Meyerfranks4631

Aflatoxins are toxic chemicals produced by the fungi Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. In warm climates, these fungi frequently contaminate crops such as maize, peanuts, tree nuts, and sunflower seeds. In many tropical and subtropical regions of the world, populations are coexposed to dietary aflatoxin and multiple infectious pathogens in food, water, and the environment. There is increasing evidence that aflatoxin compromises the immune system, which could increase infectious disease risk in vulnerable populations. Our aim was to conduct a dose-response assessment on a noncarcinogenic endpoint of aflatoxin immunotoxicological effects. We sought to determine a noncarcinogenic tolerable daily intake (TDI) of aflatoxin, based on the existing data surrounding aflatoxin and biomarkers of immune suppression. To conduct the dose response assessment, mammalian studies were assessed for appropriateness of doses (relevant to potential human exposures) as well as goodness of data, and two appropriate mouse studies that examined decreases in leukocyte counts were selected to generate dose response curves. From these, we determined benchmark dose lower confidence limits (BMDL) as points of departure to estimate a range of TDIs for aflatoxin-related immune impairment 0.017-0.082 μg/kg bw/day. As aflatoxin is a genotoxic carcinogen, and regulations concerning its presence in food have largely focused on its carcinogenic effects, international risk assessment bodies such as the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) have never established a TDI for aflatoxin. Our work highlights the importance of the noncarcinogenic effects of aflatoxin that may have broader public health impacts, to inform regulatory standard-setting.

This study sought to understand the impact of public policies on Latinx immigrants' acculturation.

Four hundred thirty-eight first generation Latinx immigrants completed survey measures and a subset (n = 73) participated in 12 focus groups across four US states with distinct immigration-related policies Arizona, New Mexico, Maryland, and Virginia.

Latinx immigrants living in states with more restrictive immigration-related public policies were less likely to make cultural changes in the ways they desired. Policies impacted acculturation directly by requiring and restricting certain cultural expressions, and indirectly through cultivating the community's climate. Multiple factors appeared to shape policies' influences on acculturation, including confusion from swift policy changes, inconsistent policy implementation, competing policies at divergent ecological levels, and individuals' relative privilege from intersecting personal characteristics.

More inclusive and supportive immigration-related policies may improve Latinx immigrants' abilities to acculturate in their preferred ways.

More inclusive and supportive immigration-related policies may improve Latinx immigrants' abilities to acculturate in their preferred ways.We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effects of the Mediterranean Diet (Med-Diet) on hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Six randomized controlled trials were selected for the meta-analysis (sample size 250 participants). In the meta-analysis, there was no significant difference in body mass index and waist circumference between the Med-Diet and control groups. Med-Diet significantly reduced fatty liver index (FLI) compared with the control diet (standard mean difference [SMD] -1.06; 95% CI -1.95 to -0.17; p = 0.02). Med-Diet significantly reduced homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) compared with the control diet (SMD -0.34; 95% CI -0.65 to -0.03; p = 0.03). Similarly, a meta-regression analysis using age showed that Med-Diet significantly reduced FLI and HOMA-IR (95% CI -0.956 to -0.237, p = 0.001 and 95% CI -0.713 to -0.003, p = 0.048, respectively). see more This meta-analysis demonstrated that Med-Diet improved hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in patients with NAFLD. Thus, Med-Diet is a beneficial pharmaconutritional therapy in patients with NAFLD.

Iron overload is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes (T2D); however, both iron overload and iron deficiency have been associated with metabolic disorders in observational studies.

Using Mendelian randomization (MR), we assessed how genetically predicted systemic iron status affected T2D risk.

A two-sample MR analysis was used to obtain a causal estimate. We selected genetic variants strongly associated (P < 5×10 -8) with four biomarkers of systemic iron status from a study involving 48,972 subjects performed by the Genetics of Iron Status consortium and applied these biomarkers to the T2D case-control study (74,124 cases and 824,006 controls) performed by the Diabetes Genetics Replication and Meta-analysis consortium. The simple median, weighted median, MR-Egger, MR analysis using mixture-model, weighted allele scores, and MR based on Bayesian model averaging approaches were used for the sensitivity analysis.

Genetically instrumented serum iron (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.02-1.12), ferritin (OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.08-1.32), and transferrin saturation (OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.02-1.09) were positively associated with T2D. In contrast, genetically instrumented transferrin, a marker of reduced iron status, was inversely associated with T2D (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.87-0.96).

Genetic evidence supports a causal link between increased systemic iron status and increased T2D risk. Further studies involving various ethnic backgrounds based on individual-level data and studies regarding the underlying mechanism are warranted for reducing the risk of T2D.

Genetic evidence supports a causal link between increased systemic iron status and increased T2D risk. Further studies involving various ethnic backgrounds based on individual-level data and studies regarding the underlying mechanism are warranted for reducing the risk of T2D.Advances in three-dimensional (3D) cell culture technology have led to the development of more biologically and physiologically relevant models to study organ development, disease, toxicology and drug screening. Organoids have been derived from many mammalian tissues, both normal and tumour, from adult stem cells and from pluripotent stem cells. Tissue organoids can retain many of the cell types and much of the structure and function of the organ of origin. Organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells display increased complexity compared to organoids derived from adult stem cells. It has been shown that organoids express many functional xenobiotic-metabolising enzymes including cytochrome P450s (CYPs). This has benefited the drug development field in facilitating pre-clinical testing of more personalised treatments and in developing large toxicity and efficacy screens for a range of compounds. In the field of environmental and genetic toxicology, treatment of organoids with various compounds has generated responses that are close to those obtained in primary tissues and in vivo models, demonstrating the biological relevance of these in vitro multicellular 3D systems.