Carina Ladeira

Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa | ISEL · Área Científica de Anatomia Patológica

Objectives: Within the framework of the burden of disease (BoD) approach, disease and injury burden estimates attributable to risk factors are a useful guide for policy formulation and priority setting in disease prevention. Considering the important differences in methods, and their impact on burden estimates, we conducted a scoping literature re...

The comet assay is a versatile method to detect nuclear DNA damage in individual eukaryotic cells, from yeast to human. The types of damage detected encompass DNA strand breaks and alkali-labile sites (e.g., apurinic/apyrimidinic sites), alkylated and oxidized nucleobases, DNA-DNA crosslinks, UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and some chemic...

Introduction: Occupational risk factors are major players for increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Studies support a protective role of Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in disease onset, with associated antioxidant properties and reactive oxygen species production. We aimed to evaluate the in vivo effects of EGCG intake on cardiov...

A study was conducted within the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) to characterize occupational exposure to Cr(VI). Herein we present the results of biomarkers of genotoxicity and oxidative stress, including micronucleus analysis in lymphocytes and reticulocytes, the comet assay in whole blood, and malondialdehyde and 8-oxo-2′-deoxyg...

Background Calculating the disease burden due to injury is complex, as it requires many methodological choices. Until now, an overview of the methodological design choices that have been made in burden of disease (BoD) studies in injury populations is not available. The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify existing injury BoD st...

Emerging contaminants such as nanoplastics (NPs), as well as manufacturing by-products such as plasticizers, have gained global attention and concern due to their limited biodegradability and their potential impact on human health, in particular the effects on respiratory tissue. In parallel, in vitro cell culture techniques are key to the assessme...

Background Assessment of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) resulting from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) requires specific calculation methods and input data. The aims of this study were to: (i) identify existing NCD burden of disease (BoD) activities in Europe; (ii) collate information on data sources for mortality and morbidity; and (iii)...

Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validi...

The comet assay or single cell gel electrophoresis, is the most common method used to measure strand breaks and a variety of other DNA lesions in human populations. To estimate the risk of overall mortality, mortality by cause, and cancer incidence associated to DNA damage, a cohort of 2,403 healthy individuals (25,978 person-years) screened in 16...

DNA damage and repair activity are often assessed in blood s#38les from humans in different types of molecular epidemiology studies. However, it is not always feasible to analyse the s#38les on the day of collection without any type of storage. For instance, certain studies use repeated s#38ling of cells from the same subject or s#38les from differ...

It is critical to develop new methods to assess genotoxic effects in human biomonitoring since the conventional methods are usually laborious, time-consuming, and expensive. It is aimed to evaluate if the analysis of a drop of serum by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, allow to assess genotoxic effects in occupational exposure to cytostatic...

The alkaline comet assay, or single cell gel electrophoresis, is one of the most popular methods for assessing DNA damage in human population. One of the open issues concerning this assay is the identification of those factors that can explain the large inter-individual and inter-laboratory variation. International collaborative initiatives such as...

Human exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals, particularly at low doses, is ubiquitous, persistent and occurs in complex mixtures with associated health effects that cannot be predicted when analyzing single compounds independently. Concomitant exposure to these compounds, particularly in critical windows of exposure, may therefore result in ha...

This study aimed to evaluate occupational exposure to a styrene and xylene mixture through environmental exposure assessment and identify the potential genotoxic effects through biological monitoring. Secondly, we also exposed human peripheral blood cells in vitro to both xylene and styrene either alone or in mixture at concentrations found in occu...

Context: There are very few circumstances where the diagnosis of malignancy is made in the absence of histopathological confirmation. For prognosis and therapeutic guidance, it is also essential to support all decisions with knowledge of the oncobiology provided by immunohistochemistry and other molecular methodologies. Regarding this goal, it is e...

There are very few circumstances where the diagnosis of malignancy is made in the absence of histopathological confirmation 1. For prognosis and therapeutic guidance, it is also essential to support all decisions with knowledge of the oncobiology provided by immunohistochemistry and other molecular methodologies 2-3. Regarding this goal, it is esse...

The comet assay is a well-accepted biomonitoring tool to examine the effect of dietary, lifestyle, environmental and occupational exposure on levels of DNA damage in human cells. With such a wide range of determinants for DNA damage levels, it becomes challenging to deal with confounding and certain factors are inter-related (e.g. poor nutritional...

