Transcriptomics in toxicology Joseph, Pius
Food and chemical toxicology,
11/2017, Letnik:
109, Številka:
Pt 1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Xenobiotics, of which many are toxic, may enter the human body through multiple routes. Excessive human exposure to xenobiotics may exceed the body's capacity to defend against the xenobiotic-induced ...toxicity and result in potentially fatal adverse health effects. Prevention of the adverse health effects, potentially associated with human exposure to the xenobiotics, may be achieved by detecting the toxic effects at an early, reversible and, therefore, preventable stage. Additionally, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the toxicity may be helpful in preventing and/or managing the ensuing adverse health effects. Human exposures to a large number of xenobiotics are associated with hepatotoxicity or pulmonary toxicity. Global gene expression changes taking place in biological systems, in response to exposure to xenobiotics, may represent the early and mechanistically relevant cellular events contributing to the onset and progression of xenobiotic-induced adverse health outcomes. Hepatotoxicity and pulmonary toxicity resulting from exposure to xenobiotics are discussed as specific examples to demonstrate the potential application of transcriptomics or global gene expression analysis in the prevention of adverse health effects associated with exposure to xenobiotics.
Since the burst of sales of electric vehicles in the world market, there have been frequently reported fire accidents throughout the globe. These accidents have led into the demise of occupants and ...vehicles which demoralize end-users. Herein, an extensive review of the thermal hazards of Li-ion battery and effective safety strategies toward eradicating the danger of thermal runaway is elucidated. First, the mechanism of thermal runaway (TR) and its associated chain reactions such as the breakdown of SEI layer, a reaction between anode/electrolyte, breakdown of electrolyte, a reaction between electrodes, etc. which in turn, generates enormous heat energy and variety species of flammable gases, is explained. In pack level, the main concern is the propagation of TR to the adjacent batteries inside the module and between modules. The propagation events transmit thermic consequences to adjacent batteries and, finally, catastrophically damage the battery pack. Thus, to reduce the thermal hazard of Lithium-ion battery, adequate measures have been reviewed, such as usage of thermally protective separators, safety devices, flame retardants, passive cooling devices, and fire suppressants. To conclude, the main goal here is to provide a better understanding of the TR mechanism and safety strategies toward enhancing the safety of Lithium-ion battery.
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•Overcharge and overheat are the ultimate initiator of the thermal runaway.•Battery additives and material modification enhance safety at a cost of performance.•Improved heat transfer and cutting-off thermal cascading failure secure pack safety.•The ability to stop fire and cool the battery define the best suppressing agent.•The promising materials and technology govern the development of futuristic battery.
A
bstract
Superstring field theory expresses the perturbative S-matrix of superstring theory as a sum of Feynman diagrams each of which is manifestly free from ultraviolet divergences. The ...interaction vertices fall off exponentially for large space-like external momenta making the ultraviolet finiteness property manifest, but blow up exponentially for large time-like external momenta making it impossible to take the integration contours for loop energies to lie along the real axis. This forces us to carry out the integrals over the loop energies by choosing appropriate contours in the complex plane whose ends go to infinity along the imaginary axis but which take complicated form in the interior navigating around the various poles of the propagators. We consider the general class of quantum field theories with this property and prove Cutkosky rules for the amplitudes to all orders in perturbation theory. Besides having applications to string field theory, these results also give an alternative derivation of Cutkosky rules in ordinary quantum field theories.
An ongoing outbreak of exceptionally virulent Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 centered in Germany, has caused over 830 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and 46 deaths ...since May 2011. Serotype O104:H4, which has not been detected in animals, has rarely been associated with HUS in the past. To prospectively elucidate the unique characteristics of this strain in the early stages of this outbreak, we applied whole genome sequencing on the Life Technologies Ion Torrent PGM™ sequencer and Optical Mapping to characterize one outbreak isolate (LB226692) and a historic O104:H4 HUS isolate from 2001 (01-09591). Reference guided draft assemblies of both strains were completed with the newly introduced PGM™ within 62 hours. The HUS-associated strains both carried genes typically found in two types of pathogenic E. coli, enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). Phylogenetic analyses of 1,144 core E. coli genes indicate that the HUS-causing O104:H4 strains and the previously published sequence of the EAEC strain 55989 show a close relationship but are only distantly related to common EHEC serotypes. Though closely related, the outbreak strain differs from the 2001 strain in plasmid content and fimbrial genes. We propose a model in which EAEC 55989 and EHEC O104:H4 strains evolved from a common EHEC O104:H4 progenitor, and suggest that by stepwise gain and loss of chromosomal and plasmid-encoded virulence factors, a highly pathogenic hybrid of EAEC and EHEC emerged as the current outbreak clone. In conclusion, rapid next-generation technologies facilitated prospective whole genome characterization in the early stages of an outbreak.
Cadmium (Cd), a heavy metal of considerable occupational and environmental concern, has been classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The ...carcinogenic potential of Cd as well as the mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis following exposure to Cd has been studied using
in vitro cell culture and
in vivo animal models. Exposure of cells to Cd results in their transformation. Administration of Cd in animals results in tumors of multiple organs/tissues. Also, a causal relationship has been noticed between exposure to Cd and the incidence of lung cancer in human. It has been demonstrated that Cd induces cancer by multiple mechanisms and the most important among them are aberrant gene expression, inhibition of DNA damage repair, induction of oxidative stress, and inhibition of apoptosis. The available evidence indicates that, perhaps, oxidative stress plays a central role in Cd carcinogenesis because of its involvement in Cd-induced aberrant gene expression, inhibition of DNA damage repair, and apoptosis.
