Toxicity, metabolism, and mitigation strategies of acrylamide: a comprehensive review.

Acrylamide, a food-borne chemical toxicant, has raised global concern in recent decades. It mainly originated from reducing sugar and free amino acid interactions in the carbohydrate-rich foodstuffs heated at high temperatures. Due to the neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity of AA, the mechanism of formation, toxic effects on health, and mitigation strategies, including conventional approaches and innovative technologies, have been of great interest since its discovery in food. Potato products (especially French fries and crisps), coffee, and cereals(bread and biscuit) are renowned contributors to AA's daily intake. The best preventive methods discussed in the literature include time/temperature optimization, blanching, enzymatic treatment, yeast treatment, additives, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, vacuum roasting, air frying, and irradiation, exhibiting a high efficacy in AA elimination in food products.

The Concentration and Probabilistic Health Risk of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in Edible Mushrooms (Wild and Cultivated) Samples Collected from Different Cities of Iran.

The present study was devoted to investigate the PTE concentrations including cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper(Cu), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), arsenic(As), and zinc (Zn) among six types of edible wild, 23 cultivated mushroom samples collected from Iran's market by the aid of an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Also, the related health risk assessment was established by the aid of the Monte Carlo simulation method (MSC). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were ranged 0.001-0.048 and 0.003-0.160 ppm, respectively. The concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were determined in the ranges of 0.003-11. 5, 0.0008-5.89, 0.32-26.32, 9.15-110.08, 15.25-751.17, 0.16-2.24, 2.1-60.47, 1.21-24.22, 0.16-8.92, and 37.13-268.11 mg kg-1, respectively. According to findings, highest mean concentration of Cr in both types of mushrooms (cultivated and wild) was lower than recommended level by Codex Alimentarius/Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization (CODEX/FAO/WHO) while the corresponding values for Hg (0.87 mg kg-1), As (1.39 mg kg-1), Ni (10.08 mg kg-1), Cu (36.65 mg kg-1), Cr (10.44 mg kg-1), Cd (0.589 mg kg-1), Fe (201.04 mg kg-1), Mn (10.30 mg kg-1), Zn (2266.43 mg kg-1), and Pb (3.81 mg kg-1) were higher than related standard levels. According to the health risk assessment, no concern regarding the non-carcinogenic risk due to the ingestion of PTEs via the consumption of the edible mushrooms, except Hg in wild mushrooms for children, was noted.

Concomitant blockade of A2AR and CTLA-4 by siRNA-loaded polyethylene glycol-chitosan-alginate nanoparticles synergistically enhances antitumor T-cell responses.

Inhibitory immune checkpoint (ICP) molecules are important immunosuppressive factors in a tumor microenvironment (TME). They can robustly suppress T-cell-mediated antitumor immune responses leading to cancer progression. Among the checkpoint molecules, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) is one of the critical inhibitors of anticancer T-cell responses. Besides, the expression of adenosine receptor (A2AR) on tumor-infiltrating T cells potently reduces their function. We hypothesized that concomitant silencing of these molecules in T cells might lead to enhanced antitumor responses. To examine this assumption, we purified T cells from the tumor, spleen, and local lymph nodes of CT26 colon cancer-bearing mice and suppressed the expression of A2AR and CTLA-4 using the small interfering RNA (siRNA)-loaded polyethylene glycol-chitosan-alginate (PCA) nanoparticles. The appropriate physicochemical properties of the produced nanoparticles (NPs; size of 72 nm, polydispersive index [PDI] < 0.2, and zeta potential of 11 mV) resulted in their high efficiency in transfection and suppression of target gene expression. Following the silencing of checkpoint molecules, various T-cell functions, including proliferation, apoptosis, cytokine secretion, differentiation, and cytotoxicity were analyzed, ex vivo. The results showed that the generated nanoparticles had optimal physicochemical characteristics and significantly suppressed the expression of target molecules in T cells. Moreover, a concomitant blockade of A2AR and CTLA-4 in T cells could synergistically enhance antitumor responses through the downregulation of PKA, SHP2, and PP2Aα signaling pathways. Therefore, this combination therapy can be considered as a novel promising anticancer therapeutic strategy, which should be further investigated in subsequent studies.

Measuring Beliefs Related to Colorectal Cancer Screening Behavior among Iranian Middle-Aged and Elderly: a Psychometric Study

The annual fecal occult blood test is a very important method for colorectal cancer early detection through screening. Our aim was to assess psychometrics of instrument measuring beliefs related to fecal occult blood test uptake among Iranian middle-aged and elderly, based on the theory of planned behavior. This cross-sectional study was performed on 150 middle-aged and elderly who were randomly selected to participate voluntarily in Kermanshah, in the west of Iran. The studied constructs included attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, and behavior intention. Data were analyzed with SPSS software (ver. 21.0). The mean age of the respondents was 59.1 years [SD: 6.73], in the range from 50 to 73. All of the loads of the exploratory factorial analysis were larger than 0.4. KMO was calculated as 0.756. Overall, four factors under investigation accounted for 82% of the variance in the hypothesized model. Cronbach's alpha for the measured constructs of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, and behavior intention were 0.92, 0.88, 0.70 and 0.88, respectively. Our findings indicated the final scale to be adequately reliable and valid for measurement of these constructs for prediction of fecal occult blood test uptake among Iranian middle-aged and elderly.