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Biomedical subjects

M Beno

Publications and source records attributed to M Beno.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Some lung cellular parameters reflecting inflammation after combined inhalation of amosite dust with cigarette smoke by rats.

Cellular changes were followed in lung cell suspensions after 175 day inhalation by rats of concentrations 30 mg/m3 or 60 mg/m3 of amosite asbestos every second day combined with daily exposure to cigarette smoke at 30 mg of total particulate matter (TPM)/m3 air. Concomitantly, lung inflammation was assessed by changes in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). A dose-dependent rise in the BALF inflammatory parameters was found. The rise of the proportion of binucleate (BNC) and multinucleate cells (MNC) in lung cell suspensions was also dose-dependent. It is concluded that, in the experimental assessment of effects of fibrogenic dusts, the number of BNC and of MNC in lung cell suspensions may serve as a useful semiquantitative biomarker of the inflammation.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Evaluation of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cytotoxic parameters after inhalation exposure to amosite and wollastonite fibrous dusts combined with cigarette smoke.

The aim of this work was to compare the influence of amosite-asbestos and wollastonite fibrous dusts combined with cigarette smoke on chosen cytotoxic parameters of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in rats. Fisher 344 rats inhaled wollastonite or amosite fibrous dusts (60 or 30 mg x m(-3) air) one hour every two days combined with daily breathing of diluted mainstream tobacco smoke (30 mg of TPM x m(-3) air). The experiment lasted 6 months. After sacrifying the animals bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed and the viability and phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophages (AM), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alkaline phosphatase activity (in the cell-free BALF), acid phosphatase (ACP) and cathepsin D activity (in cell-free BALF and BAL cell suspension) were examined. Exposure to amosite without tobacco smoke significantly decreased the viability of AM and increased the cathepsin D activity in BAL cells. Exposure to wollastonite significantly increased only the cathepsin D activity in BAL cells. Smoking significantly depressed the phagocytic activity of AM and amplified the amosite-induced increase of lysosomal enzyme activities--especially the activity of cathepsin D in BAL cells.

Animals↗

Nutritional supplementation with antioxidants decreases chromosomal damage in humans.

In order to investigate the effects of antioxidant supplementation on chromosome damage, a 3 month antioxidant supplementation trial was conducted on groups of 28 myocardial infarction survivors and 57 rural controls, all male. The supplement consisted of vitamin C (100 mg/day), vitamin E (100 mg/day), beta-carotene (6 mg/day) and selenium (50 microg/day). Dietary antioxidants in plasma were measured, as well as the ferric reducing ability of plasma (a measure of total plasma antioxidant status) and the concentration of malondialdehyde as an indicator of oxidative stress. Lymphocytes collected at the beginning and end of the supplementation period were stimulated to proliferate and metaphases accumulated for scoring of chromosome aberrations: per cent aberrant cells and chromatid and chromosome breaks. Supplementation with antioxidants was associated with a decrease in the percentage of cells with chromosome aberrations in the group of rural controls (0.63% before compared with 0.27% after supplementation; P = 0.03). The largest effect of supplementation was seen in smokers in this group (0.12% aberrant cells in supplemented compared with 0.81% in placebo group; P > 0.001). The results support the hypothesis that antioxidants decrease genetic damage.

Adult↗

Fine structure of hippocampal dendrites in the dentate fascia of LS/SS-mice after chronic ethanol treatment.

1. The effect of ethanol and its withdrawal on the dendritic microtubules in the dentate fascia of male mice was studied in the ethanol-sensitive, long-sleep (LS) line and the ethanol-insensitive, short-sleep (SS) line. 2. Both mouse lines were treated with a liquid ethanol diet. Dendrites in the dentate molecular layer (DML) of the right hippocampus were examined. 3. They revealed marked changes in microtubule density as compared with the controls. While the microtubule density in LS mice was significantly reduced by 15% and 18% in the middle and distal third of the DML, respectively, in SS mice the reduction (by 12%) took place in the distal third only. During withdrawal a recovery of the microtubule density has been observed in both lines.

Alcoholism↗

Additivity test for composition of binomial effects in chromosome aberrations after radiation injury.

Additivity of clastogenic effects of two doses of radiation to human peripheral blood lymphocytes is considered. We compare the effects of combined tritium and gamma irradiation with the sum of the effects of either irradiation administered separately. Our solution is based on combination of de Moivre and Cramèr-Slucky theorems. The results for 14 subjects where the deletion types of chromosome aberrations were counted indicate a Normal distribution of the sample additivity index, oscillating non-significantly around zero, with one outlier towards adaptivity and another towards synergism of the effect of the two doses absorbed by the cells.

Adult↗

Transfer factor of 131I from the fallout to human thyroid dose equivalent after the Chernobyl accident.

A similar pattern of variation with time in observed maxima of daily dose equivalent rates in human thyroids (TD - microSv.d-1) and of daily fallout radioactivities (FR - kBq.m-2) has been found after the Chernobyl accident. An estimate of the time-lag between the maxima in TD lines and the preceding FR peaks was made of about seven days for adult and nine days for juveniles. Applying this time-lag it was possible to estimate transfer factors from the fallout to thyroid dose equivalent: the highest estimated values were 221 microSv/kBq.m-2 for adult and 641 microSv/kBq.m-2 for juvenile thyroids. These values differ from those published by UNSCEAR (United Nations 1988), which have been calculated for various regions of Czechoslovakia, from ingestion and inhalation intake estimates. A broad variation of transfer factor values could be expected to result from such transfer calculations using ingestion and inhalation estimates. The findings also support the concept of a need for prolonged iodine prophylaxy after emissions of radioiodine into the environment.

Accidents↗

Human postmortem thyroid 131I content and risk estimates in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia following the Chernobyl accident.

From 3 May to 4 August 1986, thyroids of 416 postmortem subjects in Bratislava (population: approximately 400,000) were measured for 131I. Subsequently, dose rates in this organ for the day of exitus were calculated. Mean dose commitments were estimated by integrating linear or quadratic-periodic regression lines drawn through scatterplots of logarithmically transformed daily dose rates. The mean dose-commitment estimates in thyroids of adults were 0.74 and 0.58 mGy for linear and quadratic-periodic regression, respectively. The same for thyroids obtained from donors of fetal to 18 y of age were 1.67 and 1.77 mGy for liner and quadratic-periodic regression, respectively. A comparison of the actual thyroid radiation burden with its theoretical values calculated in the first days of contamination of the environment showed that the models used were safe enough to protect the population. Estimates of absolute risk for thyroid cancer showed that excess incidence that could be expected as a result of the Chernobyl accident shall remain obscured by the "spontaneous" incidence of this disease at geographic localization.

Accidents↗