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Objectives:To study any possible correlation between blood lead levels and some oxidative stress parameters of selected groups of lead-exposed automobile occupational Jordanian workers. Material and Methods: Blood lead levels were determined for a total of 90 male automobile workers aged within the range of 25-45 years old along with the group of 20 agematched healthy males control. To get an idea about the antioxidant status of controls and lead-exposed workers, and to estimate the oxidative stress caused by exposure to lead, we measured the hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) concentration, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, lipid peroxidation as malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity of controls and workers. Results: The study showed that lead levels in the case of workers were approximately 4-5 times as high as in controls 14.5-21 μg×dl -1 vs. 4.3 μg×dl -1, respectively. There was a significant decrease (16-25%) in the level of plasma reduced glutathione and 21-33% decrease in total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) in all worker groups, as compared to controls. The results showed that the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma was higher (120-333%) in the case of workers than controls being the highest in automobile electronics and the lowest -in mechanics. Furthermore, there was 149-221% increase in hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) concentration, and 26-38% increase in SOD activity in the case of workers compared to the control group. Conclusions: There is a strong evidence for the associations between occupational lead exposure and various markers of oxidative stress in Jordanian automobile occupational workers. Thus, there is an urgent need to raise awareness and to initiate suitable protection guidelines for workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2018;31(4):517 -525

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The c-KIT receptor represents an attractive target for cancer therapy. Aptamers are emerging as a new promising class of nucleic acid therapeutics. In this study, a conventional SELEX approach was applied against the kinase domain of a group of c-KIT proteins (c-KIT WT , c-KIT D816V , and c-KIT D816H ) to select aptamers from a random RNA pool that can bind to the kinase domain of each target with high affinity and can selectively interfere with their kinase activities. Interestingly, our data indicated that one candidate aptamer, called V15, can specifically inhibit the in vitro kinase activity of mutant c-KIT D816V with an IC 50 value that is 9-fold more potent than the sunitinib drug tested under the same conditions. Another aptamer, named as H5/V36, showed the potential to distinguish between the c-KIT kinases by modulating the phosphorylation activity of each in a distinct mechanism of action and in a different potency.