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Neurochemical Research Mar 2024Hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), one of the most detrimental pollutants, has been ubiquitously present in the environment and causes serious toxicity to humans, such as...
Hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), one of the most detrimental pollutants, has been ubiquitously present in the environment and causes serious toxicity to humans, such as hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity, and cardiotoxicity. However, Cr (VI)-induced neurotoxicity in primary neuron level has not been well explored yet. Herein, potassium dichromate (KCrO) was employed to examine the neurotoxicity of Cr (VI) in rat primary hippocampal neurons. MTT test was used to examine the neural viability. Mitochondrial dysfunction was assessed by the JC-1 probe and Mito-Tracker probe. DCFH-DA and Mito-SOX Red were utilized to evaluate the oxidative status. Bcl-2 family and MAPKs expression were investigated using Western blotting. The results demonstrated that Cr (VI) treatment dose- and time-dependently inhibited neural viability. Mechanism investigation found that Cr (VI) treatment causes mitochondrial dysfunction by affecting Bcl-2 family expression. Moreover, Cr (VI) treatment also induces intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, DNA damage, and MAPKs activation in neurons. However, inhibition of ROS by glutathione (GSH) effectually balanced Bcl-2 family expression, attenuated DNA damage and the MAPKs activation, and eventually improved neural viability neurons. Collectively, these above results above suggest that Cr (VI) causes significant neurotoxicity by triggering mitochondrial dysfunction, ROS-mediated oxidative damage and MAKPs activation.
Topics: Humans; Rats; Animals; Reactive Oxygen Species; Oxidative Stress; Chromium; Glutathione; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; Mitochondrial Diseases
PubMed: 38010603
DOI: 10.1007/s11064-023-04063-y -
Ultrastructural Pathology Nov 2023The visual cortex is very important in mammals for processing of visual information. Exposure to heavy metals such as potassium dichromate poses serious health threat to...
The visual cortex is very important in mammals for processing of visual information. Exposure to heavy metals such as potassium dichromate poses serious health threat to human beings. The aim of this work is to study the effect of potassium dichromate on the visual cortex of adult albino rat and also to identify the possibility of selenium as protective agent against toxicity of potassium dichromate. A total number of 40 adult albino rats weighting (200-250) gm were used. They divided into four groups: control group, potassium dichromate received group, potassium dichromate and selenium received group and selenium received group. The rats received treatment for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, they were sacrificed. The present study showed that potassium dichromate causes degeneration of granular neurons in layer IV and pyramidal neurons in layer V. Morphometric results revealed statistically significant decrease in the number of granule and pyramidal cells in potassium dichromate received group as compared with control group. Most of degenerative changes are improved by selenium.
Topics: Rats; Humans; Adult; Animals; Potassium Dichromate; Selenium; Visual Cortex; Mammals
PubMed: 37936280
DOI: 10.1080/01913123.2023.2259455 -
Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal... Mar 2024Coccidiosis, caused by apicomplexan Eimeria species, is a protozoan disease that affects various species of wild and domestic animals. However, data available on Eimeria...
Coccidiosis, caused by apicomplexan Eimeria species, is a protozoan disease that affects various species of wild and domestic animals. However, data available on Eimeria diversity in ruminants in Saudi Arabia is meagre. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate some eimerian parasites infecting sheep (Sawakni and Harrie breeds) using microscopy and molecular methods for the first time in Saudi Arabia. Twenty-four fecal samples were collected from sheep farms. Based on the floatation technique, eimerian oocysts were observed in 8 of the 24 (33.33%) fecal samples. The coccidian-positive samples were subjected to fecal culture in a shallow layer of 2.5% potassium dichromate (K Cr O ). Detected eimerian oocysts were described micromorphometrically as the basis for traditional oocyst identification. Morphologically, the sporulated oocysts were similar to those of sheep eimerian parasies; Eimeria faurei and Eimeria crandallis. PCR products from the two eimerian species detected from Sawakni and Harrie breeds were sequenced and were found to be distinct from each other with mutations at five positions. One of them clustered with E. crandallis with 99.8%-100% identity with sequences available in GenBank. E. crandallis was obtained from two Sawakni sheep and two Harrie sheep. The other sequences grouped with E. faurei with 99.8% identity with the only sequences available in GenBank. E. crandallis was detected from both Sawakni and Harrie breeds whereas E. faurei was detected only from Sawakni sheep. The findings of this study have implications for the importance of morphometric identification with advanced molecular tools to confirm the identities of sheep Eimeria species and to address the taxonomic study of this eimeriid parasite at the species level.
Topics: Animals; Sheep; Eimeria; Parasites; Sheep Diseases; Coccidiosis; Animals, Domestic; Feces
PubMed: 37867370
DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13893 -
Contact Dermatitis Jan 2024Footwear contact allergy is caused by exposure to allergens in shoes. The prevalence and common allergens vary by region and time due to differences in customs and...
