THE ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ANIMAL PRODUCTION IN CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE AMONG FARMERS IN IOWA AND NORTH CAROLINA

Individuals who work in animal production may be exposed to respiratory hazards including high concentrations of organic dust, gases, and chemicals. Long-term, chronic inhalation of these agents may contribute to risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). I examined the association between work in animal production, including the use of insecticides, and the prevalence of COPD diagnosis and chronic bronchitis symptoms among 22,721 farmers who enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS) (1993-1997) and participated in the 2005-2010 interview. I also assessed the impact of restricting analysis to participants of the 2005-2010 interview. To assess the impact of restriction, predictors of participation in the 2005-2010 interview were identified, example exposure-outcome associations estimated in the enrollment and 2005-2010 cohorts were compared, and the utility of inverse probability of selection weights (IPSW) to correct for selection bias was considered. Participation was related to age, state, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, smoking, and alcohol consumption. In example analyses, when case participation was differential with respect to exposure, estimates were biased; IPSW conditional on exposure and covariates failed to fully correct estimates. When participation was non-differential, estimates from 2005-2010 participants and the enrollment cohort were similar rendering IPSW unnecessary. Using log binomial regression and inverse probability of exposure weights to address confounding, I estimated the association between animal production, insecticide use and COPD diagnosis and symptoms. Raising beef cattle, hogs, or poultry was associated with greater prevalence of chronic bronchitis symptoms. Farmers with medium/large animal operations had 1.51 (95% CI: 1.21, 1.89) times the prevalence of chronic bronchitis symptoms than those raising no animals. Applying insecticides to livestock and use of coumaphos, diazinon, dichlorvos, malathion, parathion, carbaryl, and permethrin were also associated with greater prevalence of chronic bronchitis. Personal use of diazinon and trichlorfon were associated with a greater prevalence of COPD diagnosis. These results support an association between animal production, including use of insecticides, and chronic bronchitis, a component condition of COPD. Further investigation of animal production- and insecticide-related risk factors for COPD is necessary. There is also a need for continued monitoring of the respiratory health of farmers and workers involved in animal productionDoctor of Philosoph

Improving the effectiveness of anti-aging modalities by using the constrained disorder principle-based management algorithms

Aging is a complex biological process with multifactorial nature underlined by genetic, environmental, and social factors. In the present paper, we review several mechanisms of aging and the pre-clinically and clinically studied anti-aging therapies. Variability characterizes biological processes from the genome to cellular organelles, biochemical processes, and whole organs’ function. Aging is associated with alterations in the degrees of variability and complexity of systems. The constrained disorder principle defines living organisms based on their inherent disorder within arbitrary boundaries and defines aging as having a lower variability or moving outside the boundaries of variability. We focus on associations between variability and hallmarks of aging and discuss the roles of disorder and variability of systems in the pathogenesis of aging. The paper presents the concept of implementing the constrained disease principle-based second-generation artificial intelligence systems for improving anti-aging modalities. The platform uses constrained noise to enhance systems’ efficiency and slow the aging process. Described is the potential use of second-generation artificial intelligence systems in patients with chronic disease and its implications for the aged population

Atrazine Exposure in Public Drinking Water and Preterm Birth

Objectives Approximately 13% of all births occur prior to 37 weeks gestation in the U.S. Some established risk factors exist for preterm birth, but the etiology remains largely unknown. Recent studies have suggested an association with environmental exposures. We examined the relationship between preterm birth and exposure to a commonly used herbicide, atrazine, in drinking water. Methods We reviewed Kentucky birth certificate data for 2004–2006 to collect duration of pregnancy and other individual-level covariates. We assessed existing data sources for atrazine levels in public drinking water for the years 2000–2008, classifying maternal county of residence into three atrazine exposure groups. We used logistic regression to analyze the relationship between atrazine exposure and preterm birth, controlling for maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, smoking, and prenatal care. Results An increase in the odds of preterm birth was found for women residing in the counties included in the highest atrazine exposure group compared with women residing in counties in the lowest exposure group, while controlling for covariates. Analyses using the three exposure assessment approaches produced odds ratios ranging from 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14, 1.27) to 1.26 (95% CI 1.19, 1.32), for the highest compared with the lowest exposure group. Conclusions Suboptimal characterization of environmental exposure and variables of interest limited the analytical options of this study. Still, our findings suggest a positive association between atrazine and preterm birth, and illustrate the need for an improved assessment of environmental exposures to accurately address this important public health issue

Chromatin dynamics and gene expression response to heat exposure in field-conditioned versus laboratory-cultured Nematostella vectensis

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Weizman, E., Rinsky, M., Simon-Blecher, N., Lampert-Karako, S., Yaron, O., Tarrant, A. M., & Levy, O. Chromatin dynamics and gene expression response to heat exposure in field-conditioned versus laboratory-cultured Nematostella vectensis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(14), (2021): 7454, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22147454.Organisms’ survival is associated with the ability to respond to natural or anthropogenic environmental stressors. Frequently, these responses involve changes in gene regulation and expression, consequently altering physiology, development, or behavior. Here, we present modifications in response to heat exposure that mimics extreme summertime field conditions of lab-cultured and field-conditioned Nematostella vectensis. Using ATAC-seq and RNA-seq data, we found that field-conditioned animals had a more concentrated reaction to short-term thermal stress, expressed as enrichment of the DNA repair mechanism pathway. By contrast, lab animals had a more diffuse reaction that involved a larger number of differentially expressed genes and enriched pathways, including amino acid metabolism. Our results demonstrate that pre-conditioning affects the ability to respond efficiently to heat exposure in terms of both chromatin accessibility and gene expression and reinforces the importance of experimentally addressing ecological questions in the field