Izloženost genotoksičnim agensima iz životnog okoliša tijekom prenatalnog razvoja i djetinjstva

Health disorders and diseases related to environmental exposure in children such as cancer and immunologic disturbances (asthma, allergies) are on the rise. However, complex transplacental and prepubertal genotoxicology is given very limited consideration, even though intrauterine development and early childhood may be critical for elucidating the cancer aetiology. The foetus is transplacentally exposed to contaminants in food and environment such as various chemicals, drugs, radiochemically contaminated water and air. Target organs of xenobiotic action may differ between the mother and the foetus due to specific stage of developmental physiology and enzyme distribution. This in turn may lead to different levels of clastogenic and aneugenic metabolites of the same xenobiotic in the mother and the foetus. Adult’s protective behaviour is not sufficient to isolate children from radioisotopes, pesticides, toxic metals and metalloids, environmental tobacco smoke, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and various food contaminants, which are just a part of the stressors present in a polluted environment. In order to improve legislation related to foetus and child exposure to genotoxic and possibly carcinogenic agents, oncologists, paediatricians, environmental health specialists, and genotoxicologists should work together much more closely to make a more effective use of accumulated scientific data, with the final aim to lower cancer incidence and mortality.Unatoč velikim naporima da se smanji okolišna izloženost u djece se dalje bilježi trend porasta pojavnosti karcinoma i imunosnih poremećaja (astma, alergije). Premda su intrauterini razvoj i rano djetinjstvo kritično razdoblje za tumačenje etiologije nastanka karcinoma, transplacentalna i prepubertetna genotoksikologija do danas su slabo istražene. Fetus je transplacentalno izložen brojnim fizikalnim i kemijskim čimbenicima: kontaminantima iz hrane i okoliša, radiokemijski kontaminiranoj vodi, zraku te lijekovima. Ciljna tkiva za djelovanje ksenobiotika mogu biti različita u majke i fetusa zbog različitosti u razvojnoj fiziologiji i distribuciji enzima. Zbog toga u organizmu majke i fetusa mogu nastati različite razine klastogenih i aneugenih metabolita istog ksenobiotika. Zaštitna uloga odraslih u namjeri da spriječe negativne utjecaje onečišćenog okoliša na djetetovo zdravlje često je ograničena jer su radioizotopi, olovo, PCB, pasivno pušenje, živa, endokrino aktivne tvari, pesticidi i kontaminanti prisutni u svim životnim područjima tijekom razvoja i rasta djeteta. Kako bi se poboljšalo zakonodavstvo vezano uz izloženost djece genotoksičnim i vjerojatno kancerogenim tvarima, tijekom razvoja potrebna je bolja suradnja onkologa, pedijatara, stručnjaka zdravstvene ekologije i genotoksikologa. Na taj način ostvarilo bi se uspješnije iskorištavanje postojećih znanstvenih podataka u cilju smanjenja incidencije karcinoma i mortaliteta

SEE-GRID eInfrastructure for regional eScience

In the past 6 years, a number of targeted initiatives, funded by the European Commission via its information society and RTD programmes and Greek infrastructure development actions, have articulated a successful regional development actions in South East Europe that can be used as a role model for other international developments. The SEEREN (South-East European Research and Education Networking initiative) project, through its two phases, established the SEE segment of the pan-European G 'EANT network and successfully connected the research and scientific communities in the region. Currently, the SEE-LIGHT project is working towards establishing a dark-fiber backbone that will interconnect most national Research and Education networks in the region. On the distributed computing and storage provisioning i.e. Grid plane, the SEE-GRID (South-East European GRID e-Infrastructure Development) project, similarly through its two phases, has established a strong human network in the area of scientific computing and has set up a powerful regional Grid infrastructure, and attracted a number of applications from different fields from countries throughout the South-East Europe. The current SEEGRID-SCI project, ending in April 2010, empowers the regional user communities from fields of meteorology, seismology and environmental protection in common use and sharing of the regional e-Infrastructure. Current technical initiatives in formulation are focusing on a set of coordinated actions in the area of HPC and application fields making use of HPC initiatives. Finally, the current SEERA-EI project brings together policy makers - programme managers from 10 countries in the region. The project aims to establish a communication platform between programme managers, pave the way towards common e-Infrastructure strategy and vision, and implement concrete actions for common funding of electronic infrastructures on the regional level. The regional vision on establishing an e-Infrastructure compatible with European developments, and empowering the scientists in the region in equal participation in the use of pan-European infrastructures, is materializing through the above initiatives. This model has a number of concrete operational and organizational guidelines which can be adapted to help e-Infrastructure developments in other world regions. In this paper we review the most important developments and contributions by the SEEGRID-SCI project

