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Mayes C, Meloni M. Forgetting how we ate: personalised nutrition and the strategic uses of history. Hist Philos Life Sci 2024; 46:14. [PMID: 38453802 PMCID: PMC10920492 DOI: 10.1007/s40656-024-00613-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Personalised nutrition (PN) has emerged over the past twenty years as a promising area of research in the postgenomic era and has been popularized as the new big thing out of molecular biology. Advocates of PN claim that previous approaches to nutrition sought general and universal guidance that applied to all people. In contrast, they contend that PN operates with the principle that "one size does not fit all" when it comes to dietary guidance. While the molecular mechanisms studied within PN are new, the notion of a personal dietary regime guided by medical advice has a much longer history that can be traced back to Galen's "On Food and Diet" or Ibn Sina's (westernized as Avicenna) "Canon of Medicine". Yet this history is either wholly ignored or misleadingly appropriated by PN proponents. This (mis)use of history, we argue helps to sustain the hype of the novelty of the proposed field and potential commodification of molecular advice that undermines longer histories of food management in premodern and non-Western cultures. Moreover, it elides how the longer history of nutritional advice always happened in a heavily moralized, gendered, and racialized context deeply entwined with collective technologies of power, not just individual advice. This article aims at offering a wider appreciation of this longer history to nuance the hype and exceptionalism surrounding contemporary claims.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Mayes
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
| | - Maurizio Meloni
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
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Urso F, Brambilla L, Carriero F, Meloni M. 389 Reconstructed Human Epidermis Colonized with C.acnes: Pro-inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Response. J Invest Dermatol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2022.09.402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Mayes C, Lawson-Boyd E, Meloni M. Situating the Father: Strengthening Interdisciplinary Collaborations between Sociology, History and the Emerging POHaD Paradigm. Nutrients 2022; 14:3884. [PMID: 36235537 PMCID: PMC9572680 DOI: 10.3390/nu14193884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
(1) Background: Albeit the main focus remains largely on mothers, in recent years Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) scientists, including epigeneticists, have started to examine how a father's environment affects disease risk in children and argued that more attention needs to be given to father's health-related behaviors for their influence on offspring at preconception (i.e., sperm health) as well as paternal lifestyle influences over the first 1000 days. This research ushers in a new paternal origins of health and disease (POHaD) paradigm and is considered a welcome equalization to the overemphasis on maternal influences. Epigeneticists are excited by the possibilities of the POHaD paradigm but are also cautious about how to interpret data and avoid biased impression of socio-biological reality. (2) Methods: We review sociological and historical literatures on the intersection of gender, food and diet across different social and historical contexts to enrich our understanding of the father; (3) Results: Sociological and historical research on family food practices and diet show that there are no "fathers" in the abstract or vacuum, but they are differently classed, racialized and exist in socially stratified situations where choices may be constrained or unavailable. This confirms that epigeneticists researching POHaD need to be cautious in interpreting paternal and maternal dietary influences on offspring health; (4) Conclusions: We suggest that interdisciplinary approach to this new paradigm, which draws on sociology, history and public health, can help provide the social and historical context for interpreting and critically understanding paternal lifestyles and influences on offspring health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Mayes
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Rd, Geelong 3216, Australia
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Meloni M, Moll T, Issaka A, Kuzawa CW. A biosocial return to race? A cautionary view for the postgenomic era. Am J Hum Biol 2022; 34:e23742. [PMID: 35275433 PMCID: PMC9286859 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies demonstrating epigenetic and developmental sensitivity to early environments, as exemplified by fields like the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) and environmental epigenetics, are bringing new data and models to bear on debates about race, genetics, and society. Here, we first survey the historical prominence of models of environmental determinism in early formulations of racial thinking to illustrate how notions of direct environmental effects on bodies have been used to naturalize racial hierarchy and inequalities in the past. Next, we conduct a scoping review of postgenomic work in environmental epigenetics and DOHaD that looks at the role of race/ethnicity in human health (2000–2021). Although there is substantial heterogeneity