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D Wild

Publications and source records attributed to D Wild.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Can we prevent accidental injury to adolescents? A systematic review of the evidence.

OBJECTIVES: As part of the Department of Health strategy The Health of the Nation, a systematic review of published and unpublished literature relating to the effectiveness of interventions in reducing accidental injury in the population aged 15-24 years was carried out. METHODS: The literature was reviewed under the standard setting headings of road, work, home, and sports and leisure, and graded for quality of evidence and strength of recommendation using a scale published in the UK national epidemiologically based needs assessment programme. RESULTS: The most effective measures appear to be legislative and regulatory controls in road, sport, and workplace settings. Environmental engineering measures on the road and in sports have relatively low implementation costs and result in fewer injuries at all ages. There is little evidence that purely educational measures reduced injuries in the short term. Community based approaches may be effective in all age groups, and incentives to encourage safer behaviour hold promise but require further evaluation. The potential of multifactorial approaches seems greater than narrowly based linear approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Few interventions to reduce injury in adolescents have been rigorously evaluated using good quality randomised controlled trials, and where such evidence is available, fewer have been shown to be definitely worthwhile. Many studies relied on surrogate measures rather than actual injury rates, and substantial issues relating to the efficacy or implementation of preventive measures in adolescent and young adult populations remain unresolved.

Accident Prevention↗

The three-dimensional distribution of RNA and protein in the interior of tomato bushy stunt virus: a neutron low-resolution single-crystal diffraction study.

BACKGROUND: The published high-resolution model of the isometric T = 3 plant virus tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) shows the packing in three different environments (A, B, C) of the 180 coat protein subunits of the capsid. It does not, however, account for the localization of either the viral RNA or approximately 25% of the amino acids of the protein subunits, although at least the RNA is rigidly linked to the viral capsid. Solution studies have shown that most of the missing protein is located in an inner shell, and that most of the RNA is sandwiched between the two protein shells. RESULTS: We have determined the organization of TBSV at 16 A resolution, using neutron single-crystal diffraction. Connections between the two protein shells are confined to the 20 three-fold axes of the virion, where three C-type subunits meet. Much more RNA density is located under the 30 C-C dimers than under the 60 A-B dimers, where we could even identify lagoons of solvent. CONCLUSIONS: Our results emphasize the importance of the amino termini of the 60 C-type protein subunits not only in the RNA-protein interactions but also in the organization of the coat protein, and, probably, in the assembly of the virion. The lack of equivalence between subunits of classes A or B and subunits of class C is even more pronounced in the interior of the virion than in the outer shell, which possesses icosahedral symmetry.

Crystallography, X-Ray↗

Genotoxicity studies of benzofuran dioxetanes and epoxides with isolated DNA, bacteria and mammalian cells.

1,2-Dioxetanes, very reactive and high energy molecules, are involved as labile intermediates in dioxygenase-activated aerobic metabolism and in physiological processes. Various toxicological tests reveal that dioxetanes are indeed genotoxic. In supercoiled DNA of bacteriophage PM2 they induce endonuclease-sensitive sites, most of them are FPG protein-sensitive base modifications (8-hydroxyguanine, formamidopyrimidines). Pyrimidine dimers and sites of base loss (AP sites) which were probed by UV endonuclease and exonuclease III are minor lesions in this system. While the alkyl-substituted dioxetanes do not show any significant mutagenic activity in different Salmonella typhimurium strains, heteroarene dioxetranes such any significant mutagenic activity in different Salmonella typhimurium strains, heteroarene dioxetanes such as benzofuran and furocoumarin dioxetanes are strongly mutagenic in S. typhimurium strain TA100. DNA adducts formed with an intermediary alkylating agent appear to be responsible for the mutagenic activity of benzofuran dioxetane. We assume that the benzofuran epoxides, generated in situ from benzofuran dioxetanes by deoxygenation are the ultimate mutagens of the latter, since benzofuran epoxides are highly mutagenic in the S. typhimurium strain TA100 and they form DNA adducts, as detected by the 32P-postlabelling technique. Our results imply that the type of DNA damage promoted by dioxetanes is dependent on the structural feature of dioxetanes. Furthermore, the direct photochemical DNA damage by energy transfer, i.e., pyrimidine dimers, plays a minor role in the genotoxicity of dioxetanes. Instead, photooxidation dominates in isolated DNA, while radical damage and alkylation prevail in the cellular system.

