Radiation-induced genomic instability and LINE-1 hypomethylation in radiographers

Genomic instability is an important factor in cancer induced by ionizing radiation. Global DNA hypomethylation has been recently proposed as a potential biomarker for cancer risk through genomic instability. However the association between low-dose ionizing radiation exposure and DNA methylation changes is unclear. This study aimed to understand the epigenetic mechanisms associated with low-level radiation exposure and radiation-induced genomic instability (RIGI) among industrial radiographers

Epigenetic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease using a transgenic porcine model

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for approximately 60~70% of dementia cases. AD afflicts more than 35.6 million individuals worldwide and is expected to increase to 65.7 million by 2030 and 115.4 million by 2050 1; AD is a serious public health problem that is causing increased health care costs worldwide. Typically, AD is a relentlessly progressive disorder that initially manifests as severe loss of memory, particularly episodic memory.2 The disorder is not curable at present, and the mechanisms driving development of AD are not fully understood. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and characterize relevant AD transgenic animal models to facilitate translational research and preclinical testing of therapeutic agents.3 Furthermore, it is imperative to discover the underlying mechanisms that exacerbate AD, which hinder mitigation efforts to reduce the health burden of this disease

Epigenetic biomarkers for MWCNT exposure and DHA diet modification

Comprehensive studies of ENM toxicity and bioactivity remain challenging, despite their growing use for industrial and biomedical applications. Furthermore, mechanistic predictive models and data necessary to understand the factors contributing to their pathology are largely lacking. Epigenetic alterations are known to hold substantial potential as biomarkers for environmental exposures; this, in turn, may provide insight into mechanisms of environmentally related diseases and allow for a better understanding of disease etiology. The primary goal of this study is to determine epigenetic alterations associated with a DHA-supplemented diet and MWCNT exposure, and the relationship to decreased inflammation and development of lung disease

Epigenetic biomarkers for MWCNT exposure and lung disease

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are engineered nano-materials being developed and used in a wide variety of medical, engineering, and personal products with many potential benefits [1]. However, MWCNT have been shown to cause significant pathological changes in animal models, particularly in the airways, raising the concern that adverse human health effects will emerge with increasing use and exposure to these materials [2-4]. Potential bioactivity of MWCNT, including in vitro and in vivo toxicity and increased inflammation and pathology, has been attributed to their unique physical and chemical characteristics such as length, diameter, contaminants and rigidity [5]. However, MWNCT toxicity and/or the mechanisms of bioactivity have not been extensively studied. Moreover, a mechanistic predictive model based on physical and surface properties of MWCNT has not been established to aid in protecting human health. Given the increasingly widespread use of MWCNT and significant potential for human exposure during their lifecycle, it is imperative that we gain a better understanding of the associated disease processes. In addition, the development of biomarkers for exposure and disease development would represent an important advance in our ability to evaluate future health impacts from potential exposures. It is becoming more evident that environmental influences can result in physiological changes through epigenetic alterations, which offers a plausible mechanistic explanation, in addition to gene-environment interactions, for some of the molecular events linking environmental exposures with disease onset and development [6]. The goal of my laboratory, with expertise in epigenetic studies, is to create a predictive model for determining inflammation and pathology of MWCNT based on physicochemical properties and epigenetic changes that can be utilized to improve overall safety. Therefore, we used a murine model to determine epigenetic changes and examine their relationship to increased inflammation and development of lung disease in response to various sized MWCNT exposures

Monet of the orient

This dress is inspired by painter Claude Monet woks, especially soft pastel tone of Water Lilly in colors. The purpose of the dress is to express oriental beauty coming from Korean traditional costume ‘Hanbok’ that has balloon lines with pastel tone of color. It could be worn for evening wear

A Service System Design to Support Medical Tourism in South Korea

Healthcare costs are continuously increasing due to longer life expectancy and providing global healthcare services through medical tourism is not a new trend anymore. Several countries have well established programs and infrastructure dedicated to medical tourism. South Korea is attempting to become a major player in this domain by undertaking broad initiatives. The success of medical tourism is greatly impacted by easy access to two types of information, namely, medical and travel information. The National Health Insurance System in Korea collects huge amount of clinical and financial information from all hospitals. However, this information does not get used effectively in health and travel information systems to support medical tourism. In this paper, we develop a medical tourism service system that will promote information exchange and service delivery

Momentum-kick model application to high multiplicity pp collisions at s=13 TeV\sqrt{s}=13\,\mathrm{TeV} at the LHC

