Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Environmental Toxicology: Mechanisms, Impacts, and Health Implications.

Mitochondria, pivotal to cellular metabolism, serve as the primary sources of biological energy and are key regulators of intracellular calcium ion storage, crucial for maintaining cellular calcium homeostasis. Dysfunction in these organelles impairs ATP synthesis, diminishing cellular functionality. Emerging evidence implicates mitochondrial dysfunction in the etiology and progression of diverse diseases. Environmental factors that induce mitochondrial dysregulation raise significant public health concerns, necessitating a nuanced comprehension and classification of mitochondrial-related hazards. This review systematically adopts a toxicological perspective to illuminate the biological functions of mitochondria, offering a comprehensive exploration of how toxicants instigate mitochondrial dysfunction. It delves into the disruption of energy metabolism, the initiation of mitochondrial fragility and autophagy, and the induction of mutations in mitochondrial DNA by mutagens. The overarching objective is to enhance our understanding of the repercussions of mitochondrial damage on human health.

Association filtering and generative adversarial networks for predicting lncRNA-associated disease.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) closely associates with numerous biological processes, and with many diseases. Therefore, lncRNA-disease association prediction helps obtain relevant biological information and understand pathogenesis, and thus better diagnose preventable diseases. RESULTS: Herein, we offer the LDAF_GAN method for predicting lncRNA-associated disease based on association filtering and generative adversarial networks. Experimentation used two types of data: lncRNA-disease associated data without lncRNA sequence features, and fused lncRNA sequence features. LDAF_GAN uses a generator and discriminator, and differs from the original GAN by the addition of a filtering operation and negative sampling. Filtering allows the generator output to filter out unassociated diseases before being fed into the discriminator. Thus, the results generated by the model focuses only on lncRNAs associated with disease. Negative sampling takes a portion of disease terms with 0 from the association matrix as negative samples, which are assumed to be unassociated with lncRNA. A regular term is added to the loss function to avoid producing a vector with all values of 1, which can fool the discriminator. Thus, the model requires that generated positive samples are close to 1, and negative samples are close to 0. The model achieved a superior fitting effect; LDAF_GAN had superior performance in predicting fivefold cross-validations on the two datasets with AUC values of 0.9265 and 0.9278, respectively. In the case study, LDAF_GAN predicted disease association for six lncRNAs-H19, MALAT1, XIST, ZFAS1, UCA1, and ZEB1-AS1-and with the top ten predictions of 100%, 80%, 90%, 90%, 100%, and 90%, respectively, which were reported by previous studies. CONCLUSION: LDAF_GAN efficiently predicts the potential association of existing lncRNAs and the potential association of new lncRNAs with diseases. The results of fivefold cross-validation, tenfold cross-validation, and case studies suggest that the model has great predictive potential for lncRNA-disease association prediction.

[Determination of lipophilic marine biotoxins in shellfish foods by ultra performance liquid chromatography-hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap-mass spectrometry].

OBJECTIVE: An ultra performance liquid chromatography-hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap-mass spectrometry(UPLC-QqLIT-MS) was established for determination of lipophilic marine biotoxins in shellfish. And the 12 lipophilic marine biotoxins in shellfish were surveyed. METHODS: The lipophilic marine biotoxins in homogenized shellfish were ultrasonically extracted by methanol in super-sonic instrument, and cleaned up by solid phase extraction of Strata-X column, and eluted with methanol(containing 0.3% ammonia water). The elution was diluted with water, and cleaned by 0.22 µm millipore filter. The filtrate was separated on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C_(18) column(150 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 µm)by gradient elution in 12 minutes with acetronitrile-water(containing 0.01%(V/V) ammonia and 2 mmol/L ammonium formate) as mobile phase, and detected by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS), identified by electrospray ionization(ESI) in simultaneous scanning mode of positive and negative ions using multiple reaction monitoring, and quantified with external standards. Information dependent acquisition scan function(IDA) combined with enhanced production scan(EPI) was used to confirm the 12 lipophilic marine biotoxins. RESULTS: The calibration curves of 12 lipophilic marine biotoxins showed good linearity in the range of 0.5-50 µg/L with correlation coefficients were 0.9984-0.9999.The detection limits of the method were 0.15-0.29 µg/kg. The recoveries of three spiking levels ranged from 80.0% to 116.0%, and the relative standard deviation(RSD) were 0.6%-6.4%(n=7). CONCLUSION: The method for determination of 12 lipophilic marine biotoxins in shellfish by UPLC-QqLIT-MS was of operation convenience, less interference from impurities and good accuracy, which could meet the requirements for the determination of 12 lipophilic marine biotoxins residues in sea foods.

