Dysregulation of hair-strand-based elemental biodynamics in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare motor neurodegenerative disorder and is predominantly diagnosed in older adults. Altered levels of essential and toxic elements have been implicated in ALS pathophysiology; however, little is known about the longitudinal biodynamic patterns of these elements in patients with ALS.

Methods: Using a single individual hair strand, we generated time series data of 400-800 time points approximately at 2 to 4 hourly resolution on 17 elemental intensities in ALS-positive cases and ALS-negative controls from a national collection and a regional centre in the US (on a total sample of 391, with 295 cases and 96 controls, with median age at hair collection over 60 years).

An exposomics analysis of 125 biomarkers of exposure to food contaminants and biomarkers of oxidative stress: a randomized cross-over chrononutrition trial of healthy adults.

Background: Contaminants in food counteract the beneficial effects of nutrients by interfering with their absorption/distribution/metabolism/excretion characteristics and implicated in chronic disease pathogenesis. The CIRCA CHEM chrononutrition trial was used to expand and replicate its earlier results from two biomarkers of exposure to pesticides to 125 biomarkers of exposure to food contaminants/xenobiotics, using exposomics.

Objectives: We determined i) the effect of time restricted eating (TRE) consumption of fruits and vegetables either in light or dark phases of the 24-h period (five-a-day portions for 14 days), within ad libitum diet on 125 biomarkers of exposure to food-associated contaminants in healthy adults, ii) the chrono-metabolism patterns in biomarker concentrations across/within treatment phases (light vs dark); and iii) the contaminants associated with oxidative stress, including 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal mercapturic acid (HNEMA) and 8-iso prostaglandin F2α (F2A8IP).

Dentin Metal and Trace Elements in Deciduous Teeth: Findings from Project Viva.

Deciduous teeth can reveal historical exposure to metals, yet their distribution within populations remains underexplored. This study aimed to characterize metal levels in deciduous teeth, compare measurements across duplicate teeth, and assess associations with maternal blood metal concentrations during pregnancy, while considering maternal and child characteristics. We recruited women into Project Viva between 1999 and 2002 during early pregnancy.

Categorizing Concentration Confidence: A Framework for Reporting Concentration Measures from Mass Spectrometry-Based Assays.

Background: Innovation in mass spectrometry-based methods to both quantify and perform discovery has blurred the lines between targeted and untargeted assays of biospecimens. Continuous data-concentrations or intensity values generated from both methods-can be used in statistical analysis to determine associations with health outcomes, but concentration values are needed to compare measurements from one study to another to inform policy making decisions and to develop clinically relevant thresholds. As a single solution for discovery and quantitation, new hybrid-type assays derive concentration values for chemicals or metabolites but with varying degrees of uncertainty that may be greater than traditional quantitative assays.

Environmental health disparities in pediatric cancer: a report from the Fourth Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities.

The 4th Symposium on Childhood Cancer Health Disparities was held at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, on September 26, 2023. The symposium registered 94 attendees from different backgrounds (e.g.

Toxic and essential elements in primary teeth and maternal blood during pregnancy: The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the MoBaTooth Biobank.

Background: Maternal exposure to toxic and essential elements can be transferred to the fetus. Deciduous tooth dentine, formed prenatally, serves as a potential biomarker for fetal exposure.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between maternal blood Pb, Mn, Cu, Mo and Zn element concentrations and the corresponding child tooth dentine levels in mid pregnancy.

Identifying critical windows of susceptibility to perinatal lead exposure on child serum vaccine antibody levels.

Background: Mounting evidence suggests that early-life lead exposure alters immune system functions, including T-cell dependent antibody responses to childhood immunizations. However, no studies have identified critical windows of susceptibility to lead exposure.

Aim: To identify perinatal critical windows of lead exposure that are associated with antibody responses to anti-MMR (anti-measles, -mumps, and -rubella virus) and anti-DTP (anti-diphtheria, -tetanus, and -pertussis toxoids) vaccinations in Hispanic school-aged (mean± standard deviation: 4.

Impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals and folic acid supplementation on liver injury and steatosis in mother-child pairs.

Background & Aims: Scarce knowledge about the impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) on steatotic liver disease limits opportunities for intervention. We evaluated pregnancy MDC-mixture associations with liver outcomes, and effect modification by folic acid (FA) supplementation in mother-child pairs.

Methods: We studied ∼200 mother-child pairs from the Mexican PROGRESS cohort, with 43 MDCs measured during pregnancy (estimated air pollutants, blood/urine metals or metalloids, urine high- and low-molecular-weight phthalate [HMWPs, LMWPs] and organophosphate-pesticide metabolites), and serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST) at ∼9 years post-parturition.

attenuates association between specific metal exposures during pregnancy and depressive symptoms in late childhood.

Emerging research suggests that exposures to metals during pregnancy and consequent disruptions in gut microbiome (GM) are associated with depressive disorders in childhood. , a GM bacteria, has been studied for its potential antidepressant effects. However, its role in influencing the association between prenatal metal exposures and depressive symptoms during childhood is unknown.

Association between Exposure to Metals during Pregnancy, Childhood Gut Microbiome, and Risk of Intestinal Inflammation in Late Childhood.

Alterations to the gut microbiome and exposure to metals during pregnancy have been suggested to impact inflammatory bowel disease. Nonetheless, how prenatal exposure to metals eventually results in long-term effects on the gut microbiome, leading to subclinical intestinal inflammation, particularly during late childhood, has not been studied. It is also unknown whether such an interactive effect drives a specific subgroup of children toward elevated susceptibility to intestinal inflammation.

Tracking Childhood Lead Exposure in Early Industrial Romanians.

Childhood lead exposure has been linked to severe adverse health outcomes throughout life. Measurements of lead in teeth have established that individuals living in contaminated environments show higher levels compared to individuals living further away, although less is known about when individuals are most susceptible to these exposures. We examined lead (Pb) concentrations (ppm) in teeth over the first 2.

Metabolism-Disrupting Chemical Mixtures during Pregnancy, Folic Acid Supplementation, and Liver Injury in Mother-Child Pairs.

Background And Aims: Scarce knowledge about the impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) on liver injury limits opportunities for intervention. We evaluated pregnancy MDC-mixture associations with liver injury and effect modification by folic acid (FA) supplementation in mother-child pairs.

Methods: We studied ∼200 mother-child pairs from the Mexican PROGRESS cohort, with measured 43 MDCs during pregnancy (estimated air pollutants, blood/urine metals or metalloids, urine high- and low-molecular-weight phthalate [HMWPs, LMWPs] and organophosphate-pesticide [OP] metabolites), and serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST) at ∼9 years post-parturition.

Brief communication: New method for measuring nitrogen isotopes in tooth dentine at high temporal resolution.

Objectives: Nitrogen isotopes (δN) are widely used to study human nursing and weaning ages. Conventional methods involve sampling 1-mm thick sections of tooth dentine-producing an averaging effect that integrates months of formation. We introduce a novel protocol for measuring δN by multicollector secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).

Early life manganese exposure and reported attention-related behaviors in Italian adolescents.

Background: Manganese (Mn) is an essential nutrient and neurotoxicant, and the neurodevelopmental effects of Mn may depend on exposure timing. Less research has quantitatively compared the impact of Mn exposure on neurodevelopment across exposure periods.

Methods: We used data from 125 Italian adolescents (10-14 years) from the Public Health Impact of Metals Exposure Study to estimate prospective associations of Mn in three early life exposure periods with adolescent attention-related behaviors.

Water, Soil, Noise, and Light Pollution: JACC Focus Seminar, Part 2.

Various forms of pollution carry a substantial burden with respect to increasing the risk of causing and exacerbating noncommunicable diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. The first part of this 2-part series on pollution and cardiovascular disease provided an overview of the impact of global warming and air pollution. This second paper provides an overview of the impact of water, soil, noise, and light pollution on the cardiovascular system.

