Laboratory Studies of Chemical and Photochemical Processes Relevant to Stratospheric Ozone

The purpose of this project is to reduce the uncertainty in several key gas-phase kinetic processes which impact our understanding of stratospheric ozone. The main emphasis of this work is on measuring rate coefficients and product channels for reactions of HO(x) and NO(x) species in the temperature range 200 K to 240 K relevant to the lower stratosphere. The results of these studies will improve models of stratospheric ozone chemistry and predictions of perturbations due to human influences. The second year's effort has focussed the design and construction of the proposed high pressure flow reactor on three separate areas: (1) the construction of the high pressure flow reactor; (2) characterization of the turbulent flow profile; and (3) demonstration of the instrument by measuring HO2 + NO2 and HO2 + NO reaction rate coefficients

NanoLC/ESI+ HRMS3 Quantitation of DNA Adducts Induced by 1,3-Butadiene

Human exposure to 1,3-butadiene (BD) present in automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke, and forest fires is of great concern because of its potent carcinogenicity. The adverse health effects of BD are mediated by its epoxide metabolites such as 3,4-epoxy-1-butene (EB), which covalently modify genomic DNA to form promutagenic nucleobase adducts. Because of their direct role in cancer, BD-DNA adducts can be used as mechanism-based biomarkers of BD exposure. In the present work, a mass spectrometry-based methodology was developed for accurate, sensitive, and precise quantification of EB-induced N-7-(1-hydroxy-3-buten-2-yl) guanine (EB-GII) DNA adducts in vivo. In our approach, EB-GII adducts are selectively released from DNA backbone by neutral thermal hydrolysis, followed by ultrafiltration, offline HPLC purification, and isotope dilution nanoLC/ESI(+)-HRMS(3) analysis on an Orbitrap Velos mass spectrometer. Following method validation, EB-GII lesions were quantified in human fibrosarcoma (HT1080) cells treated with micromolar concentrations of EB and in liver tissues of rats exposed to sub-ppm concentrations of BD (0.5-1.5 ppm). EB-GII concentrations increased linearly from 1.15 ± 0.23 to 10.11 ± 0.45 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides in HT1080 cells treated with 0.5-10 μM EB. EB-GII concentrations in DNA of laboratory rats exposed to 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 ppm BD were 0.17 ± 0.05, 0.33 ± 0.08, and 0.50 ± 0.04 adducts per 10(8) nucleotides, respectively [corrected]. We also used the new method to determine the in vivo half-life of EB-GII adducts in rat liver DNA (2.20 ± 0.12 d) and to detect EB-GII in human blood DNA. To our knowledge, this is the first application of nanoLC/ESI(+)-HRMS(3) Orbitrap methodology to quantitative analysis of DNA adducts in vivo

Nanoscale battery cathode materials induce DNA damage in bacteria

The increasing use of nanoscale lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LixNiyMnzCo1−y−zO2, NMC) as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries poses risk to the environment. Learning toxicity mechanisms on molecular levels is critical to promote proactive risk assessment of these complex nanomaterials and inform their sustainable development. We focused on DNA damage as a toxicity mechanism and profiled in depth chemical and biological changes linked to DNA damage in two environmentally relevant bacteria upon nano-NMC exposure. DNA damage occurred in both bacteria, characterized by double-strand breakage and increased levels of many putative chemical modifications on bacterial DNA bases related to direct oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation, measured by cutting-edge DNA adductomic techniques. Chemical probes indicated elevated intracellular reactive oxygen species and transition metal ions, in agreement with DNA adductomics and gene expression analysis. By integrating multi-dimensional datasets from chemical and biological measurements, we present rich mechanistic insights on nano-NMC-induced DNA damage in bacteria, providing targets for biomarkers in the risk assessment of reactive materials that may be extrapolated to other nano–bio interactions

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice. Results from the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Data from real-world registries are necessary, as clinical trials do not represent the full spectrum of VTE patients seen in clinical practice. We aimed to document the epidemiology, management and outcomes of VTE using data from a large, observational database. PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional disease registry conducted between January 2013 and July 2015 in primary and secondary care across seven European countries. Consecutive patients with acute VTE were documented and followed up over 12 months. PREFER in VTE included 3,455 patients with a mean age of 60.8 ± 17.0 years. Overall, 53.0 % were male. The majority of patients were assessed in the hospital setting as inpatients or outpatients (78.5 %). The diagnosis was deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in 59.5 % and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 40.5 %. The most common comorbidities were the various types of cardiovascular disease (excluding hypertension; 45.5 %), hypertension (42.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (21.1 %). Following the index VTE, a large proportion of patients received initial therapy with heparin (73.2 %), almost half received a vitamin K antagonist (48.7 %) and nearly a quarter received a DOAC (24.5 %). Almost a quarter of all presentations were for recurrent VTE, with >80 % of previous episodes having occurred more than 12 months prior to baseline. In conclusion, PREFER in VTE has provided contemporary insights into VTE patients and their real-world management, including their baseline characteristics, risk factors, disease history, symptoms and signs, initial therapy and outcomes

The Future of DNA Adductomic Analysis

Covalent modification of DNA, resulting in the formation of DNA adducts, plays a central role in chemical carcinogenesis. Investigating these modifications is of fundamental importance in assessing the mutagenicity potential of specific exposures and understanding their mechanisms of action. Methods for assessing the covalent modification of DNA, which is one of the initiating steps for mutagenesis, include immunohistochemistry, 32P-postlabeling, and mass spectrometry-based techniques. However, a tool to comprehensively characterize the covalent modification of DNA, screening for all DNA adducts and gaining information on their chemical structures, was lacking until the recent development of “DNA adductomics”. Advances in the field of mass spectrometry have allowed for the development of this methodology. In this perspective, we discuss the current state of the field, highlight the latest developments, and consider the path forward for DNA adductomics to become a standard method to investigate covalent modification of DNA. We specifically advocate for the need to take full advantage of this new era of mass spectrometry to acquire the highest quality and most reliable data possible, as we believe this is the only way for DNA adductomics to gain its place next to the other “-omics” methodologies as a powerful bioanalytical tool