## 3 Results
Statistical comparison, made separately for exposed workers and controls, did not show differences between the wild-type subjects and those with allelic variants for all the parameters considered, with the exception of the frequency of spontaneous MN, that was found to be higher in subjects with allelic variants in _XRCC1_ as compared to wild-type, but only in the exposed workers group (\(p\) = 0.046) (Table 7). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**General Characteristics** & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**EXPOSED WORKERS**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**CONTROLS**} \\ \cline{2-10}
**and Lifestyle Habits** & **N.** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Median** & **Range** & **N.** & **Mean \(\pm\) SD** & **Median** & **Range** \\ \hline Age & 43 & \(48.0\pm 10.6\) & 44.0 & 35.0-75.0 & 43 & \(47.0\pm 10.4\) & 46.0 & 32.0-68.0 \\ \hline Work at the job (years) & 43 & \(22.0\pm 11.0\) & 18.0 & 6.0-53.0 & - & & & \\ \hline BMI & 43 & \(24.9\pm 3.0\) & 25.1 & 18.9-34.2 & 43 & \(25.6\pm 4.6\) & 25.6 & 17.6-40.6 \\ \hline Sex & & & & & & & \\ \hline - Male & 32 & 74.4\% & & 27 & 62.8\% & & \\ \hline - Female & 11 & 25.6\% & & 16 & 37.2\% & & \\ \hline Residence & & & & & & & \\ \hline - Urban & 38 & 88.4\% & & 41 & 95.3\% & & \\ \hline - Rural & 5 & 11.6\% & & 2 & 4.7\% & & \\ \hline Smoking habit & & & & & & & \\ \hline - Non smoker & 20 & 46.5\% & & 23 & 53.5\% & & \\ \hline - Smoker & 12 & 27.9\% & & 12 & 27.9\% & & \\ \hline - Ex smoker & 11 & 25.6\% & & 8 & 18.6\% & & \\ \hline - N. cigarettes/day & 12 & \(11.2\pm 5.8\) & 10.0 & 5.0-20.0 & 12 & \(16.8\pm 10.0\) & 14.5 & 3.0-40.0 \\ \hline - Packs/year & 23 & \(15.7\pm 10.0\) & 12.0 & 5.0–44.0 & 20 & \(15.6\pm 18.0\) & 8.4 & 1.0-76.0 \\ \hline Weekly alcohol & & & & & & & \\ consumption & & & & & & & \\ \hline - Teetotal/occaional & 23 & 53.0\% & & 18 & 41.9\% & & \\ drinker & & & & & & & \\ \hline - - \(<\)70 g/week & 6 & 14.0\% & & 10 & 23.3\% & & \\ \hline - 70-200 g/week & 11 & 26.0\% & & 11 & 25.6\% & & \\ \hline - \(>\)200 g/week & 3 & 7.0\% & & 4 & 9.3\% & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: General characteristics and lifestyle habits of exposed workers and controls. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Enzymes**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Genes**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Polymorphisms**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Genotype**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**EXPOSED WORKERS**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**CONTRO S**} \\ \cline{5-8}  & & & **N.** & **\%** & **N.** & **\%** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{DNA repair enzymes} & \multirow{8}{*}{Arg194 Trp} & Arg/Arg & 33 & 82.5 & 36 & 90.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Arg/Trp & 6 & 15.0 & 4 & 10.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Trp/Trp & 1 & 2.5 & 0 & 0.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Arg/Arg & 39 & 97.5 & 30 & 75.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Arg/His & 1 & 2.5 & 9 & 22.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & His/His & 0 & 0.0 & 1 & 2.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Arg/Arg & 18 & 45.0 & 22 & 55.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Arg/Gln & 14 & 35.0 & 12 & 30.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Gln/Gln & 8 & 20.0 & 6 & 15.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Thr/Thr & 14 & 35.0 & 11 & 27.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Thr/Met & 19 & 47.5 & 22 & 55.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Met/Met & 7 & 17.5 & 7 & 17.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Lys/Lys & 13 & 32.5 & 11 & 27.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Lys/Gln & 13 & 32.5 & 20 & 50.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Gln/Gln & 14 & 35.0 & 9 & 22.5 \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Detoxification enzymes} & \multirow{2}{*}{_BLHX_} & A1450G & A/A & 21 & 52.5 & 16 & 40.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & A/G & 17 & 42.5 & 23 & 57.5 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & G/G & 2 & 5.0 & 1 & 2.5 \\ \cline{2-8}  & & Non null & 36 & 90.0 & 32 & 80.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Null & 4 & 10.0 & 8 & 20.0 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & & Non null & 26 & 66.6 & 26 & 66.6 \\ \cline{3-8}  & & Null & 13 & 33.4 & 13 & 33.4 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* \(p=0.007\).  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Distribution in exposed workers and controls of genotypes for DNA repair and detoxification enzymes polymorphisms examined.