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Pesticides can exert numerous effects on human health as a consequence of both environmental and occupational exposures. The available knowledge base suggests that exposure to pesticides may result in detrimental reproductive changes, neurological dysfunction and several chronic disorders, which are defined by slow evolution and long-term duration. Moreover, an ever increasing amount of data have identified an association between exposure to pesticides and the harmful effects on the immune system. The real impact of alterations in humoral cytokine levels on human health, in particular in the case of chronic diseases, is still unclear. To date, studies have suggested that although exposure to pesticides can affect the immune system functionally, the development of immune disorders depends on the dose and duration of exposure to pesticides. However, many of the respective studies exhibit limitations, such as a lack of information on exposure levels, differences in the pesticide administration procedures, difficulty in characterizing a prognostic significance to the weak modifications often observed and the interpretation of obtained results. The main challenge is not just to understand the role of individual pesticides and their combinations, but also to determine the manner and the duration of exposure, as the toxic effects on the immune system cannot be separated from these considerations. There is a clear need for more well-designed and standardized epidemiological and experimental studies to recognize the exact association between exposure levels and toxic effects and to identify useful biomarkers of exposure. This review focuses on and critically discusses the immunotoxicity of pesticides and the impact of cytokine levels on health, focusing on the development of several chronic diseases.

A huge volume of literature data suggests that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, mostly due to the contribution of natural polyphenols, could reduce the incidence of specific cancers. Resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate and curcumin are among the most extensively studied polyphenols: The majority of the effects attributed to these compounds are linked to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The multiple mechanisms involved include the modulation of molecular events and signaling pathways associated with cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, migration, angiogenesis, hormonal activities, detoxification enzymes and immune responses. Notwithstanding their promising role in cancer prevention and treatment, polyphenols often have a poor bioavailability when administered as pure active principles, representing an important limit to their use. However, the bioavailability and thus the efficacy of these compounds can be improved by their administration in combination with other phytochemicals, with anticancer drugs or in polyphenol-loaded nanotechnology-based delivery systems. The possibility of combining conventional drugs with polyphenols offers very valuable advantages, such as the building of more efficient anticancer therapies with less side-effects on the health of patients. The present review focuses on current knowledge regarding the interactions between natural polyphenols and cancer development in order to gain a clearer comprehension of the potential mechanisms through which individual foods and food components may be exploited to reduce cancer risk. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Literature search 3. Classification of polyphenols 4. Prostate cancer 5. Colon cancer 6. Breast cancer 7. Lung cancer 8. Bladder cancer 9. Skin cancer 10. Pancreatic cancer 11. Leukemia 12. Conclusion

It is well known that pesticides are widely used compounds. In fact, their use in agriculture, forestry, fishery and the food industry has granted a huge improvement in terms of productive efficiency. However, a great number of epidemiological surveys have demonstrated that these toxic compounds can interact and exert negative effects not only with their targets (pests, herbs and fungi), but also with the rest of the environment, including humans. This is particularly relevant in the case of workers involved in the production, transportation, preparation and application of these toxicants. Accordingly, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated the correlation between occupational exposure to pesticides and the development of a wide spectrum of pathologies, ranging from eczema to neurological diseases and cancer. Pesticide exposure is often quite difficult to establish, as many currently used modules do not take into account all of the many variables that can occur in a diverse environment, such as the agricultural sector, and the assessment of the real risk for every single worker is problematic. Indeed, the use of personal protection equipment is necessary while handling these toxic compounds, but education of workers can be even more important: personal contamination with pesticides may occur even in apparently harmless situations. This review summarises the most recent findings describing the association between pesticide occupational exposure and the development of chronic diseases.

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