The impact of wood dust on pulmonary function and blood immunoglobulin E, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C- reactive protein: A cross-sectional study among sawmill workers in Tangail, Bangladesh.

Background and Aims: Occupational exposure to wood dust leads to lung function abnormalities that are prominent causes of morbidity and disability of sawmill workers. The adverse respiratory effects of wood dust in sawmills have not been studied thoroughly in Bangladesh. This study aimed to investigate the effect of wood dust on the respiratory health of sawmill workers compared to controls as well as to determine the association of wood dust-exposing effects with inflammatory blood biomarkers, such as immunoglobulin E (IgE), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Methods: This cross-sectional study included 100 sawmill workers from 25 distinct sawmills in various areas of Tangail, Bangladesh as well as 100 healthy volunteers who were adopted as a control group. Questionaries' survey and pulmonary function tests were performed face to face. Furthermore, after performing lung function tests, blood was drawn for further IgE, ESR, and CRP analyses. Results: Respiratory symptoms including breathlessness (32%), coughing (39%), sneezing (43%), chest tightness (30%), and itching (40%) were significantly higher in sawmill workers compared with control. Besides, sawmill workers' exposure to wood dust revealed a significantly lower level of spirometry parameters (forced vital capacity ​​​​​[FVC], FVC (%), forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1], FEV1 (%), peak expiratory flow [PEF], PEF (%), FEV1/FVC (%), FEF25, FEF75, and FEF2575) compared with control and these spirometry parameters decreased with the increasing length of service. Moreover, a significantly higher level of IgE was observed in sawmill workers (290.90 ± 39.49) than in the control (120.95 ± 23.00). The high level of IgE suggests that the lower pulmonary function may be linked to allergic responses to wood dust among sawmill workers. Conclusion: This study suggested that exposure to wood dust can cause impairment of respiratory function along with high IgE levels.

Common genetic aspects between COVID-19 and sarcoidosis: A network-based approach using gene expression data.

The pandemic situation of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global threat on our current planet, with its rapid spread and high mortality rate. Sarcoidosis patients are at high risk to COVID-19 severity for having lung injuries as well as treating with immunosuppressive agents. So, physicians are in dilemma whether they should use immunosuppressive agents or not for the patients with sarcoidosis history and COVID-19 infection. Therefore, common factors should be identified to provide effective treatment. For determining the common genes between COVID-19 and sarcoidosis, GSE164805 and GSE18781 were retrieved from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Common upregulated genes were identified by using R language to investigate their involved pathways and gene ontologies (GO). With the aid of the STRING Cytoscape plugin tool, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) network was constructed. From the PPIs network, Hub genes and essential modules were detected by using Cytohubba, and MCODE respectively. For hub genes, TFs, TFs-miRNA, and drug, interaction networks were built through the NetworkAnalyst web platform. A total of 34 common upregulated genes were identified and among them, five hub genes, including TET2, MUC5AC, VDR, NFE2L2, and BCL6 were determined. In addition, a cluster having VDR and NFE2L2 was detected from the PPIs network. Moreover, 32 transcription factors and 9 miRNA were recognized for hub genes. Furthermore, vitamin D and some of its analogous compounds were obtained from the drug interaction network. In conclusion, hub genes identified in this study might have potential roles in modulating COVID-19 infection and sarcoidosis. However, further studies are required to corroborate this study.

Study of a common azo food dye in mice model: Toxicity reports and its relation to carcinogenicity.

This study was conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of an azo dye carmoisine widely used in foods and to investigate its relation to carcinogenicity. Carmoisine administered into mice orally in four different doses as control, low, medium, and high equivalent to 0, 4, 200, and 400 mg/kg bw, respectively, for 120 days. The key toxicological endpoint was observed including animal body weight, organ weights, hematology, biochemistry, and molecular biology assessment. The body weights of medium- and high-dose carmoisine-treated mice group were significantly decreased as compared to the control mice group. Platelet, white blood cell and monocyte counts of treated group were considerably higher, while Hb and red blood cell counts were drastically lower than the control group. The biochemical parameters such as serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, globulin, urea, and creatinine level were significantly increased, while serum cholesterol level was decreased after treatment as compared to the control. RT-PCR results showed that expression of Bcl-x and PARP gene was intensively increased, whereas expression of p53 gene was decreased in the mouse liver tissues treated with carmoisine. This study revealed that high-dose (400 mg/kg bw) treatment of carmoisine was attributable to renal failure and hepatotoxicity. It also would be suspected as a culprit for liver oncogenesis.

Biochemical and radical-scavenging properties of sea cucumber (Stichopus vastus) collagen hydrolysates.

The molecular mass distribution, amino acid composition and radical-scavenging activity of collagen hydrolysates prepared from collagen isolated from the sea cucumber Stichopus vastus were investigated. ß and α1 chains of the collagen were successfully hydrolysed by trypsin. The molecular mass distribution of the hydrolysates ranged from 5 to 25 kDa, and they were rich in glycine, alanine, glutamate, proline and hydroxyproline residues. The hydrolysates exhibited excellent radical-scavenging activity. These results indicate that collagen hydrolysates from S. vastus can be used as a functional ingredient in food and nutraceutical products.

ACE Inhibitory and Antioxidant Activities of Collagen Hydrolysates from the Ribbon Jellyfish (Chrysaora sp.).

Collagen isolated from the ribbon jellyfish (Chrysaora sp.) was hydrolysed using three different proteases (i.e. trypsin, alcalase and Protamex) to obtain bioactive peptides. Angiotensin-I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity and antioxidant activities (i.e. ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity) of the peptides were measured and compared, and the effect of the duration of hydrolysis on the bioactivity (ACE inhibitory and antioxidant activities) of peptides was also evaluated. FRAP activity was the highest in Protamex-induced (25-27 mM) and trypsin-induced hydrolysates (24-26 mM) at 7 and 9 h, respectively. Conversely, hydrolysates produced by trypsin for 1 and 3 h showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activities (94 and 92%, respectively). Trypsin-induced hydrolysates (at 3 h) also showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity (89%). The peptide sequences with the highest activities were identified using tandem mass spectrometry, and the results show that the hydrolysates had a high content of hydrophobic amino acids as well as unique amino acid sequences, which likely contribute to their biological activities.

Isolation and characterization of pepsin-solubilized collagen from the integument of sea cucumber (Stichopus vastus).

BACKGROUND: Sea cucumber (Stichopus vastus) is considered an underutilized resource, since only its stomach and intestines are eaten raw as salad in a few countries and the remaining parts, especially the integument rich in collagen, is discarded. Hence a valuable by-product having potential nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications is wasted. In the present investigation, pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) from the integument of S. vastus was isolated, purified and characterized. RESULTS: Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis showed that the purified collagen was of type I, consisting of three α1 chains of approximately 122 kDa each. The peptide map of PSC digested by V8 protease was different from that of calf skin type I collagen. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the triple helical structure was well preserved in isolated collagen. The denaturation temperature of PSC was 21.23 °C and showed good gel-forming capability at pH 6.5 and 300 mmol L⁻¹ NaCl. CONCLUSION: It is inferred that the collagen isolated from S. vastus integument has potential for use as an alternative to land-based mammalian collagen in food, nutraceuticals and pharmaceutical industries.