in how race is conceptualized and interpreted across studies, we observe practices that may unwittingly encourage typological thinking, including: using DNA methylation as a novel marker of racial classification; neglect of variation and reversibility within supposedly homogenous racial groups; and a tendency to label and reify whole groups as pathologized or impaired. Even in the very different politico‐economic and epistemic context of contemporary postgenomic science, these trends echo deeply held beliefs in Western thinking which claimed that different environments shape different bodies and then used this logic to argue for essential differences between Europeans and non‐Europeans. We conclude with a series of suggestions on interpreting and reporting findings in these fields that we feel will help researchers harness this work to benefit disadvantaged groups while avoiding the inadvertent dissemination of new and old forms of stigma or prejudice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia
| | - Tessa Moll
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia.,Department School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ayuba Issaka
- School of Health and Social Development, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christopher W Kuzawa
- Department of Anthropology and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
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Alépée N, Grandidier M, Teluob S, Amaral F, Caviola E, De Servi B, Martin S, Meloni M, Nardelli L, Pasdelou C, Tagliati V, Viricel A, Adriaens E, Michaut V. Validation of the SkinEthic HCE time-to-toxicity test method for eye hazard classification of chemicals according to UN GHS. Toxicol In Vitro 2022; 80:105319. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2022.105319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Meloni M. The politics of environments before the environment: Biopolitics in the longue durée. Stud Hist Philos Sci 2021; 88:334-344. [PMID: 34303146 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Our understanding of body-world relations is caught in a curious contradiction. On one side, it is well established that many concepts that describe interaction with the outer world - 'plasticity' or 'metabolism'- or external influences on the body - 'environment' or 'milieu' - appeared with rise of modern science. On the other side, although premodern science lacked a unifying term for it, an anxious attentiveness to the power of 'environmental factors' in shaping physical and moral traits held sway in nearly all medical systems before and alongside modern Europe. In this article, I build on a new historiography on the policing of bodies and environments in medieval times and at the urban scale to problematize Foucault's claim about biopolitics as a modern phenomenon born in the European eighteenth-century. I look in particular at the collective usage of ancient medicine and manipulation of the milieu based on humoralist notions of corporeal permeability (Hippocrates, Galen, Ibn Sīnā) in the Islamicate and Latin Christendom between the 12th and the 15th century. This longer history has implications also for a richer genealogy of contemporary tropes of plasticity, permeability and environmental determinism beyond usual genealogies that take as a starting point the making of the modern body and EuroAmerican biomedicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- ARC Future Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, VIC 3216, Australia.
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Lawson-Boyd E, Meloni M. Gender Beneath the Skull: Agency, Trauma and Persisting Stereotypes in Neuroepigenetics. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:667896. [PMID: 34211381 PMCID: PMC8239152 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.667896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Epigenetics stands in a complex relationship to issues of sex and gender. As a scientific field, it has been heavily criticized for disproportionately targeting the maternal body and reproducing deterministic views of biological sex (Kenney and Müller, 2017; Lappé, 2018; Richardson et al., 2014). And yet, it also represents the culmination of a long tradition of engaging with developmental biology as a feminist cause, because of the dispersal of the supposed 'master code' of DNA among wider cellular, organismic and ecological contexts (Keller, 1988). In this paper, we explore a number of tensions at the intersection of sex, gender and trauma that are playing out in the emerging area of neuroepigenetics - a relatively new subfield of epigenetics specifically interested in environment-brain relations through epigenetic modifications in neurons. Using qualitative interviews with leading scientists, we explore how trauma is conceptualized in neuroepigenetics, paying attention to its gendered dimensions. We address a number of concerns raised by feminist STS researchers in regard to epigenetics, and illustrate why we believe close engagement with neuroepigenetic claims, and neuroepigenetic researchers themselves, is a crucial step for social scientists interested in questions of embodiment and trauma. We argue this for three reasons: (1) Neuroepigenetic studies are recognizing the agential capacities of biological materials such as genes, neurotransmitters and methyl groups, and how they influence memory formation; (2) Neuroepigenetic conceptions of