Carnosinylation of Cardiac Antigens Attenuates Immunogenic Responses and Improves Function in Failing Hearts.

Objective: To investigate the effects of carnosine on heart failure and to examine whether this is associated with reduced immunogenicity of oxidatively-generated aldehyde modified proteins.

Background: Heart failure is associated with the accumulation of lipid derived aldehydes that form immunogenic protein adducts. However, the pathological impact of these aldehydes and aldehyde-modified proteins in heart failure has not been assessed.

Sex differences in the redox response to fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution protects female mice against metabolic and cardiac injury.

Fine particulate matter (PM) exposure increases the cardiometabolic disease risk. While there is extensive research on how PM impairs cardiometabolic health in male mice, its health impact is largely unexplored in females. To examine PM-induced cardiometabolic effects in females, female and male mice (n = 10/group) on a regular (12 h:12 h, RLC) or disturbed (18 h:6 h, DLC) light-dark cycle were exposed to concentrated ambient PM (CAP) for 30 days.

Human exposure to green spaces and monoterpenes: discovery and use of α-pinene metabolites as biomarkers.

Exposure to green spaces has been linked to numerous health benefits, including a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and lower mortality rates. However, to better understand how green spaces influence human health, it is essential to have valid, quantitative measures of greenness exposure. Building on our previous identification of urinary limonene metabolites as potential biomarkers of exposure, we now investigate α-pinene, another abundant plant-emitted monoterpene, to identify and quantify its urinary metabolites and evaluate their suitability as biomarkers.

Associations of sympathetic activation with exposure to volatile organic compounds: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous gaseous chemicals emitted from multiple sources and present in both indoor and outdoor air. VOC exposures have been linked to detrimental cardiometabolic effects; nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between VOC exposure and sympathetic activation.

Greenness and pollution exposure predict corticosterone concentration in an urban songbird.

Air pollution is known to negatively affect avian health, and some air pollutants have been suggested to drive changes in bird population size at a regional level. Although several studies have investigated the effect of air pollution on bird health, how air pollution exposure is associated with avian physiology at a local scale is not known. Moreover, the extent to which avian health may be affected by vegetation, which modulates pollutant deposition and dispersion, has not been assessed.

Mucosal and Serum Neutralization Immune Responses Elicited by COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Vaccinated and Breakthrough-Infection Individuals: A Longitudinal Study from Louisville Cohort.

: The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in 777 million cases worldwide. Various vaccines have been approved to control the spread of COVID-19, with mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) being widely used in the USA. We conducted a prospective longitudinal study to analyze the immune response elicited by two/three and four doses of monovalent mRNA vaccines in both vaccinated individuals and those who experienced breakthrough infections.

Clustering analysis of volatile organic compound biomarkers with tobacco exposure and the association with cardiovascular health outcomes in an observation study cohort.

Introduction: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are toxic compounds found in tobacco smoke. Despite research on cigarette generated single VOCs, scant evidence exists on the mixtures of VOCs associated with different tobacco products. We aimed to explore whether distinct VOC exposure profiles exist among users of combustible cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and non-users, and to assess their associations with cardiovascular (CV) health markers.

Simultaneous profiling of mercapturic acids, glucuronic acids, and sulfates in human urine.

Humans are constantly exposed to both naturally-occurring and anthropogenic chemicals. Targeted mass spectrometry approaches are frequently used to measure a small panel of chemicals and their metabolites in environmental or biological matrices, but methods for comprehensive individual-level exposure assessment are limited. In this study, we applied an integrated library-guided analysis (ILGA) with ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) to profile phase II metabolites, specifically mercapturic acids (MAs), glucuronic acids (GAs), and sulfates (SAs) in human urine samples (n = 844).

Perceived Benefits of Nature in Diverse Populations.

The relationship between socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and health effects of green spaces has been studied, suggesting that certain groups may reap more health benefits from exposure to nature. However, the link between the perceived benefits of nature and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics remains a gap in the literature. We used a subsample ( = 711, 2018-2019) from an environmental cardiovascular risk cohort to investigate the perceived benefits of nature.

Acute and Persistent Cardiovascular Effects of Menthol E-Cigarettes in Mice.

Background: Although e-cigarettes provide an alternative to conventional smoking, the cardiovascular impacts of e-cigarette use are unresolved. The popularity of menthol e-cigarettes has surged recently and may escalate further with bans on combustible menthol cigarettes and e-cigarette flavors other than menthol and tobacco. Despite recent evidence in mice that menthol e-cigarettes acutely induce cardiac arrhythmias, the impacts of repeated menthol e-cigarette use on cardiovascular function and the cardiac proteome remain unclear.

Association Between Residential Greenness and Risk of Stroke by Ecoregions: The REGARDS Study.

Background: Living in areas with more greenness has been associated with beneficial health outcomes. However, few studies have examined associations of greenness with incidence of stroke, and it is unclear how these associations may vary with the type of vegetation and surrounding ecology. This study evaluated associations between greenness and incidence of stroke by the major ecological regions in the United States.

