Ghrelin as a Biomarker of Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Ghrelin is an orexigenic hormone which favors food-seeking behavior and has been postulated to be a biomarker of stress. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on the evolution of ghrelin levels following acute stress. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ScienceDirect databases were searched for studies reporting ghrelin levels before and after acute stress in humans. Results: We included ten studies for a total of 348 patients. Acute stress (intervention) was always in a laboratory. Acute stress was psychological (Trier Social Stress Test), physical, or mixed (cold pressure test). The overall meta-analysis demonstrated an increase in ghrelin after the stress intervention (ES = 0.21, 95CI 0.09 to 0.34) compared with baseline levels. Stratification by time demonstrated an acute increase in ghrelin levels in the five minutes immediately following the initiation of stress (0.29, 0.10 to 0.48) but without any difference after. Obese individuals had a more significant (ES = 0.51, 95CI 0.18 to 0.84) and prolonged increase in ghrelin levels for up to 45 min compared with non-obese individuals who had a significant increase only five minutes after stress. Moreover, the ghrelin levels increased in response to stress with BMI (coefficient 0.028, 0.01 to 0.49; p = 0.013) and decreased with the time after the stress intervention (coefficient -0.007, −0.014 to −0.001; p = 0.025). Conclusion: Ghrelin is a biomarker of stress, with a short-term increase following acute stress. Obese individuals have both a higher and prolonged response, emphasizing the link between obesity and stress.     

Leptin as a Biomarker of Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Leptin is a satiety hormone mainly produced by white adipose tissue. Decreasing levels have been described following acute stress. Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine if leptin can be a biomarker of stress, with levels decreasing following acute stress. Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ScienceDirect were searched to obtain all articles studying leptin levels after acute stress on 15 February 2021. We included articles reporting leptin levels before and after acute stress (physical or psychological) and conducted random effects meta-analysis (DerSimonian and Laird approach). We conducted Meta-regressions and sensitivity analyses after exclusion of groups outside the metafunnel. Results: We included seven articles—four cohort and three case-control studies—(28 groups) from 27,983 putative articles. Leptin levels decreased after the stress intervention (effect size = −0.34, 95%CI −0.66 to −0.02) compared with baseline levels, with a greater decrease after 60 min compared to mean decrease (−0.45, −0.89 to −0.01) and in normal weight compared to overweight individuals (−0.79, −1.38 to −0.21). There was no difference in the overweight population. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated similar results. Levels of leptin after stress decreased with sex ratio—i.e., number of men/women—(−0.924, 95%CI −1.58 to −0.27) and increased with the baseline levels of leptin (0.039, 0.01 to 0.07). Conclusions: Leptin is a biomarker of stress, with a decrease following acute stress. Normal-weight individuals and women also have a higher variation of leptin levels after stress, suggesting that leptin may have implications in obesity development in response to stress in a sex-dependent manner.     

Dp-ucMGP as a Biomarker in Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is linked with an increased risk of falls, osteoporosis and mortality and is an increasing problem for healthcare systems. No satisfying biomarkers for sarcopenia diagnosis exist, connecting bone, fat and muscle. Matrix-GLA-protein (MGP) is an adipokine that regulates bone metabolism and is associated with decreased muscle strength. Associations of dp-ucMGP were analyzed in the BioPersMed cohort (58 ± 9 years), including 1022 asymptomatic subjects at moderate cardiovascular risk. Serum measurements of dp-ucMGP in 760 persons were performed with the InaKtif MGP Kit with the IDS-iSYS Multi-Discipline Automated System. DXA data (792 persons) measured with the Lunar iDXA system and physical performance data (786 persons) were available. Dp-ucMGP plasma levels correlate with sarcopenia parameters like gait speed (ρ = −0.192, p < 0.001), appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ρ = 0.102, p = 0.005) and appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ρ = 0.112, p = 0.001). They are lower in persons with sarcopenia (p < 0.001) and higher in persons with reduced physical performance (p = 0.019). Persons in the lowest dp-ucMGP quartile have the highest risk for reduced muscle mass, decreasing with each quartile, whereas persons in the highest quartile have the highest risk of reduced muscle strength. Dp-ucMGP might be a good biomarker candidate in sarcopenia characterization.     

