Minireview: Epigenomic Plasticity and Vulnerability to EDC Exposures

Epigenomic plasticity enables human pancreatic α to β cell reprogramming.

Insulin-secreting β cells and glucagon-secreting α cells maintain physiological blood glucose levels, and their malfunction drives diabetes development. Using ChIP sequencing and RNA sequencing analysis, we determined the epigenetic and transcriptional landscape of human pancreatic α, β, and exocrine cells. We found that, compared with exocrine and β cells, differentiated α cells exhibited many...

Toward a Better Beauty Regimen: Reducing Potential EDC Exposures from Personal Care Products

As a high school student in Salinas, California, Irene Vera was part of the Youth Community Council, a project of the University of California, Berkeley, Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS). This project aims to train local youth as environmental health leaders through research, education, and advocacy, and it was through the Youth Community Council th...

Low-level copper exposures increase visibility and vulnerability of juvenile coho salmon to cutthroat trout predators.

Copper contamination in surface waters is common in watersheds with mining activities or agricultural, industrial, commercial, and residential human land uses. This widespread pollutant is neurotoxic to the chemosensory systems of fish and other aquatic species. Among Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus spp.), copper-induced olfactory impairment has previously been shown to disrupt behaviors relian...

Increased vulnerability to stress following opiate exposures: behavioral and autonomic correlates.

The authors used rats to study the impact of a history of opiate exposures on behavioral and autonomic responses to restraint stress. Brief restraint (30 min) provoked tachycardia and a pressor response, anxiety (as indexed by social interaction), grooming, and reduced exploration. The pressor response was reduced at 1 day, but not 7 days, after last opiate exposure; tachycardia was unaffected ...

Decoding Neurodevelopment: Findings on Environmental Exposures and Synaptic Plasticity