Urinary parabens in children from South China: Implications for human exposure and health risks.

Parabens are extensively applied in cosmetics, drugs or food as preservatives and have become common pollutants in environmental media. However, data on human exposure to these chemicals is still limited, especially for children. This study aimed to investigate parabens in urine samples of children and to evaluate the cumulative risk of paraben exposure. Five short-chain parabens were measured in 255 urine samples collected from children in a kindergarten and elementary schools from South China. Methyl paraben (MeP), ethyl paraben (EtP) and n-propyl paraben (PrP) were widely detected in urine samples (detection rates > 94.9%), indicating their widespread exposure. The urinary median concentrations of MeP, EtP and PrP were 2.25, 0.33 and 0.50 µg/L, respectively. Significantly positive correlations (p < 0.01) were observed between MeP and PrP in urine, suggesting similar sources and/or metabolic pathways of these two chemicals. The median estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of parabens were determined to be 18.1 and 9.79 µg/kg-bw/day for kindergarten children and elementary school students, respectively. Estimation of human intake and exposure risks indicated potential risks of PrP exposure for elementary school students. This is the first study addressing paraben exposure in South China children.

Interrelationship of anthropogenic activity and parabens in fish from Taihu Lake during 2009-2017.

Parabens are alkyl esters widely used as preservatives in foodstuffs, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Taihu Lake is the third largest freshwater lake in China. However, there is no information available on the occurrence of parabens in Taihu Lake. To investigate contamination of parabens in Taihu Lake and the influence of human activities on contamination levels, 199 fish samples, comprising five species, were collected from Taihu Lake from 2009 to 2017. Five parabens, including methylparaben (MeP), ethylparaben (EtP), propylparaben (PrP), butylparaben (BuP), and benzylparaben (BeP), were quantitated using an isotope dilution LC-MS/MS method. The total concentrations of the five parabens ranged from 261 to 1710 pg/g wet weight (ww) with an average of 642 pg/g ww. The predominant compounds were MeP, EtP, and PrP, whose amounts accounted for more than 95% of the total amounts. No significant differences in the concentrations of parabens among the five fish species were observed, suggesting no interspecies differences in bioaccumulation of these compounds. Σ5parabens in fish showed temporal variations with the means ranging between 532 and 772 pg/g ww during years. The levels of parabens were generally consistent with the economic development and urbanization rates of the regions surrounding Taihu Lake. The "typical" and "high" estimated daily intake (EDI) of parabens were 0.53 and 0.91 ng/kg-bw/day for children, and 0.46 and 0.79 ng/kg-bw/day for adults based on calculations using the means and the 95th concentrations, respectively. The EDIs were much lower than the reference dose values, suggesting that there are no obvious health risks posed by fish consumption.

Phthalates in PM2.5 from Shenzhen, China and human exposure assessment factored their bioaccessibility in lung.

Temporal variability of phthalates (PAEs) in PM2.5 from Shenzhen during 2015-2016 was measured and the associated human exposure via inhalation was assessed. The PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 30.7 to 115 µg m-3, greater than the air quality guidelines of interim target-3 (10-15 µg m-3) and interim target-2 (15-25 µg m-3) set by World Health Organization. PAEs were detected in 94.7% samples and the 95th percentile concentrations of total PAEs (∑6PAEs) in Longgang and Nanshan districts were 324 and 44.7 ng m-3, respectively. Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate was the dominant species, accounting for an average of 81.9% of ∑6PAEs. The mean and 95th percentile concentrations of ∑6PAEs in PM2.5 were used to calculate a "typical" and "high" total daily intake and uptake, respectively. The estimated total daily intakes of PAEs varied and depended on body weight in each age group. Infants had the highest "typical" and "high" daily intake of 43.4 and 179 ng kg-body weight (bw) -1 day-1 for boys, and 42.0 and 173 ng kg-bw-1 day-1 for girls, respectively. However, after taking the bioaccessibility of PAEs in PM2.5 into account, the total daily "typical" and "high" uptakes dropped to 27.3 and 113 ng kg-bw-1 day-1 for male infants, and 29.0 and 120 ng kg-bw-1 day-1 for female infants, respectively. Both of the data on the daily "high" intake and uptake were much lower than the tolerable daily intake set by the European Food Safety Agency. It merits attention that infants were subject to greater PAE exposure than adults.