In this study, the momentum-kick model is used to understand the ridge behaviours in dihadron $\Delta\eta$--$\Delta\varphi$ correlations recently reported by the LHC in high-multiplicity proton-proton (pp) collisions. The kick stand model is based on a momentum kick by leading jets to partons in the medium close to the leading jets. The medium where partons move freely is assumed in the model regardless of collision systems. This helps us apply the method to small systems like pp collisions in a simple way. Also, the momentum transfer is purely kinematic and this provides us a strong way to approach the ridge behaviour analytically. There are already several results with this approach in high-energy heavy-ion collisions from the STAR and PHENIX at RHIC and from the CMS at LHC. The momentum-kick model is extended to the recent ridge results in high-multiplicity pp collisions with the ATLAS and CMS at LHC. The medium property in high-multiplicity pp collisions is diagnosed with the result of the model.Comment: 10 pages, 2 tables and 3 figure

An Epigenetic Pilot Study Investigating Biomarkers in Maternal-Infant Pairs

Rationale: Particulate matter (PM) is a measurable component of air pollution that has been associated with adverse cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes. Research indicates environmental factors such as air pollution are involved in changes through epigenetic mechanisms during development that may persist into adulthood and even span multiple generations of inheritance. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes of gene expression that do not alter the actual DNA sequence. One epigenetic mechanism is DNA methylation. Long Interspersed Nuclear Element (LINE-1) is a DNA repetitive element that can be used as a proxy measurement of DNA global methylation. The purpose of this pilot study was to compare epigenetic biomarkers across different sample matrices (i.e. blood and buccal) and across related subjects (i.e. maternal and infant). Methods: Informed consent was provided by pregnant women (n=23) who were recruited through Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), hospital birthing classes, or flyers in obstetrician’s offices. Demographic and medical data was collected from hospital records for both mothers and newborns after birth. Follow-up health surveys were administered by telephone that were designed to collect indicators of pre-asthmatic respiratory symptoms or conditions. Biological samples were collected before or shortly after time of birth at Community Medical Center of Missoula, MT. The samples collected were maternal blood (n=15), umbilical cord blood (n=15), and maternal (n=23) and newborn (n=23) buccal (cheek) cells. Buccal cells were collected and processed according to the Gentra Puregene Kit (Qiagen, Germantown, MD). These biologically accessible tissues serve as surrogates to study gene methylation associated with respiratory health. Samples were stored at -80°C until DNA extraction and subsequent bisulfite treatment. The samples were amplified in duplicates with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). LINE-1 methylation was analyzed with pyrosequencing on a Pyromark Q96 MD (Qiagen, Germantown, MD). All statistical analysis was performed in Statistical Analysis Software (SAS, version 9.3). Results: The mean (standard deviation (sd)) of LINE-1 methylation percentage for mother and infant buccal cell derived DNA were 58.75 (3.89) and 57.16 (2.54), respectively. Percent methylation maximum for mother and infant buccal samples were 70.22 and 64.25, respectively, and minimum were 54.86 and 52.94, respectively. Paired t-test indicated that LINE-1 methylation percentages in maternal buccal samples were higher than methylation percentages in the paired infant samples (mean difference (95%CL) = 4.4 (2.3, 6.6)). The mean (sd) of LINE-1 methylation percentage for mother and infant/cord blood derived DNA were 75.19 (3.17) and 75.86 (3.05), respectively. Percent methylation maximum for mother and infant blood samples were 79.42 and 79.50, respectively, and minimum were 70.39 and 69.31, respectively. Paired t-test indicated that LINE-1 methylation percentages in maternal blood samples were similar to methylation percentages in infant blood samples (mean difference (95% CL) = 0.66 (-2.0,3.3)). Conclusions: LINE-1 methylation percentages between sample matrices (i.e. blood and buccal) and subjects (i.e. maternal and infant) were not correlated. The percent methylation of LINE-1 in DNA from blood was consistently greater than for DNA from buccal tissue for both mother and newborn samples. It was expected that LINE-1 measurements for blood DNA would differ from buccal DNA because circulating blood represents a more diverse cell population. Gene-specific methylation of the promoter region for interferon-γ, a cytokine associated with asthma, will be studied with the remaining samples of bisulfite-treated DNA from this study. Epigenetic changes may serve as useful biomarkers for predicting asthma risk in children exposed to biomass smoke. These methods can be applied to future studies to investigate the epigenetic relationship of prenatal asthma risk and PM wood smoke exposure

All-in-one assembly based on 3D-intertangled and cross-jointed architectures of Si/Cu 1D-nanowires for lithium ion batteries

All-in-one assemblies of separator, electrode and current collector (SECA) for lithium ion batteries are presented by using 1D nanowires of Si and Cu (nwSi and nwCu). Even without binders, integrity of SECA is secured via structural joints based on ductility of Cu as well as entanglement of nwSi and nwCu. By controlling the ratio of the nanowires, the number of contact points and voids accommodating volume expansion of Si active material are tunable. Zero volume expansion and high energy density are simultaneously achievable by the architectureopen0