Why environmental exposures?

Epigenetics and environmental exposures.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that genetic factors are inadequate to fully explain many processes that shape development and disease. For example, monozygotic twin pairs, despite sharing identical DNA sequences, are often discordant for many traits and diseases, indicating that the same genotype can give rise to distinct phenotypes. This points towards the involvement of additional facto...

Transgenerational Effects of Environmental Exposures

Environmental Exposures and Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Infection with hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C virus is a well-established risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, it is now clear that certain occupational, environmental, and lifestyle factors also play a role in cancer development. Among these factors are smoking, alcohol consumption, workplace exposure to vinyl chloride, and exposure to polycylic aromatic ...

Indoor environmental exposures and symptoms.

The label "sick building syndrome" is often used to imply the absence of a physiologic basis for symptoms in the built environment. Although building-related illness is widely recognized but considered rare, several well-studied mechanisms may be responsible for many symptoms in buildings. These mechanisms do not explain why some individuals perceive disability. Until researchers distinguish ph...

Environmental Exposures and Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects millions around the world. The Braak hypothesis proposes that in PD a pathologic agent may penetrate the nervous system via the olfactory bulb, gut, or both and spreads throughout the nervous system. The agent is unknown, but several environmental exposures have been associated with PD. Here, we summarize and examine the evidence for such environmental exposures...