trauma are yet to be robustly coupled with social and anthropological theories of violence (Eliot, 2021; Nelson, 2021; Walby, 2013); (3) In spite of the gendered assumptions we find in neuroepigenetics, there are fruitful spaces - through collaboration - to be conceptualizing gender beyond culture-biology and nature-nurture binaries (Lock and Nguyen, 2010). To borrow Gravlee's (2009: 51) phrase, we find reason for social scientists to consider how gender is not only constructed, but how it may "become biology" via epigenetic and other biological pathways. Ultimately, we argue that a robust epigenetic methodology is one which values the integrity of expertise outside its own field, and can have an open, not empty mind to cross-disciplinary dialogue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsher Lawson-Boyd
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
| | - Maurizio Meloni
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia
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Barabino S, Benitez-Del-Castillo JM, Fuchsluger T, Labetoulle M, Malachkova N, Meloni M, Utheim TP, Rolando M. Dry eye disease treatment: the role of tear substitutes, their future, and an updated classification. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2021; 24:8642-8652. [PMID: 32964952 DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202009_22801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of this review is to summarize the results of a consensus meeting held by a group of experts in dry eye disease (DED) to discuss the importance of tear substitutes in the treatment of DED. The meeting focused especially on the main characteristics of lacrimal substitutes, the development of in vitro models to investigate DED pathophysiology and treatment, the importance of conducting rigorous clinical trials, the requirements of the upcoming European Legislation on medical devices, the advances in the formulation of safer preservatives, the peculiarities of treatment in younger subjects, and the importance of an updated terminology for lacrimal substitutes. MATERIALS AND METHODS A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, with different combinations of pertinent keywords, depending on the subject under discussion, such as "dry eye disease"; "tear substitutes"; "in vitro models"; "ocular surface"; "clinical trials"; "European Regulation"; "preservatives" "younger patients". Also, each author included in the discussion selected articles from their personal library. Using a consensus-based method called nominal group technique to reach a conclusion and proposal for a new classification of eye drops used to improve the tear film and ocular surface epithelia, the experts also conducted a round table meeting. RESULTS The new terms proposed by the authors are "wetting agents", "multiple-action tear substitutes" or "ocular surface modulators". The new classification is needed to distinguish eye drops used to improve the tear film and ocular surface epithelia, in line with the new definition of DED, which recognizes the loss of ocular homeostasis, and the creation of a vicious circle of chronic inflammation and ocular damage as fundamental aspects of DED pathophysiology. CONCLUSIONS Although tear substitutes have been historically used to provide eye lubrication to the ocular surface, recent advances in the pathophysiology of dry eye disease (DED) clarified that treatment should not just focus on tear film quality or quantity, but address the loss of homeostasis of the ocular surface, blocking the vicious circle of chronic inflammation and ocular damage. Given the scant comparative evidence on tear substitutes currently on the market, further studies should focus on developing new agents, considering the advantages provided by in vitro models, importance of conducting rigorous clinical trials, availability of less harmful preservatives and obligations related to the new European legislation on medical devices. Based on the discussion of these topics, a group of experts held a consensus meeting to identify new and more appropriate terms for different tear substitutes. The proposed terms are wetting agents, multiple-action tear substitutes and ocular surface modulators. Regardless of the agent used, it is important to note that tear substitutes represent one of many options for DED treatment, which should not overlook the psychological aspects of the disease and the peculiarities of younger subjects, who seem to have a higher risk for DED, possibly related to digital devices excessive use.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Barabino
- Ocular Surface and Dry Eye Center, Ospedale L. Sacco, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
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Avolio E, Thomas A, Caporali A, Meloni M, Caputo M, Madeddu P. A short term treatment with a Mek1/2 inhibitor promotes myocardial arteriogenesis and perfusion in vivo: focus on cardiac mural cells. Eur Heart J 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/ehaa946.3779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Arteriogenesis is crucial for heart recovery after ischaemia, but cellular and molecular mechanisms able to foster this phenomenon are still poorly characterised.
Purpose
To discover novel pro-arteriogenic approaches by exploiting cardiac mural cells endowed with arteriogenic capacity: pericytes (PCs) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs).
