Risk Perception and COVID-19 Cori, Liliana; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Cadum, Ennio ...
International journal of environmental research and public health,
04/2020, Letnik:
17, Številka:
9
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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The call for articles for the
Special Issue "Research about risk perception in the Environmental Health domain" was proposed at the beginning of 2020 as part of multidisciplinary efforts to ...understand the complex interactions between people and the environment ....
Arsenic is a human carcinogen with weak mutagenic properties that induces tumors through mechanisms not yet completely understood. People worldwide are exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water, ...and epidemiological studies showed a high percentage of lung, bladder, liver, and kidney cancer in these populations. Several mechanisms by which arsenical compounds induce tumorigenesis were proposed including genotoxic damage and chromosomal abnormalities. Over the past decade, a growing body of evidence indicated that epigenetic modifications have a role in arsenic-inducing adverse effects on human health. The main epigenetic mechanisms are DNA methylation in gene promoter regions that regulate gene expression, histone tail modifications that regulate the accessibility of transcriptional machinery to genes, and microRNA activity (noncoding RNA able to modulate mRNA translation). The “double capacity” of arsenic to induce mutations and epimutations could be the main cause of arsenic-induced carcinogenesis. The aim of this review is to better clarify the mechanisms of the initiation and/or the promotion of arsenic-induced carcinogenesis in order to understand the best way to perform an early diagnosis and a prompt prevention that is the key point for protecting arsenic-exposed population. Studies on arsenic-exposed population should be designed in order to examine more comprehensively the presence and consequences of these genetic/epigenetic alterations.
The adverse health effects of exposure to air pollutants, notably to particulate matter (PM), are well-known, as well as the association with measured or estimated concentration levels. The role of ...perception can be relevant in exploring effects and pollution control actions. The purpose of this study was to explore studies that analyse people's perception, together with the measurement of air pollution, in order to elucidate the relationship between them. We conducted a systematic review in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. In March 2020, PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases were explored in an attempt to search for studies published from 2000 to 2020. The review included 38 studies, most of which were conducted in China (
= 13) and the United States (
= 11) and published over the last four years (
= 26). Three studies were multicenter investigations, while five articles were based on a national-level survey. The air quality (AQ) was assessed by monitoring stations (
= 24) or dispersion models (
= 7). Many studies were population questionnaire-based, air monitoring and time-series studies, and web-based investigations. A direct association between exposure and perception emerged in 20 studies. This systematic review has shown that most of the studies establish a relationship between risk perception measurement. A broad spectrum of concepts and notions related to perception also emerged, which is undoubtedly an indicator of the wealth of available knowledge and is promising for future research.
COVID-19 and Thyroid: Progress and Prospects Gorini, Francesca; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Iervasi, Giorgio
International journal of environmental research and public health,
09/2020, Letnik:
17, Številka:
18
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has rapidly spread worldwide. A number of serious effects on various ...organs and systems have been reported in humans, and recently emerging evidence on the potential association between the infection and thyroid dysfunction are attracting attention from the scientific community. This editorial critically summarizes the main findings on this topic published so far and defines research lines according to the translational approach from the bench to the bed to epidemiological studies and back again, aimed at patient care and effective public health measures.
Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of global cancer-related mortality in women, necessitating accurate tumor classification for timely intervention. Molecular and histological factors, including ...PAM50 classification, estrogen receptor α (ERα), breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein (BRCA1), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 expression, contribute to intricate BC subtyping. In this work, through a combination of bioinformatic and wet lab screenings, followed by classical signal transduction and cell proliferation methods, and employing multiple BC cell lines, we identified enhanced sensitivity of ERα-positive BC cell lines to ALK and MELK inhibitors, inducing ERα degradation and diminishing proliferation in specific BC subtypes. MELK inhibition attenuated ERα transcriptional activity, impeding E2-induced gene expression, and hampering proliferation in MCF-7 cells. Synergies between MELK inhibition with 4OH-tamoxifen (Tam) and ALK inhibition with HER2 inhibitors revealed potential therapeutic avenues for ERα-positive/PR-positive/HER2-negative and ERα-positive/PR-negative/HER2-positive tumors, respectively. Our findings propose MELK as a promising target for ERα-positive/PR-positive/HER2-negative BC and highlight ALK as a potential focus for ERα-positive/PR-negative/HER2-positive BC. The synergistic anti-proliferative effects of MELK with Tam and ALK with HER2 inhibitors underscore kinase inhibitors' potential for selective treatment in diverse BC subtypes, paving the way for personalized and effective therapeutic strategies in BC management.
We give an example of a family of endomorphisms of \mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{C}) whose Julia set depends continuously on the parameter and whose bifurcation locus has non-empty interior.
Abstract
Background
Atmospheric pollution has been recognized as the greatest environmental threat to human health. The population of the Venafro Valley, southern Italy, is exposed to emissions from ...a Waste-To-Energy (WTE) and a cement plant and potentially also to another WTE located in the neighboring region of Lazio; also, the vehicular atmospheric pollution situation is critical. In order to assess the environmental health risk of residents in eight municipalities of the Venafro Valley, a retrospective residential cohort study during 2006–2019 was carried out.
Methods
Four exposure classes were defined by natural-break method, using a dispersion map of nitrogen dioxides (chosen as proxy of industrial pollution). The association between the industrial pollution and cause-specific mortality/morbidity of the cohort was calculated using the Hazard Ratio (HR) through a multiple time-dependent and sex-specific Cox regression adjusting for age, proximity to main roads and socio-economic deprivation index.
Results
Results showed, for both sexes, mortality and morbidity excesses in the most exposed class for diseases of the circulatory system and some signals for respiratory diseases. Particularly, mortality excesses in both sexes in class 3 for diseases of the circulatory system men: HR = 1.37 (1.04–1.79); women: HR = 1.27 (1.01–1.60) and for cerebrovascular diseases men: HR = 2.50 (1.44–4.35); women: HR = 1.41 (0.92–2.17) were observed and confirmed by morbidity analyses. Mortality excesses for heart diseases for both sexes men-class 3: HR = 1.32 (0.93–1.87); men-class 4: HR = 1.95 (0.99–3.85); women-class 3: HR = 1.49 (1.10–2.04) and for acute respiratory diseases among women HR = 2.31 (0.67-8.00) were observed. Morbidity excesses in both sexes for ischemic heart diseases men-class 3: HR = 1.24 (0.96–1.61); women-class 4: HR = 2.04 (1.04–4.02) and in class 4 only among men for respiratory diseases HR = 1.43 (0.88–2.31) were also found.
Conclusions
The present study provides several not-negligible signals indicating mitigation actions and deserve further investigations. For future studies, the authors recommend enriching the exposure and lifestyle profile using tools such as questionnaires and human biomonitoring.
Lung cancer burden is increasing, with 2 million deaths/year worldwide. Current limitations in early detection impede lung cancer diagnosis when the disease is still localized and thus more curable ...by surgery or multimodality treatment. Liquid biopsy is emerging as an important tool for lung cancer early detection and for monitoring therapy response. Here, we reviewed recent advances in liquid biopsy for early diagnosis of lung cancer. We summarized DNA- or RNA-based biomarkers, proteins, autoantibodies circulating in the blood, as well as circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and compared the most promising studies in terms of biomarkers prediction performance. While we observed an overall good performance for the proposed biomarkers, we noticed some critical aspects which may complicate the successful translation of these biomarkers into the clinical setting. We, therefore, proposed a roadmap for successful development of lung cancer biomarkers during the discovery, prioritization, and clinical validation phase. The integration of innovative minimally invasive biomarkers in screening programs is highly demanded to augment lung cancer early detection.
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