Search

Introduction: Young adult males are more likely to demonstrate health-risk behaviors than other individuals. The use of specific data about health-risk behaviors within this population might be important to promote effective preventive psychosocial and educational programs and interventions., Aim: To provide a detailed description of health-related lifestyles, substance-related behaviors, and sexual habits that can negatively affect fertility, sexual sphere, and health in a large sample of Italian young adult males., Methods: A sample comprising 2,170 males aged 18-21 years, attending the last year of high school, was administered an online questionnaire made up of 39 multiple-choice questions. The questionnaire explored health-related lifestyles, substance-related behaviors, and sexuality and sexual habits. Descriptive analyses were conducted., Main Outcome Measure: The outcome measures included data about health-related lifestyles, substance-related behaviors, and sexuality and sexual habits reported by Italian young adult males., Results: Health-related lifestyles: 92.9% of the sample reported practicing some physical activity during the week. 90.3% declared a Mediterranean diet and 8.1% a hyperproteic diet. Substance-related behaviors: 33.8% of the sample reported having smoked tobacco at least once in their lives; among them, 71% reported current daily smoking. 40.2% declared drinking alcohol from 5 to 7 days in a week. 32.9% of the sample reported currently using a substance. Sexuality and sexual habits: 97.1% of the sample self-defined themselves as heterosexual. 73.3% of participants rated their knowledge about sexuality as "excellent/good," 58.7% about sexually transmitted infections. Only 4.8% reported having had a seminal liquid examination. Half of the sample (52.2%) declared having had sexual intercourses, in the largest proportion protected sex. 14.7% of the sample reported having at least one sexual dysfunction. 88.6% of participants reported having used pornography, 18.7% every day., Conclusion: The present study highlighted the need to empower the number and efficacy of preventive interventions to promote health-related behaviors among Italian young male population. Flesia L, Cavalieri F, Angelini S, et al. Health-Related Lifestyles, Substance-Related Behaviors, and Sexual Habits Among Italian Young Adult Males: An Epidemiologic Study. Sex Med 2020;8:361-369., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Study Question: Have decidual natural killer (dNK) cells a different microRNA (miRNA or miR) expression pattern compared to NK cells circulating in the peripheral blood (pb) of healthy pregnant women in the first trimester of gestation?, Summary Answer: dNK cells have a unique miRNA profile, showing exclusive expression of a set of miRNAs and significant up- or down-regulation of most of the miRNAs shared with pbNK cells., What Is Known Already: dNK cells differ from pbNK cells both phenotypically and functionally, and their origin is still debated. Many studies have indicated that miRNAs regulate several important aspects of NK cell biology, such as development, activation and effector functions., Study Design, Size, Duration: Decidua basalis and peripheral blood specimens were collected from women (n = 7) undergoing voluntary termination of gestation in the first trimester of pregnancy. dNK and pbNK cells were then highly purified by cell sorting., Participants/materials, Setting, Methods: miRNAs expression was analysed by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR)-based arrays using RNA purified from freshly isolated and highly purified pbNK and dNK cells. Results from arrays were validated by qRT-PCR assays. The bioinformatics tool ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) was applied to determine the cellular network targeted by validated miRNAs and the correlated biological functions., Main Results and the Role of Chance: Herein, we identified the most differentially expressed miRNAs in NK cells isolated from peripheral blood and uterine decidua of pregnant women. We found that 36 miRNAs were expressed only in dNK cells and two miRNAs only in pbNK cells. Moreover, 48 miRNAs were commonly expressed by both NK cell preparations although at different levels: 28 were upregulated in dNK cells, while 15 were downregulated compared to pbNK cells. Validation of a selected set (n = 11) of these miRNAs confirmed the differential expression of nine miRNAs: miR-10b and miR-214 expressed only in dNK cells and miR-200a-3p expressed only in pbNK cells; miR-130b-3p, miR-125a-5p, miR-212-3p and miR-454 were upregulated while miR-210-3p and miR-132 were downregulated in dNK cells compared to pbNK cells. IPA network analysis identified a single network connecting all the miRNAs as well as their significant involvement in several classes of functions: 'Organismal injury, Reproductive system disease, Inflammatory disease' and 'Cellular development'. These miRNAs target molecules such as argonaute 2, tumour protein p53, insulin and other genes that belong to the same network and significantly influence cell differentiation and pregnancy., Limitations, Reasons for Caution: In the present study, the cellular network and biological functions modulated by miRNAs differentially expressed in dNK and pbNK cells were identified by IPA considering only molecules and relationships that were with confidence 'experimentally observed' in leucocytes. The decidual and pbNK cells that were analysed here are a heterogeneous population and further study will help to disentangle whether there are differences in miRNA production by the different subsets of NK cells., Wider Implications of the Findings: This is the first study describing a different miRNA expression profile in dNK cells compared to matched pbNK cells during the first trimester of pregnancy. Our findings improved the body of knowledge on dNK cell biology and strongly suggest further investigation into the roles of miRNAs that are differentially expressed in human dNK compared to pbNK cells. Our results suggest that specific miRNAs can modulate dNK cell origin and functions, highlighting a potential role of this miRNA signature in human development and diseases., Study Funding/competing Interest(s): This work was supported by grants from the Istituto Pasteur, Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti, the European NoE EMBIC within FP6 (Contract number LSHN-CT-2004-512040), Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, and Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (Ricerche Universitarie), and from Università Politecnica delle Marche. There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

