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Toxins Jun 2021The first part of this study evaluates the occurrence of mycotoxin patterns in feedstuffs and fish feeds. Results were extrapolated from a large data pool derived from... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
The Occurrence of Mycotoxins in Raw Materials and Fish Feeds in Europe and the Potential Effects of Deoxynivalenol (DON) on the Health and Growth of Farmed Fish Species-A Review.
The first part of this study evaluates the occurrence of mycotoxin patterns in feedstuffs and fish feeds. Results were extrapolated from a large data pool derived from wheat ( = 857), corn ( = 725), soybean meal ( = 139) and fish feed ( = 44) samples in European countries and based on sample analyses by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the period between 2012-2019. Deoxynivalenol (DON) was readily present in corn (in 47% of the samples) > wheat (41%) > soybean meal (11%), and in aquafeeds (48%). Co-occurrence of mycotoxins was frequently observed in feedstuffs and aquafeed samples. For example, in corn, multi-mycotoxin occurrence was investigated by Spearman's correlations and odd ratios, and both showed co-occurrence of DON with its acetylated forms (3-AcDON, 15-AcDON) as well as with zearalenone (ZEN). The second part of this study summarizes the existing knowledge on the effects of DON on farmed fish species and evaluates the risk of DON exposure in fish, based on data from in vivo studies. A meta-analytical approach aimed to estimate to which extent DON affects feed intake and growth performance in fish. Corn was identified as the ingredient with the highest risk of contamination with DON and its acetylated forms, which often cannot be detected by commonly used rapid detection methods in feed mills. Periodical state-of-the-art mycotoxin analyses are essential to detect the full spectrum of mycotoxins in fish feeds aimed to prevent detrimental effects on farmed fish and subsequent economic losses for fish farmers. Because levels below the stated regulatory limits can reduce feed intake and growth performance, our results show that the risk of DON contamination is underestimated in the aquaculture industry.
Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Aquaculture; Environmental Monitoring; Europe; Fishes; Food Contamination; Mycotoxins
PubMed: 34198924
DOI: 10.3390/toxins13060403 -
Pediatric Nephrology (Berlin, Germany) Oct 2021Nephritis is a recognised complication of IgA vasculitis (IgAV, Henoch-Schönlein purpura) contributing to 1-2% of all chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5. Improved...
BACKGROUND
Nephritis is a recognised complication of IgA vasculitis (IgAV, Henoch-Schönlein purpura) contributing to 1-2% of all chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5. Improved understanding may reduce irreversible damage in IgAV nephritis (IgAV-N).
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive systematic literature review to identify promising clinical and pre-clinical urine biomarkers in children with IgAV-N that could predict the presence of nephritis and/or determine its severity.
METHODS
A systematic literature review was performed using four search engines and a predefined search term strategy. Promising biomarkers were divided in terms of clinical or pre-clinical and ability to predict the presence of nephritis or determine its severity. Results were described using statistical significance (p < 0.05) and area under the curve (AUC) values.
RESULTS
One hundred twenty-one studies were identified; 13 were eligible. A total of 2446 paediatric patients were included: healthy controls (n = 761), children with IgAV-N (n = 1236) and children with IgAV without nephritis (IgAV-noN, n = 449). Fifty-one percent were male, median age 7.9 years. The clinical markers, 24-h protein quantity and urine protein:creatinine ratio, were deemed acceptable for assessing severity of nephritis (AUC < 0.8). Urinary albumin concentration (Malb) performed well (AUC 0.81-0.98). The most promising pre-clinical urinary biomarkers in predicting presence of nephritis were as follows: kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) (AUC 0.93), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) (AUC 0.83), N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG) (0.76-0.96), and angiotensinogen (AGT) (AUC not available). Urinary KIM-1, MCP-1, and NAG appeared to correlate with disease severity.
CONCLUSIONS
Longitudinal studies are needed to assess whether pre-clinical biomarkers enhance standard of care in IgAV-N.
