Project description:Exposure to indoor air pollution generated from the combustion of solid fuels is a major risk factor for a spectrum of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including lung cancer. In Chinaâs rural counties of Xuanwei and Fuyuan, lung cancer rates are among the highest in the country. While the elevated disease risk in this population has been linked to the widespread usage of bituminous (smoky) coal as compared to anthracite (smokeless) coal, the underlying physiologic mechanism that smoky coal induces in comparison to other fuel types is unclear. As we have previously used airway gene-expression profiling to gain molecular insights into the physiologic effects of cigarette smoke, here we profiled the buccal epithelium of residents exposed to the burning of smoky and smokeless coal in order to understand the physiologic effects of solid fuels. Buccal mucosa scrapings were collected from healthy, non-smoking female residents of Xuanwei and Fuyuan counties who burn coal indoors. RNA was isolated and hybridized onto Affymetrix Human gene 1.0 ST GeneChips, capturing the gene-expression response of (n=26) smoky coal users and (n=9) smokeless coal users. 24-hour indoor personal exposure levels (PM2.5, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) were also captured during this sampling period.
Project description:Exposure to indoor air pollution generated from the combustion of solid fuels is a major risk factor for a spectrum of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including lung cancer. In China’s rural counties of Xuanwei and Fuyuan, lung cancer rates are among the highest in the country. While the elevated disease risk in this population has been linked to the widespread usage of bituminous (smoky) coal as compared to anthracite (smokeless) coal, the underlying physiologic mechanism that smoky coal induces in comparison to other fuel types is unclear. As we have previously used airway gene-expression profiling to gain molecular insights into the physiologic effects of cigarette smoke, here we profiled the buccal epithelium of residents exposed to the burning of smoky and smokeless coal in order to understand the physiologic effects of solid fuels.
Project description:Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of hundreds of structurally similar chemicals ubiquitously present in our environment. They are created during the incomplete combustion of organic materials, such as oil, wood, tobacco, and charbroiled meat. As such, human exposure to mixtures of PAHs can occur through consumption of PAH-containing foods and water, inhalation of polluted air, or dermal contact. Several PAHs have been classified as carcinogenic to humans or probably carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The mice in this study were exposed to a complex mixture of PAHs - coal tar. In the present study, we sought to determine the dose-dependent changes in gene expression upon oral exposure to this PAH mixture in the lung tissue. Adult male MutaTMMouse were exposed to three doses of the coal tar or vehicle control (olive oil) for 28 days and sacrificed three days after the final exposure.
Project description:Beijerinckiaceae bacterium RH AL1 was grown exponentially in with methanol (1% [v/v]) as carbon source and lanthanum (1µM) as necessary growth supplement. Harvested biomass was subjected to RNA extraction, mRNA-enrichment and Illumina sequencing library preparation for subsequent RNA-Seq analysis. The scope of this gene expression analysis was to validate the expression of genes linked to pathways that are involved in C1-metabolism.