Club cell protein 16 as a biomarker for early detection of silicosis.

Background & Objectives: Clinically silicosis is diagnosed by chest X-ray showing specific opacities along with history of silica dust exposure. Diagnosis is invariably made at an advanced or end stage when it is irreversible. Moreover, silicosis patients are susceptible to develop tuberculosis.

Nicotine and cigarette smoke modulate Nrf2-BDNF-dopaminergic signal and neurobehavioral disorders in adult rat cerebral cortex.

Background: Nicotine and cigarette smoking (CS) are associated with addiction behavior, drug-seeking, and abuse. However, the mechanisms that mediate this association especially, the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine (DA), and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling in the cerebral cortex, are not fully known. Therefore, we hypothesized that overexpression of BDNF and DA, and suppression of Nrf2 contribute to several pathological and behavioral alterations in adult cerebral cortex.

Comparison of workers' perceptions toward work climate and health symptoms between ceramic and iron foundry workers.

Background: Workers exposed to heavy manual material handling (MMH) in a hot working environment succumb to severe physical stress and psychological stress.

Aims: (1) Recognize the heat load at workplaces of ceramic industry and iron industry, and (2) comparatively examine the characteristics of self-reported physiological responses and heat-health perception among these workers.

Settings And Design: Cross-sectional prospective study.

Nicotine tolerance to PC12 cell line: acute and chronic exposures modulate dopamine D2 receptor and tyrosine hydroxylase expression.

PC12 is a clonal cell line from chromaffin tumor of rat adrenal pheochromocytoma that releases catecholamine including dopamine, which via interaction with its receptor (D(1) and D(2) receptor), is known to be involved in reward and reinforcement properties of many addictive drugs like nicotine. Nicotine tolerance is the key aspect of nicotine addiction. However, nicotine tolerance on dopamine receptors in PC12 cell line is poorly understood.

Ethanol inhibited apoptosis-related RNA binding protein, Napor-3 gene expression in the prenatal rat brain.

Background: Cell death and differentiations are the critical processes in developing fetal brain, where ethanol induces lots of changes in gene expression patterns of fetal nervous system leading to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). The objective of the present study was to observe whether maternal ethanol exposure can alter gene expression pattern in mother and in fetus during mid and late prenatal stage.

Material/methods: 10% ethanol was orally applied to female Spraque-Dawley rats and fetuses were sacrificed on gestational day (GD) 19.

Age- and area-dependent distinct effects of ethanol on Bax and Bcl-2 expression in prenatal rat brain.

Cell proliferation and differentiation are critical processes in a developing fetal rat brain, during which programmed cell death (PCD) also plays an important role. One of the decisive factors for PCD is Bcl-2 family proteins, where Bax induces cell death, whereas Bcl-2 acts as an inhibitor of PCD. As maternal drinking is known to cause fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or malformation of the fetal brain during pregnancy, the objective of the present study was to investigate whether maternal ethanol exposure alters the PCD-related Bax and Bcl-2 protein expression during fetal brain development.

Effect of the co-administration of vitamin C and vitamin E on tyrosine hydroxylase and Nurr1 expression in the prenatal rat ventral mesencephalon.

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is the rate-limiting enzyme of dopamine (DA) biosynthesis, which is up-regulated by vitamin C administration. Nurr1 gene is highly expressed in brain and important for midbrain DAergic cell development and survival. But, the role of vitamin C and/or vitamin E during Nurr1 expression is yet to be known.

Rare sugar D-allose induces programmed cell death in hormone refractory prostate cancer cells.

Development of effective agents for treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) has become a national medical priority. D-Allose is a monosaccharide (C-3 epimer of glucose) distributed rarely in nature; because of its scarcity and cost, the biological effect has hardly been studied. In the present study, we demonstrated the inhibitory action of D-allose on proliferation of human HRPC cell lines, DU145 and PC-3 in a dose- and time-dependent manner, while human normal prostate epithelial (NPE) cell line, PrEC showed no remarkable effect.

Structural alteration of spermatozoa in the persons employed in lead acid battery factory.

Lead is one of the industrially heavy metals that caused adverse effects on male reproductive system among battery factory workers, but information on the possible impact of lead on the structural integrity of sperm cell is limited. Thus present study was undertaken to assess the structural details of human spermatozoa of lead acid battery factory workers. Blood and semen samples were collected from total 80 workers (7-15 years exposure) and 40 non-occupationally exposed control subjects.