The comet assay has become one of the methods of choice for the evaluation and measurement of DNA damage. It is sensitive, quick to perform and relatively affordable for the evaluation of DNA damage and repair at the level of individual cells. The comet assay can be applied to virtually any cell type derived from different organs and tissues. Even...

The comet assay offers the opportunity to measure both DNA damage and repair. Various comet assay based methods are available to measure DNA repair activity, but some requirements should be met for their effective use in human biomonitoring studies. These conditions include i) robustness of the assay, ii) sources of inter- and intra-individual vari...

This study was designed within the frame of the COST Action hCOMET 15132 (Working Group 6), with the aim of comparing different peripheral blood cell preparations for their feasibility in human biomonitoring studies, using the comet assay for the evaluation of DNA damage. Basal levels of strand breaks/ALS and formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (Fp...

The comet assay, also called single cell gel electrophoresis, is a sensitive, rapid and low-cost technique for quantifying and analysing DNA damage and repair at the level of individual cells. The assay itself can be applied on virtually any cell type derived from different organs and tissues of eukaryotic organisms. Although it is mainly used on h...

Bisphenol A (BPA) is one of the most widely utilized endocrine disruptors to which humans are exposed, particularity through ingestion. BPA is an aneugenic compound with a putative association to tumorigenesis. Although extensively studied in estrogen responsive cells, information regarding its effects on cells from the upper gastrointestinal tract...

Human biomonitoring deals with the assessment of individual human exposure, effect and susceptibility to occupational risk factors. It is a fundamental tool in occupational health risk assessment and occupational health practice (Manno et al., 2010).  Occupational exposure to mycotoxins-A multibiomarker approach in other settings.  Occupational e...

ESTeSL is a public higher education institution with the mission to prepare highly qualified health care professionals to intervene in health care and public health services. ESTeSL is a linked third party of INSA. Since 2006, ESTeSL has developed relevant studies in Occupational Health using human biomonitoring to assess exposure to chemical agent...

Cancer is one of the diseases of greatest concern in developed countries and much effort has been invested in discovering and developing therapeutics for curing cancer. Despite the improvements in antineoplastic therapeutics in the last decades, cancer is still one of the most harmful diseases worldwide. The global burden of cancer also implies fin...

Cytostatic drugs are highly cytotoxic agents used in cancer treatment and although their benefit is unquestionable, they have been recognized as hazardous to healthcare professionals in occupational settings. In a working environment, simultaneous exposure to cytostatics may occur creating a higher risk than that of a single substance. Hence, the p...

The role of mycotoxins—e.g., aflatoxins, ochratoxins, trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, tremorgenic toxins, and ergot alkaloids—has been recognized in the etiology of a number of diseases. In many African countries, the public health impact of chronic (indoor) and/or repeated (dietary) mycotoxin exposure is largely ignored hitherto, with imp...

Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane, is one of the most utilized industrial chemicals worldwide, with the ability to interfere with/or mimic estrogenic hormones with associated biological responses. Environmental human exposure to this endocrine disruptor, mostly through oral intake, is considered a generalized phenomenon, particula...

Healthy mobile phone users aged 18–30 y.o. provided exfoliated buccal cells samples from the right and left inner cheeks. A total of 2000 cells per subject were screened for the presence of micronuclei as a sign of genotoxic damage, according to the mobile phone use profile of each user.

Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are classified as “possibly carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Some publications have reported associations between EMF exposure and DNA damage, but many other studies contradict such findings. Cytomorphological changes, such as micronuclei (MN), indicative of genomic damage, are bi...

Molecular epidemiology is an approach increasingly used in the establishment of associations between exposure to hazardous substances and development of disease, including the possible modulation by genetic susceptibility factors. Environmental chemicals and contaminants from anthropogenic pollution of air, water and soil, but also originating spec...

O aumento epidémico de disfunções e patologias reprodutivas masculinas, incluindo infertilidade, e custos sociais e económicos associados é actualmente um tema de intenso debate a nível mundial, que tem vindo a ser correlacionado com exposições cumulativas a factores ambientais tais como desreguladores endócrinos. Os desreguladores endócrinos (Endo...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous chemicals that may occur naturally (e.g., phytoestrogens), while others are industrial substances and plasticizers commonly utilized worldwide to which human exposure, particularly at low-doses, is omnipresent, persistent and occurs in complex mixtures. EDCs can interfere with/or mimic estrogenic...