Environmentally Not So Friendly: Global Warming, Air Pollution, and Wildfires: JACC Focus Seminar, Part 1.

Environmental stresses are increasingly recognized as significant risk factors for adverse health outcomes. In particular, various forms of pollution and climate change are playing a growing role in promoting noncommunicable diseases, especially cardiovascular disease. Given recent trends, global warming and air pollution are now associated with substantial cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Associations between prenatal metal and metalloid mixtures in teeth and reductions in childhood lung function.

Background: Metal(oid)s have been cross-sectionally associated with lung function outcomes in childhood but there is limited data on their combined effects starting in utero. Child sex may further modify these effects.

Objective: Examine associations between in utero and early life exposure to metals assessed via novel dentine biomarkers and childhood lung function and explore effect modification by child sex.

Food, nutrition, and autism: from soil to fork.

Food and nutrition-related factors have the potential to impact development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and quality of life for people with ASD, but gaps in evidence exist. On 10 November 2022, Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute hosted a 1-d meeting to explore the evidence and evidence gaps regarding the relationships of food and nutrition with ASD. This meeting report summarizes the presentations and deliberations from the meeting.

Detection and Imaging of Exposure-Related Metabolites and Xenobiotics in Hard Tissues by Laser Sampling and Mass Spectrometry.

The utility of two novel laser-based methods, laser ablation electrospray ionization (LAESI) and laser desorption ionization (LDI) from silicon nanopost array (NAPA), is explored via local analysis and mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) of hard tissues (tooth and hair) for the detection and mapping of organic components. Complex mass spectra are recorded in local analysis mode from tooth dentin and scalp hair samples. Nicotine and its metabolites (cotinine, hydroxycotinine, norcotinine, and nicotine) are detected by LAESI-MS in the teeth of rats exposed to tobacco smoke.

IMU-Assisted Manual 3D-Ultrasound Imaging Using Motion-Constrained Swept-Fan Scans.

Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonic imaging can enable post-facto plane of interest selection. It can be performed with devices such as wobbler probes, matrix probes, and sensor-based probes. Ultrasound systems that support 3D-imaging are expensive with added hardware complexity compared to 2D-imaging systems.

Oxygen isotopes in orangutan teeth reveal recent and ancient climate variation.

Studies of climate variation commonly rely on chemical and isotopic changes recorded in sequentially produced growth layers, such as in corals, shells, and tree rings, as well as in accretionary deposits-ice and sediment cores, and speleothems. Oxygen isotopic compositions (δO) of tooth enamel are a direct method of reconstructing environmental variation experienced by an individual animal. Here, we utilize long-forming orangutan dentitions ( spp.

Akkermansia muciniphila modifies the association between metal exposure during pregnancy and depressive symptoms in late childhood.

Emerging research suggests that exposures to metals during pregnancy and gut microbiome (GM) disruptions are associated with depressive disorders in childhood. , a GM bacteria, has been studied for its potential antidepressant effects. However, its role in the influence of prenatal metal exposures on depressive symptoms during childhood is unknown.

Prenatal metal exposures and childhood gut microbial signatures are associated with depression score in late childhood.

Background: Childhood depression is a major public health issue worldwide. Previous studies have linked both prenatal metal exposures and the gut microbiome to depression in children. However, few, if any, have studied their interacting effect in specific subgroups of children.

Food, nutrition, and fertility: from soil to fork.

Food and nutrition-related factors, including foods and nutrients consumed, dietary patterns, use of dietary supplements, adiposity, and exposure to food-related environmental contaminants, have the potential to impact semen quality and male and female fertility; obstetric, fetal, and birth outcomes; and the health of future generations, but gaps in evidence remain. On 9 November 2022, Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the school's Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute hosted a 1-d meeting to explore the evidence and evidence gaps regarding the relationships between food, nutrition, and fertility. Topics addressed included male fertility, female fertility and gestation, and intergenerational effects.