Glycophorin A Is a Potential Biomarker for the Mutagenic Effects of Pesticides

Abstract

For individuals with multiple exposures to bone marrow mutagens the glycophorin A (GPA) assay appears to detect the cumulative genotoxic effects of these nonspecific exposures. To determine whether workers exposed to organophosphates and/or carbamate pesticides have more GPAvariants compared with controls, this cross-sectional cohort study examined 67 Latino farm workers, most of whom were exposed to organophosphate or carbamate pesticides, and 68 age-, gender-, ethnicity-, and education-matched reference subjects. Of the 27 participants who completed the questionnaire and had the M/N alleleotype required for the GPA assay, the N/N variant frequency was 9.1 × 10^?6 in the ten subjects with more than 1,500 cumulative hours of exposure vs 3.8 × 10^?6 in the six referent subjects with no known pesticide exposure (p = 0. 097). A consistent trend with increasing cumulative exposure was found for N/N and Ø/N allele-loss frequencies when exposures were stratified into three groups. Despite the small sample size due to the allele-type restriction, these findings support the hypothesis that some pesticides are mutagenic to hematopoietic stem cells.     

水体中蓝绿藻分子标志物--mcyD基因的检测

目的建立一种筛选自然水体中产微囊藻毒素藻株的方法.方法应用编码微囊藻毒素合成酶mcyD基因的特异引物结合藻类保守序列16 S rRNA对所培养的纯种蓝绿藻(铜绿微囊藻FACHB 469、铜绿微囊藻PCC7806、微囊藻属FACHB 569、浮游蓝丝藻属小颤藻FACHB247、泡沫节球藻FACHB377)和采集的水样进行聚合酶链反应,观察扩增结果,并以酶联免疫吸附方法检测其微囊藻毒素浓度.结果在产微囊藻毒素(铜绿微囊藻PCC7806、微囊藻属FACHB569)的藻株和水样均可以扩增出1条约870 bp的单一条带,而不产微囊藻毒素的藻株(铜绿微囊藻FACHB469、浮游蓝丝藻属小颤藻FACHB247、泡沫节球藻FACHB377)和水样未扩增出此条带.结论以mcyD基因为微囊藻毒素分子标志物的分子生物学方法鉴定自然水体中的产微囊藻毒素和非产微囊藻毒素蓝绿藻是可行和实用的.     

Gluten-Free Cereals and Pseudocereals as a Potential Source of Exposure to Toxic Elements among Polish Residents

Background: Nutritional food quality plays a crucial role in maintaining human health. However, food and drinking water, along with occupational exposure, are the main routes of exposure to toxic elements for humans. The main aim of this study was to determine the content of As, Cd, Pb and Hg in naturally gluten-free grains and products made from buckwheat, millet, maize, quinoa and oat. The safety of consumption of the products tested was also assessed. Methods: The contents of As, Cd and Pb were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). To measure Hg, an atomic absorption spectrometry method (AAS) with the amalgamation technique was applied. To assess the level of consumption of the tested products, an online survey was conducted. To estimate health risk, three indicators were used: the target hazard quotient (THQ), cancer risk (CR) and hazard index (HI). The research material obtained 242 different samples without replications. Results: The highest average content of As, Cd, Pb and Hg were observed for the following groups of products: oat (10.19 µg/kg), buckwheat (48.35 µg/kg), millet (74.52 µg/kg) and buckwheat (1.37 µg/kg), respectively. For six samples, exceedance of established limits was found—three in the case of Cd and three of Pb. Due to the lack of established limits, As and Hg content of the tested products was not compared. Generally, no increased health risks were identified. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, the consumption of gluten-free cereals and pseudocereals available on the Polish market seems to be safe. However, there is a great need to establish maximum levels of the toxic elements, especially As and Hg in cereal products in European legislation.     