Relations between cochlear histopathology and hearing loss in experimental cochlear implantation

This study reviews the cochlear histology from four hearing preservation cochlear implantation experiments conducted on 73 guinea pigs from our institution, and relates histopathological findings to residual hearing. All guinea pigs had normal hearing prior to surgery and underwent cochlear implantation via a cochleostomy with a silastic-platinum dummy electrode. Pure tone auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds from 2 to 32 kHz were recorded prior to surgery, and at one and four weeks postoperatively. The cochleae were then fixed in paraformaldehyde, decalcified, paraffin embedded, and mid-modiolar sections were prepared. The treatment groups were as follows: 1) Systemic dexamethasone, 0.2 mg/kg administered 1 h before implantation, 2) Local dexamethasone, 2% applied topically to the round window for 30 min prior to cochlear implantation, 3) Local n-acetyl cysteine, 200 μg applied topically to the round window for 30 min prior to implantation, 4) inoculation to keyhole-limpet hemocyanin (KLH) prior to implantation, and 5) untreated controls. There was a significant correlation between the extent of the tissue reaction in the cochlea and the presence of foreign body giant cells (FBGCs), new bone formation and injury to the osseous spiral lamina (OSL). The extent of the tissue response, as a percentage of the area of the scala tympani, limited the best hearing that was observed four weeks after cochlear implantation. Poorer hearing at four weeks correlated with a more extensive tissue response, lower outer hair cell (OHC) counts and OSL injury in the basal turn. Progressive hearing loss was also correlated with the extent of tissue response. Hearing at 2 kHz, which corresponds to the region of the second cochlear turn, did not correspond with loco-regional inner hair cell (IHC), OHC or SGC counts. We conclude that cochlear injury is associated with poorer hearing early after implantation. The tissue response is related to indices of cochlear inflammation and injury. An extensive tissue response limits hearing at four weeks, and correlates with progressive hearing loss. These latter effects may be due to inflammation, but would also be consistent with interference of cochlear mechanics

Radiocesium concentrations in wild boars captured within 20?km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident in 2011 released large amounts of artificial radioactive substances into the environment. In this study, we measured the concentration of radiocesium (134Cs + 137Cs) in 213 muscle samples from wild boars (Sus scrofa) captured in Tomioka town, which is located within 20 km of the FDNPP. The results showed that 210 (98.6%) muscle samples still exceeded the regulatory radiocesium limit (100 Bq/kg) for general foods. Radiocesium (134Cs + 137Cs) levels ranged from 87.1?8,120 Bq/kg fresh mass (FM), with a median concentration of 450 Bq/kg FM. The median committed effective dose was estimated to be 0.070?0.26 μSv/day for females and 0.062?0.30 μSv/day for males. The committed effective dose for one-time ingestion of wild boar meat could be considered extremely low for residents in Tomioka. The relatively high levels of radioactivity found in this study suggest that the high variability of food sources may have led to the large accumulation of radioactive substances. These results suggest that comprehensive long-term monitoring is needed to identify risk factors affecting recovery from a nuclear disaster