Subjects and methods: A clinical trial study was conducted on 70 workers in some military factories with the evidence of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in their blood from October 2014 to April 2015. The non-specific detoxification method had been applied according to the scientific principle of the Hubbard method for 3 weeks.
Trang 1STUDY ON CHANGING CONCENTRATION OF TNT AND SOME CYTOKINES IN WORKERS OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED TO TNT AFTER NON-SPECIFIC DETOXIFICATION TREATMENT
Nguyen Kien Cuong*; Nguyen Phuc Thai*; Do Phuong Huong**
Nguyen Xuan Kien***; Nguyen Minh Phuong****
SUMMARY
Subjects and methods: A clinical trial study was conducted on 70 workers in some military factories with the evidence of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in their blood from October 2014 to April
2015 The non-specific detoxification method had been applied according to the scientific principle of the Hubbard method for 3 weeks Results : Mean TNT concentration before
treatment was 0.150 (µg/mL) and reduced sharply down to 0.0154 (µg/mL) after treatment The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05) Mean concentration of erythropoietin (EPO) pre-treatment was 676.629 (pg/mL) and rose 792.44 (pg/mL) after the treatment (p < 0.05) Mean erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) before treatment was 4574.23 (pg/mL) and increased up
to 5982.89 (pg/mL) after treatment, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05) Mean concentration of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) was 395.46 (pg/mL) before treatment and reached 621.12 (pg/mL) after the detoxification (p < 0.05)
* Keywords: TNT; Detoxification; Occupational exposure; Women; Erythropoietin; Erythropoietin receptor; Interferon gamma
INTRODUCTION
Trinitrotoluene has been widely used in
the defense with the large number of
workers directly exposed to TNT Until now,
there is no specific detoxification treatment
for TNT TNT not only damages the blood
cells in bone marrow and periferal [11] but
also inhibites the body's immune system
[4] Prophylaxis of occupational TNT toxicity
plays an important role in ensuring the
health of workers exposed to TNT
L.Ron Hubbard has successfully
researched and applied non-specific
detoxification method to a variety of lipid-soluble chemicals such as chlorobenzo-cyclic hydrocarbons (PCBs…), heavy metals (lead, mercury), etc However, this method has not been conducted for the detoxification
of TNT, one kind of lipid soluble chemicals
If the nonspecific detoxification for the TNT workers is effective, how will it affect some cytokines that plays an important role in hematopoietic and immune stimulation system? From these reasons,
we conducted a study with a view to:
Evaluating TNT, EPO, EPOR and IFN-γ
* Mlitary Institute of Preventive Medicine
** 103 Military Hospital
*** Military Medicine Department
**** Vietnam Military Medical University
Corresponding author: Nguyen Minh Phuong (phuongk21@gmail.com)
Date received: 06/07/2017 Date accepted: 18/08/2017
Trang 2level after treatment with non-specific
detoxification which applied Hubbard's
scientific principles The results will
contribute to assess therapeutic effects of
non-specific detoxification for TNT exposure
workers
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
1 Subjects
- 70 workers work for some military
plants, directly exposed to TNT, with the
evidence of TNT in their blood
- Workers had been selected with no
chronic diseases such as diabetes, high
blood pressure, etc… and no acute diseases
that needs to be cured
- Volunteer to participate in this research
- Workers were treated with
non-specific detoxification at Detox Center,
Military Hospital 103 for 3 weeks The
research was conducted from October,
2014 to April, 2015
2 Methods
- Methodology of clinical trial, evaluation pre-and post-intervention, with the permission from the Ethics Board of
103 Military Hospital
- Assessment of changes in TNT, EPO, EPOR and IFN-γ levels before and after non-specific detoxification treatment Non-specific detoxification process consists of 3 following key contents: Running exercise in 30 minutes before the dried sauna for 2.5 hours right after exercise All the workers had been supplied niacin and mineral salt, water, vitamins A, D, C, E, B and vegetable oil (unsaturated fatty acids)
- Data had been analyzed by SPSS software Comparison of mean values of TNT, EPO, EPOR and IFN-γ before and after treatment
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1 Characteristics of the subjects
Table 1: Characteristics of the research subjects
Subjects (n = 70) Characteristics
- The average age of the participants was 42.02 ± 6.26 They are all exposed to TNT and they have no signs of occupational TNT toxicity In fact, they can be considered as healthy people
- The proportion of female and male workers accounted for 51.4%, and 48.6%,
respectively The rate of women in our study is basically consistent with the proportion
of women labour structure in the Red River Delta (50.6%) [1]
Trang 32 Changes in blood TNT concentration before and after treatment
Table 2: Blood TNT concentration pre- and post-treatment
Blood TNT
(µg/mL)
Before treatment (n = 70)
After treatment (n = 70)
The plasma TNT level before treatment
was 0.150 (µg/mL), after detoxification
TNT concentration reduced sharply to
0.0154 (µg/mL) The difference was
statistically significant (p < 0.05)
The highest TNT level before treatment
was 0.51 µg/mL and after treatment was
0.16 µg/mL
The results showed that the effects of
detoxification for TNT were well-activated
According to the science principles of
Hubbard methodology, toxins accumulate in
the lipid organization were excreted from
the body by doing exercise, sauna and
mobilizing lipid metabolism, which
accelerates TNT clearance more rapidly
than TNT's natural metabolic pathway
Niacin (vitamin B3) boosts the release of free fatty acids, which stimulates the release of accumulated xenobiotics in the fats and allows them to be excreted through the skin [6]