Topics: Area Under Curve; Biomarkers; Child; Humans; IgA Vasculitis; Immunoglobulin A; Kidney Failure, Chronic; Male; Nephritis
PubMed: 33993342
DOI: 10.1007/s00467-021-05107-7 -
Medicinal Research Reviews Jul 2021Endometriosis (EM) is defined as endometrial tissues found outside the uterus. Growth and development of endometriotic cells in ectopic sites can be promoted via... (Review)
Review
Endometriosis (EM) is defined as endometrial tissues found outside the uterus. Growth and development of endometriotic cells in ectopic sites can be promoted via multiple pathways, including MAPK/MEK/ERK, PI3K/Akt/mTOR, NF-κB, Rho/ROCK, reactive oxidative stress, tumor necrosis factor, transforming growth factor-β, Wnt/β-catenin, vascular endothelial growth factor, estrogen, and cytokines. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms include proliferation, apoptosis, autophagy, migration, invasion, fibrosis, angiogenesis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune escape. Current medical treatments for EM are mainly hormonal and symptomatic, and thus the development of new, effective, and safe pharmaceuticals targeting specific molecular and signaling pathways is needed. Here, we systematically reviewed the literature focused on pharmaceuticals that specifically target the molecular and signaling pathways involved in the pathophysiology of EM. Potential drug targets, their upstream and downstream molecules with key aberrant signaling, and the regulatory mechanisms promoting the growth and development of endometriotic cells and tissues were discussed. Hormonal pharmaceuticals, including melatonin, exerts proapoptotic via regulating matrix metallopeptidase activity while nonhormonal pharmaceutical sorafenib exerts antiproliferative effect via MAPK/ERK pathway and antiangiogenesis activity via VEGF/VEGFR pathway. N-acetyl cysteine, curcumin, and ginsenoside exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects via radical scavenging activity. Natural products have high efficacy with minimal side effects; for example, resveratrol and epigallocatechin gallate have multiple targets and provide synergistic efficacy to resolve the complexity of the pathophysiology of EM, showing promising efficacy in treating EM. Although new medical treatments are currently being developed, more detailed pharmacological studies and large sample size clinical trials are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of these treatments in the near future.
Topics: Endometriosis; Female; Humans; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; Signal Transduction; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
PubMed: 33948974
DOI: 10.1002/med.21802 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2021Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered to be the most effective acute treatment for otherwise treatment resistant major depressive episodes, and has been used for...
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered to be the most effective acute treatment for otherwise treatment resistant major depressive episodes, and has been used for over 80 years. Still, the underlying mechanism of action is largely unknow. Several studies suggest that ECT affects the cerebral neurotransmitters, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows investigators to study neurotransmitters , and has been used to study neurochemical changes in the brain of patients treated with ECT. Several investigations have been performed on ECT-patients; however, no systematic review has yet summarized these findings. A systematic literature search based on the Prisma guidelines was performed. PubMed (Medline) was used in order to find investigations studying patients that had been treated with ECT and had undergone an MRS examination. A search in the databases Embase, PsycInfo, and Web of Science was also performed, leading to no additional records. A total of 30 records were identified and screened which resulted in 16 original investigations for review. The total number of patients that was included in these studies, ignoring potential overlap of samples in some investigations, was 325. The metabolites reported were N-acetyl aspartate, Choline, Myoinositol, Glutamate and Glutamine, GABA and Creatine. The strongest evidence for neurochemical change related to ECT, was found for N-acetyl aspartate (reduction), which is a marker of neuronal integrity. Increased choline and glutamate following treatment was also commonly reported.
PubMed: 33841198
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.608857 -
Nutrients Mar 2021Elevated inflammation in pregnancy has been associated with multiple adverse pregnancy outcomes and potentially an increased susceptibility to future chronic disease....
Elevated inflammation in pregnancy has been associated with multiple adverse pregnancy outcomes and potentially an increased susceptibility to future chronic disease. How maternal dietary patterns influence systemic inflammation during pregnancy requires further investigation. The purpose of this review was to comprehensively evaluate studies that assessed dietary patterns and inflammatory markers during pregnancy. This review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses. Included studies were sourced from EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus and evaluated using The Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Inclusion criteria consisted of human studies published in English between January 2007 and May 2020 that addressed associations between dietary patterns and inflammatory markers during pregnancy. Studies focused on a single nutrient, supplementation, or combined interventions were excluded. A total of 17 studies were included. Despite some inconsistent findings, maternal diets characterized by a higher intake of animal protein and cholesterol and/or a lower intake of fiber were shown to be associated with certain pro-inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF- α), IL-8, serum amyloid A (SAA), and glycoprotein acetylation (GlycA)). Future studies that explore a broader range of inflammatory markers in the pregnant population, reduce measurement errors, and ensure adequate statistical adjustment are warranted.