多环芳烃的环境效应及其生物标志物在环境风险评价中的应用

多环芳烃是一种常见的有机污染物,也是目前国际上关注的一类持久性有机污染物。其致毒机理研究是环境科学研究领域的热点问题之一,而反映暴露剂量与生物效应的生物标记物的研究是环境致癌物风险评价的核心内容。本文综述多环芳烃的暴露途径、环境行为、毒理效应、致癌机理及其生物标志物在环境风险评价中的应用,并对今后的研究内容进行讨论.     

Self HSP60 peptide serves as an immunogenic carrier for a CTL epitope against persistence of murine cytomegalovirus in the salivary gland

Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection is associated with persistence of virus in the salivary glands, despite relatively rapid clearance of virus from the spleen. An effective immunization against MCMV should prevent such viral persistence. We previously reported that a peptide (p458) from the sequence of the 60 kDa heat shock protein (HSP60) molecule in a conjugate vaccine can provide T cell help for the induction of protecting antibody against bacterial capsular polysaccharides. We now report that the p458 peptide as a carrier peptide can also enhance the immunogenicity of a dominant CTL epitope of the MCMV pp89 antigen-89pep. We synthesized a linear combined peptide: chimeric p458-89pep. We immunized young BALB/c mice and challenged them with MCMV. We found that the p458-89pep chimeric peptide was more effective than the 89pep in inducing 89pep-specific IFN(gamma) secretion and specific CTL activity. Moreover, the p458-89pep chimeric peptide induced sustained IFN(gamma) secretion in the salivary gland specific to 89pep and only this immunization was associated with clearance of virus from the salivary gland. These results suggest that a peptide epitope of HSP60 may be advantageous as a T cell carrier peptide in the induction of specific T cell immunity against infectious agents.     

Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 as a Potential Biomarker for Improved Locomotion and Olfaction Detection Ability after Weight Reduction in Obese Mice

Obesity is one of the most challenging diseases of the 21st century and is accompanied by behavioural disorders. Exercise, dietary adjustments, or time-restricted feeding are the only successful long-term treatments to date. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) plays a key role in dietary regulation, but FGF21 resistance is prevalent in obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate in obese mice whether weight reduction leads to improved behaviour and whether these behavioural changes are associated with decreased plasma FGF21 levels. After establishing a model for diet-induced obesity, mice were subjected to three different interventions for weight reduction, namely dietary change, treadmill exercise, or time-restricted feeding. In this study, we demonstrated that only the combination of dietary change and treadmill exercise affected all parameters leading to a reduction in weight, fat, and FGF21, as well as less anxious behaviour, higher overall activity, and improved olfactory detection abilities. To investigate the interrelationship between FGF21 and behavioural parameters, feature selection algorithms were applied designating FGF21 and body weight as one of five highly weighted features. In conclusion, we concluded from the complementary methods that FGF21 can be considered as a potential biomarker for improved behaviour in obese mice after weight reduction.     

Examining the Potential Effect of a Salt Sensitivity Biomarker in Korean American Immigrants: A Pilot Study

The genetic factors involved with salt sensitivity (SS) have been studied using a genetic approach to identify individuals at high risk for developing hypertension and could benefit from a low sodium diet intervention, but this has not been well-studied in Korean American immigrants (KAIs). The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the influence of SS that moderates blood pressure (BP) in KAIs (n?=?34). KAIs were recruited from local communities and completed a blood draw, a 8-day food log, and BP testing. The dietary sodium intake was measured using the Fitbit mobile app, and an SS biomarker was assessed using targeted genotyping. out of five GNAI2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested, rs4547694 significantly moderated the relationship of dietary sodium intake on BP in KAIs. Conclusions: Further studies are warranted to test the effect of a reduced sodium diet on BP while accounting for the moderating influence of an SS genotype.