Alkylating Agents↗

Reactivity and genotoxicity of arylnitrenium ions in bacterial and mammalian cells.

Electrophilic arylnitrenium ions are considered to be the ultimate reactive intermediates formed by metabolism of mutagenic and carcinogenic arylamines and nitroarenes; they can produce DNA damage by reaction with specific sites on DNA bases. We studied their formation, reactivity and the genotoxic sequelae of their reactions with cellular DNA to understand the mutagenic and carcinogenic activities of arylamines and nitroarenes as a function of their chemical structure. Arylnitrenium ions were generated by the convenient non-metabolic procedure, photolysis of arylazides, to study the reactivity of these ultimate intermediates with DNA, by means of 32P-postlabelling, and the induction of histidine reversions in Salmonella, HPRT mutations and sister chromatid exchange in mammalian (Chinese hamster V79) cells. Good correlations were observed between the DNA-binding potencies and the mutagenic and SCE-inducing potencies of the arylnitrenium ions, among these the nitrenium ions derived from the heterocyclic food mutagens/carcinogens MeIQ, IQ, and MeIQx. This suggests that the reactivity of the arylnitrenium ions and the quantity of adducts formed with DNA are the principal determinants of the final quantity of genetic alterations in Salmonella and in V79 cells. Conversely, the quality of the adducts, that is, the structure of the arylamine residue bound, appears to be of less significance.

Animals↗

Psychological distress and alcohol use among fire fighters.

Few studies have investigated stressors to which fire fighters are subjected and the potential psychological consequences. One hundred and forty-five fire fighters were studied to enumerate potential occupational stressors, assess psychological distress and problems with alcohol use, and determine whether a relationship exists between these measures and self-reported stressors. Hearing that children are in a burning building was the highest ranked stressor. According to three self-report instruments, between 33 and 41% of the fire fighters were experiencing significant psychological distress, and 29% had possible or probable problems with alcohol use. These figures are significantly higher than would be expected in a typical community or working population. In a logistic regression analysis, no relationship was found between measures of psychological distress and alcohol use and the 10 most highly ranked work stressors.

Adult↗

32P-postlabelling studies on the DNA adducts of the food mutagens/carcinogens IQ and PhIP--adduct formation in a chemical system, and by rat and human metabolism.

The DNA adducts of the food mutagens/carcinogens IQ and PhIP were studied by means of 32P-postlabelling techniques. Adducts were generated in vitro and in vivo by three techniques: by photolysis of azido-IQ and azido-PhIP in the presence of dGp, calf-thymus DNA or Salmonella; by administration of IQ and PhIP to rats; and by incubation of cultured COS-1 cells with IQ. These cells expressed the human cytochromes P450 1A1 or P450 1A2 and/or the human N-acetyltransferases NAT1 or NAT2. The data demonstrate that, in the photolytic, rat and human systems, a common IQ metabolite and a common PhIP metabolite are formed together with common sets of IQ adducts and PhIP adducts. The data obtained in the human system show that N-hydroxy-IQ, formed by cytochrome P450, binds poorly to DNA, whereas more efficient binding occurs in the presence of NAT1 and most efficient binding in presence of NAT2. This indicates an O-acetyltransferase activity of human NAT1 and NAT2 and formation of N-acetoxy-IQ as an intermediate and immediate precursor of the ultimate arylnitrenium ion. The effect of the polymorphic NAT2 suggests a critical role for the human acetylation polymorphism in the DNA-binding of IQ in humans and in its genotoxic implications.

Animals↗

Mutagenic activity of arylnitrenium ions from arylazides--induction of sister chromatid exchange in mammalian (V79 Chinese hamster) cells.