Topics: Acetylation; Biomarkers; C-Reactive Protein; Diet; Female; Glycoproteins; Humans; Inflammation; Inflammation Mediators; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-8; Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimesters; Prenatal Care; Serum Amyloid A Protein; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
PubMed: 33806342
DOI: 10.3390/nu13030834 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2021Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and has a high incidence rate. N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) is a polymorphic xenobiotic enzyme, which...
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and has a high incidence rate. N-Acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) is a polymorphic xenobiotic enzyme, which can catalyze N-acetylation and O-acetylation of various carcinogens such as aromatic, heterocyclic amines and hydrazines. At present, many studies have explored the effects of NAT2 polymorphism on lung cancer, but we found inconsistent results. We researched 18 published studies, involving 4,016 patients and 5,469 controls, to more accurately assess the effects of NAT2 polymorphism on lung cancer risk and to investigate whether smoking is associated. We used STATA software to analyze the extracted data and used STATA for subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and to perform publication bias tests. To determine the correlation, we used the crude odds ratio (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CIs). Our study was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020159737). The odds ratio was 1.53 (95% CI: 1.211.95, I² = 45.2%, P=0.104) for the NAT2 slow + intermediate phenotype rapid phenotype. The results suggested that people with NAT2 non-rapid (slow + intermediate) phenotype have a significantly increased risk of lung cancer. In addition, NAT2 rapid phenotype was significantly associated with reduced risk of lung cancer, compared with slow phenotype or intermediate phenotype (slow phenotype . rapid phenotype: OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.07-2.42, I²= 50%, P= 0.075; intermediate phenotype . rapid phenotype: OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.15-1.88, I²= 40.3%, P= 0.137).
PubMed: 33777732
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.567762 -
Archives of Medical Science : AMS 2022Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most prevalent causes of hearing impairment and occupational diseases. Although multiple factors lead to noise-induced hearing... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most prevalent causes of hearing impairment and occupational diseases. Although multiple factors lead to noise-induced hearing loss, prevention and protection strategies remain limited. Studies in the past decade have employed antioxidants, especially N-acetyl-cysteine, to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluated the effect of N-acetyl-cysteine on the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This systematic review and meta-analysis included relevant studies from the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science by using related terms. The study only included randomized controlled trials in meta-analyses and assessed the quality of the identified randomized controlled trials by using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Two authors extracted and calculated data on characteristics and hearing threshold. The results are presented as weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI).
RESULTS
This study identified five randomized controlled trials that randomized 1,115 patients into N-acetyl-cysteine and control groups. The meta-analysis evidenced that N-acetyl-cysteine has greater protective effects against hearing threshold shifts than the control in the 0 to 4 kHz (WMD = -3.39, 95% CI: -6.56 to -0.22) and 0 to 6 kHz (MD = -3.49, 95% CI: -6.57 to -0.41) subgroups.
CONCLUSIONS
The present review and meta-analysis recommends that N-acetyl-cysteine may be considered as an option for protective therapy for noise-induced hearing loss. Nonetheless, larger randomized controlled trials are requisite for further investigation and verification.
PubMed: 36457967
DOI: 10.5114/aoms/109126 -
Annals of Hepatology 2021The role of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in the treatment of acetaminophen induced acute liver injury (ALI) is well established but its role in non-acetaminophen induced ALI... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
The role of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in the treatment of acetaminophen induced acute liver injury (ALI) is well established but its role in non-acetaminophen induced ALI is still elusive. We conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the role of NAC in non-acetaminophen induced ALI. We searched electronic databases for studies published till Oct 25, 2020. We used RevMan v5.4 software to analyze the data extracted from selected studies by using Covidence systematic review software. Outcome estimation was done using Odds Ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The heterogeneity in various studies was determined using the I test. A total of 11 studies were included in quantitative analysis. Use of NAC in non-acetaminophen induced ALI showed 53% reduction in mortality compared to standard of care (OR, 0.47; CI, 0.29-0.75) and reduced mean duration of hospital stay by 6.52 days (95% CI, -12.91 to -0.13). Similarly, the rate of encephalopathy was 59% lower in the treatment group (OR, 0.41; CI, 0.20-0.83). However, the risk of developing nausea and vomiting (OR, 3.99; CI, 1.42-11.19), and the need for mechanical ventilation (OR 3.88; CI, 1.14-13.29) were significantly higher in the treatment group. These findings conclude use of NAC decreases mortality and hepatic encephalopathy compared to standard of care in patients with non-acetaminophen induced ALI. Although there is an increased risk of nausea and vomiting with the use of NAC, the majority of adverse events are transient and minor.