     

Toenail Metal Concentration as a Biomarker of Occupational Welding Fume Exposure

In populations exposed to heavy metals, there are few biomarkers that capture intermediate exposure windows. We sought to determine the correlation between toenail metal concentrations and prior 12-month work activity in welders with variable, metal-rich, welding fume exposures. Forty-eight participants, recruited through a local union, provided 69 sets of toenail clippings. Union-supplied and worker-verified personal work histories were used to quantify hours welded and respirator use. Toenail samples were digested and analyzed for lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and arsenic (As) using ICP-MS. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to examine the correlation between toenail metal concentrations. Using mixed models to account for multiple participation times, we divided hours welded into three-month intervals and examined how weld hours correlated with log-transformed toenail Pb, Mn, Cd, Ni, and As concentrations. Highest concentrations were found for Ni, followed by Mn, Pb and As, and Cd. All the metals were significantly correlated with one another (rho range = 0.28–0.51), with the exception of Ni and As (rho = 0.20, p = 0.17). Using mixed models adjusted for age, respirator use, smoking status, and BMI, we found that Mn was associated with weld hours 7–9 months prior to clipping (p = 0.003), Pb was associated with weld hours 10–12 months prior to clipping (p = 0.03) and over the entire year (p = 0.04). Cd was associated with weld hours 10–12 months prior to clipping (p = 0.05), and also with the previous year's total hours welded (p = 0.02). The association between Ni and weld hours 7–9 months prior to clipping approached significance (p = 0.06). Toenail metal concentrations were not associated with the long-term exposure metric, years as a welder. Results suggest Mn, Pb, and Cd may have particular windows of relevant exposure that reflect work activity. In a population with variable exposure, toenails may serve as useful biomarkers for occupational metal fume exposures to Mn, Pb, and Cd during distinct periods over the year prior to sample collection.     

Potential of an Interorgan Network Mediated by Toxic Advanced Glycation End-Products in a Rat Model

Excessive intake of glucose and fructose in beverages and foods containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) plays a significant role in the progression of lifestyle-related diseases (LSRD). Glyceraldehyde-derived advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which have been designated as toxic AGEs (TAGE), are involved in LSRD progression. Understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of TAGE on gene expression in the kidneys remains limited. In this study, DNA microarray analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to investigate whether HFCS-consuming Wister rats generated increased intracellular serum TAGE levels, as well as the potential role of TAGE in liver and kidney dysfunction. HFCS consumption resulted in significant accumulation of TAGE in the serum and liver of rats, and induced changes in gene expression in the kidneys without TAGE accumulation or upregulation of receptor for AGEs (RAGE) upregulation. Changes in specific gene expression profiles in the kidney were more correlated with TAGE levels in the liver tissue than in the serum. These findings suggest a direct or indirect interaction may be present between the liver and kidneys that does not involve serum TAGE or RAGE. The involvement of internal signal transduction factors such as exosomes or cytokines without IL-1β and TNF-α is suggested to contribute to the observed changes in kidney gene expression.     

Micronucleus Assay as a Biomarker of Genotoxicity in the Occupational Exposure to Agrochemicals in Rural Workers

This paper aims to evaluate the genotoxic effect of agrochemicals in rural workers occupationally exposed by the micronucleus assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes and to promote the development of health and environmental preventive and protective practices. A total of 30 blood samples from 20 individuals occupationally exposed to different agrochemicals and 10 unexposed persons, who formed the reference group, were analyzed. We found statistically significant differences (p < 0.0005, Student’s t Test) in the frequency of micronuclei between the two groups (7.20 ± 1.55 and 15.15 ± 5.10 CBMN for reference and exposed groups respectively). The analysis of age showed a positive correlation (Pearson Correlation Test) with the frequency of micronuclei in exposed population (p < 0.05; r² = 0.47), in contrast with smoking habits and years of exposure. Micronucleus assay allows an early detection of populations at higher risk of having genetic damage, allowing us to implement strategies of intervention for the purpose of contributing to reduce that risk.     