BACKGROUND
Footwear contact allergy is caused by exposure to allergens in shoes. The prevalence and common allergens vary by region and time due to differences in customs and lifestyle.
OBJECTIVES
To determine the clinical characteristics and common allergens of patients with footwear-related allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) who attended Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, between 2001 and 2020.
METHODS
The medical records of 247 patients with clinically suspected footwear dermatitis who underwent patch testing were reviewed.
RESULTS
The prevalence of ACD to footwear was 1.8%. Females were predominant (71.6%). The three most common allergens were carba mix (7.7%), mercapto mix (6.9%) and potassium dichromate (6.9%). According to the allergens found, rubber (14.2%), adhesives (7.7%) and leathers (6.9%) were the three most common groups. Dorsal-limited skin lesions were significantly associated with footwear ACD.
CONCLUSION
Rubber and leather allergens were still the most common culprit allergens. Dermatologists should keep up-to-date on common allergens in footwear and emerging allergens to include in patch test series.
Topics: Female; Humans; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact; Allergens; Prevalence; Rubber; Thailand; Foot Dermatoses; Patch Tests; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 37750414
DOI: 10.1111/cod.14428 -
Huan Jing Ke Xue= Huanjing Kexue Sep 2023Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an important index used to assess organic oxygen consumption pollution. To explore COD composition in the natural water in Baiyangdian...
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an important index used to assess organic oxygen consumption pollution. To explore COD composition in the natural water in Baiyangdian Lake, the main composition, source, and influencing factors of oxygen-consuming organic substances in the water body were revealed through physical continuous classification, three-dimensional fluorescence, and other methods. The results showed that the COD of the two waters was affected by dissolved organic substances (protein-like and humus-like organic matters) with size of less than 220 nm (59%-93%), and inorganic substances had little effect on COD. The source of organic matter in overlying water was primarily affected by endophytic vegetation decomposition, sediment release (the release flux of TOC was in the range of 1.55-2.28 mg·(m·d)), and other endogenous sources (biological index>0.8), as well as by land-based sources such as reed platform and artificial pollution (1.4
potassium dichromate method would rapidly oxidize most RDOC within a short time, leading to the overestimation of the organic oxygen consumption pollution in Baiyangdian Lake. PubMed: 37699810
DOI: 10.13227/j.hjkx.202208155 -
Foods (Basel, Switzerland) Aug 2023Cultivating rice varieties with lower cellulose content in the bran layer has the potential to enhance both the nutritional value and texture of brown rice. This study...
Cultivating rice varieties with lower cellulose content in the bran layer has the potential to enhance both the nutritional value and texture of brown rice. This study aims to establish a rapid and accurate method to quantify cellulose content in the bran layer utilizing near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), thereby providing a technical foundation for the selection, screening, and breeding of rice germplasm cultivars characterized by a low cellulose content in the bran layer. To ensure the accuracy of the NIR spectroscopic analysis, the potassium dichromate oxidation (PDO) method was improved and then used as a reference method. Using 141 samples of rice bran layer (rice bran without germ), near-infrared diffuse reflectance (NIRdr) spectra, near-infrared diffuse transmittance (NIRdt) spectra, and fusion spectra of NIRdr and NIRdt were used to establish cellulose quantitative analysis models, followed by a comparative evaluation of these models' predictive performance. Results indicate that the optimized PDO method demonstrates superior precision compared to the original PDO method. Upon examining the established models, their predictive capabilities were ranked in the following order: the fusion model outperforms the NIRdt model, which in turn surpasses the NIRdr model. Of all the fusion models developed, the model exhibiting the highest predictive accuracy utilized fusion spectra (NIRdr-NIRdt (1st der)) derived from preprocessed (first derivative) diffuse reflectance and transmittance spectra. This model achieved an external predictive R of 0.903 and an RMSEP of 0.213%. Using this specific model, the rice mutant O2 was successfully identified, which displayed a cellulose content in the bran layer of 3.28%, representing a 0.86% decrease compared to the wild type (W7). The utilization of NIRS enables quantitative analysis of the cellulose content within the rice bran layer, thereby providing essential technical support for the selection of rice varieties characterized by lower cellulose content in the bran layer.
PubMed: 37627996
DOI: 10.3390/foods12162997 -
Biometals : An International Journal on... Feb 2024The binding process between three species of chromium and serum albumin (SA) was investigated, as well as the interaction between KCrO and bovine serum albumin (BSA)...
The binding process between three species of chromium and serum albumin (SA) was investigated, as well as the interaction between KCrO and bovine serum albumin (BSA) under coexistence of different chromium forms. CrCl, KCrO and Crpic bound to SA spontaneously through Van der Waals force, and their binding constants were 10-10 M at 298 K, respectively. KCrO and Crpic both had strong binding affinity for BSA, and significantly affected the secondary structure of BSA and the microenvironment surrounding amino acid residues. Chromium exhibited a greater fluorescence quenching constant towards HSA than toward BSA, and KCrO induced greater conformational changes in human serum albumin (HSA) than in BSA. A weak binding of CrCl to BSA had no significant effect on the binding affinity of KCrO to BSA. KCrO and BSA have a greater binding affinity when coexisting with Crpic, and KCrO induces a greater conformational change in BSA.