The links between diet and genomic instability have been under investigation for several decades, and evidence suggests a significant causal or preventive role for various dietary factors. This study investigates the influence of macronutrients (calories, protein, and glucides) and micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, as assessed by a foo...

Human exposure to mycotoxins can be determined by environmental and biological monitoring. Mycotoxins can assume carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, and immunotoxic properties, and biomonitoring instruments can be applied to assess their effects. Cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay is a method that allows cytological scoring of nuclear abnormali...

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is a scientifically developed approach for assessing human exposures to natural and synthetic compounds from environment, occupation, and lifestyle. It relies on the measurement of particular substances or biological breakdown products, known as metabolites, in human tissues and/or fluids, and also includes the study of th...

Cancer is a major public health problem in many parts of the world. Is one of the most concerning diseases in developed countries and quite a lot of resources are for develop research to discover an effective treatment and, ultimately a cure. Despite the chemotherapeutic treatments have been improved in the last decades and are now more effective a...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous agents that have the ability to interfere with/or mimic estrogenic hormones and, therefore can simultaneously and differentially trigger specific signaling pathways responsible for the nature and magnitude of biological responses in diverse cell types. EDCs may occur naturally (e.g. phytoestrogens...

Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane one is of the greatest volume industrial chemicals utilized in the world, employed in the manufacture of a variety of indoor applications and consumer products with increased production every year. Human environmental exposure to this xenoestrogen is considered a generalized phenomenon and several...

Milk is considered a complete food from the nutritional point of view. Milk can be exposed to various types of contamination, such as mycotoxins. These metabolites are naturally occurring toxic compounds produced by fungi. Several studies on milk samples have reported the presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and M1 (AFM1), due to the high incidence in s...

In the last decades, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has evolved from an experimental innovation to one of the most important medical imaging techniques. This constant evolution resulted in the development of new equipment capable of generating more powerful static and gradient magnetics fields. However, there is limited information about the harm...

The concept that “safe levels of exposure” for humans can be identified for individual chemicals is central to the risk assessment of compounds with known toxicological profiles. The more common approach to chemotherapy involves administration of multiple agents to target as many types of cells in the tumour as possible. Usually, the antineoplastic...

Background/aim: Formaldehyde is classified as carcinogenic to humans, making it a major concern, particularly in occupational settings. Fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins A, D, and E, are documented as antigenotoxic and antimutagenic and also correlate with the cell antioxidant potential. This study investigates the influence of these vitamins...

Introdução: A Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS), na Decisão nº 940/2011/EU do Parlamento Europeu e do Conselho, define o envelhecimento ativo como o processo de otimizar as oportunidades de saúde, de participação na sociedade e de segurança a fim de melhorar a qualidade de vida à medida que as pessoas vão envelhecendo. O envelhecimento ativo permi...

Susana Viegas, Carina Ladeira, Mário Pádua, Mário Gomes Antineoplastic occupational exposure: Is exposure to mixtures being considered in the risk assessment process? Antineoplastic drugs are essential for cancer treatment. Nevertheless, they can pose a serious threat to the healthcare workers involved in their preparation and administration. Nine...

Antineoplastic drugs are hazardous chemical agents used mostly in the treatment of patients with cancer, however health professionals that handle and administer these drugs can become exposed and develop DNA damage. Comet assay is a standard method for assessing DNA damage in human biomonitoring and, combined with formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylas...

Nutrition science has evolved into a multidisciplinary field that applies molecular biology and integrates individual health with the epidemiologic investigation of population health (Go et al., 2003). Nutritional genomics studies the functional interaction of food and its components, macro and micronutrients, with the genome at the molecular, cell...

Cytokinesis blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay and comet assay are the most promising short-term genotoxicity assays for human risk assessment and their combination is recommended to monitor populations chronically exposed to genotoxic agents. Nutrition is recognized to be an important lifestyle factor that influences cancer risk, and should be take...

The cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMN) assay is a comprehensive system for measuring DNA damage; cytostasis and cytotoxicity-DNA damage events are scored specifically in once-divided binucleated cells. The endpoints possible to be measured are micronuclei (MN), a biomarker of chromosome breakage and/or whole chromosome loss, nucleoplasmic...

FORMALDEHYDE: EXPOSURE AND GENOTOXICITY ASSESSMENTS AND POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS C. Ladeira1,2,, and S. Viegas1,3 1Environment Health Research Group, Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Av. D. João II, Lisboa, Portugal 2Genetic and Metabolism Research Group, Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Av. D. João II, Lisboa,...

Antineoplastic drugs are a heterogeneous group of chemicals used in the treatment of cancer, and have been proved by IARC to be mutagens, carcinogens and teratogens agents (Fucic et al., 1998; Burgaz et al., 1999; Sessink & Bos, 1999; Bouraoui et al., 2011; Gulten et al., 2011; Buschini et al., 2013). In general, chemicals that interact directly wi...

Selenium functions as a co-factor for the reduction of antioxidant enzymes and is an important component of antioxidant enzymes. Dietary selenium significantly inhibits the induction of skin, liver, colon, and mammary tumours in experimental animals by a number of different carcinogens, as well as the induction of mammary tumours by viruses. Sele...

Antioneoplastic drugs are widely used in treatment of cancer, and several studies suggest acute and long-term effects associated to antineoplastic drug exposures, namely associating workplace exposure with health effects. Cytokinesis blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay is one promising short-term genotoxicity assays for human risk assessment and thei...

Comparação entre Processamento Convencional Rápido e Processamento Microondas em Biópsias de Amígdala, Cólon, Fígado e Rim O processamento histológico é, de todas, a etapa mais morosa da técnica histológica, sendo por isso rotineiramente efetuado overnight num processador automático de tecidos. A utilização de um processamento histológico microonda...

Several antineoplastic drugs have been classified as carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the basis of epidemiological findings, animal carcinogenicity data, and outcomes of in vitro genotoxicity studies. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), which is easily absorbed through the skin, is the most frequently used antineoplastic...

Diet habits are recognized to be an important factor influencing cancer risk and tumour behaviour. Diet can influence cancer development in several ways like, direct action of carcinogens in food can damage DNA, and some diet components (macro or micronutrients) can block or induce enzymes involved in activation or deactivation of carcinogenic subs...

Formaldehyde (FA) ranks 25th in the overall U.S. chemical production, with more than 5 million tons produced each year. Given its economic importance and widespread use, many people are exposed to FA occupationally. Recently, based on the correlation with nasopharyngeal cancer in humans, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) confir...

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified formaldehyde as carcinogenic to humans because there is "sufficient epidemiological evidence that it causes nasopharyngeal cancer in humans". Genes involved in DNA repair and maintenance of genome integrity are critically involved in protecting against mutations that lead to cancer and/or i...

RESUMO: O formaldeído (FA) foi classificado, em 2004, pela International Agency for Cancer Research como agente cancerígeno. Este agente químico ocupa a 25ª posição em toda a produção química dos Estados Unidos da América, com mais de 5 milhões de toneladas produzidas por ano. Devido à sua importância económica e uso diversificado, muitos indivíduo...

A replicate evaluation of increased micronucleus (MN) frequencies in peripheral lymphocytes of workers occupationally exposed to formaldehyde (FA) was undertaken to verify the observed effect and to determine scoring variability. May-Grünwald-Giemsa-stained slides were obtained from a previously performed cytokinesis-block micronucleus test (CBMNT)...

Formaldehyde is classified by the International Agency for Cancer Research as carcinogenic to humans (group 1). Epidemiological studies of occupational exposure have suggested possible links between the concentration and duration of exposure and elevated risks of leukaemia and other cancers, such as nasopharyngeal cancer. The cytokinesis-block micr...

Formaldehyde, classified by the IARC as carcinogenic in humans and experimental animals, is a chemical agent that is widely used in histopathology laboratories. The exposure to this substance is epidemiologically linked to cancer and to nuclear changes detected by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus test (CBMN). This method is extensively used in mo...

According to the Report on Carcinogens, formaldehyde ranks 25th in the overall U.S. chemical production, with more than 5 million tons produced each year. Given its economic importance and widespread use, many people are exposed to formaldehyde environmentally and/or occupationally. Presently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classif...