines. The latrine cleanliness was assessed and its relationship to disease occurrence within a period of 2 weeks. Thirty-three percent (33.1%) of children under 5 years old with latrines in their household had infections, compared to 28.3% of those without latrines in the house. Infection with diarrhoea was found most in houses with latrine and water tap. A relation was found between latrine cleanliness score and presence of flies, house building material and maternal education, but none with occurrence of infection in children under 5 years old within a period of 2 weeks.

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In our environment, we have numerous chances to be exposed to not only electromagnetic fields (EMFs) but also many chemicals containing mutagens. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate whether rat's exposure to cadmium and/or EMFs could cause oxidative damage to molecular structure of proteins and whether and to what extent the effects of co-exposure differ from those observed under the treatment with each exposure alone. Thirty-two rats were divided into four groups. Group 1 was termed as control, group 2 was treated with cadmium (3.0 mg/Kg), group 3 was exposed to EMF (10 mT/h/day) and group 4 was treated with cadmium and exposed to EMF. Protein carbonyls (PCO) in the plasma as a marker of oxidative protein damage and total oxidant status (TOS), as well as electrical conductivity and SDS electrophoresis to estimate changes in molecular structure of protein, were determined. The exposure to Cd and/or EMF led to oxidative protein damage (increased PCO and TOS) accomplished by increased stress of electrical charges on the surface of the protein molecule (increased electrical conductivity) and changes in the molecular structure of protein. The effects were more pronounced after treatment with both Cd and EMF than at the treatment with each exposure alone. The serious damage to proteins at the co-exposure to Cd and EMF seems to be due to the interference of the EMF with the toxic activity of cadmium. This work concluded that combined exposure to Cd and EMFs might increase the risk of plasma damage via enhancing free radical generation and protein oxidation.