Photolysis of arylazides produces short-lived reactive species, very likely arylnitrenium ions which bind to nucleotides and DNA and produce mutations in Salmonella. The present report shows that arylazides can be photo-activated in mammalian (V79 Chinese hamster) cells and that sister chromatid exchange can thus be induced. Arylazides studied are (in order of decreasing SCE-inducing potency) azido-isoIQ, azido-MeIQ, azido-IQ, azido-MeIQx, azido-PhIP, 6-azido-chrysene, 2-azidofluorene, 4-azidofluorene, 2-azido-naphthalene, 4-azidobi-phenyl, 2-azidobiphenyl, 2,4,6-trimethylphenylazide, phenylazide (inactive). The structure-activity relationships emerging from the data are the same as those found previously in Salmonella. In line with this, a clearcut positive linear correlation was seen between the logarithm of the SCE-inducing potency in V79 cells and the logarithm of the mutagenic potency in Salmonella (r = 0.955). Therefore, the ultimate reactive species derived from IQ and related heterocyclic aromatic amines are extremely potent genotoxins, not only in a bacterial but also in a mammalian cell. Previous findings of only weak genotoxic activity of IQ and related food mutagens in certain cultured mammalian cells must therefore be reinterpreted as the result of an insufficient activation of these amines in the cells used, possibly because of insufficient acetylation competence.

Animals↗

The role of the human acetylation polymorphism in the metabolic activation of the food carcinogen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ).

The metabolic activation of the heterocyclic food carcinogen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) by two human cytochrome P450 monoxygenases (P4501A1 and P4501A2) and two human N-acetyltransferases (NAT1 and NAT2) was investigated. Various combinations of these enzymes were functionally expressed in COS-1 cells. DNA adducts resulting from the activation of IQ were assayed quantitatively by the 32P-postlabeling procedure. The highest adduct frequency was observed in cells expressing both CYP1A2 and NAT2. CYP1A2 in combination with NAT1 was 3-6 times less active. When expressed alone these enzymes gave rise to low adduct frequencies. Experiments with N-acetyl-IQ as substrate suggest that NAT1 and NAT2 in addition to their known role in N-acetylation display arylhydroxamic acid N, O-acetyltransferase (AHAT) activity. Quantitative differences in adduct formation between IQ and N-acetyl-IQ indicated that metabolic activation of these arylamines preferentially occurs by P4501A2-catalyzed N-hydroxylation followed by O-acetylation mediated through NAT1 and/or NAT2. These data, in combination with the known genetic polymorphism of NAT2, may explain the clinical observation that the acetylation polymorphism constitutes a risk factor in the carcinogenic activation of environmental mutagens.

Acetylation↗

Quantitative structure-activity relationships of mutagenic aromatic and heteroaromatic azides and amines.

Photolysis of arylazides with long-wavelength UV light in an aqueous medium produces short-lived reactive species that bind to DNA and induce mutations in Salmonella typhimurium TA98. Nitrenes are known reactive products of azide photolysis, so that the DNA-binding and mutagenic species is either a nitrene or nitrene derivative. In the present study we presupposed that the nitrenium ion is the key intermediate. The electronic properties of 19 nitrenium ions with different chemical structures were calculated by the semi-empirical method AM1 and the resulting values plotted against the logarithm of the mutagenicity (log MUT) by means of linear regression analysis. Log MUT correlates with the stability of the nitrenium ion, the energy level of the LUMO and the charges on the exocyclic nitrogen with r = -0.804, 0.865 and -0.874 respectively. Thus, the mutagenicity of the azides is directly proportional to the stability of the nitrenium ions and inversely proportional to the electrophilicity of the exocyclic nitrogen. Furthermore, the mutagenicity of the azides correlates with the mutagenicity of the corresponding arylamines with r = 0.91 (n = 13). These correlations support the key role of the nitrenium ions and demonstrate the value of their electronic structure for the prediction of the mutagenicity of arylazides and arylamines.

Amines↗

Genotoxicity of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) and related compounds in Drosophila.