Topics: Humans; Serum Albumin; Chromium; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Thermodynamics; Serum Albumin, Bovine; Serum Albumin, Human; Protein Binding; Binding Sites; Molecular Docking Simulation
PubMed: 37610601
DOI: 10.1007/s10534-023-00531-8 -
Indian Journal of Dermatology,...Background There is emerging evidence of a relationship between atopic dermatitis (AD) and allergic contact dermatitis (ACD), though the data available are scarce with...
Background There is emerging evidence of a relationship between atopic dermatitis (AD) and allergic contact dermatitis (ACD), though the data available are scarce with conflicting viewpoints. We explored the occurrence of contact hypersensitivity among children with atopic dermatitis by patch testing them with the Indian standard series and tried to correlate the presence of contact hypersensitivity with the clinical severity of AD in these children. Methods In this single-centre, cross-sectional study, children between 6 months and 12 years diagnosed with atopic dermatitis were included and patch tested with the Indian standard series. Outcome parameters were the proportion of patients having positive patch-test reactions, the proportion of positive patch-test reactions for each allergen and factors associated with patch test positivity in atopic dermatitis. Results Of the 136 patients, 80 were boys. The mean age of the study population was 5.6 ± 3.2 years. Twenty-eight (20.6%) patients had patch test positivity at 96 h. Fragrance mix was the commonest allergen, followed by potassium dichromate, cobalt chloride hexahydrate and nickel. SCORing atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) was significantly higher in patients with positive patch tests as compared to patients with negative patch tests (P = 0.009). Conclusion Greater disease severity in atopic dermatitis was found to be associated with patch test positivity. Limitations Inability to establish relevance in about 50% of the patients was a limitation of our study. Follow-up data regarding the impact of allergen avoidance is not available.
Topics: Child; Male; Humans; Child, Preschool; Female; Dermatitis, Atopic; Patch Tests; Cross-Sectional Studies; Retrospective Studies; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact; Allergens; Patient Acuity
PubMed: 37609746
DOI: 10.25259/IJDVL_492_2022 -
Heliyon Aug 2023With the rapid development of industry, the increasing discharge of sewage causes the detection of water quality to be of increasing importance. Potassium dichromate...
With the rapid development of industry, the increasing discharge of sewage causes the detection of water quality to be of increasing importance. Potassium dichromate titration is one of the most important testing methods in water quality detection; the ability to accurately identify the titration end-point of potassium dichromate is currently a research challenge. To identify titration end-point quickly and accurately, this study proposes a ResNet14Attention network, which utilizes residual modules that focus on original image information and an attention mechanism that focuses highly on classification targets. The proposed ResNet14Attention network is compared with 12 convolutional neural networks such as ResNet series networks, VGG, and GoogLeNet. The results of comparison experiments reveal that only the proposed ResNet14Attention network has the highest training and testing accuracy of 100% among all convolutional neural networks in the comparison experiment; the proposed ResNet14Attention network has the highest training speed compared to all the networks that over 90% accuracy.
PubMed: 37609400
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18992 -
Contact Dermatitis Nov 2023Cheilitis is an inflammatory condition of the lips. Its causes can be exogenous (irritants, allergens), endogenous (atopic dermatitis, systemic disorders) or unknown.
BACKGROUND
Cheilitis is an inflammatory condition of the lips. Its causes can be exogenous (irritants, allergens), endogenous (atopic dermatitis, systemic disorders) or unknown.
OBJECTIVES
To determine the prevalence of allergic contact cheilitis (ACC), its risk factors, and common allergens in patients with cheilitis at a Thai university-based tertiary care hospital.
METHODS
A retrospective chart review was conducted on patients with cheilitis referred for patch testing between January 2007 and December 2021.
RESULTS
Among 5366 patients referred for patch testing, 410 (7.6%) had cheilitis. ACC was diagnosed in 32% of the cheilitis patients. Compared to non-ACC cases, the patients with ACC were more likely to be young and female and have a disease duration of <3 months, no underlying disease and a white-collar job (p-value <0.05). The most common contact allergens were patient's products (73.3%), nickel sulfate (29.8%), potassium dichromate (14.5%), castor oil (14.3%) and benzalkonium chloride (13.0%). Lip cosmetics and toothpastes were major ACC sources.
CONCLUSIONS
ACC should be considered in cheilitis patients, especially in patients with specific risk factors. Castor oil is an emerging allergen. Patch testing using commercial allergen series and patients' own products is crucial for identifying causative agents. The development of a specific cheilitis series is warranted.
Topics: Humans; Female; Allergens; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact; Cheilitis; Castor Oil; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies; Thailand; Patch Tests
PubMed: 37607557
DOI: 10.1111/cod.14403