Baseline characteristics including blood and urine metal levels in the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy 2 (TACT2).

Background: The reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) events with edetate disodium (EDTA) in the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) suggested that chelation of toxic metals might provide novel opportunities to reduce CVD in patients with diabetes. Lead and cadmium are vasculotoxic metals chelated by EDTA. We present baseline characteristics for participants in TACT2, a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial designed as a replication of the TACT trial limited to patients with diabetes.

A mass-balance approach to evaluate arsenic intake and excretion in different populations.

Unless a toxicant builds up in a deep compartment, intake by the human body must on average balance the amount that is lost. We apply this idea to assess arsenic (As) exposure misclassification in three previously studied populations in rural Bangladesh (n = 11,224), Navajo Nation in the Southwestern United States (n = 619), and northern Chile (n = 630), under varying assumptions about As sources. Relationships between As intake and excretion were simulated by taking into account additional sources, as well as variability in urine dilution inferred from urinary creatinine.

Mixed metals exposure and cognitive function in Bangladeshi adolescents.

Background: Over 57 million people in Bangladesh have been chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water. They also face environmental exposure to elevated levels of cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), and lead (Pb), all of which have been previously observed in environmental and biological samples for this population. These metals have been linked to adverse neurocognitive outcomes in adults and children, though their effects on adolescents are not yet fully characterized.

An atlas of metallome and metabolome interactions and associations with incident diabetes in the Strong Heart Family Study.

Background: Chronic exposure to certain metals plays a role in disease development. Integrating untargeted metabolomics with urinary metallome data may contribute to better understanding the pathophysiology of diseases and complex molecular interactions related to environmental metal exposures. To discover novel associations between urinary metal biomarkers and metabolism networks, we conducted an integrative metallome-metabolome analysis using a panel of urinary metals and untargeted blood metabolomic data from the Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS).

Nutrition, one-carbon metabolism and arsenic methylation in Bangladeshi adolescents.

Background: Over 57 million people in Bangladesh are chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water. Ingested inorganic arsenic (InAs) undergoes hepatic methylation generating monomethyl- (MMAs) and dimethyl- (DMAs) arsenic species in a process that facilitates urinary As (uAs) elimination. One-carbon metabolism (OCM), a biochemical pathway that is influenced by folate and vitamin B12, facilitates the methylation of As.