The potent food mutagen and carcinogen 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5- f]quinoline (IQ) and the structurally related heterocyclic aromatic amines 2-aminoimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (demethyl-IQ) and 2-amino-1-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (iso-IQ) were assayed for genotoxicity in the wing somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) as well as in the sex-linked recessive lethal (SLRL) test in Drosophila melanogaster. In addition, 3-methyl-2-nitroimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (nitro-IQ), 2-nitrofluorene and 1,8-dinitropyrene were also assayed in the wing spot test. IQ was clearly mutagenic in the SLRL test with highest activity in spermatids. Iso-IQ was more active than IQ whereas demethyl-IQ was inactive in this test. The same pattern of results was obtained in the wing SMART: iso-IQ produced greater than 2-fold higher frequencies of spots than IQ and demethyl-IQ was clearly negative. In addition, nitro-IQ exhibited an approximately equal genotoxic activity as IQ. 2-Nitrofluorene and 1,8-dinitropyrene were both inactive in the wing spot test. These data provide good evidence for a correlation of genotoxic effects in germinal and somatic cells, and for the practical advantage of the wing spot test in Drosophila. Moreover, the results show structure-activity relationships among the heterocyclic aromatic amines and nitro compounds similar to those found in Salmonella.

Animals↗

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History, Ancient↗

Azido- and nitro-PhIP, relatives of the heterocyclic arylamine and food mutagen PhIP--mechanism of their mutagenicity in Salmonella.

Azido-PhIP (2-azido-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine) and nitro-PhIP (2-nitro-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine) have been synthesized and characterized chemically. The mutagenic potencies of azido-PhIP (with photoactivation by near UV irradiation), of nitro-PhIP (without exogenous activation) and of the heterocyclic amine PhIP (with activation by rat liver S9) were evaluated by means of the reversion assay in Salmonella typhimurium. Like PhIP, azido- and nitro-PhIP were potent mutagens in the strain TA98. In addition to TA98, the strains YG1024 with increased and TA98/1,8-DNP6 deficient in acetyltransferase activity and TA98NR deficient in nitroreductase were used. Photolysis of azido-PhIP generates a very short-lived mutagen whose mutagenic potency is similar in all strains used and therefore not dependent on the acetyltransferase and nitroreductase. These findings are analogous to previous ones with azidofluorene and suggest that a short-lived DNA-binding arylnitrenium ion is formed directly by the photolysis of azido-PhIP. The nitroreductase contributes to the mutagenic potency of nitro-PhIP; in TA98NR it is 37% of that in TA98. The acetylator status of the strains influences the mutagenic potencies of PhIP and nitro-PhIP only weakly. This contrasts with findings obtained with 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) and nitro-IQ and with other amino- and nitro-imidazoarenes which lose most of their mutagenic activity in the acetyltransferase-deficient strain. This atypical behavior of PhIP suggests that the presumed metabolite, N-hydroxy-PhIP, differs from the N-hydroxy metabolites of other heterocyclic amino- and nitro-imidazoarenes in that in Salmonella it is not significantly activated by O-acetylation. It must therefore either react directly with DNA or be activated in a different way. This divergent behavior of PhIP and N-hydroxy-PhIP in Salmonella may also be a key to the understanding of several 'unusual' properties of PhIP in mammalian cells and organisms.

Biotransformation↗

Tissue distribution of DNA adducts in CDF1 mice fed 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) and 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ).

Male and female CDF1 mice were administered a single oral dose of 3 mumol of the food mutagens 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) or 2-amino-3,4-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (MeIQ) and killed 24 h later. DNA was isolated from the livers, lungs, kidneys, colon and forestomach and analysed by 32P-postlabelling for the presence of IQ and MeIQ adducts. Several adduct-enrichment procedures were investigated, including ATP-deficient labelling conditions, butanol extraction and nuclease P1 digestion, and only the ATP-deficient procedure was found to produce the same adduct pattern on polyethyleneimine--cellulose TLC as the standard procedure. Up to nine adduct spots were detected in liver DNA from IQ-treated mice, two of which were not detected in other tissues. The levels of binding in both male and female mice were in the order liver greater than kidney greater than colon greater than forestomach greater than lung. Analysis of DNA from MeIQ-treated mice revealed the presence of up to seven adducts, one of which was detected in liver but not in other tissues. The relative order of DNA binding was kidney greater than liver greater than or equal to colon greater than forestomach greater than lung. As dietary feeding of IQ induces liver, lung and forestomach tumours, and MeIQ induces liver and forestomach tumours in this mouse strain, these binding levels do not correlate with the susceptibility of the organs to carcinogenesis induced by these compounds; the results may indicate the importance of additional factors in determining organ specificity of carcinogenicity.

