measuring-biophysical-psychological-stress-levels-following

Measuring Biophysical and Psychological Stress Levels Following Visitation to Three Locations with Differing Levels of Nature

Visitation to natural environments has been linked to psychological stress reduction. Although most stress-related research has relied on self-report ...

Indiana University

A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial of N-acetylcysteine on oxidative stress and endothelial function in HIV-infected older adults receiving antiretroviral treatment.

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States. Several dietary factors have been identified that modify pancreatic cancer risk, including low folate levels. In addition to nutrition and lifestyle determinants, folate status may be influenced by genetic factors such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In the present study, we investigated the association between folate levels, genetic polymorphisms in genes of the folate pathway, and pancreatic cancer.

The role of the folate pathway in pancreatic cancer risk.

Groundwater, the major source of drinking water in Bengal Delta Plain, is contaminated with geogenic arsenic (As) enrichment affecting millions of people. Children exposed to tubewell water containing As may be associated with thyroid dysfunction, which in turn may impact neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, data to support such relationship is sparse. The purpose of this study was to examine if chronic water As (WAs) from Holocene alluvial aquifers in this region was associated with serum thyroid hormone (TH) and if TH biomarkers were related to neurobehavioral (NB) performance in a group of adolescents. A sample of 32 healthy adolescents were randomly drawn from a child cohort in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS) in Araihazar, Bangladesh. Half of these participants were consistently exposed to low WAs (<10 μg/L) and the remaining half had high WAs exposure (≥10 μg/L) since birth. Measurements included serum total triiodothyronine (tT), free thyroxine (fT), thyrotropin (TSH) and thyroperoxidase antibodies (TPOAb); concurrent WAs and urinary arsenic (UAs); and adolescents' NB performance. WAs and UAs were positively and significantly correlated with TPOAb but were not correlated with TSH, tT and fT. After accounting for covariates, both WAs and UAs demonstrated positive but non-significant relationships with TSH and TPOAb and negative but non-significant relationships with tT and fT. TPOAb was significantly associated with reduced NB performance indicated by positive associations with latencies in simple reaction time (b = 82.58; p < 0.001) and symbol digit (b = 276.85; p = 0.005) tests. TSH was significantly and negatively associated with match-to-sample correct count (b = -0.95; p = 0.05). Overall, we did not observe significant associations between arsenic exposure and TH biomarkers although the relationships were in the expected directions. We observed TH biomarkers to be related to reduced NB performance as hypothesized. Our study indicated a possible mechanism of As-induced neurotoxicity, which requires further investigations for confirmatory findings.

Article	Year
A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial of N-acetylcysteine on oxidative stress and endothelial function in HIV-infected older adults receiving antiretroviral treatment. AIDS (London, England)\| PubMed ID: 27603163	2016
The role of the folate pathway in pancreatic cancer risk. PloS one\| PubMed ID: 29474406	2018
Thyroid hormones and neurobehavioral functions among adolescents chronically exposed to groundwater with geogenic arsenic in Bangladesh. The Science of the total environment\| PubMed ID: 31075594	2019

Lisa M. Kamendulis

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