Methods and results
We derived human and murine CD31neg CD34pos cardiac PCs (cPCs) from myocardial samples of adult subjects and confirmed the pericyte phenotype and function in vitro. We discovered that the withdrawal of EGF and bFGF from the culture media induces the differentiation of cPCs into contractile VSMCs. Molecular investigations of pathways associated with the two factors showed that the Mek1/2-Erk1/2 signalling exerts an inhibitory transcriptional control on contractile VSMC genes. Screening of compounds able to interfere with this pathway revealed that PD0325901 – a potent Mek1/2 inhibitor (MeKi) tested in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer – activates the VSMC phenotype in cPCs. We observed a similar effect on coronary artery VSMCs. Next, we interrogated the effect of PD0325901 on cardiac arteriogenesis in vivo. Adult C57BL6/J mice were given the MeKi 10 mg/kg/day or vehicle (DMSO), orally for 14 days (n=11/group). At the endpoint, echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricle (LV) function and dimensions (n=6/group) showed no difference in comparison with the respective baseline in both groups. Effective inhibition of Mek1/2 in the heart of PD-treated mice was confirmed by the reduced immunostaining for the phosphorylated form of Erk1/2. The MeKi cardiotoxicity was ruled out by assessment of cardiomyocytes and vascular cells apoptosis (Tunel) and plasmatic levels of cTn-I. Histological analyses of the hearts (n=5/group) showed an increase in small arterioles (diameter <20μm) density in the LV of PD-mice compared with the DMSO group (16.4 vs 11.7 art/mm2). No change was observed for the capillary density. The drug promoted the maturation of VSMCs within both small and large (>20μm) arterioles, as shown by the higher ratio between the areas of the vascular wall occupied by the mature contractile marker SM myosin heavy chain and the synthetic/early contractile marker alpha-SM actin (αSMA). The PD treatment reduced the fraction of small arterioles covered with a CD34pos layer (53% vs 70% of total arterioles), along with a lower ratio between the areas occupied by adventitial CD34pos cells and αSMApos VSMCs, suggesting a contribution of cPCs to the arteriolar remodelling. Last, the drug improved the LV myocardial perfusion in the PD- vs the DMSO-group (6.8 vs 5.3 ml/min/g of LV tissue, n=6/group).
Conclusions
We show that a short treatment with a Mek1/2 inhibitor stimulates myocardial arteriogenesis and perfusion without either inducing cardiotoxicity or deteriorating heart function. This may be a novel, intriguing approach to promote therapeutic arteriogenesis.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): British Heart Foundation Centre for Vascular Regeneration II
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Affiliation(s)
- E Avolio
- University of Bristol, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - A Thomas
- University of Bristol, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - A Caporali
- University of Edinburgh, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - M Meloni
- University of Edinburgh, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - M Caputo
- University of Bristol, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - P Madeddu
- University of Bristol, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, United Kingdom
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Pentecost M, Meloni M. "It's Never Too Early": Preconception Care and Postgenomic Models of Life. Front Sociol 2020; 5:21. [PMID: 33869430 PMCID: PMC8022598 DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2020.00021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Accepted: 03/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we are concerned with the expanded public health interest in the "preconception period" as a window of opportunity for intervention to improve long-term population health outcomes. While definitions of the "preconception period" remain vague, new classifications and categories of life are becoming formalized as biomedicine begins to conduct research on, and suggest intervention in, this undefined and potentially unlimited time before conception. In particular, we focus on the burgeoning epidemiological interest in epigenetics and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) research as simultaneously a theoretical spyglass into postgenomic biology and a catalyst toward a public health focus on preconception care. We historicize the notion that there are long-term implications of parental behaviors before conception, illustrating how, as Han and Das have noted, "newness comes to be embedded in older forms even as it transforms them" (Han and Das, 2015, p. 2). We then consider how DOHaD frameworks justify a number of fragmented claims about preconception by making novel evidentiary assertions. Engaging with the philosophy of Georges Canguilhem, we examine the relationship between reproductive risk and revised understandings of biological permeability, and discuss some of the epistemic and political implications of emerging claims in postgenomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Pentecost
