Project description:Forty-six percent of the world's population resides in rural areas, the majority of whom belong to vulnerable and low-income groups. They mainly use cheap solid fuels for cooking and heating, which release a large amount of PM2.5 and cause adverse effects to human health. PM2.5 exhibits urban-rural differences in its health risk to the respiratory system. However, the majority of research on this issue has focused on respiratory diseases induced by atmospheric PM2.5 in urban areas, while rural areas have been ignored for a long time, especially the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases. This is not helpful for promoting environmental equity to aid low-income and vulnerable groups under PM2.5 pollution. Thus, this study focuses on rural atmospheric PM2.5 in terms of its chemical components, toxicological effects, respiratory disease types, and pathogenesis, represented by PM2.5 from rural areas in the Sichuan Basin, China (Rural SC-PM2.5). In this study, organic carbon is the most significant component of Rural SC-PM2.5. Rural SC-PM2.5 significantly induces cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response. Based on multiomics, bioinformatics, and molecular biology, Rural SC-PM2.5 inhibits ribonucleotide reductase regulatory subunit M2 (RRM2) to disrupt the cell cycle, impede DNA replication, and ultimately inhibit lung cell proliferation. Furthermore, this study supplements and supports the epidemic investigation. Through an analysis of the transcriptome and human disease database, it is found that Rural SC-PM2.5 may mainly involve pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, and interstitial lung diseases; in particular, congenital diseases may be ignored by epidemiological surveys in rural areas, including tracheoesophageal fistula, submucous cleft of the hard palate, and congenital hypoplasia of the lung. This study contributes to a greater scientific understanding of the health risks posed by rural PM2.5, elucidates the pathogenesis of respiratory diseases, clarifies the types of respiratory diseases, and promotes environmental equity.
Project description:This work was carried out with the support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ01116101)” Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea. This research was supported by Bio-industry Technology Development Program(115078-2), Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
Project description:The Study Of Urban and Rural Crohn disease Evolution (SOURCE, n=380) characterized exposures, diet, and host and microbial factors in rural and urban Chinese controls and newly diagnosed Crohn Disease (CD), and in treatment-naïve Israeli CD and controls. We considered diet-omics domains simultaneously to detect complex interactions in the gut to prioritize potential beneficial and pathogenic factors.
Project description:The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish water bodies in the world. Redoxclines that form between oxic and anoxic layers in the deepest sub-basins are a semi-permanent character of the pelagic Baltic Sea. The microbially mediated nitrogen removal processes in these redoxclines have been recognized as important ecosystem service that removes large proportion of the nitrogen load originating from the drainage basin. However, nitrification, which links mineralization of organic nitrogen and nitrogen removal processes, has remained poorly understood. To gain better understanding of the nitrogen cycling in the Baltic Sea, we analyzed the assemblage of ammonia oxidizing bacteria and archaea in the central Baltic Sea using functional gene microarrays and measured the biogeochemical properties along with potential nitrification rates. Overall, the ammonia oxidizer communities in the Baltic Sea redoxcline were very evenly distributed. However, the communities were clearly different between the eastern and western Gotland Basin and the correlations between different components of the ammonia oxidizer assemblages and environmental variables suggest ecological basis for the community composition. The more even community ammonia oxidizer composition in the eastern Gotland Basin may be related to the constantly oscillating redoxcline that does not allow domination of single archetype. The oscillating redoxcline also creates long depth range of optimal nitrification conditions. The rate measurements suggest that nitrification in the central Baltic Sea is able to produce all nitrate required by denitrification occurring below the nitrification zone.
Project description:Interventions: a multi-level complex ‘best prospects’ intervention will be designed based on a review of the available literature (from all periods) as well as qualitative assessments. The intervention will be designed to redress health system, doctor and patient factors that affect outcomes in rural patients with cancer of the prostate, breast, colorectum or lung. It is expected that the development phase will take approx. 2 years.
Primary outcome(s): The initial development phase will measure the different components of delay to treatment that could impact on poorer outcomes in rural cancer patients and gather knowledge of patient decision-making about symptom appraisal and the type and location of treatment of their cancer.[In the development phase of the study]
Study Design: Purpose: Screening;Duration: Cross-sectional;Selection: Defined population;Timing: Both
Project description:Global ageing poses a substantial economic burden on health and social care costs. Enabling a greater proportion of older people to stay healthy for longer is key to the future sustainability of health, social and economic policy. Frailty and associated decrease in resilience plays a central role in poor health in later life. In this study, we present a population level assessment of the metabolic phenotype associated with frailty. Analysis of serum from 1191 older individuals (aged between 56 and 84 years old) and subsequent longitudinal validation (on 786 subjects) was carried out using liquid and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics and stratified across a frailty index designed to quantitatively summarize vulnerability. Through multivariate regression and network modelling and mROC modeling we identified 12 significant metabolites (including three tocotrienols and six carnitines) that differentiate frail and non-frail phenotypes. Our study provides evidence that the dysregulation of carnitine shuttle and vitamin E pathways play a role in the risk of frailty.
Project description:Feed efficiency (FE) is a crucial trait in pig production that influences both economic viability and environmental sustainability. The jejunum, an essential organ for nutrient absorption, plays a significant role in determining FE by affecting how pigs process and utilize feed. To explore the genetic and regulatory mechanisms behind FE, we conducted an integrative multi-omics study using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and ATAC sequencing (ATAC-seq) on pigs with high and low FE. By comparing gene expression and chromatin accessibility profiles in the jejunum, we identified key differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially accessible regions (DARs) associated with lipid metabolism and immune function, both of which are critical pathways for efficient growth. Notably, we identified transcription factors such as GATA4 and EHF and genes like SCARB1 and GRXCR1 that may play regulatory roles in FE. Our findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms governing FE in pigs, offering potential targets for genetic selection and nutritional interventions to enhance feed efficiency and sustainability in pig production.