| 1. |
- MacDonald, Amy M., et al.
(författare)
-
Maternal and child biomonitoring strategies and levels of exposure in western Canada during the past seventeen years : The Alberta Biomonitoring Program
- 2022
-
Ingår i: International journal of hygiene and environmental health. - : Elsevier BV. - 1438-4639 .- 1618-131X. ; 244
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Alberta Biomonitoring Program (ABP) was created in 2005 with the initial goal of establishing baseline levels of exposure to environmental chemicals in specific populations in the province of Alberta, Canada, and was later expanded to include multiple phases. The first two phases focused on evaluating exposure in pregnant women (Phase One, 2005) and children (Phase Two, 2004–2006) by analyzing residual serum specimens. Phase Three (2013–2016) employed active recruitment techniques to evaluate environmental exposures using a revised list of chemicals in paired serum pools from pregnant women and umbilical cord blood. These three phases of the program monitored a total of 226 chemicals in 285 pooled serum samples representing 31,529 individuals. Phase Four (2017–2020) of the ABP has taken a more targeted approach, focusing on the impact of the federal legalization of cannabis on the exposure of pregnant women in Alberta to cannabis, as well as tobacco and alcohol using residual prenatal screening serum specimens. Chemicals monitored in the first three phases include herbicides, neutral pesticides, metals, metalloids, and micronutrients, methylmercury, organochlorine pesticides, organophosphate pesticides, parabens, phthalate metabolites, perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), phenols, phytoestrogens, polybrominated compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and tobacco biomarkers. Phase Four monitored six biomarkers of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis. All serum samples were pooled. Mean concentrations and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for the chemicals detected in ≥25% of the sample pools. cross the first three phases, the data from the ABP has provided baseline exposure levels for the chemicals in pregnant women, children, and newborns across the province. Comparison within and among the phases has highlighted differences in exposure levels with age, geography, seasonality, sample type, and time. The strategies employed throughout the program phases have been demonstrated to provide effective models for population biomonitoring.
|
|
| 2. |
- Richards, Stephen, et al.
(författare)
-
Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum
- 2010
-
Ingår i: PLoS biology. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1544-9173 .- 1545-7885. ; 8:2, s. e1000313-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aphids are important agricultural pests and also biological models for studies of insect-plant interactions, symbiosis, virus vectoring, and the developmental causes of extreme phenotypic plasticity. Here we present the 464 Mb draft genome assembly of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. This first published whole genome sequence of a basal hemimetabolous insect provides an outgroup to the multiple published genomes of holometabolous insects. Pea aphids are host-plant specialists, they can reproduce both sexually and asexually, and they have coevolved with an obligate bacterial symbiont. Here we highlight findings from whole genome analysis that may be related to these unusual biological features. These findings include discovery of extensive gene duplication in more than 2000 gene families as well as loss of evolutionarily conserved genes. Gene family expansions relative to other published genomes include genes involved in chromatin modification, miRNA synthesis, and sugar transport. Gene losses include genes central to the IMD immune pathway, selenoprotein utilization, purine salvage, and the entire urea cycle. The pea aphid genome reveals that only a limited number of genes have been acquired from bacteria; thus the reduced gene count of Buchnera does not reflect gene transfer to the host genome. The inventory of metabolic genes in the pea aphid genome suggests that there is extensive metabolite exchange between the aphid and Buchnera, including sharing of amino acid biosynthesis between the aphid and Buchnera. The pea aphid genome provides a foundation for post-genomic studies of fundamental biological questions and applied agricultural problems.
|
|