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Anthropology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Maurizio Meloni
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Meloni M, Puligheddu M, Carta M, Cannas A, Figorilli M, Defazio G. Efficacy and safety of 5‐hydroxytryptophan on depression and apathy in Parkinson's disease: a preliminary finding. Eur J Neurol 2020; 27:779-786. [DOI: 10.1111/ene.14179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- M. Meloni
- Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health University of Cagliari Cagliari Italy
| | - M. Puligheddu
- Sleep Disorders Center Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health University of Cagliari Cagliari Italy
- Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, Neurology Unit University of Cagliari and AOU Cagliari Monserrato, Cagliari Italy
| | - M. Carta
- Department of Biomedical Sciences University of Cagliari Cagliari Italy
| | - A. Cannas
- Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, Neurology Unit University of Cagliari and AOU Cagliari Monserrato, Cagliari Italy
| | - M. Figorilli
- Sleep Disorders Center Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health University of Cagliari Cagliari Italy
| | - G. Defazio
- Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, Neurology Unit University of Cagliari and AOU Cagliari Monserrato, Cagliari Italy
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Meloni M. Lock, Margaret & Gísli Pálsson. Can science resolve the nature/nurture debate? viii, 177 pp., fig., bibliogr. Cambridge: Polity, 2016. £9.99 (paper). J R Anthropol Inst 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1467-9655.13185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Anichini R, Brocco E, Caravaggi CM, Da Ros R, Giurato L, Izzo V, Meloni M, Uccioli L. Physician experts in diabetes are natural team leaders for managing diabetic patients with foot complications. A position statement from the Italian diabetic foot study group. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2020; 30:167-178. [PMID: 31848052 DOI: 10.1016/j.numecd.2019.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Revised: 11/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is a complex disease. The best outcomes are reported with the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) approach, where each member works collaboratively according to his/her expertise. However, which health provider should act as the team leader (TL) has not been determined. The TL should be familiar with the management of diabetes, related complications and comorbidities. He/she should be able to diagnose and manage foot infections, including prompt surgical treatment of local lesions, such as abscesses or phlegmons, in an emergent way in the first meeting with the patient. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports, Italy is one of countries with a low amputation rate in diabetic patients. Many factors might have contributed to this result, including 1)the special attention directed to diabetes by the public health system, which has defined diabetes as a "protected disease", and accordingly, offers diabetic patients, at no charge, the best specialist care, including specific devices, and 2)the presence of a network of diabetic foot (DF) clinics managed by diabetologists with medical and surgical expertise. The health care providers all share a "patient centred model" of care, for which they use their internal medicine background and skills in podiatric surgery to manage acute or chronic needs in a timely manner. Therefore, according to Italian experiences, which are fully reported in this document, we believe that only a skilled diabetologist/endocrinologist should act as a TL. Courses and university master's degree programmes focused on DF should guarantee specific training for physicians to become a TL.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Anichini
- Diabetes Unit and Diabetic Foot Unit, Area Pistoiese, AUSL Centro Toscana, Italy
| | - E Brocco
- Diabetic Foot Unit, Foot and Ankle Clinic, Abano Terme Polyclinic, Abano Terme, Italy
| | - C M Caravaggi
- Diabetic Foot Department, IRCCS Multimedica Milan, Italy
| | - R Da Ros
- Diabetes Center AAS2 Monfalcone-Gorizia, Italy
| | - L Giurato
- Diabetic Foot Unit, Department of Medicine Systems, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - V Izzo
- Diabetic Foot Unit, Department of Medicine Systems, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - M Meloni
- Diabetic Foot Unit, Department of Medicine Systems, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - L Uccioli
- Diabetic Foot Unit, Department of Medicine Systems, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
