Biogeochemistry of the Human Environment.- The Biosphere.- Soils.- Waters.- Air.- Plants.- Humans.- Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements.- Trace Elements of Group 1 (Previously Group Ia).- Trace Elements of Group 2 (Previously Group IIa).- Trace Elements of Group 3 (Previously Group IIIb).- Trace Elements of Group 4 (Previously Group IVb).- Trace Elements of Group 5 (Previously Group Vb).- Trace Elements of Group 6 (Previously Group VIb).- Trace Elements of Group 7 (Previously Group VIIb).- Trace Elements of Group 8 (Previously Part of Group VIII).- Trace Elements of Group 9 (Previously Part of Group VIII).- Trace Elements of Group 10 (Previously Part of Group VIII).- Trace Elements of Group 11 (Previously Group Ib).- Trace Elements of Group 12 (Previously Group IIb).- Trace Elements of Group 13 (Previously Group IIIa).- Trace Elements of Group 14 (Previously Group IVa).- Trace Elements of Group 15 (Previously Group Va).- Trace Elements of Group 16 (Previously Group VIa).- Trace Elements of Group 17 (Previously Group VIIa).

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Trace Elements From Soil to Human

(2003). Hepatotoxicity and Mechanism of Action of Haloalkanes: Carbon Tetrachloride as a Toxicological Model. Critical Reviews in Toxicology: Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 105-136.

Hepatotoxicity and mechanism of action of haloalkanes: carbon tetrachloride as a toxicological model.

Electronic cigarettes are a recent development in tobacco harm reduction. They are marketed as less harmful alternatives to smoking. Awareness and use of these devices has grown exponentially in recent years, with millions of people currently using them. This systematic review appraises existing laboratory and clinical research on the potential risks from electronic cigarette use, compared with the well-established devastating effects of smoking tobacco cigarettes. Currently available evidence indicates that electronic cigarettes are by far a less harmful alternative to smoking and significant health benefits are expected in smokers who switch from tobacco to electronic cigarettes. Research will help make electronic cigarettes more effective as smoking substitutes and will better define and further reduce residual risks from use to as low as possible, by establishing appropriate quality control and standards.

/pdf/safety-evaluation-and-risk-assessment-of-electronic-2n6wt3ms19.pdf

Safety evaluation and risk assessment of electronic cigarettes as tobacco cigarette substitutes: a systematic review

Pharmacology of Acute PainNMDA receptor subunits: Function and pharmacology

This compendium lists drugs in alphabetical order, with each discussed under fetal risk and breast-feeding summaries. A list of recent references is included. Since the previous edition, published in 1990, more than 100 new drugs have been added. The authors have included animal studies, but they correctly point out that, although such studies may be predictive for the human, the accuracy depends on the species used and other factors. Much of the original information was derived from the collaborative Perinatal Project published in Birth Defects and Drugs in Pregnancy in 1977 and has been the "gold standard" for teratologists. This edition includes, however, data from a more recent and larger surveillance that covers more than 229 000 completed pregnancies over a 7-year period (1985 through 1992) from the Epidemiology and Surveillance Center for Drugs and Biologicals of the US Food and Drug Administration. The authors established a risk factor for

Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation: A Reference Guide to Fetal and Neonatal Risk

Lanthanides, also called rare-earth elements, are an interesting group of 15 chemically active, mainly trivalent, f-electronic, silvery-white metals. In fact, lanthanides are not as rare as the name implies, except for promethium, a radioactive artificial element not found in nature. The mean concentrations of lanthanides in the earth's crust are comparable to those of life-important elements like iodine, cobalt and selenium. Many lanthanide compounds show particular magnetic, catalytic and optic properties, and that is why their technical applications are so extensive. Numerous industrial sources enable lanthanides to penetrate into the human body and therefore detailed toxicological studies of these metals are necessary. In the liver, gadolinium selectively inhibits secretion by Kupffer cells and it decreases cytochrome P450 activity in hepatocytes, thereby protecting liver cells against toxic products of xenobiotic biotransformation. Praseodymium ion (Pr3+) produces the same protective effect in liver tissue cultures. Cytophysiological effects of lanthanides appear to result from the similarity of their cationic radii to the size of Ca2+ ions. Trivalent lanthanide ions, especially La3+ and Gd3+, block different calcium channels in human and animal cells. Lanthanides can affect numerous enzymes: Dy3+ and La3+ block Ca2+-ATPase and Mg2+-ATPase, while Eu3+ and Tb3+ inhibit calcineurin. In neurons, lanthanide ions regulate the transport and release of synaptic transmitters and block some membrane receptors, e.g. GABA and glutamate receptors. It is likely that lanthanides significantly and uniquely affect biochemical pathways, thus altering physiological processes in the tissues of humans and animals.