Animals↗

Identification of ultimate DNA damaging oxygen species.

DNA damage induced by various reactive oxygen species can be characterized using a set of repair endonucleases with defined substrate specificities. DNA damage profiles thus obtained in a cell-free system can be compared with those observed in cellular DNA. Using this approach, we have demonstrated that an illumination of Salmonella typhimurium cells with visible light in the presence of methylene blue gives rise to a DNA damage profile very similar to that of singlet oxygen in a cell-free system. Therefore, the genotoxicity observed under these conditions most probably is attributable to the direct action of this species. The damage consists mainly of base modifications that are subject to repair by uvrABC-independent pathways. Revertant frequencies observed in parallel in the strains TA100 and TA2638 indicate a pronounced mutagenicity of the lesions induced. Exposure of Salmonella typhimurium to tert-butylhydroperoxide gives rise to another form of damage profile that is also different from that produced by hydroxyl radicals in a cell-free system. However, the latter dissimilarity does not exclude hydroxyl radicals as ultimate reactive species, as a very rapid repair of the induced base modifications is observed, which might have distorted the damage profile despite immediate work up.

Cell-Free System↗

A novel pathway to the ultimate mutagens of aromatic amino and nitro compounds.

Photolysis of arylazides in aqueous media was recently found to generate presumed nitrenium ions, species which are generally considered as the ultimate mutagens/carcinogens derived from arylamines and nitroarenes. The primary photolysis products of arylazides, the arylnitrenes, can possibly react as electrophiles themselves, or they can be protonated and thus form the electrophilic nitrenium ions. Numerous arylazides and aryldiazides can be photoactivated to short-lived mutagens detectable in Salmonella typhimurium TA98. Structure-activity comparisons between arylazides and the matching arylamines and nitroarenes show correlations; e.g., phenyl azide and methyl-substituted phenyl azides are not mutagenic or only weakly mutagenic like aniline, nitrobenzene, and their methyl homologues, whereas 4-azidodiphenyl, 2-azidofluorene, 1-azidopyrene, azido-IQ, and azido-isoIQ are increasingly mutagenic in that order, like the matching amino and nitro compounds. It is hypothesized on the basis of these data that the nitrene/nitrenium ion is the reactive intermediate common to the three mutagenic pathways and that the reaction of the nitrene/nitrenium ion with DNA is rate limiting for the overall mutagenic process in Salmonella. The photochemical generation from arylazides of the reactive species, the nitrene/nitrenium ions, opens new perspectives for the understanding of the genotoxic activity of arylamines and nitroarenes in general and, specifically, of the food mutagens/carcinogens of the IQ type.

Amines↗

Photobiological studies with dioxetanes in isolated DNA, bacteria, and mammalian cells.

1,2-Dioxetanes, efficient chemical sources of triplet excited carbonyl compounds, were observed to be genotoxic in isolated DNA, bacteria, and cultured mammalian cells. In superhelical DNA of bacteriophage PM2, various alkyl- and hydroxyalkyl-substituted dioxetanes (1) induced predominantly endonuclease-sensitive base modifications and only few single strand breaks. With a specific endonuclease a small fraction of the base modifications was identified as pyrimidine dimers. The psoralen dioxetane (2a) or PsD bound photochemically to calf thymus DNA at the alpha-pyrone ring of psoralen (fluorescence measurements). Photobinding was also observed when calf thymus DNA was incubated with psoralen and 3-hydroxymethyl-3,4,4-trimethyl-1,2-dioxetane. In Syrian hamster embryo fibroblasts and HL-60 cells, dioxetanes induced DNA single strand breaks. The alkyl- and hydroxyalkyl-substituted dioxetanes 1 and 2 were efficiently inactivated by cysteine, glutathione, ascorbic acid, tocopherol, NADH and FADH2. While dioxetanes 1 and 2 were not mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA100, benzofuran dioxetanes 3 exhibited substantial effects. Further data imply that presumably a mutagenic intermediate with a lifetime of a few minutes is produced from the benzofuran dioxetane.

Animals↗