Prenatal Exposure to Nicotine and Childhood Asthma: Role of Nicotine Acetylcholine Receptors, Neuropeptides, and Fibronectin Expression in Lung

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Roman
Toxins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Lina Son ◽  
Elena Kryukova ◽  
Rustam Ziganshin ◽  
Tatyana Andreeva ◽  
Denis Kudryavtsev ◽  
...  

Cobra venoms contain three-finger toxins (TFT) including α-neurotoxins efficiently binding nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). As shown recently, several TFTs block GABAA receptors (GABAARs) with different efficacy, an important role of the TFTs central loop in binding to these receptors being demonstrated. We supposed that the positive charge (Arg36) in this loop of α-cobratoxin may explain its high affinity to GABAAR and here studied α-neurotoxins from African cobra N. melanoleuca venom for their ability to interact with GABAARs and nAChRs. Three α-neurotoxins, close homologues of the known N. melanoleuca long neurotoxins 1 and 2, were isolated and sequenced. Their analysis on Torpedocalifornica and α7 nAChRs, as well as on acetylcholine binding proteins and on several subtypes of GABAARs, showed that all toxins interacted with the GABAAR much weaker than with the nAChR: one neurotoxin was almost as active as α-cobratoxin, while others manifested lower activity. The earlier hypothesis about the essential role of Arg36 as the determinant of high affinity to GABAAR was not confirmed, but the results obtained suggest that the toxin loop III may contribute to the efficient interaction of some long-chain neurotoxins with GABAAR. One of isolated toxins manifested different affinity to two binding sites on Torpedo nAChR.


1990 ◽  
Vol 156 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter P Van Asperen ◽  
Craig M Mellis ◽  
Peter D Sly
Keyword(s):  

2013 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. AB150
Author(s):  
Carah Santos ◽  
Joshua Davidson ◽  
Ronina Covar ◽  
Eleanor Brown ◽  
Joseph D. Spahn
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Cervantes González

Abstract Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are exogenous, artificially made chemicals that can disrupt the biological system of individuals and animals. POPs encompass a variety of chemicals including, dioxins, organochlorines (OCs), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) that contain a long half-life and highly resistant to biodegradation. These environmental pollutants accumulate over time in adipose tissues of living organisms and alter various insulin function-related genes. Childhood Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) consists of multiple cardiovascular risk factors, insulin function being one of them. Over the years, the incidence of the syndrome has increased dramatically. It is imperative to explore the role of persistent organic pollutants in the development of Childhood Metabolic Syndrome. Some epidemiological studies have reported an association between prenatal exposure to POPs and offspring MetS development throughout childhood. These findings have been replicated in animal studies in which these pollutants exercise negative health outcomes such as obesity and increased waist circumference. This review discusses the role of prenatal exposure to POPs among offspring who develop MetS in childhood, the latest research on the MetS concept, epidemiological and experimental findings on MetS, and the POPs modes of action. This literature review identified consistent research results on this topic. Even though the studies in this review had many strengths, one major weakness was the usage of different combinations of MetS criteria to measure the outcomes. These findings elucidate the urgent need to solidify the pediatric MetS definition. An accurate definition will permit scientists to measure the MetS as a health outcome properly and allow clinicians to diagnose pediatric MetS and provide individualized treatment appropriately.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-91
Author(s):  
Rakesh S. Chhabra ◽  
Luc P. Brion ◽  
Martha Castro ◽  
Lawrence Freundlich ◽  
Joy H. Glaser

The incidence of congenital syphilis has increased rapidly over the past few years. Most infected mothers and their newborns are asymptomatic at birth and diagnosis depends on serologic testing during pregnancy and at delivery. This study was initiated to compare maternal sera, cord blood, and neonatal sera for detecting presumptive congenital syphilis and to assess the role of maternal treatment (administration of penicillin to the mother at least 1 month before delivery) on the serologic results at the time of delivery. The serologic results from all live deliveries complicated by a positive maternal and/or neonatal test for syphilis during a 12-month period were compared using χ2 analysis and multiple comparisons for proportions. Of 3306 livebirths, 73 (2.2%) were complicated by a positive maternal or neonatal serology. At delivery, the serologic test was positive in 68 (94%) of 72 maternal sera, 30 (50%) of 60 cord sera, and 43 (63%) of 68 neonatal sera. In the absence of maternal treatment, 95% of the maternal sera, 66% of the cord blood samples, and 86% of the neonatal sera were positive. If the mother had been treated, 94% of maternal sera, 36% of cord sera, and 39% of neonatal sera were positive. Cord blood and neonatal sera appear to be inferior to maternal sera for detecting prenatal exposure to syphilis. Cord serology is also inferior to neonatal serology at 2 to 3 days of age. The most effective way to identify newborns at risk for congenital syphilis is to obtain a maternal serologic diagnosis during pregnancy and to test maternal and neonatal sera at delivery.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 859-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Horwood ◽  
D. M. Fergusson ◽  
F. T. Shannon

The role of social and familial factors in the development of childhood asthma by age 6 years was studied in a birth cohort of New Zealand children. Rates of asthma varied markedly with the child's sex; boys had twice the rate of asthma as girls. In addition, the factors associated with asthma varied with the child's sex. For boys, wheeze during infancy, early eczema, and parental asthma were all significant risk factors; for girls, the only risk factor was early eczema. Proportional hazards modeling of the data failed to show any significant associations between the development of asthma and a large range of other social and familial factors including breast-feeding, parental smoking habits, pets in the child's family, stress in the family, or family social background. It was concluded that asthma in early childhood appeared to be inherited to some extent, its age of expression was related to the child's sex, and it had a complex interaction with other forms of allergic disease. There was no evidence to suggest that the structure, practices, or dynamics of the child's family played a significant role in the development of asthma for children in this birth cohort.


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