IMPACT OF HUMAN-RELEVANT DOSES OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING CHEMICAL AND DRUG MIXTURES ON TESTIS DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION.

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals during development has been linked to reproductive dysfunction, reduced semen quality, and infertility. Research indicates that EDC mixtures, which are common in the modern environment, can pose significant risks that may not be fully assessed by studying individual compound toxicity, especially at environmentally relevant doses or concentrations. Understanding the contribution of chemical mixtures to male reproductive toxicity is crucial, given the increasing reliance on pharmaceuticals and pervasiveness of anthropogenic pollution.

Dysregulation of Immature Sertoli Cell Functions by Exposure to Acetaminophen and Genistein in Rodent Cell Models.

Sertoli cells are essential for germ cell development and function. Their disruption by endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or drugs could jeopardize spermatogenesis, contributing to male infertility. Perinatal exposure to EDCs and acetaminophen (APAP) disrupts male reproductive functions in animals and humans.

Obesity III: Obesogen assays: Limitations, strengths, and new directions.

There is increasing evidence of a role for environmental contaminants in disrupting metabolic health in both humans and animals. Despite a growing need for well-understood models for evaluating adipogenic and potential obesogenic contaminants, there has been a reliance on decades-old in vitro models that have not been appropriately managed by cell line providers. There has been a quick rise in available in vitro models in the last ten years, including commercial availability of human mesenchymal stem cell and preadipocyte models; these models require more comprehensive validation but demonstrate real promise in improved translation to human metabolic health.

Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of the Effects of Obesogen Exposure.

Obesity and metabolic disorders have become a worldwide pandemic affecting millions of people. Although obesity is a multifaceted disease, there is growing evidence supporting the obesogen hypothesis, which proposes that exposure to a subset of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), known as obesogens, promotes obesity. While these effects can be observed using cell models and human epidemiological studies have strengthened this hypothesis.

Obesogens: How They Are Identified and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Their Action.

Adult and childhood obesity have reached pandemic level proportions. The idea that caloric excess and insufficient levels of physical activity leads to obesity is a commonly accepted answer for unwanted weight gain. This paradigm offers an inconclusive explanation as the world continually moves towards an unhealthier and heavier existence irrespective of energy balance.

Glucocorticoids rapidly activate cAMP production via G to initiate non-genomic signaling that contributes to one-third of their canonical genomic effects.

Glucocorticoids are widely used for the suppression of inflammation, but evidence is growing that they can have rapid, non-genomic actions that have been unappreciated. Diverse cell signaling effects have been reported for glucocorticoids, leading us to hypothesize that glucocorticoids alone can swiftly increase the 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production. We found that prednisone, fluticasone, budesonide, and progesterone each increased cAMP levels within 3 minutes without phosphodiesterase inhibitors by measuring real-time cAMP dynamics using the cAMP difference detector in situ assay in a variety of immortalized cell lines and primary human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells.

Factors enabling community health workers and volunteers to overcome socio-cultural barriers to behaviour change: meta-synthesis using the concept of social capital.

Background: Community-based health workers and volunteers are not just low-level health workforce; their effectiveness is also due to their unique relationship with the community and is often attributed to social capital, an area not well studied or acknowledged in the literature.

Methods: A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted using the SPIDER framework and based on critical interpretive synthesis. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO, ID = CRD42018084130.

Motivation of Community Health Volunteers in rural Uganda: the interconnectedness of knowledge, relationship and action.

Objectives: In some countries, full-time Community Health Workers (CHWs) have contributed to improvements in under-5 morbidity and mortality. Based on these successes, other low- and middle-income countries are in the process of reconsidering their current health care delivery systems and integrating CHWs as a means by which to fill the gaps. It may be important to make the distinction between CHWs and Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), both of which have a unique but complementary role.

Widening the aim of health promotion to include the most disadvantaged: vulnerable adolescents and the social determinants of health.

Growing numbers of adolescents are marginalized by social factors beyond their control, leading to poor health outcomes for their families and future generations. Although the role of the social determinants of health has been recognized for many years, there is a gap in our knowledge about the strategies needed to address these factors in health promotion. Drawing on a review of literature on health promotion for marginalized and out-of-school adolescents, this paper highlights some urgent areas of focus for researchers and policy makers addressing adolescent health.

There should be more help out here! A qualitative study of the needs of Aboriginal adolescents in rural Australia.

Introduction: Aboriginal adolescents living in or near rural towns have different social and cultural needs than Aboriginal adolescents living in large cities or remote areas. Identification of health needs by the community is an established principle of health promotion for improving community health. The objective of this study was to identify the views of rural Aboriginal adolescents regarding health promotion topics, the most important health problems they faced, their support networks and their beliefs about who should help them meet their health needs.