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Use of toenail-bounded heavy metals to characterize occupational exposure and oxidative stress in workers of waterpipe/cigarette cafés

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Abstract

Tobacco smoke is known for releasing metals in indoor air of waterpipe/cigarette cafés. However, the worker exposure to metals, and its association with oxidative stress in these cafés are still unclear. To this end, 54 workers and 38 customers from waterpipe/cigarette cafés (the exposed group), 30 workers from non-smoking cafés (the control group 1 (CG_1)) and 32 individuals from the general population (the control group 2 (CG_2)) were selected and toenails samples were then taken from them. Our findings revealed a significant difference in terms of toenail-bounded metal levels between the exposure and control groups (CG_1 and CG_2) (Mann–Whitney U test, Pvalue < 0.05). This study has also indicated that "type of tobacco" could be considered as a predictor for toenail-bounded heavy metals. Furthermore, our research’s results suggest that toenail-bounded heavy metals are positively and significantly correlated with urinary levels of 8- hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG, as a biomarker for the degradation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) oxidative stress). Therefore, it can be concluded that workers of waterpipe/cigarette cafés are at high risks of adverse health of DNA oxidative degradation.

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Acknowledgements

The research reported in this manuscript has been funded through the Tobacco Control Research Center (TCRC) (Grant No. TCRC/IATA1396-10) and Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences (Grant No. 1421). This work has received approval for research ethics from Bushehr Province University of Medical Sciences and a proof/certificate of approval is available as "Research ethics approval" in the list of uploaded file.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tobacco Control Research Center (TCRC), Iranian Anti-Tobacco Association, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Masjedi

  2. Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

    Sina Dobaradaran, Saeed Keshmiri, Hossein Arfaeinia, Mojtaba Behroozi, Farzaneh Nasrzadeh & Melika Joukar

  3. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

    Sina Dobaradaran & Hossein Arfaeinia

  4. Faculty of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

    Saeed Keshmiri

  5. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Farhad Taghizadeh & Farzad Fanaei

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  1. Mohammad Reza Masjedi
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  2. Sina Dobaradaran
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Correspondence to Hossein Arfaeinia.

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Masjedi, M.R., Dobaradaran, S., Keshmiri, S. et al. Use of toenail-bounded heavy metals to characterize occupational exposure and oxidative stress in workers of waterpipe/cigarette cafés. Environ Geochem Health 43, 1783–1797 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-020-00751-8

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