/pdf/toxicological-and-cytophysiological-aspects-of-lanthanides-3fyfba5yc6.pdf

Toxicological and cytophysiological aspects of lanthanides action.

Nesfatin-1, a unique regulatory neuropeptide of the brain.


Objective. Histopathological examination of changes in foetal and newborn rats, and histopathological and morphometric assessments of changes in lungs, placenta, liver and kidneys of adult rats exposed to cigarette smoke were performed. 
Methods. Non-pregnant and pregnant Wistar female rats were exposed to cigarette smoke at a carbon monoxide concentration of 1,500 mg/m3 for 6 h per day, 5 days per week, for 3 weeks. Levels of urine nicotine and cotinine were used as measures of exposure. Paraffin-embedded, haematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained sections were used for examination. Morphometry of studied organs was performed using a computer image analyser. 
Results. Applied smoke dose and exposure time produced dramatic histopathological changes in lungs of exposed rats (emphysema, emphysematous, inflammatory, metaplastic changes) and reduction in height of respiratory-bronchiole epithelium, and considerably less-marked morphological changes in hepatic (number of apoptotic hepatocytes) and renal (height of proximal convoluted tubule epithelium) cells as well as in the placenta (for example, size of giant cells in labyrinth, height of epithelium covering yolk sac ). Exposure to cigarette smoke did not result in histopathological changes in lungs and liver of surviving foetuses. The duration of pregnancy was not changed but a tendency for a decrease in the mothers' fertility indices as well as some changes in foetal and newborn parameters was observed. 
Conclusion. Taking into account the morphological changes observed in adult rat tissues and placentae which can result in definite hormonal and trophic effects on the foetus, the possibility of early or late physiological effects in progeny under the influence of cigarette smoke must be taken into consideration.

Morphological changes in lungs, placenta, liver and kidneys of pregnant rats exposed to cigarette smoke.

The discovery of undifferentiated, actively proliferating neural stem cells (NSCs) in the mature brain opened a brand new chapter in the contemporary neuroscience. Adult neurogenesis appears to occur in specific brain regions (including hypothalamus) throughout vertebrates’ life, being considered an important player in the processes of memory, learning, and neural plasticity. In the adult mammalian brain, NSCs are located mainly in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle ependymal wall. Besides these classical regions, hypothalamic neurogenesis occurring mainly along and beneath the third ventricle wall seems to be especially well documented. Neurogenic zones in SGZ, SVZ, and in the hypothalamus share some particular common features like similar cellular cytoarchitecture, vascularization pattern, and extracellular matrix properties. Hypothalamic neurogenic niche is formed mainly by four special types of radial glia-like tanycytes. They are characterized by distinct expression of some neural progenitor and stem cell markers. Moreover, there are numerous suggestions that newborn hypothalamic neurons have a significant ability to integrate into the local neural pathways and to play important physiological roles, especially in the energy balance regulation. Newly formed neurons in the hypothalamus can synthesize and release food intake regulating neuropeptides and they are sensitive to the leptin. On the other hand, high-fat diet positively influences hypothalamic neurogenesis in rodents. The nature of this intriguing new site of adult neurogenesis is still so far poorly studied and requires further investigations.

/pdf/hypothalamic-subependymal-niche-a-novel-site-of-the-adult-3j3xcnotke.pdf

Hypothalamic Subependymal Niche: A Novel Site of the Adult Neurogenesis

The potential role of the novel hypothalamic neuropeptides nesfatin-1, phoenixin, spexin and kisspeptin in the pathogenesis of anxiety and anorexia nervosa.

Artur Pałasz

Papers

Toxicological and cytophysiological aspects of lanthanides action.

Nesfatin-1, a unique regulatory neuropeptide of the brain.

Morphological changes in lungs, placenta, liver and kidneys of pregnant rats exposed to cigarette smoke.

Hypothalamic Subependymal Niche: A Novel Site of the Adult Neurogenesis

The potential role of the novel hypothalamic neuropeptides nesfatin-1, phoenixin, spexin and kisspeptin in the pathogenesis of anxiety and anorexia nervosa.