Search

Concerns on health effects from uranium (U) mining still represent a major issue of debate. Any typology of active job in U mines is associated with exposure to U and its decay products, such as radon (Rn), thorium (Th), and radium (Ra) and its decay products with alpha-emission and gamma radiation. Health effects in U miners have been investigated in several cohort studies in the USA, Canada, Germany, the Czech Republic, and France. While public opinion is particularly addressed to pay attention to the safety of nuclear facilities, health hazard associated with mining is poorly debated. According to the many findings from cohort studies, the most significant positive dose-response relationship was found between occupational U exposure and lung cancer. Other types of tumors associated with occupational U exposure are leukemia and lymphoid cancers. Furthermore, it was found increased but not statistically significant death risk in U miners due to cancers in the liver, stomach, and kidneys. So far, there has not been found a significant association between U exposure and increased cardiovascular mortality in U miners. This review tries to address the current state of the art of these studies.

Uranium (U) has no known essential biological functions. Furthermore, it is well known for its toxicity, radioactivity, and carcinogenic potency. Impacts on human health due to U exposure have been studied extensively by many researchers. Chronic exposure to low-level U isotopes (radionuclides) may be interlinked with cancer etiology and at high exposure levels, also kidney disease. Other important issues covered U and fertilizers, and also U in soils or human tissues as an easily measurable indicator element in a pathophysiological examination. Furthermore, phosphate fertilization is known as the important source of contamination with U in the agricultural land, mainly due to contamination in the phosphate rock applied for fertilizer manufacture. Therefore, long-term usage of U-bearing fertilizers can substantially increase the concentration of U in fertilized soils. It should also be noted that U is an active redox catalyst for the reaction between DNA and H 2 O 2 . This review is aimed to highlight a series on various hydro-geochemical aspects in different water sources and focused on the comparison of different U contents in the drinking water sources and presentation of data in relation to health issues.

Indications of proximal tubule effects have been observed in recent surveillance study of Gulf War veterans exposed to depleted uranium (DU). This gives some support for the suspicion that DU may represent one of the causes for the so-called Persian Gulf syndrome. Proposed effects may be especially harmful if the toxicity hits the mitochondrial DNA since the mitochondria lack the nucleotide excision repair mechanism, which is needed for repairing bulky adducts that have been associated with DU. It is a plausible working hypothesis that a significant part of the symptoms from various organs, which have been observed among veterans from Gulf War 1 and that have been grouped under the name of the Persian Gulf syndrome, may be explained as a consequence of mitochondrial DNA damage in various cell types and organs. Interpretation of observations, on military personnel and civilians after Gulf War 1, is associated with difficulties because of the abundance of potential confounding factors. The symptoms observed on veterans from Gulf War 1 may be attributed to a multiplicity of substances functioning directly or indirectly as mitochondrial mutagens. A concise analysis of the cascade of toxic effects initiated by DU exposure in the human body is the subject of this article., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Anthropogenic risk factors contribute worldwide to an unfavorable environmental situation, which in the population can lead to cancer and other environmental-related diseases. Heavy metals accumulate in tissues and affect human health. Objectives: This review evaluates data for the possible role of uranium (U), barium (Ba), and lead (Pb) in the cancer development in people living in the Malwa Region of Punjab, India. Methods: A literature search was performed using the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Publications in English were included. Preference was given to studies of high methodological quality (systematic reviews and surveys of studies of various designs). The results of cross-sectional studies were taken into account. Discussion: A study has shown that cancer patients in the Malwa region of Punjab, India have unexpectedly high concentrations of U, Ba, and Pb in hair. We hypothesize that higher hair concentrations of U and other bone-seeking elements in hair of cancer patients may be due to the release of these elements from the skeleton, partly because of the patients age (following the menopause in women) and partly due to disease factors such as bed rest, bone metastases, and enhanced glucocorticoid secretion. Conclusions: Further research is needed to distinguish the effect of age on bone-seeking elements from real disease associations, regardless of the relationship with the pathology is a causal one or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]