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Figorilli M, Marques AR, Vidal T, Delaby L, Meloni M, Pereira B, Lambert C, Puligheddu M, Durif F, Fantini ML. Does REM sleep behavior disorder change in the progression of Parkinson's disease? Sleep Med 2020; 68:190-198. [PMID: 32044557 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Revised: 12/13/2019] [Accepted: 12/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND Rapid eye movement (REM) Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) may be associated with a malignant phenotype. Despite its prognostic value, little is known about the time course of RBD in PD. In this study, we aimed to ascertain whether or not RBD is a stable feature in PD. In this study, we prospectively evaluated clinical and neurophysiological features of RBD, including REM Sleep Without Atonia (RSWA), in PD patients with RBD at baseline and after three years then assessed whether the changes in measures of RSWA parallel the progression of PD. PATIENTS/METHODS In sum, 22 (17M, mean age 64.0 ± 6.9 years) moderate-to-advanced PD patients (mean PD duration at baseline:7.6±4.8 years) with RBD, underwent a video-polysomnography (vPSG) recording and clinical and neuropsychological assessment at baseline and after three years. RESULTS At follow-up, the self-assessed frequency of RBD symptoms increased in six patients, decreased in six and remained stable in 10, while RSWA measures significantly increased in all subjects. At follow-up, patients showed worse H&Y stage (p = 0.02), higher dopaminergic doses (p = 0.05) and they performed significantly worse in phonetic and semantic fluency tests (p = 0.02; p = 0.04). Changes in RSWA correlated significantly with the severity in levodopa-induced dyskinesia (r = 0.61,p = 0.05) and motor fluctuation (r = 0.54,p = 0.03) scores, and with the worsening of executive functions (r = 0.78,p = 0.001) and visuo-spatial perception (r = -0.57,p = 0.04). CONCLUSION Despite the subjective improvement of RBD symptoms in one-fourth of PD patients, all RSWA measures increased significantly at follow-up, and their changes correlated with the clinical evolution of motor and non-motor symptoms. RBD is a long-lasting feature in PD and RSWA is a marker of the disease's progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Figorilli
- EA 7280, UFR Medicine, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Sleep Disorder Center, Dept of Public Health & Clinical and Molecular Medicine. University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - A R Marques
- EA 7280, UFR Medicine, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Neurology Department, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - T Vidal
- CMRR, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - L Delaby
- CMRR, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - M Meloni
- Sleep Disorder Center, Dept of Public Health & Clinical and Molecular Medicine. University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - B Pereira
- Biostatistics Unit (DRCI), CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - C Lambert
- Biostatistics Unit (DRCI), CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - M Puligheddu
- Sleep Disorder Center, Dept of Public Health & Clinical and Molecular Medicine. University of Cagliari, Italy
| | - F Durif
- EA 7280, UFR Medicine, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Neurology Department, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - M L Fantini
- EA 7280, UFR Medicine, University of Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Neurology Department, CHU, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
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Huang S, Constant S, De Servi B, Meloni M, Culig J, Saaid A. Efficacy of a seawater solution enriched with copper, hyaluronic acid and eucalyptus against nasal pathogens. RHINOL 2019. [DOI: 10.4193/rhinol/19.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
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16
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Figorilli M, Marques A, Vidal T, Delaby L, Meloni M, Pereira B, Lambert C, Puligheddu M, Durif F, Fantini M. REM sleep behavior disorder changes in the progression of Parkinson's disease: a longitudinal study. Sleep Med 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.11.315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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17
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Cocomello L, Meloni M, Baquedano MJ, Ordonez MV, Biglino G, Bucciarelli C, Rapetto F, Pieles G, Benedetto UB, Caputo M. P4163Long term comparison between homograft vs stented bio-prostheses for pulmonary valve replacement in tetralogy of Fallot patients. Eur Heart J 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehz745.0734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair results in long term chronic pulmonary regurgitation requiring pulmonary valve replacement (PVR). Homograft and stented bio-prosthesis are currently used for PVR but whether one should be considered superior to another remains unknown.
Aim
To compare echocardiographic and clinical outcomes after PVR with Homograft vs stented bioprosthesis in patients with previous TOF repair.
Methods
137 patients who underwent PVR with stented bioproshesis were compared with 80 patients who received an homograft using Mixed linear model and multivariate Cox regression.
Results
Homograft were associated with a significantly lower transpulmonary gradient postoperatively (P=0.04) and after a mean follow-up 6 years (table). Homograft were associated with a significantly lower risk of reintervention (HR 0.24; 95% CI 0.07–0.85, p=0.026) while long term mortality was comparable between the two groups (P=0.1).
