In the present study, we screened the sera of subjects chronically exposed to mixtures of pesticides (composed mainly of organophosphorus compounds (OPs) and others) and developed neurological symptoms for the presence of autoantibodies against cytoskeletal neural proteins. OPs have a well-characterized clinical profile resulting from acute cholinergic crisis. However, some of these compounds cause neuronal degeneration and demyelination known as organophosphorus compound-induced delayed neurotoxicity (OPIDN) and/or organophosphorus compound-induced chronic neurotoxicity (OPICN). Studies from our group have demonstrated the presence of autoantibodies to essential neuronal and glial proteins against cytoskeletal neural proteins in patients with chemical-induced brain injury. In this study, we screened the serum of 50 pesticide-exposed subjects and 25 non-exposed controls, using Western blot analysis against the following proteins: neurofilament triplet proteins (NFPs), tubulin, microtubule-associated tau proteins (Tau), microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2), myelin basic protein (MBP), myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), calcium-calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII), glial S100-B protein, and alpha-synuclein (SNCA). Serum reactivity was measured as arbitrary chemiluminescence units. As a group, exposed subjects had significantly higher levels of autoantibody reactivity in all cases examined. The folds of increase in of autoantibodies against neural proteins of the subjects compared to healthy humans in descending order were as follows: MBP, 7.67, MAG 5.89, CaMKII 5.50, GFAP 5.1, TAU 4.96, MAP2 4.83, SNCA 4.55, NFP 4.55, S-100B 2.43, and tubulin 1.78. This study has demonstrated the presence of serum autoantibodies to central nervous system-specific proteins in a group of farmers chronically exposed to pesticides who developed neurological signs and symptoms of neural injury. These autoantibodies can be used as future diagnostic/therapeutic target for OP-induced neurotoxicity.

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The aim of this study was to assess the long-term toxic effect of ofloxacin on the testes and epididymides of 72 adult male albino rats. The rats were divided into group A and group B. Group A, which received ofloxacin for 14 days, was subdivided into two subgroups; LD-14 received low dose 72 mg KBW(-1) daily and HD-14 received high dose 216 mg KBW(-1) daily. Group B, which received ofloxacin for 28 days, was subdivided into two subgroups; LD-28 received 72 mg KBW(-1) and HD-28 received 216 mg KBW(-1) daily. Two matched control groups were followed up for 14 and 28 days respectively. The animals were evaluated for body weight, testicular weight, relative testicular weight, serum testosterone (T), epididymal sperm analysis (sperm count, motility, morphology, curvilinear velocity, linear velocity and linearity index) and testicular histopathology. The adverse effects of ofloxacin were correlated with increased treatment duration and/or dose. It is concluded that long-term ofloxacin has a direct detrimental effect on the testicles of albino rats at the studied doses and durations.

Heavy metals as environmental pollutants have been recognized to have a role in induction of malignant human growths. Recently, certain heavy metals showed a close association to breast cancer. This research was conducted to find out the role of some toxic heavy metals (cadmium, iron, copper, lead and zinc) in induction of breast cancer in-vivo. The study was carried out on 100 female patients: 75 with breast cancer (cancerous group) and 25 with benign breast diseases (non-cancerous group). Patients were chosen from those attending to the Oncology Center, Mansoura University. Heavy metals concentrations were measured in the urine and breast tissue samples using inductive coupled plasma (ICP)-spectrometer. The present results showed a significant increase in urine and tissue cadmium concentrations and urine copper concentration in cancerous patients compared to their corresponding non-cancerous ones (p < 0.05). Also, there was a significant reduction in iron concentration in urine samples of cancerous group compared to their corresponding non-cancerous one (p < 0.05). On the other hand, lead had no significant difference between cancerous and non cancerous groups but it was generally high in the tissue samples while zinc had no significant difference between studied groups. It could be concluded that the present study posits a causal association between cadmium and copper increase with reduction of iron and breast cancer. were more prevalent in women. The present study is designed to find out the role of some toxic heavy metals (cadmium, iron, copper, lead and zinc) in induction of breast cancer in-vivo. Materials and Methods This study was carried out on 100 female patients attending to the Oncology Center, Mansoura University, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt during the period from December 2008 till December 2009. Their ages ranged from 30-70 years. Relevant information was obtained from each patient before surgery regarding residence, occupational history, smoking habits and reproductive history. Patients with positive family history of breast cancer were excluded from the study. Informed consent was obtained from each patient. Study groups Patients were divided into two groups. A cancerous group (75 female patients) with histologically confirmed breast cancer lesions. A non-cancerous group (25 female patients) with non risky non proliferative benign breast diseases that served as a control group. Study design According to Ionescu [11], 10 ml urine sample and 10 gm of breast adipose tissue were obtained from each patient. Samples were Jour n a l o f C linical T o x ic o log y