Kanami Yamamoto

Urinary excretion of 3-phenoxybenzoic acid in middle-aged and elderly general population of Japan

Limited data are available on the background levels of exposure to synthetic pyrethroid (PYR) in Japan, despite their frequent application for agriculture and indoor extermination and possible effects of chronic and/or low-dose PYR exposure on human health. This study was conducted to describe the level and distribution of one of the major PYR metabolites, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), in urine samples collected from a general population in Japan. The subjects were 535 individuals (184 men and 351 women; 61.5+/-9.8 years of age, mean+/-S.D.) residing in a town in Hokkaido, a dairy and agricultural area. Urinary 3-PBA was found detectable in 98% of samples above the limit of detection of 0.02 microg/l. The geometric mean values of urinary 3-PBA in occupationally exposed farmers (n=87) and the remaining general group without occupational exposure (n=448) were 0.38 and 0.29 microg/l, respectively, ranging from <LOD to 17.09 microg/l. No significant differences in urinary 3-PBA concentrations were shown between these two groups. Moreover, 3-PBA concentrations were found comparable to those reported in some countries. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first report of a biological monitoring study of urinary 3-PBA, which elucidated the background environmental exposure level of PYR in the Japanese general population without occupational exposure. Further nationwide studies covering different seasons and age distribution are needed to monitor the urinary 3-PBA levels in Japan.

Cytomegalovirus antigenemia and outcome of patients treated with pre-emptive ganciclovir: Retrospective analysis of 241 consecutive patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Summary:CMV disease remains a major infectious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). To investigate the relationship between CMV antigenemia, treatment with ganciclovir (GCV), and outcome, we retrospectively analyzed 241 consecutive patients at risk for CMV infection who underwent allogeneic HSCT. Antigenemia-guided pre-emptive strategy with GCV was used for all patients. CMV antigenemia developed in 169 patients (70.1%), and CMV disease in 18 patients (7.5%). Multivariate analysis showed that acute GVHD (grades II–IV) was the only risk factor for developing antigenemia, and acute GVHD and advanced age for CMV disease. GCV use, as well as acute GVHD and advanced age, significantly increased the risk for bacterial and fungal infection after engraftment. Those who developed CMV antigenemia had a poorer outcome than those who did not (log-rank, P=0.0269), although the development of CMV disease worsened the outcome with only borderline significance (log-rank, P=0.0526). In conclusion, detection of antigenemia proved to be a poor prognostic factor for HSCT patients, which may be attributed to a combination of factors, including CMV disease itself, the effect of treatment, and a host status that allows for reactivation of CMV. Optimal pre-emptive strategy needs to be determined.

Risk and prognostic factors for Japanese patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation

Correction to: Bone Marrow Transplant (2006) 37: 289–296; advance online publication, 9 January 2006. doi:10.1038/sj.bmt.1705247 The authors have identified an error in Table 1 of the above paper; a corrected version of the table is given below. Eosinophilia (>4%) has been changed to Eosinophils (<4%) and the corresponding N has been changed to 57.

Relationship between dietary habits and urinary concentrations of 3-phenoxybonzoic acid in a middle-aged and elderly general population in Japan

ObjectivesThe ingestion of pesticides in the daily diet is assumed to be the main modality of pesticide exposure for most people. A widely used class of pesticides in agricultural or residential settings is pyrethroid. We have examined the relationship between the intake frequency of selected items of vegetables and fruits and urinary metabolites of pyrethroid pesticides in a healthy general population.MethodsA total of 535 residents (184 men and 351 women) who attended a healthcare checkup program conducted in a rural area of Hokkaido, Japan, in August 2005 provided informed consent for their spot urine samples to be used for the determination of 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) levels. They also completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding the intake frequency of 12 food items. The concentrations of creatinine-corrected 3-PBA were predicted by the intake frequency of each item, using analysis-of-covariance models to adjust for age, sex, body mass index, and drinking and smoking status.ResultsBoth a significant association between the 3-PBA concentration and the frequency of tomato consumption and a significant positive linear trend was found in female subjects. In contrast, no such association was found in the male subjects.ConclusionsThe frequency of tomato consumption was confirmed to strongly predict the urinary pyrethroid metabolite levels in the general population—presumably because tomatoes are most often consumed raw and unpeeled (more so than all other vegetables and fruits analyzed in the current study). However, it should be noted that the 3-PBA levels, even among those subjects with the highest consumption of tomatoes, were far below the levels of toxicological significance, although the health consequences from long-term low-level exposure to pyrethroid requires further exploration.

PBSC collection from family donors in Japan: a prospective survey

Severe adverse events (SAE) and late hematological malignancies have been reported after PBSC donation. No prospective data on incidence and risk factors have been available for family donors so far. The Japan Society for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (JSHCT) introduced therefore in 2000 a mandatory registration system. It defined standards for donor eligibility and asked harvest centers to report any SAE immediately. All donors were examined at day 30 and were to be contacted once each year for a period of 5 years. Acute SAEs within day 30 were reported from 47/3264 donations (1.44%) with 14 events considered as unexpected and severe (0.58%). No donor died within 30 days. Late SAEs were reported from 39/1708 donors (2.3%). The incidence of acute SAEs was significantly higher among donors not matching the JSHCT standards (P=0.0023). Late hematological malignancies in PBSC donors were not different compared with a retrospective cohort of BM donors (N:1/1708 vs N:2/5921; P=0.53). In conclusion, acute and late SAEs do occur in PBSC donors at relatively low frequency but risk factors can be defined.

Relationship between Urinary Pesticide Metabolites and Pest Control Operation among Occupational Pesticide Sprayers

Received Jun 23, 2007; Accepted Oct 16, 2008 Published online in J-ST AGE Dec 5, 2008 Correspondence to: T. Kondo, Program in Radiological and Medical Laboratory Sciences, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 1–1–20, Daikominami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya 461-8673, Japan (e-mail: taka@met.nagoya-u.ac.jp) Relationship between Urinary Pesticide Metabolites and Pest Control Operation among Occupational Pesticide Sprayers