Topics: Acetylcysteine; Free Radical Scavengers; Humans; Length of Stay; Liver Failure, Acute; Standard of Care; Survival Rate
PubMed: 33722689
DOI: 10.1016/j.aohep.2021.100340 -
Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) Jan 2021Melatonin (-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an indoleamine with antioxidant, chronobiotic and anti-inflammatory properties; reduced levels of this hormone are associated... (Review)
Review
Melatonin (-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) is an indoleamine with antioxidant, chronobiotic and anti-inflammatory properties; reduced levels of this hormone are associated with higher risk of cancer. Several beneficial effects of melatonin have been described in a broad number of tumors, including liver cancers. In this work we systematically reviewed the publications of the last 15 years that assessed the underlying mechanisms of melatonin activities against liver cancers, and its role as coadjuvant in the treatment of these tumors. Literature research was performed employing PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases and, after screening, 51 articles were included. Results from the selected studies denoted the useful actions of melatonin in preventing carcinogenesis and as a promising treatment option for the primary liver tumors hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), either alone or in combination with other compounds. Different processes were modulated by the indole, such as inhibition of oxidative stress, proliferation, angiogenesis and invasion, promotion of immune system response, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, as well as recovery of circadian rhythms and autophagy modulation. Taken together, the present systematic review highlights the evidence that document the potential role of melatonin in improving the landscape of liver tumor treatment.
PubMed: 33445767
DOI: 10.3390/antiox10010103 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2020Traditionally recognized as environmental bacteria, Planctomycetes have just been linked recently to human pathology as opportunistic pathogens, arousing a great...
Planctomycetes as Host-Associated Bacteria: A Perspective That Holds Promise for Their Future Isolations, by Mimicking Their Native Environmental Niches in Clinical Microbiology Laboratories.
Traditionally recognized as environmental bacteria, Planctomycetes have just been linked recently to human pathology as opportunistic pathogens, arousing a great interest for clinical microbiologists. However, the lack of appropriate culture media limits our future investigations as no Planctomycetes have ever been isolated from patients' specimens despite several attempts. Several Planctomycetes have no cultivable members and are only recognized by 16S rRNA gene sequence detection and analysis. The cultured representatives are slow-growing fastidious bacteria and mostly difficult to culture on synthetic media. Accordingly, the provision of environmental and nutritional conditions like those existing in the natural habitat where yet uncultured/refractory bacteria can be detected might be an option for their potential isolation. Hence, we systematically reviewed the various natural habitats of Planctomycetes, to review their nutritional requirements, the physicochemical characteristics of their natural ecological niches, current methods of cultivation of the Planctomycetes and gaps, from a perspective of collecting data in order to optimize conditions and the protocols of cultivation of these fastidious bacteria. Planctomycetes are widespread in freshwater, seawater, and terrestrial environments, essentially associated to particles or organisms like macroalgae, marine sponges, and lichens, depending on the species and metabolizable polysaccharides by their sulfatases. Most Planctomycetes grow in nutrient-poor oligotrophic environments with pH ranging from 3.4 to 11, but a few strains can also grow in quite nutrient rich media like M600/M14. Also, a seasonality variation of abundance is observed, and bloom occurs in summer-early autumn, correlating with the strong growth of algae in the marine environments. Most Planctomycetes are mesophilic, but with a few Planctomycetes being thermophilic (50°C to 60°C). Commonly added nutrients are N-acetyl-glucosamine, yeast-extracts, peptone, and some oligo and macro-elements. A biphasic host-associated extract (macroalgae, sponge extract) conjugated with a diluted basal medium should provide favorable results for the success of isolation in pure culture.
Topics: Animals; Bacteria; Humans; Laboratories; Phylogeny; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Seawater
PubMed: 33330115
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.519301