The effect of exposure to crude oil on the immune system. Health implications for people living near oil exploration activities

Vitamin C supplementation modulates crude oil contaminated water induced gravid uterine impaired contractile mechanism and foetal outcomes in Wistar rats

OBJECTIVES

Crude oil is a common environmental contaminant that impacts the reproductive functions of women. Understanding the contractile mechanism of the gravid uterus and how it impacts fetal outcomes during crude oil-contaminated water (CCW) exposure is still evolving. This study investigates the effect of vitamin C supplementation during the ingestion of CCW from Bayelsa, Nigeria, on the contractile mechanism of the gravid uterus and fetal outcomes.

METHODS

Fifteen nulliparous pregnant rats were randomly divided into 3 groups of 5 rats each and treated with normal saline (control), CCW (2.5 mL), and CCW + vitamin C (10 mg/kg bwt), respectively. Treatments were via oral gavage from gestation days 1-19. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of CCW, uterine oxidative biomarkers, and in vitro contractile activity of excised uterine tissue to acetylcholine, oxytocin, magnesium, and potassium were determined. Furthermore, uterine responses to acetylcholine after incubation with nifedipine, indomethacin, and N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester were also recorded using the Ugo Basile data capsule acquisition system. Fetal weights, morphometric indices, and anogenital distance were also determined.

RESULTS

Acetylcholine, oxytocin, magnesium, diclofenac, and indomethacin-mediated contractile mechanisms were significantly impaired with CCW exposure; however, vitamin C supplementation significantly attenuated the impaired uterine contractile activity. Maternal serum estrogen, weight, uterine superoxide dismutase, fetal weight, and anogenital distance were significantly reduced in the CCW group compared to the vitamin C supplemented group.

CONCLUSIONS

Ingestion of CCW impaired the uterine contractile mechanism, fetal developmental indices, oxidative biomarkers, and estrogen. Vitamin C supplementation modulated these by elevating uterine antioxidant enzymes and reducing free radicals.

Environmental sustainability assessment of a polyester T-shirt - Comparison of circularity strategies

The considerable environmental burden of textiles is currently globally recognized. This burden can be mitigated by applying circular economy (CE) strategies to the commonly linear, short garment life cycles that end with incineration or landfill disposal. Even though all CE strategies strive to promote environmental sustainability, they might not be equally beneficial. Environmental data on different textile products is insufficiently available, which leads to complications when assessing and deciding on different CE strategies to be implemented. This paper studies the environmental impacts of a polyester T-shirt's linear life cycle through life cycle assessment (LCA) and evaluates the benefits attainable by adopting different CE strategies, and their order of priority, while noting uncertainty arising from poor data quality or unavailability. The LCA is complemented by assessing health and environmental risks related to the different options. Most of the linear life cycle's LCA-based impacts arise from use-phase washing. Hence, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact notably (37 %) by reducing the washing frequency. Adopting a CE strategy in which the shirt is reused by a second consumer, to double the number of uses, enables an 18 % impact reduction. Repurposing recycled materials to produce the T-shirt and recycling the T-shirt material itself emerged as the least impactful CE strategies. From the risk perspective, reusing the garment is the most efficient way to reduce environmental and health risks while washing frequency has a very limited effect. Combining different CE strategies offers the greatest potential for reducing both environmental impacts as well as risks. Data gaps and assumptions related to the use phase cause the highest uncertainty in the LCA results. To gain the maximum environmental benefits of utilizing CE strategies on polyester garments, consumer actions, design solutions, and transparent data sharing are needed.

Latent Trajectories of Haematological, Hepatic, and Renal Profiles after Oil Spill Exposure: A Longitudinal Analysis

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in crude oil has carcinogenic effects on various organ systems. This longitudinal cohort study examined the effects of oil spill exposure on the haematological, hepatic, and renal profiles of Rayong oil spill clean-up workers. The sample included 869 clean-up workers from the Rayong oil spill. Latent class mixture models were used to investigate and classify the longitudinal trajectories and trends of the haematological, hepatic, and renal indices. Subgroup analysis was used to evaluate the association between the urinary metabolites of PAHs and VOCs and haematological, hepatic, and renal parameters. Most clean-up workers (97.6%) had increasing levels of white blood cells (WBCs) (0.03 × 103 cells/µL), 94.90% of the workers had a significantly increasing trend of blood urea nitrogen (0.31 mg/dL per year), and 87.20% had a significantly increasing trend of serum creatinine (0.01 mg/dL per year). A high-decreasing trend of WBCs was seen in 2.42% (-0.73 × 103 per year). Post-exposure changes in haematological, renal, and hepatic profiles are present in workers exposed to the Rayong oil spill. This indicates possible long-term health complications and worsening renal function after exposure to PAHs and VOCs in crude oil.