Immunological Response of the Freshwater Fish Colossoma macropomum as a Biomarker of Copper Exposure

No abstract available.     

乳腺癌生物标志物锌的研究简介

乳腺癌是发生在乳腺腺上皮组织的恶性肿瘤,是女性最常见的恶性肿瘤之一。生物标志物可以在疾病诊断、判断疾病分期等方面发挥作用。针对乳腺癌生物标志物锌的研究进行介绍。     

HSP70在职业紧张评价中的应用

目的 探讨热应激蛋白(heat shock protein 70，HSP70)作为职业紧张程度客观评价指标的可行性。方法 采用一般工作紧张问卷对某市公安局的全体刑警和巡警、某空军机场的全体地勤人员和某钢铁集团公司设计院的全体设计人员325人进行职业紧张调查、血糖、血脂、单胺类神经递质和HSP70抗体测定。结果 3种职业人群HSP70抗体总阳性率为48．92％，紧张的临界值为1：80；3种职业人群以及不同职业人群，均表现为抗体水平随紧张程度增加而增高，HSP70抗体水平与心理卫生呈负相关，与单胺类神经递质水平呈正相关。结论 HSP70抗体水平可作为职业紧张程度的直接而客观评价指标，且具有可行性。     

Identification of a Potential Toxic Hot Spot Associated with AVS Spatial and Seasonal Variation

In risk assessment of aquatic sediments, much attention is paid to the difference between acid-volatile sulfide (AVS) and simultaneously extracted metals (SEMs) as indicators of metal availability. Ten representative sampling sites were selected along the estuary of the Guadalete River. Surficial sediments were sampled in winter and summer to better understand SEM and AVS spatial and seasonal distributions and to establish priority risk areas. Total SEM concentration (ΣSEM) ranged from 0.3 to 4.7 μmol g⁻¹. It was not significantly different between seasons, however, it showed a significant difference between sampling stations. AVS concentrations were much more variable, showing significant spatial and temporal variations. The values ranged from 0.8 to 22.4 μmol g⁻¹. The SEM/AVS ratio was found to be <1 at all except one station located near the mouth of the estuary. The results provided information on a potential pollution source near the mouth of the estuary, probably associated with vessel-related activities carried out in a local harbor area located near the station.     

Captan Fungicide Exposures of Strawberry Harvesters Using THPI as a Urinary Biomarker

Clothing affords harvesters considerable protection against the elements and can retain substantial amounts of pesticide residue from treated crops. Normal work clothing of female harvesters was supplemented with rubber latex gloves and facial scarves to determine whether those measures reduced exposure. Captan fungicide exposures in female strawberry harvesters were assessed by determining urine clearance rates of tetrahydrophalimide (THPI). Clean rubber gloves were supplied to the 41 harvesters for the 3 days of the study period in October 1995. The workers were divided into two groups consisting of either bare-handed or gloved workers, and 24-h urine specimens were collected each day. Female harvesters who worked bare-handed cleared 5.3 μg captan equivalents as THPI with a range of 0.4 to 13.8 μg/person/day. Harvesters who worked wearing rubber latex gloves cleared only 2.0 μg captan equivalents with a range of 0.9 to 4.3 μg/person/day. In this case clean rubber latex gloves reduced absorbed dose by 38%, compared to the dose absorbed by bare-handed workers. These results additionally indicate that when a pesticide is avidly retained by rubber latex gloves and not readily absorbed dermally as captan, estimates of absorbed dose based on passive dosimetry data may be less reliable than exposure estimates derived from urine biomonitoring. Received: 3 May 1999/Accepted: 20 October 1999