Health hazards from exposure to cobalt with special reference to carcinogenic,mutagenic and teratogenic effects†

Occupational exposure to cobalt‐containing dust may cause a severe type of pneumoconiosis as well as obstructive lung disease. Peroral exposure to cobalt chloride may under certain circumstances precipitate cardiomyopathy.

There are only a limited number of experimental studies available which deal with the carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects of cobalt and its salts. Single or repeated injections of cobalt powder or cobalt chloride have been shown to induce malignant tumours at the site of injection in rats, but not in mice. In vitro studies have shown that cobalt chloride has mutagenic and teratogenic properties. There are no data available on cancer incidence among workers occupationally exposed to cobalt. Thus the possible role of cobalt in human carcinogenesis is still an open question.     

大气PM2.5对大鼠心肌细胞的毒性作用

为评估大气PM_2.5及其不同组分对心肌细胞H9C2的毒性作用,探讨PM_2.5对心血管系统产生毒性作用的关键组分,将前期采集并制备的PM_2.5完全颗粒物、PM_2.5水溶性组分、PM_2.5脂溶性组分和PM_2.5单纯颗粒物以不同质量浓度对H9C2细胞染毒.用MTS法在染毒6、10、24、48、72 h后测定细胞活力;根据细胞活力测定结果,选用较低染毒浓度（10 μg/mL）,用相关试剂盒测定染毒24 h后胞内和上清液中LDH（乳酸脱氢酶）和SOD（超氧化物歧化酶）活力,ELISA及RT-qPCR法测定炎性因子IL-6和TNF-α表达量,AP位点计数法测定细胞DNA损伤情况.结果表明:颗粒物成分（PM_2.5完全颗粒物和PM_2.5单纯颗粒物）对H9C2细胞表现出强烈的生长抑制作用,50 μg/mL及以上染毒浓度组在染毒时间≥ 24 h时细胞可能已经全部死亡,而可溶性成分（PM_2.5水溶性组分和PM_2.5脂溶性组分）对H9C2细胞生长表现为极弱或无生长抑制作用,仅400 μg/mL的PM_2.5脂溶性组分始终对细胞生长表现出抑制作用;各组分样本都在一定程度上造成了H9C2细胞损伤,降低了胞内LDH和SOD活性;PM_2.5完全颗粒物和PM_2.5脂溶性组分在造成炎性损伤方面的作用较为明显.研究显示,颗粒物组分对H9C2细胞致死作用显著,相对而言,PM_2.5完全颗粒物表现出的毒性作用最强且最全面.      

True trisomy 15 mosaicism,detected by amniocentesis at 12 weeks of gestation and fetal echocardiography

A case of mosaicism of trisomy 15, with two-thirds of the cells trisomic, was detected at 12 weeks of gestation in amniotic fluid cell cultures obtained with the filtration technique. Ultrasound examination at 13 weeks showed a nodule protruding into the amniotic cavity which was speculated to be remnants of a co-twin, causing the trisomic cell line. At 20 weeks of gestation, a malformation scan (level III) was normal, but supplementary fetal echocardiography revealed a severe cardiac defect (mitral atresia and a ventricular septal defect). Fetal lymphocytes obtained by cordocentesis showed trisomy 15 mosaicism, but only in 5 per cent of the mitoses. After termination, the same percentage of trisomy 15 mosaicism was found in cells from skin and tendon as in the original early amniocentesis. No sign of earlier twinning was found in the placenta or membranes. We conclude that mosaicism in early amniotic fluid obtained by the filter technique in this case reflected the true karyotype accurately and that supplementary echocardiography added significantly to the interpretation of the clinical implications.     