Hospital and urban effluents contain a variety of toxic and/or persistent substances in a wide range of concentrations, and most of these compounds belong to the group of emerging contaminants. The ...release of these substances into the aquatic ecosystem can lead to the pollution of water resources and may place aquatic organisms and human health at risk. Sediments receiving untreated and urban effluent waters from the city of Tiruchirappalli in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, are analyzed for potential environmental and human health risks. The sediment samples were collected from five hospital outlet pipes (HOP) and from the Cauvery River Basin (CRB) both of which receive untreated municipal effluent waters (Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India). The samples were characterized for grain size, organic matter, toxic metals, and ecotoxicity. The results highlight the high concentration of toxic metals in HOP, reaching values (mg kg
−1
) of 1851 (Cr), 210 (Cu), 986 (Zn), 82 (Pb), and 17 (Hg). In contrast, the metal concentrations in sediments from CRB were lower than the values found in the HOP (except for Cu, Pb), with maximum values (mg kg
−1
) of 75 (Cr), 906 (Cu), 649 (Zn), 111 (Pb), and 0.99 (Hg). The metal concentrations in all sampling sites largely exceed the Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs) and the Probable Effect Concentration (PEC) for the Protection of Aquatic Life recommendation. The ecotoxicity test with ostracods exposed to the sediment samples presents a mortality rate ranging from 22 to 100 % (in sediments from HOP) and 18–87 % (in sediments from CRB). The results of this study show the variation of toxic metal levels as well as toxicity in sediment composition related to both the type of hospital and the sampling period. The method of elimination of hospital and urban effluents leads to the pollution of water resources and may place aquatic organisms and human health at risk.
Each chapter concentrates on a specific question about a theoretical concept or a word formation process in a particular language and adopts a theoretical framework that is appropriate to the study ...of this question. From general theoretical concepts of productivity and lexicalization, the focus moves to terminology, compounding, and derivation. The theoretical frameworks that are used include Jackendoff’s Conceptual Structure, Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, Lieber’s lexical semantic approach to word formation, Pustejovsky’s Generative Lexicon, Beard’s Lexeme-Morpheme-Base Morphology, and the onomasiological approach to terminology and word formation. An extensive introduction gives a historical overview of the study of the semantics of word formation and lexicalization, explaining how the different theoretical frameworks used in the contributions relate to each other.
This paper analyses whether or not democracy insulates a country from the problematic impacts of oil or to what extent oil-based development challenges are produced and manifest differently in a ...democratic polity. Document analysis, descriptive statistics and interviews data are used to analyse the impact of oil on economic growth, currency movement, debt and governance in Ghana. Relying on actor network theory ideas on networks, enrolment and association, this paper argues that the problematic impacts of oil are conditioned and shaped by a ‘globalised assemblage’ – interactions between and among Ghanaian state institutions and local politics, external global political economy and transnational companies and technologies. Global initiatives and national competitive politics made the government responsive in using windfalls in providing social services. Deep-seated extant political and economic structural challenges and Ghana's political economy conditioned the problematic impacts of oil, but the challenges’ directionality is not pre-determined and have spatial dimensions.
•Natural resources can be problematic even in a democratic setting.•Democratic polity can however partly mitigate the problematic impacts.•The curse is conditioned by a globalised assemblage – actors, structures and agencies.•Directionality of the curse is not pre-determined.•There are spatiality in the problematic impact of natural resources.
Food protein aggregation and its application Zhu, Zongshuai; Pius Bassey, Anthony; Cao, Yaqi ...
Food research international,
October 2022, 2022-10-00, 20221001, Letnik:
160
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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•Fibrosis aggregation is one of the main forms of food protein aggregates (PAs).•Particle size and appearance analysis are the main PAs evaluation methods.•PAs is affected by various ...factors including pH, ionic strength, oxidation, etc.•Applications of PAs in food, research challenges and outlook are summarized.
The phenomenon of protein aggregation in food science is very common, but the formation mechanism is unclear. The formation of protein aggregates (PAs) is influenced by various factors, and aggregates with different sizes and shapes play an important role in food systems. Although there have been many reports on food PAs, many challenges still need to be addressed, and a systematic literature review is lacking. Thus, hypotheses about the PAs formation mechanism were summarized, and the fibrosis aggregates formation mechanism was described. The main findings of this paper indicate that the forces driving protein aggregation are covalent and non-covalent cross-linking interactions. The determination of PAs is mainly based on protein particle size combined with multispectral methods. PAs are not only associated with protein functional properties (such as emulsion and gel) but also related to harmful substances (such as advanced glycation end products, AGEs) formation. Finally, the applications of PAs in food science were summarized. Outlook and challenges were described from the perspectives of food processing conditions and parameters, food components and their interactions, food nutrition and health relationships, etc. This review will attract more food scientists to participate in related research on protein aggregation in the future.
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