Functional Investigation and Two-sample Mendelian Randomization Study of Inguinal Hernia Hub Genes Obtained by Bioinformatics Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Inguinal hernia in adults is a common and frequent disease in surgery, prone to occur in the elderly or in those with a weak abdominal wall. Despite its prevalence, Molecular mechanisms underlying inguinal hernia formation are unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify potential gene markers for inguinal hernia and available drugs. METHODS: Pubmed2Ensembl text mining was used to identify genes related to "inguinal hernia" keywords. The GeneCodis system was used to specify GO biological process terms and KEGG pathways defined in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The STRING tool was used to construct protein-protein interaction networks, which were then visualized using Cytoscape.CytoHubba and Molecular Complex Detection were utilized to analyze the module (MCODE). A GO and KEGG analysis of gene modules was conducted using the DAVID platform database. Hub genes are those that are concentrated in prominent modules. The druggene interaction database was also used to identify potential drugs for inguinal hernia patients based on their interactions between the hub genes. Finally, a Mendelian randomization study was conducted based on genome-wide association studies to determine whether hub genes cause inguinal hernias. RESULTS: The identification of 96 genes associated with inguinal hernia was carried out using text mining techniques. It was constructed using PPI networks with 80 nodes and 476 edges, and the sequence of the genes was performed using CytoHubba. MCODE analysis identified three gene modules. Three modules contain 37 genes clustered as hub candidate genes associated with inguinal hernia patients. The PI3K-Akt, MAPK, AGE-RAGE, and HIF-1 pathways were found to be enriched in signaling pathways. Sixteen of the 37 genes were found to be targetable by 30 existing drugs. The relationship between hub genes and inguinal hernia was examined using Mendelian randomization. The research revealed nine genes that may be connected with inguinal hernia, such as POMC, CD40LG, TFRC, VWF, LOX, IGF2, BRCA1, TNF, and HGF in the plasma. By inverse variance weighting, ALB was associated with an increased risk of inguinal hernia with an OR of 1.203 (OR [95%] = 1,04 [1.012 to 1.089], p = 0.008). CONCLUSION: We identified potential hub genes for inguinal hernia, predicted potential drugs for inguinal hernia, and reverse-validated potential genes by Mendelian randomization. This may provide further insights into asymptomatic pre-diagnostic methods and contribute to studies to understand the molecular mechanisms of risk genes associated with inguinal hernia.

Probabilistic human health risk assessment of PCDD/Fs near municipal solid-waste incinerator using Monte Carlo analysis coupled with triangular fuzzy numbers.

PCDD/Fs are dioxins produced by waste incineration and pose risks to human health. We aimed to detail the health risks of airborne and soil PCDD/Fs near a municipal solid-waste incinerator (MSWI) for the surrounding population and develop a new model that improves upon existing methods. Thus, we conducted field sampling and then investigated a MSWI in the Pearl River Delta (2016-2018). Our results showed that the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk values of PCDD/Fs exposed to residents in nearby areas were acceptable, with hazard index (HI) values lower than 1.0 and a total carcinogenic risk lower than 1.0E-6. Notably, the results raised concerns regarding higher non-carcinogenic risks in children than in adults. Comparative analysis of the frequency accumulation diagram, accumulated probability risk, and the absolute value of error (δ) between the 95% confidence interval (CI) and the 90% CI of the Monte Carlo stochastic simulation-triangular fuzzy number (MCSS-TFN) and the MCSS model, respectively, demonstrated that the MCSS-TFN exhibited less uncertainty than the MCSS model, regardless of the health risk value of PCDD/Fs in ambient air or in soil. This observation underscores the superiority of the MCSS-TFN model over other models in assessing the health risks associated with PCDD/Fs in situations with limited data. Our new method overcomes the limited dataset size and high uncertainty in assessing the health risks of dioxin substances, providing a more comprehensive understanding of their associated health risks than MCSS models.

Health risk assessment of trace metal(loid)s in agricultural soil using an integrated model combining soil-related and plants-accumulation exposures: A case study on Hainan Island, South China.

Traditional health risk assessment of trace metal(loid)s (TMs) in agricultural soil exclusively considers direct soil-related exposure and may underestimate the health risks they pose. In this study, the health risks of TMs were evaluated using an integrated model that combined soil-related and plant-accumulating exposures. A detailed investigation of common TMs (Cr, Pb, Cd, As, and Hg) coupled with probability risk analysis based on a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted on Hainan Island. Our results showed that, except for As, the non-carcinogenic risk (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR) of the TMs were all within the acceptable ranges (HI < 1.0, and CR < 1E-06) for direct soil-related exposure to bio-accessible fractions and indirect exposure via plant accumulation (CR substantially lower than the warning threshold 1E-04). We identified crop food ingestion as the essential pathway for TM exposure and As as the critical toxic element in terms of risk control. Moreover, we determined that RfDo and SFo are the most suitable parameters for assessing As health risk severity. Our study demonstrated that the proposed integrated model combining soil-related and plant-accumulating exposures can avoid major health risk assessment deviations. The results obtained and the integrated model proposed in this study can facilitate future multi-pathway exposure research and could be the basis for determining agricultural soil quality criteria in tropical areas.

