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Disused creosote-treated railway ties are reused in France and many other countries and, in particular, for landscaping and other residential uses. Given the lack of data on the environmental fate of creosote-derived compounds released from used railway ties, a survey of different environmental media (i.e. soil, sediment, surface water, plants and outdoor air) was carried out at six sites located in France where old creosote-treated railway ties are stored or reused for different purposes. Maximum total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations measured in soils ranged from 2 to 140 mg/kg dry weight. PAH impacts were limited both vertically and horizontally to several centimetres from the railway ties. At two sites, PAH levels in plants (up to 140 μg/kg fresh weight) appeared correlated to the levels measured in soils, suggesting a transfer from soils to the plants. PAHs in sediment were measured at concentrations of up to 280 mg/kg dry weight. As observed in soil, PAH concentrations decreased rapidly further away from the railway ties. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering on principal components indicate that PAHs detected in soils and sediments originated from unweathered to severely weathered creosote and could be strongly influenced by urban background. Results on outdoor air measurements show a degradation of air quality above old and fresh railway tie storage areas at a railway station and to a lesser extent in their vicinity. However, this degradation was low to moderate when compared to French regulatory values, ambient background levels reported in France, as well as health-based air comparison values.

Background: Hyperglycaemia is a risk factor of cardiovascular disease and a high risk state for progression to type 2 diabetes. Moreover, overweight, defined as a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 29.9 kg/m 2 , increases the risk of diabetes. Information about the feasibility of measuring, during routine occupational health examinations, predictors of elevated capillary blood glucose in overweight individuals is scarce. This study aims to identify factors that are associated with elevated capillary blood glucose and can be routinely measured in French overweight employees to develop targeted preventive strategies in the workplace., Methods: Cross-sectional study based on data collected during a workplace health promotion programme of the French National Railways Company (SNCF) from January 2011 to March 2015. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by overweight volunteers during the routine occupational health examination. Data collected included health, anthropometric, sociodemographic, occupational, and lifestyle characteristics. Elevated capillary blood glucose was defined as capillary blood glucose equal to or higher than 7 mmol/L. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with elevated capillary blood glucose and results were described with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)., Results: The analysis concerned 2248 overweight employees (mean age: 43 years) with complete data (total population: 7724). The prevalence of elevated capillary blood glucose was 20.0%. In the multivariate analysis, significant predictors of elevated capillary blood glucose were: male sex (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.21-2.28), age ≥ 50 years (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.01-2.55), high blood pressure (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.07-1.69), and daily intake of sugary food (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.17-2.00). No association with occupational characteristics (work schedule, job seniority, professional grade, and job sector) was found possibly due to lack of statistical power., Conclusions: Our findings provide information for setting up specific diabetes prevention strategies in the workplace. Overweight men, aged 50 and older, with high blood pressure and daily sugary food intake should be considered for capillary blood glucose measurements during their occupational medical surveillance. Hypertension screening and management as well as health policy measures to target sugary food consumption could be included in workplace prevention strategies.

Unlabelled: High blood pressure (HDP) is known as a cardiovascular risk factor depending both on environmental and socio-economic factors., Methods: From October 1993 to october 1994 a cross sectional study was carried out among 1,855 French railway drivers (FRD) representative of the 17,432 males FRD, aged 25 to 54 years. Age, weight, height, hip and waist, smoking, living area, type of train they drove (goods, suburban, TGV, inter-city trains), their grade (3 grades) were recorded. HBP corresponds to systolic blood pressure (BP) 160 mmHg or diastolic BP > or = 95 mmHg or to normal BP under antihypertensive medication. The analysis was carried out according to 2 age classes: 20-36/37-54 years., Results: In our sample 8.5% of FRD suffered from HBP, 3.5% in the younger class, and 13.5% in the other one. Using univariate analysis, among the oldest, subjects with lower grades suffered more often from HBP (19%). Paris area was more often related to HBP for the 20-36 years (6.7%). This was the case for the oldest living in Paris area (19.7%), and the North East (15.2%). Subjects with central obesity (19.9 vs 6%), and hyperlipidemic FRD (20.9 vs 10.9%) were more often related to HBP in the 35-54 years group Whatever the type of train they drove no difference was found. In multivariate analysis, (stepwise logistic regression BMDP LR) independent HBP factors are: age OR 3.4 IC 1.9-5.9 (20-36 vs 37-54), central obesity OR 1.7 IC 1.1-2.6, tobacco consumption OR 2.1 IC 1.2-3.5 (smokers vs non smokers), ex-smokers: OR 2.3 IC 1.3-3.9 (Ex-smokers vs non smokers), living area (all regions vs South East in the Mediterranean border). Nevertheless, grades and type of train they drove were not independent factors., Conclusion: These results show the determining part played by environmental factors: age, central obesity, living area and tobacco consumption in the determinism of HBP in professional background: these factors can account for the difference observed in professional factor (grade).