Genetic damage in coal and uranium miners

Mining has a direct impact on the environment and on the health of miners and is considered one of the most hazardous occupations worldwide. Miners are exposed to several occupational health risks, including genotoxic substances, which may cause adverse health effects, such as cancer. This review summarizes the relation between DNA damage and mining activities, focusing on coal and uranium miners. The search was performed using electronic databases, including original surveys reporting genetic damage in miners. Additionally, a temporal bibliometric analysis was performed using an electronic database to create a map of cooccurrence terms. The majority of studies were performed with regard to occupational exposure to coal, whereas genetic damage was assessed mainly through chromosomal aberrations (CAs), micronuclei (MNs) and comet assays. The bibliometric analysis demonstrated associations of coal exposure with silicosis and pneumoconiosis, uranium miners with lung cancer and tumors and some associated factors, such as age, smoking, working time and exposure to radiation. Significantly higher DNA damage in miners compared to nonexposed groups was observed in most of the studies. The timeline reveals that classic biomarkers (comet assay, micronucleus test and chromosomal aberrations) are still important tools to assess genotoxic/mutagenic damage in occupationally exposed miners; however, newer studies concerning genetic polymorphisms and epigenetic changes in miners are being conducted. A major challenge is to investigate further associations between miners and DNA damage and to encourage further studies with miners of other types of ores.

Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis and Other Mining-Related Lung Disease: New Manifestations of Illness in an Age-Old Occupation

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and other mining-related lung diseases are entirely preventable, yet continue to occur. While greater attention has been given to CWP and silicosis, mining exposures cause a broad spectrum of respiratory disease, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and pulmonary fibrosis. Physicians must obtain a detailed occupational and exposure history from miners in order to make an accurate diagnosis and determine the risk of disease progression. Mining-related lung diseases are incurable and difficult to treat. Therefore, primary prevention by limiting dust exposure and secondary prevention through chest imaging and physiologic screening should be the primary focus of disease control.

Genetic Susceptibility to Antisynthetase Syndrome Associated With Single-Nucleotide Variants in the IL1B Gene That Lead Variation in IL-1β Serum Levels

The antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by myositis, arthritis, mechanic's hands, fever, Raynaud phenomenon, and interstitial lung disease (ILD). We aimed to evaluate single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the interleukin 1B (IL1B) gene and their association between ILD with antisynthetase autoantibodies, as well as IL-1β serum levels. The most frequent antisynthetase autoantibody was anti-Jo1. The most frequent tomographic pattern was non-specific interstitial pneumonia, whereas in the anti-Jo1 subjects, it was organized pneumonia. Anti-Jo1 patients tend to have more significant arthritis, and Raynaud phenomenon have higher levels of creatinine phosphokinase. In the IL1B gene, the GG genotype and G allele of rs1143634 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.21 and OR = 2.60, respectively, p < 0.05] are associated with an increased risk, as well as with the dominant and recessive models (p < 0.05). This finding is maintained after logistic regression analysis adjusting for potential confounding variables (p < 0.05). Subjects with the rs16944/AG heterozygous genotype had higher serum levels of IL-1β compared to homozygous (p < 0.05). In conclusion, rs1143634 is associated with a higher risk of ASSD. Also, the GA genotype is associated with higher levels of IL-1β in ASSD patients.

Miscanthus plants processing in fuel, energy, chemical and microbiological industries

The increasing shortage of fossil hydrocarbon fuel dictates the need to search for and develop alternative energy sources, including plant biomass. This paper is devoted to the study of the Miscanthus plants biomass potential and the analysis of technologies of its processing into products targeted at bioenergy, chemistry, and microbiology. Miscanthus is a promising renewable raw material to replace wood raw materials for the production of chemical, fuel, energy, and microbiological industries. Miscanthus is characterised by highly productive (up to 40 tons per one hectare of dry matter) C4-photosynthesis. Dry Miscanthus contains 47.1–49.7% carbon, 5.38–5.92% hydrogen, and 41.4–44.6% oxygen. The mineral composition includes K, Cl, N and S, which influence the processes occurring during biomass combustion. The total amount of extractives per dry substance lies in the range of 0.3–2.2 % for different extraction reagents. Miscanthus has optimal properties as an energy source. Miscanthus × giganteus pellets showed the energy value of about 29 kJ/g. For the bioconversion of plants into bioethanol, it is advisable to carry out simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, thus reducing the duration of process steps and energy costs. Miscanthus cellulose is of high quality and can be used for the synthesis of new products. Further research will focus on the selection of rational parameters for processing miscanthus biomass into products with improved physical and chemical characteristics: bioethanol, pellets, industrial cellulose, bacterial cellulose, carbohydrate substrate.