Echocardiographic findings BIO HOMOGRAFT P N 137 80 Preoperatively TV regurgitation (mean, sd) 1.80 (0.63) 1.94 (0.81) 0.353 TV regurgitation pressure drop (mean,sd) 35.15 (15.49) 45.34 (25.24) 0.009 PV regurgitation (mean,sd) 3.63 (0.52) 3.34 (0.64) 0.004 PV systolic peak gradient (mean, sd) 25.07 (17.05) 30.68 (21.70) 0.138 Early postoperatively TV regurgitation (mean,sd) 1.52 (0.54) 1.54 (0.55) 0.858 TV regurgitation pressure drop (mean,sd) 30.10 (13.82) 29.13 (13.98) 0.733 PV regurgitation (mean,sd) 1.50 (0.54) 1.64 (0.53) 0.224 PV systolic peak gradient (mean,sd) 24.05 (11.10) 20.16 (14.19) 0.045 Latest follow_up TV regurgitation (mean,sd) 1.63 (0.61) 1.83 (0.80) 0.195 TV regurgitation pressure drop (mean,sd) 37.46 (18.84) 32.58 (13.47) 0.233 PV regurgitation (mean,sd) 2.06 (0.77) 2.07 (0.94) 0.982 PV systolic peak gradient (mean,sd) 32.22 (18.17) 21.25 (13.47) 0.001 TAPSE: Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion; TV: tricuspid valve; PV: pulmonary valve.
PV re-intervention
Conclusions
When compared to stented bio-prostheses, homografts were associated better early and late hemodynamic profile and a significantly lower risk of re-intervention. Homograft should be considered the first choice in patients undergoing PVR after TOF repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Cocomello
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - M Meloni
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - M V Ordonez
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - G Biglino
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - F Rapetto
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - G Pieles
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - M Caputo
- Bristol Heart Institute, Bristol, United Kingdom
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18
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Pentecost M, Meloni M. The Epigenetic Imperative: Responsibility for Early Intervention at the Time of Biological Plasticity. Am J Bioeth 2018; 18:60-62. [PMID: 30475175 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2018.1526351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
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19
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Bourland J, Ranzini F, Semenzato A, Baratto G, Meloni M. LB1529 Repeated exposure to hard water and surfactant impairs epidermal barrier development in vitro. J Invest Dermatol 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2018.06.062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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20
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Abstract
This article sets the stage for a genealogy of the postgenomic body. It starts with the current transformative views of epigenetics and microbiomics to offer a more pluralistic history in which the ethical problem of how to live with a permeable body - that is plasticity as a form of life - is pervasive in traditions pre-dating and coexisting with modern biomedicine (particularly humoralism in its several ramifications). To challenge universalizing narratives, I draw on genealogical method to illuminate the unequal distribution of plasticity across gender and ethnic groups. Finally, after analysing postgenomics as a different thought-style to genomics, I outline some of its implications for notions of plasticity. I argue that postgenomic plasticity is neither a modernistic plasticity of instrumental control of the body nor a postmodernist celebration of endless potentialities. It is instead closer to an alter-modernistic view that disrupts clear boundaries between openness and determination, individual and community.
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21
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Meloni M, Caviola E, Balzaretti S, Carriero F, Bourland J. 996 Atopic dermatitis model on RHE in presence of S.aureus and infiltrating immuno-competent cells. J Invest Dermatol 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2018.03.1008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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22
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De Servi B, Orlandini A, Caviola E, Meloni M. Amino acid and hyaluronic acid mixtures differentially regulate extra cellular matrix genes in cultured human fibroblasts. J BIOL REG HOMEOS AG 2018; 32:517-527. [PMID: 29921376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this screening study was to evaluate the efficacy of different proprietary mixtures of amino acid and hyaluronic acid (HA) in stimulating the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) components, particularly the neo-synthesis of elastin, and in promoting a more efficient deposition of elastic fibres (elastogenesis), while at the same time maintaining the stimulation of collagen. The study has allowed identification of the optimal ratios between the amino acids (AA) for the production of collagen and elastin. Human primary dermal fibroblasts from a 44-year-old female donor were used as a test system in an experimental design based on the evaluation of the expression of relevant ECM genes using a transcriptomic dynamic approach. The expression of ECM genes was evaluated by RTqPCR from 24 to 120 hours in the presence of the test items. Moreover, the production of ECM proteins was verified by Western blot analysis after a 120 h treatment period. In addition to elastin, collagen IV, a fundamental structural component of the basal lamina responsible for epithelial and connective tissue anchoring, was analysed as potential target for the modulation of ECM protein production by human fibroblast. The first phase of the study demonstrated that alanine and valine are essential to promote production of elastin, of which they are important constituents. The second phase of the study, which was conducted to clarify the interactions between the different clusters of AA, demonstrated that it is necessary to choose a mixture that contains specific amounts of amino acids of both proteins, collagen and elastin, to give a significant response and a significant production of both. This also proves the existence of a ratio between the 2 clusters (AA elastin/AA collagen) that guarantees an adequate and balanced response to gene expression and production by fibroblasts, collagen and elastin. The study has allowed identification of the optimal ratios between the AA for the production of collagen and elastin.