Sorption and desorption of phenanthrene on biodegradable poly(butylene adipate co-terephtalate) microplastics.

Biodegradable plastics, as alternatives to conventional plastics, are increasingly used, but their interactions with organic pollutants are still unknown. In this study, the sorption and desorption behaviors on a type of biodegradable plastic-poly(butylene adipate co-terephtalate) (PBAT) were investigated, and at the same time two types of conventional plastics-polyethylene (PEc and PEv) and polystyrene (PS) were used for comparison. Phenanthrene (PHEN) was chosen as one of representative organic pollutants. Results indicated that the sorption and desorption capacities of PBAT were not only higher than those of the other types of microplastics, but also higher than those of carbonaceous geosorbents. The surface area normalized results illustrated that sorption and desorption of the microplastics were positively correlated with their abundance of rubbery subfraction. The sorption kinetic results showed that the sorption rates of PBAT and PEc were higher than PEv and PS. The effects of water chemistry factors including salinity, dissolved organic matter and Cu2+ ion on the sorption process displayed the same trend, but the degrees of influence on the four microplastics differed. The degrees of influence were mainly dependent on the abundance of rubbery subfraction for microplastics. These findings indicate that the biodegradable poly(butylene adipate co-terephtalate) microplastics are actually stronger vectors than the conventional microplastics, and crystallization characteristics of the microplastics have great influences on the vector effect.

Sterhirsutins A and B, two new heterodimeric sesquiterpenes with a new skeleton from the culture of Stereum hirsutum collected in Tibet Plateau.

Two new heterodimeric sesquiterpenes, sterhirsutins A (1) and B (2), and two new sesquiterpenes, hirsutic acids D-E (3 and 4), were identified from the culture of Stereum hirsutum. The absolute configurations in 1 and 2 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Compounds 1 and 2 are likely biosynthesized from a hirsutane-type sesquiterpene and α-humulene by a hetero-Diels-Alder cycloaddition. Compounds 1-4 showed cytotoxicity against K562 and HCT116 cell lines.

A metabonomic analysis on health effects of drinking water on male mice (Mus musculus).

Health effects of drinking water on the male mice (Mus musculus) were investigated by metabonomics after exposure to the Taihu drinking water for 90 days. Metabonomics data combined with the results of conventional serum biochemistry tests and hepatic histopathology showed that the drinking water induced adverse health effects on the male mice. It was found that the serum levels of pyruvate, glutamine, arginine, lysine, N-acetyl glycoproteins, choline and citrate were significantly decreased in the treatment group. These results indicated that Taihu drinking water may induce damages on mice liver via perturbations of energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism and apoptosis. These observations yielded novel insights regarding the environmental health risk of Taihu drinking water.

Influences of hydraulic loading rate on SVOC removal and microbial community structure in drinking water treatment biofilters.

Six biofilters were used for advanced treatment of Yangtze River source water to investigate the effects of hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on pollutant removal and microbial community. HLR was found to exert significant influences on the removal efficiency of the conventional pollutants and 24 detectable semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs). More than 85% of chemical oxygen demand and assimilable organic carbon was removed at the optimal HLR of 3.0 m h(-1). With the increase of HLR, SVOC removal showed a decreasing trend. Di-n-butyl phthalate and bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, two main SVOCs in the source water, had the highest removals of 71.2% and 84.4%, respectively. Nearly 65% of 2,6-dinitrotoluene and 80% of isophorone were removed at the lowest HLR. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Escherichia coli, Shigella sp., E. fergusonii and Firmicutes bacteria predominated in the bioreactors. The dominance of E. coli in the low-HLR biofilters might contribute greatly to the high SVOC removal.

Toxicity of purified terephthalic acid manufacturing wastewater on reproductive system of male mice (Mus musculus).

Reproductive toxicity of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) manufacturing wastewater on the male mice (Mus musculus) was investigated after 35-day intragastric perfusion treatment with the wastewater. Fluorescein diacetate and propidium iodide staining, and flow cytometry were used to assess the toxicity of PTA wastewater on spermatogenic cells. PTA wastewater induced significant variations in the relative percentages of immature haploid, diploid, tetraploid and S-phase spermatogonia. Percentage of viable spermatogenic cells was reduced from 93.1+/-2.3 in control group to 90.4+/-1.9 in the wastewater-treated group. Testicular histopathology revealed expansion of interstitial space and reduction in the number and size of Leydig cells induced by the wastewater, which was further certified by the decrease (10.6%) in relative testes weight and the increase (101.3%) in sperm shape abnormality in the wastewater-treated group. In this study, PTA wastewater was found to have reproductive toxicity on male mice, and public health problems may potentially arise from the discharge of the wastewater into the environment.