DNA sequence and genetic factors alone cannot fully explain the many processes implicated in diseases initiation and development. It is now well understood that additional factors are involved in a final resulting phenotype. Epigenetic modifications, heritable changes not affecting the DNA sequence, are a key phenomenon at the basis of normal growth and differentiation. However, these can be defective leading to diseases, such as cancer. An increasing body of literature reports the environmental and occupational exposure to a mixture of natural and man-produced substances leading to epigenetic alterations. The identification of key genetic and/or epigenetic events involved in chemical carcinogenesis is an important step towards the discovery of biomarkers that can be used to evaluate the exposure, predict biological effects, and prevent adverse health consequences. Here, we focus on epidemiological studies to review the most recent advances in understanding genetic and epigenetic factors in relation to particulate matter, benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exposure., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) can significantly improve the prognosis of affected patients. The loss of genomic stability and the resulting gene alteration play an important role in the molecular pathological steps that occur early in tumorigenesis of CRC. Thus, the identification of non-invasive biomarkers, whose function may provide useful insights into critical early events in the CRC process, is of great interest. In this regard, micronucleus (MN) frequency in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) has become one of the most established biomarkers for studying DNA damage in the human population. This study investigated the MN frequency in the PBL of 82 subjects (30 females and 52 males; aged 50-70 years) who were participating in a screening programme for CRC prevention. All 82 patients were positive in fecal occult blood tests and they were subsequently classified, according to colonoscopy and histological findings, as patients with CRC, patients with colon polyps or subjects without intestinal lesion, referred to as study controls. This study also examined the relationship between the plasma clastogenic activity and the frequency of micronuclei of the study population. The MN frequency was significantly higher in CRC patients than in both colon polyp patients (16.82±6.56 versus 12.23±1.88; P = 0.002) and controls (16.82±6.56 versus 8.00±1.77; P < 0.001). An increased MN frequency was detected in the lymphocytes of the polyp group in comparison to the control group, although this was lower than that observed in CRC patients (12.23±1.88 versus 8.00±1.77; P < 0.001). In the overall study population, the increase of MN frequency, which was observed in the lymphocytes of the subjects involved, was significantly associated with the clastogenic activity detected in their plasma (r = 0.594, P < 0.001). Overall, the results suggest that the MN test can become a promising biomarker for the early detection of CRC.

We developed a new method based on the single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique for the detection of a G23591A (Asp312Asn) polymorphism in exon 10 of the XPD gene. In the process we also identified a novel polymorphism 23623C-ins (IVS10+17C-ins) in intron 10 of the same gene. With this newly developed SSCP-based method of genotyping we could detect both polymorphisms in the same assay and thus consequently determine the haplotype. In order to determine the population frequency of the novel polymorphism and the haplotype frequency, 302 healthy individuals were genotyped. The allelic frequency of the 23623C-ins intronic polymorphism was 0.16, whereas the frequency of the variant allele for the G23591A polymorphism was 0.39. Forty-three individuals (14%) were heterozygous for both polymorphisms but none carried polymorphic variants for both G23591A and 23623C-ins on the same allele. The effect of the novel intronic insertion polymorphism, which is located 16 nt downstream of the 3'-end of exon 10 of the XPD gene and involves a mononucleotide C repeat sequence, on expression remains to be determined.

In the context of a medical surveillance program aimed at preventing cancer risk from exposure to ionizing radiation, we investigated chromosomal damage in peripheral lymphocytes from 37 hospital workers exposed to low levels of ionizing radiation and 37 controls. The micronuleus (MN) assay was used as a biomarker of genetic damage. The influence of confounding factors like smoking status, age and gender was investigated by multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that, overall, MN frequency was higher in exposed workers than in controls, although the difference was not statistically significant. Interestingly, smoking status significantly raised MN frequency among the exposed workers but not among controls. This suggests that smoking can influence chromosomal damage induced in humans by ionizing radiation. Among both exposed workers and controls, MN frequency was found to increase with age. Female gender influenced the increase in MN frequency in the exposed group. Our results suggest that the effect of cigarette smoking should be carefully factored into genetic monitoring studies assessing the risks associated with low level radiation exposure.