Hyaluronan Directs Alveolar Type II Cell Response to Acute Ozone Exposure in Mice.

Becoming more frequent due to climate change, ozone (O) exposures can cause lung injury. Alveolar type 2 (AT2) cells and hyaluronan (HA), a matrix component, are critical to repairing lung injury and restoring homeostasis. Here, we define the impact of HA on AT2 cells following acute O exposure.

Refining breast cancer genetic risk and biology through multi-ancestry fine-mapping analyses of 192 risk regions.

Genome-wide association studies have identified approximately 200 genetic risk loci for breast cancer, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known breast cancer risk loci using genome-wide association study data from 172,737 female breast cancer cases and 242,009 controls of African, Asian and European ancestry. We identified 332 independent association signals for breast cancer risk, including 131 signals not reported previously, and for 50 of them, we narrowed the credible causal variants down to a single variant.

Effects of ssp. SA-03 Supplementation on Reversing Phthalate-Induced Asthma in Mice.

Probiotics may protect against asthma. We want to investigate whether probiotics can reverse the adverse effects of phthalate exposure on asthma. We selected the female offspring of BALB/c mice, born from pregnant female mice fed with diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP).

Evaluation of EGFR and COX pathway inhibition in human colon organoids of serrated polyposis and other hereditary cancer syndromes.

Serrated polyposis syndrome (SPS) presents with multiple sessile serrated lesions (SSL) in the large intestine and confers increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. However, the etiology of SPS is not known. SSL-derived organoids have not been previously studied but may help provide insights into SPS pathogenesis and identify novel biomarkers and chemopreventive strategies.

BRG1 establishes the neuroectodermal chromatin landscape to restrict dorsal cell fates.

Cell fate decisions are achieved with gene expression changes driven by lineage-specific transcription factors (TFs). These TFs depend on chromatin remodelers including the Brahma-related gene 1 (BRG1)-associated factor (BAF) complex to activate target genes. BAF complex subunits are essential for development and frequently mutated in cancer.

Officer-Involved Killings of Unarmed Black People and Racial Disparities in Sleep Health.

Importance: Racial disparities in sleep health may mediate the broader health outcomes of structural racism.

Objective: To assess changes in sleep duration in the Black population after officer-involved killings of unarmed Black people, a cardinal manifestation of structural racism.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Two distinct difference-in-differences analyses examined the changes in sleep duration for the US non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) population before vs after exposure to officer-involved killings of unarmed Black people, using data from adult respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS; 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS; 2013-2019) with data on officer-involved killings from the Mapping Police Violence database.

Ethical decision-making and role conflict in managing a scientific laboratory.

Scientists who manage research laboratories often face ethical dilemmas related to conflicts between their different roles, such as researcher, mentor, entrepreneur, and manager. It is not known how often uncertainty about conflicting role obligations leads scientists to engage in unethical conduct, but this probably occurs more often than many people would like to think. In this paper, we reflect on ethical decision-making in scientific laboratory management with special attention to how different roles create conflicting obligations and expectations that may produce moral uncertainty and lead to violations of research norms, especially when combined with self-interest and other factors that increase the risk of misbehavior.

Advancing the science on chemical classes.

Background: Hazard identification, risk assessment, regulatory, and policy activity are usually conducted on a chemical-by-chemical basis. Grouping chemicals into categories or classes is an underutilized approach that could make risk assessment and management of chemicals more efficient for regulators.

Objective And Methods: While there are some available methods and regulatory frameworks that include the grouping of chemicals (e.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Risk: The Role of Environmental Factors.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, chronic autoimmune disease. The etiology of SLE is multifactorial and includes potential environmental triggers, which may occur sequentially (the "multi-hit" hypothesis). This review focuses on SLE risk potentially associated with environmental factors including infections, the microbiome, diet, respirable exposures (eg, crystalline silica, smoking, air pollution), organic pollutants, heavy metals, and ultraviolet radiation.

A framework for establishing scientific confidence in new approach methodologies.

Robust and efficient processes are needed to establish scientific confidence in new approach methodologies (NAMs) if they are to be considered for regulatory applications. NAMs need to be fit for purpose, reliable and, for the assessment of human health effects, provide information relevant to human biology. They must also be independently reviewed and transparently communicated.

Chemical Effects on Breast Development, Function, and Cancer Risk: Existing Knowledge and New Opportunities.

Population studies show worrisome trends towards earlier breast development, difficulty in breastfeeding, and increasing rates of breast cancer in young women. Multiple epidemiological studies have linked these outcomes with chemical exposures, and experimental studies have shown that many of these chemicals generate similar effects in rodents, often by disrupting hormonal regulation. These endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can alter the progression of mammary gland (MG) development, impair the ability to nourish offspring via lactation, increase mammary tissue density, and increase the propensity to develop cancer.

Current status and future directions for a neurotoxicity hazard assessment framework that integrates approaches.

Neurotoxicology is the study of adverse effects on the structure or function of the developing or mature adult nervous system following exposure to chemical, biological, or physical agents. The development of more informative alternative methods to assess developmental (DNT) and adult (NT) neurotoxicity induced by xenobiotics is critically needed. The use of such alternative methods including approaches that predict DNT or NT from chemical structure (e.

Best practices to quantify the impact of reproductive toxicants on development, function, and diseases of the rodent mammary gland.

Work from numerous fields of study suggests that exposures to hormonally active chemicals during sensitive windows of development can alter mammary gland development, function, and disease risk. Stronger links between many environmental pollutants and disruptions to breast health continue to be documented in human populations, and there remain concerns that the methods utilized to identify, characterize, and prioritize these chemicals for risk assessment and risk management purposes are insufficient. There are also concerns that effects on the mammary gland have been largely ignored by regulatory agencies.

The role of environmental exposures and gene-environment interactions in the etiology of systemic lupus erythematous.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, chronic autoimmune disease, whose etiology includes both genetic and environmental factors. Individual genetic risk factors likely only account for about one-third of observed heritability among individuals with a family history of SLE. A large portion of the remaining risk may be attributable to environmental exposures and gene-environment interactions.