Association of e-cigarette use, psychological distress, and substance use: Insights from the All of Us Research Program.

Background/aim: Understanding the social context of e-cigarette use in the United States (U.S.) remains a high priority.

E-cigarette Use and Incident Cardiometabolic Conditions in the All of Us Research Program.

Introduction: Although several potential respiratory and cardiovascular health effects of e-cigarettes have been reported, their association with incident cardiometabolic conditions remains unclear.

Aims And Methods: We used longitudinal data from the All of Us research program to investigate the association between current exclusive e-cigarette use (EE), exclusive combustible cigarette use (ECC), and dual use (DU) with incident cardiometabolic conditions, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure (HF), and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), using Cox regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, and body mass index. ECC use was used as a positive control to validate our methodology and findings.

Association Between Cigarette Smoking and Subclinical Markers of Cardiovascular Harm.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular harm.

Objectives: The study sought to explore the detailed relationships between smoking intensity, pack-years, and time since cessation with inflammation, thrombosis, and subclinical atherosclerosis markers of cardiovascular harm.

Methods: We included 182,364 participants (mean age 58.

An environmental vulnerability index framework supporting targeted public health interventions at the census tracts level.

Background: Analyzing and visualizing disparities in environmental risks can help assess place-based vulnerabilities and provide civic leaders and community members with essential data for promoting health equity and informing public health strategies.

Objective: We investigated the adaptation of a previously developed environmental vulnerability index to evaluate the cumulative impact of diverse stressors in Louisville Metro-Jefferson County, KY, with the goal of supporting multi-faceted targeted public health interventions at the census tract level.

Methods: We assessed countywide vulnerability variability using the Toxicological Prioritization Index interface across five domains with 32 publicly available data indicators, and modeled the effects of theoretical public health interventions.

Identifying Patterns of Tobacco Use and Associated Cardiovascular Disease Risk Through Machine Learning Analysis of Urine Biomarkers.

Background: Tobacco use remains a leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost in the United States. Cardiovascular harm varies by tobacco product type and usage patterns, yet reliable methods for assessing exposure and harm across different products, especially novel tobacco products, are limited.

Objectives: The authors aimed to identify distinct biomarker exposure patterns associated with different tobacco products using cluster analysis and validate this approach through longitudinal analysis of cardiovascular disease risk.

Carnosine supplementation improves cognitive outcomes in younger participants of the NEAT trial.

Some prior studies suggested that supplementation with carnosine or β-alanine can improve cognitive abilities and neurodegenerative disorders in certain elderly or at-risk populations. However, the efficacy of carnosine in improving cognitive performance in a healthy, adult population has not been assessed. We examined this as a post-hoc secondary outcome in the placebo-controlled, randomized Nucleophilic Defense Against PM Toxicity (NEAT) clinical trial (NCT03314987).

Differential Associations of Cigar, Pipe, and Smokeless Tobacco Use Versus Combustible Cigarette Use With Subclinical Markers of Inflammation, Thrombosis, and Atherosclerosis: The Cross-Cohort Collaboration-Tobacco Working Group.

Background: Understanding the associations of tobacco product use with subclinical markers is essential in evaluating health effects to inform regulatory policy. This is particularly relevant for noncigarette products (eg, cigars, pipes, and smokeless tobacco), which have been understudied because of their low prevalence in individual cohorts.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 98 450 participants from the Cross-Cohort Collaboration-Tobacco data set.

Correction: Smoking is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, disease severity, and mortality among patients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infections.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

High-throughput UPLC-ESI/MSMS method for simultaneous measurement of the urinary metabolites of volatile organic compounds and tobacco alkaloids.

Human exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) poses significant health risks, contributing to cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer. Measurement of VOC metabolites (VOCm) in urine by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is a preferred method for VOCm analysis; however, existing methods encounter challenges related to sensitivity, throughput, and analyte coverage. In addition to VOCm, the measurement of tobacco alkaloids (TAm) is critical to account for tobacco use in population-based studies.

Cigar, Pipe, and Smokeless Tobacco Use and Cardiovascular Outcomes From Cross Cohort Collaboration.

Importance: Cardiovascular health outcomes associated with noncigarette tobacco products (cigar, pipe, and smokeless tobacco) remain unclear, yet such data are required for evidence-based regulation.

Objective: To investigate the association of noncigarette tobacco products with cardiovascular health outcomes.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study was conducted within the Cross Cohort Collaboration Tobacco Working Group by harmonizing tobacco-related data and conducting a pooled analysis from 15 US-based prospective cohorts with data on the use of at least 1 noncigarette tobacco product ranging between 1948 and 2015.

Smoking-associated electrocardiographic abnormalities predict cardiovascular mortality.

Background -Smoking is associated with arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death, but the biological mechanisms remain unclear. In electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings abnormal durations of ventricular repolarization (QT interval), atrial depolarization (P wave), and atrioventricular depolarization (PR interval and segment), predict cardiac arrhythmia and mortality. Previous analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database for associations between smoking and ECG abnormalities were incomplete.