Reports on TNT dynamics in humans are still very rare It was observed that after 17 days of leaving the working environment, the presence of
dinitroaminotoluene (one metabolic of TNT) was still observed in the urine at 0.06 mg/L (Woolen BH et al, 1986) This indicated that TNT and its metabolites eliminated relatively slow in humans [12]
The results of our study revealed that TNT still accumulated in the body after 3 weeks
of leaving the working environment
3 Changes in some cytokines before and after treatment
Table 3: EPO changes before and after the treatment
(n = 70)
After treatment (n = 70)
p < 0.05
Mean EPO levels before and after
treatment were 676.629 pg/mL and
792.44 pg/mL, respectively The difference
was statistically significant (p < 0.05)
The increase in EPO level after
exercise has been well documented
Which mechanism that regulates and mobilizes hematopoietic cells after exercise are still unknown clearly Kidney is a major EPO production site, EPO deficiency
is commonly observed in people with anemia such as renal failure Experimental
Trang 4study by Baker et al (2011) showed that in
trained muscle groups, there was an
increase in the expression level of the
EPO up to 93% [2]
In bone marrow, EPO binds to its
receptor (EPOR) which is expressed on
the surface of erythroid progenitors, where
it stimulates the proliferation and suppresses
the apoptosis of newly formed cells
Under hypoxia, EPO gene transcription is
activated, resulting in an increase in EPO
level in the circulation, afterward EPO
binds to its specific receptor on the
surface of erythroid precursors in the
bone marrow, initiate the JAK2 (Janus
kiansse 2) signal pathway, and increase
the number of red blood cells
EPO is known to play a role in blood
vessels protection by acting on endothelial
cells and smooth muscle cells in blood
vessels through the mechanism of inhibiting apoptosis or by stimulating the production Nitric oxide and vasodilatation enhancement [10] From our point of view, due to the vasodilatation effect that was made by the combination of EPO and niacin during the treatment, therefore enhance the removal of toxins from the body It can be said that the enhancement
of EPO after the detoxification provides positive protective effects
We suggested that an increasing EPO after treatment is possibly due to the effects
of sauna, high temperature increasing vassolidation, leads to increase blood flow through the skin Therefore, it can reduce oxygen-carrying blood flow to organs especially the kidneys, which activates the kidneys to boost the production of EPO by reverse-regulating mechanism
Table 4: EPOR changes before and after the treatment
(n = 70)
After treatment (n = 70)
The average EPOR pre-treatment level was 4574.23 pg/mL, increased to 5982.89 pg/mL
after the treatment, statistically significant differences (p < 0.05)
EPOR is produced by lack of oxygen and leads to an increase in EPO sensitivities
The interaction between EPO and EPOR creates biological effects To the best of our
knowledge, the increase in the concentration of EPO and EPO receptors synergizes
and promotes the biological effect of EPO
Table 5: IFN-γ changes before and after the treatment
(n = 70)
After treatment (n = 70)
p < 0.05
Trang 5Mean IFN-γ level after treatment is
higher than that before treatment Prior to
treatment, the average IFN-γ level was
395.46 pg/mL After treatment, mean IFN-γ
level rose to 621.12 pg/mL, the difference
was statistically significant (p < 0.05)
The increase in IFN-γ level after
non-specific detoxification may be due to the
use of some vitamins, including the role of
vitamin E and vitamin A during treatment
Vitamin E has been shown to increase the
CD4/CD8 ratio Moreover, rising IFN-γ
production has been demonstrated in
patients with colorectal cancer using
vitamin E to enhance immunity [8]
Vitamin E has been known as
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant abilities, the
use of vitamin E in treatment is quite
widespread and common Because of the
anti-free radical effect, vitamin E plays a
significant role in treating many diseases
of various organs in the body [9]
In our opinion, the increase in IFN-γ
level after non-specific treatment is not
only the role of vitamins, but also the role
of heat stimulation due to sauna and the
effect of exercise In experiment, it was
found that hyperthermia increased the
ability of inhibition tumor growth, enhancing
the survivor time of animal with experimental
tumors [5] After a moderate exercise, M
Baum (1997) reported an increase in IFN-γ
level among participants, an IFN-γ
concentration of 974 pg/mL (before
practicing) increased to 1,450 pg/mL after
24 hours of doing exercise
Therefore, from the findings of our study
on changes in IFN-γ levels before and
after non-specific detoxification based on
the Hubbard method, it can be said that
non-specific detoxification applied Hubbard method including combined exercises, sauna and vitamins supplementation is effective to stimulate immune system and enhance the body's resistance
CONCLUSION
TNT level before treatment was 0.150 µg/mL, and reduced sharply to
0.0154 µg/mL after treatment The difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05)
Mean concentration of EPO pre-treatment were 676.629 pg/mL and rosed
up to 792.44 pg/mL after the treatment (p < 0.05)
Mean EPOR before treatment was 4574.23 pg/mL and increased to 5982.89 pg/mL after treatment, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05)
Mean concentration of IFN-γ were 395.46 pg/mL before treatment and increased up to 621.12 pg/mL after the detoxification (p < 0.05)
RECOMMENDATIONS
Step by step to do research on non-specific TNT detoxification method at military medicine at baseline in military factories, workers exposed to TNT should
be periodically treated by non-specific detoxification to protect and promote their
health
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