Contributing factors common to COVID‑19 and gastrointestinal cancer

The devastating complications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) result from the dysfunctional immune response of an individual following the initial severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Multiple toxic stressors and behaviors contribute to underlying immune system dysfunction. SARS-CoV-2 exploits the dysfunctional immune system to trigger a chain of events, ultimately leading to COVID-19. The authors have previously identified a number of contributing factors (CFs) common to myriad chronic diseases. Based on these observations, it was hypothesized that there may be a significant overlap between CFs associated with COVID-19 and gastrointestinal cancer (GIC). Thus, in the present study, a streamlined dot-product approach was used initially to identify potential CFs that affect COVID-19 and GIC directly (i.e., the simultaneous occurrence of CFs and disease in the same article). The nascent character of the COVID-19 core literature (~1-year-old) did not allow sufficient time for the direct effects of numerous CFs on COVID-19 to emerge from laboratory experiments and epidemiological studies. Therefore, a literature-related discovery approach was used to augment the COVID-19 core literature-based ‘direct impact’ CFs with discovery-based ‘indirect impact’ CFs [CFs were identified in the non-COVID-19 biomedical literature that had the same biomarker impact pattern (e.g., hyperinflammation, hypercoagulation, hypoxia, etc.) as was shown in the COVID-19 literature]. Approximately 2,250 candidate direct impact CFs in common between GIC and COVID-19 were identified, albeit some being variants of the same concept. As commonality proof of concept, 75 potential CFs that appeared promising were selected, and 63 overlapping COVID-19/GIC potential/candidate CFs were validated with biological plausibility. In total, 42 of the 63 were overlapping direct impact COVID-19/GIC CFs, and the remaining 21 were candidate GIC CFs that overlapped with indirect impact COVID-19 CFs. On the whole, the present study demonstrates that COVID-19 and GIC share a number of common risk/CFs, including behaviors and toxic exposures, that impair immune function. A key component of immune system health is the removal of those factors that contribute to immune system dysfunction in the first place. This requires a paradigm shift from traditional Western medicine, which often focuses on treatment, rather than prevention.

Cerebral Organoids Derived from a Parkinson's Patient Exhibit Unique Pathogenesis from Chikungunya Virus Infection When Compared to a Non-Parkinson's Patient

(1) Background: Arboviruses of medical and veterinary significance have been identified on all seven continents, with every human and animal population at risk for exposure. Like arboviruses, chronic neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, are found wherever there are humans. Significant differences in baseline gene and protein expression have been determined between human-induced pluripotent stem cell lines derived from non-Parkinson’s disease individuals and from individuals with Parkinson’s disease. It was hypothesized that these inherent differences could impact cerebral organoid responses to viral infection. (2) Methods: In this study, cerebral organoids from a non-Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s patient were infected with Chikungunya virus and observed for two weeks. (3) Results: Parkinson’s organoids lost mass and exhibited a differential antiviral response different from non-Parkinson’s organoids. Neurotransmission data from both infected non-Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s organoids had dysregulation of IL-1, IL-10, and IL-6. These cytokines are associated with mood and could be contributing to persistent depression seen in patients following CHIKV infection. Both organoid types had increased expression of CXCL10, which is linked to demyelination. (4) Conclusions: The differential antiviral response of Parkinson’s organoids compared with non-Parkinson’s organoids highlights the need for more research in neurotropic infections in a neurologically compromised host.

Toxoplasma gondii infections in birds, companion, food and recreational animals in Nigeria: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan pathogen of zoonotic and economic importance with a global distribution. The pathogen is associated with abortion, stillbirth, neonatal mortalities and mummification in sheep and goats which may also serve as sources of human infections. In pregnant women, the parasite undergoes intrauterine transmission to cause neonatal complications like miscarriage, chorioretinitis, hydrocephalus, cerebral calcification and foetal death. Here, we determine the prevalence and geographical distribution of T. gondii infections in Nigeria using the PRISMA protocol. Prevalence estimates (PE) and heterogeneity were determined by the random-effects model and the Cochran's Q-test respectively. Twenty-eight articles identified, reported 2311 positive cases of Toxoplasma gondii from a total of 9847 animals examined across 15 Nigerian States. Overall PE was 20.70% (95% CI: 15.05-27.78) with a range of 10.18% (95% CI: 2.66-31.98) to 94.00% (95% CI: 89.73-96.56) across sub-groups. PEs varied significantly (p < .05) across host species, with a range of 4.06% (95% CI: 2.47-6.87) to 40.65% (95% CI: 19.88-65.40). PEs in females (22.65%, 95% CI: 15.78-31.72) was significantly higher (p < .05) than that in males (18.97%, 95% CI: 12.78-27.22), while those for adult and young animals were 20.23% (95% CI: 13.42-29.33) and 18.96% (95% CI: 11.11-30.45) respectively. The majority of the studies were published from the south-western region. Toxoplasma gondii infection is prevalent among birds, companion, food and recreational animals from Nigeria. Integrated control strategies including adequate sanitation, cat movement restrictions, public enlightenment are recommended to curtail the menace of T. gondii in animals and its public health consequences in humans.