Environmental Exposures and Canine Bladder Cancer: A Case Control Study Using Silicone Passive Samplers.

Pet dogs offer valuable models for studying environmental impacts on human health due to shared environments and a shorter latency period for cancer development. We assessed environmental chemical exposures in a case-control study involving dogs at high risk of urothelial carcinoma, identified by a BRAF V595E mutation in urinary epithelial cells. Cases ( = 25) exhibited low-level BRAF mutations, while controls ( = 76) were matched dogs without the mutation.

TracMyAir smartphone application for modeling exposures to PM and ozone - Integration with air quality networks and location-activity sensors.

Epidemiologic studies of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O) often use outdoor concentrations from central-site monitors or air quality model estimates as exposure surrogates, which can result in exposure errors. We previously developed an exposure model called TracMyAir, which is an iPhone application that determines seven tiers of individual-level exposure metrics for ambient PM and O using outdoor concentrations, home building characteristics, weather, time-activities. The exposure metrics with increasing information needs and complexity include: outdoor concentration (C, Tier 1), building infiltration factor (F, Tier 2), indoor concentration (C, Tier 3), time spent in microenvironments (ME) (T, Tier 4), personal exposure factor (F, Tier 5), exposure (E, Tier 6), and inhaled dose (D, Tier 7).

Is increased mutation driving genetic diversity in dogs within the Chornobyl exclusion zone?

Environmental contamination can have lasting impacts on surrounding communities, though the long-term impacts can be difficult to ascertain. The disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 and subsequent remediation efforts resulted in contamination of the local environment with radioactive material, heavy metals, and additional environmental toxicants. Many of these are mutagenic in nature, and the full effect of these exposures on local flora and fauna has yet to be understood.

Refractive Prediction Accuracy Using Intraoperative Aberrometry versus Barrett True-K Formula Following Corneal Refractive Surgery.

Purpose: To compare the refractive prediction accuracy of the Optiwave Refractive Analysis (ORA) SYSTEM with the Barrett True-K (BTK) formula in calculating intraocular lens (IOL) power in eyes that underwent cataract surgery after previous myopic photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) or laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK).

Methods: This retrospective study evaluated patients aged ≥22 years with prior myopic PRK or LASIK who underwent unilateral or bilateral cataract removal and monofocal IOL implantation using the ORA SYSTEM at 177 sites in the United States. Two datasets were analyzed: All Eyes (ie, all eligible eyes) and First Surgery Eyes (ie, each patient's first implanted eye).

Convergent molecular signatures across eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder in the human brain.

Eating disorders (ED) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibit significant clinical and genetic overlap, yet their shared molecular mechanisms remain unclear. We conducted a transcriptomic investigation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and caudate from 86 controls, 57 ED, and 27 OCD cases. ED was associated with robust differentially expressed genes (DEGs): 102 DEGs the DLPFC and 222 in the caudate (FDR < 1%) and replicated in an independent cohort.