Association of MicroRNA Biogenesis Genes Polymorphisms with Risk of Large Artery Atherosclerosis Stroke.

Convincing evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the pathogenesis of stroke. This study aimed to examine whether miRNA biogenesis genes polymorphisms are associated with risk of large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke. Three polymorphisms (DROSHA rs10719 T>C, RAN rs3803012 A>G, and PIWIL1 rs10773771 C>T) were screened by certain criteria.

Quantificational exposure, sources, and health risks posed by heavy metals in indoor and outdoor household dust in a typical smelting area in China.

Contamination of metals in household dust remains a concern for human health. However, few studies to date have been conducted on the contribution of both indoor and outdoor environments to the health risks posed by metals. This study was carried out to assess the potential health risks from both indoor and outdoor household dust and the respective contribution to the health risks for children.

[Determination of thirty trace elements in human plasma by microwave digestion-ICP-MS].

A method for determining 30 trace elements in human plasma was developed by using microwave digestion-ICP-MS. Under the optimized conditions the samples were analyzed by ICP-MS after microwave digestion. The double internal standard elements Rh and Re were used to compensate for matrix suppression effect and sensitivity drift.

Investigations on boron levels in drinking water sources in China.

To evaluate boron contamination of public drinking water in China, both dissolved and total boron contents in 98 public drinking water sources from 49 cities, 42 brands of bottled water samples from supermarkets in several cities, and 58 water samples from boron industrial area were measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Our experimental results showed that boron existed in public drinking water sources mainly in dissolved status with total concentrations ranging from 0.003 to 0.

Biomarkers of environmental and workplace boron exposure.

The purpose of this work was to identify an accurate, noninvasive biomarker of boron exposure that could be used in worker populations. Occupational exposure to boron is of concern due to high numbers of workers exposed, animal toxicity data suggesting reproductive effects, and lack of human studies. Total daily boron exposure was determined from duplicate samples of 24-hr food and fluid intake, plus workplace personal air monitoring in boron workers and comparison groups in northern China during 2003 and 2004.

[Prediction human daily boron exposure by urine boron concentration].

Relationship between post-shift boron concentration and daily boron exposure was analyzed with the workers from boron mining and processing plants in Liaoning Province and population from sanitary background area far from boron industry as subjects. The results demonstrate that there was significant logarithm linearity correlativity between post-shift urine boron concentration and daily boron exposure, and the fittingness of the regression equation was up to 85.9% by considering of the effect of the different group of population, and the equation predicting daily boron exposure by post-shift urine boron concentration was determined.