[Efficiency evaluation of capsaicinoids to discriminate bio-waste oils from edible vegetable oils].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficiency of capsaicinoids to discriminate bio-waste oil from edible vegetable oil. METHODS: 14 raw vegetable oils, 24 fried waste oils, 34 kitchen-waste oils, 32 edible non-peanut vegetable oil, 32 edible peanuts oil, 16 edible oil add flavorand and 11 refined bio-waste oils were prepared and examined for capsaicinoids including capsaicin, dihydrocapsaicin and nonylic acid vanillylamide. The detection results of the above samples were statistically tested based on sample category to assessment identify the effectiveness of the bio-waste oils with capsaicinoids. RESULTS: As a indicator, capsaincin was possessed of high detection sensitivity and has the highest efficiency to discern kitchen-waste oils and refined bio-waste oils samples from edible non-peanut vegetable oil correctly. The accuracy rate of identification were 100% and 90.1% respectively. There is the background in peanut oil. CONCLUSION Capsaicin added in cooking process can be retained in the refining process and hardly be removed in the refining process. In the case of fully eliminating the background interference, capsaicinoids can effectively identify bio-waste oils and edible vegetable oil in combination.

[High performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of dicyandiamide and melamine residues in milk and milk products].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a sensitive method for the analysis of dicyanodiamide and melamine residue in milk and milk products by, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. METHODS: Samples were extracted with 2.5% (V/V) formic acid solution. Acetonitrile was used to precipitate proteins. The separation was carried on Acquity UPLC BEH Amide column (100 mm x 2.1 mm x 1.7 mm) by gradient elution with acetonitrile - water as mobile phase. Identification was achieved by electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive mode using multiple reaction monitoring, and quantified with external standards. RESULTS: The dicyanodiamide and melamine were linear in the range of 5.0 - 1000.0 µg/L with correlation coefficient of 0.9995 for dicyanodiamide and 0.9997 for melamine. The detection limit of the method were 10.0 µg/kg for dicyanodiamide and melamine. The spiked at three levels ranged 86.0% - 100.0% (0.050 mg/kg), 90.0% - 104.0% (1.0 mg/kg) and 90.0% - 100.1% (10.0 mg/kg). And the relative standard derivations were lower than 1.06% -7.77%. The within-day precisions were 2.35% (dicyanodiamide) and 3.44% (melamine), and the inter-day precision 3.87% (dicyanodiamide) and 5.39% (melamine). CONCLUSION: The method was sensitive, accurate and precise. It can be used in monitoring quality of milk production and daily analysis of milk and milk products.

[Flow injection analysis method for hygienic examination of volatile phenol compounds in the air of residential area].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a flow injection analysis for hygienic examination of volatile phenol compounds in the air of residential area. METHOD: Volatile phenol compounds in the air was sampled by a fritted glass bubbler with 10 ml 0.1 mol/L sodium hydroxide inside and analyzed by a flow injection analyzer. The samples were reacted with 4-aminoantipyrine after online distillation in the presence of potassium ferricyanide. RESULTS: There was a linear relationship in the range of 0 - 1500 microg/L. The samples could be stored in a 4 degrees C refrigerator at least for 7 days. This method showed a high reproducibility with relative standard deviations of 0.84% - 1.0%. The recoveries of standard addition of the method were 100.3% - 103.3%. The detection limit was 0.0003 mg/m3 and the linear range was 0.0009 -0.25 mg/m3. The absorption efficiencies were 96.1% - 97.2%. CONCLUSION: This method meets the requirements for the analysis of volatile phenol compounds in the air of residential area.