Effectiveness of tiger moth (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae) chemical defenses against an insectivorous bat (Eptesicus fuscus)

Summary. Adult tiger moths exhibit a wide range of palatabilities to the insectivorous big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus. Much of this variation is due to plant allelochemics ingested and sequestered from their larval food. By using a comparative approach involving 15 species from six tribes and two subfamilies of the Arctiidae we have shown that tiger moths feeding on cardiac glycoside-containing plants often contain highly effective natural feeding deterrents. Feeding on pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plants is also an effective deterrent to predation by bats but less so than feeding on plants rich in cardiac glycosides. Moths feeding on plants containing iridoid glycosides and/or moths likely to contain biogenic amines were the least deterrent. By manipulating the diet of several tiger moth species we were able to adjust their degree of palatability and link it to the levels of cardiac glycosides or pyrrolizidine alkaloids in their food. We argue that intense selective pressure provided by vertebrate predators including bats has driven the tiger moths to sequester more and more potent deterrents against them and to acquire a suite of morphology characteristics and behaviors that advertise their noxious taste.     

Fetal bradyarrhythmia: Diagnosis and outcome

Seventeen patients were referred to our ultrasound unit because of fetal bradyarrhythmia (<100 bpm). Duration of pregnancy varied between 21 and 40 weeks. Bradyarrhythmia was diagnosed as atrioventricular block (n = 12), mild sinus bradycardia (n = 3), and irregular bradycardia (n = 2). The association with maternal collagen disease was 29 per cent and with cardiac structural defects 59 per cent. The overall mortality was 41 per cent. There were three abnormal karyotypes (17 per cent) and four cases of cardiac compromise (23 per cent). Prognosis depends on the nature of the bradyarrhythmia and recognition of associated pathology such as cardiac structural defects, abnormal karyotype and degree of cardiac compromise.     

Milkweeds,monarch butterflies and the ecological significance of cardenolides

Summary The contribution of Miriam Rothschild to the monarch cardenolide story is reviewed in the light of the 1914 challenge by the evolutionary biologist, E.B. Poulton for North American chemists to explain the chemical basis of unpalatability in monarch butterflies and their milkweed host plants. This challenge had lain unaccepted for nearly 50 years until Miriam Rothschild took up the gauntlet and showed with the help of many able colleagues that monarchs are aposematically coloured because they sequester toxic cardenolides from milkweed host plants for use as a defence against predators. By virtue of Dr Rothschild's inspiration and industry, and subsequently that of Lincoln Brower and his colleagues, this tritrophic interaction has become a familiar paradigm for the evolution of chemical defences and warning colouration. We now know that the cardenolide contents of different milkweeds vary quantitatively, qualitatively and spatially, both within and among species and we are starting to appreciate the implications of such variation. However, as Dr Rothschild has pointed out in her publications, cardenolides have sometimes blinded us to reality and it is curious how little evidence there is for a defensive function to cardenolides in plants — especially against adapted specialists such as the monarch. Thus the review will conclude with a discussion of the significance of temporal variation and induction of cardenolide production in plants, the lethal plant defence paradox and an emphasis on the dynamics of the cardenolide-mediated interaction between milkweeds and monarch larvae.     

Responses of three mouse species to deterrent chemicals in the monarch butterfly. I. Taste and toxicity tests using artificial diets laced with digitoxin or monocrotaline

Summary Of three common mouse species at the Mexican overwintering sites of the monarch butterfly, onlyPeromyscus melanotis eats monarchs. We hypothesized thatP. aztecus andReithrodontomys sumichrasti reject monarchs because they are more sensitive to the bitter taste and/or toxic effects of the cardiac glycosides (CGs) and pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in the butterflies. Two-choice preference tests revealed no difference in taste avoidance thresholds to free base and N-oxide forms of the PA, monocrotaline, but very different avoidance thresholds to the CG, digitoxin. Avoidance thresholds forR. sumichrasti andP. aztecus were, in respective order, 1020 and 34 times less than that forP. melanotis. We also tested the toxic sensitivity of juvenile mice by chronically feeding diets containing digitoxin or monocrotaline at concentrations similar to those used in the preference tests. No species developed CG toxicity, but bothP. melanotis andP. aztecus developed moderate PA toxicity (R. sumichrasti was not tested for PA toxicity).P. aztecus grew more slowly and manyP. melanotis had hepatic metabolic lesions. Thus, the three mouse species responded very differently to the taste and toxic properties of CGs and PAs at ecologically relevant concentrations: 1) CGs were taste rejected by all species exceptP. melanotis, while PAs were not; and 2) PAs were toxic, while CGs were not.