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Affiliation(s)
- B De Servi
- VitroScreen In Vitro Research Laboratories, Milan, Italy
| | | | - E Caviola
- VitroScreen In Vitro Research Laboratories, Milan, Italy
| | - M Meloni
- VitroScreen In Vitro Research Laboratories, Milan, Italy
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23
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Meloni M, Müller R. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and social responsibility: perspectives from the social sciences. Environ Epigenet 2018; 4:dvy019. [PMID: 30090643 PMCID: PMC6070063 DOI: 10.1093/eep/dvy019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2018] [Revised: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2018] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Research in environmental epigenetics explores how environmental exposures and life experiences such as food, toxins, stress or trauma can shape trajectories of human health and well-being in complex ways. This perspective resonates with social science expertise on the significant health impacts of unequal living conditions and the profound influence of social life on bodies in general. Environmental epigenetics could thus provide an important opportunity for moving beyond long-standing debates about nature versus nurture between the disciplines and think instead in 'biosocial' terms across the disciplines. Yet, beyond enthusiasm for such novel interdisciplinary opportunities, it is crucial to also reflect on the scientific, social and political challenges that a biosocial model of body, health and illness might entail. In this paper, we contribute historical and social science perspectives on the political opportunities and challenges afforded by a biosocial conception of the body. We will specifically focus on what it means if biosocial plasticity is not only perceived to characterize the life of individuals but also as possibly giving rise to semi-stable traits that can be passed on to future generations. That is, we will consider the historical, social and political valences of the scientific proposition of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The key question that animates this article is if and how the notion of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance creates new forms of responsibilities both in science and in society. We propose that, ultimately, interdisciplinary conversation and collaboration is essential for responsible approaches to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in science and society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Ruth Müller
- Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS), Technical University of Munich, Augustenstraße 46, Munich, Germany
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24
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Abstract
Multiple resident cell types contribute to maintaining the structure and physiological function of the heart over the life course. Cardiomyocyte proliferation supports scar free regeneration in the neonatal heart following injury, but a lower rate of proliferation in the adult necessitates replacement by a collagen scar to maintain ventricular integrity. In this short review we discuss recent studies that have identified novel roles for non-myocyte resident cells and the extracellular matrix in supporting repair, as well as cardiomyocyte and vascular regeneration, following myocardial infarction.
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Affiliation(s)
- GA Gray
- BHF/University Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - IS Toor
- BHF/University Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - RFP Castellan
- BHF/University Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - M Crisan
- BHF/University Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Edinburgh Medical School, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
| | - M Meloni
- BHF/University Centre for Cardiovascular Science, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
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25
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Figorilli M, Marques A, Meloni M, Zibetti M, Beudin P, Pereira B, Lambert C, Puligheddu M, Cicolin A, Lopiano L, Durif F, Fantini M. Diagnosing REM sleep behaviour disorder in parkinson disease without a gold standard: a latent classes models study. Sleep Med 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2017.11.284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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26
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Müller R, Hanson C, Hanson M, Penkler M, Samaras G, Chiapperino L, Dupré J, Kenney M, Kuzawa C, Latimer J, Lloyd S, Lunkes A, Macdonald M, Meloni M, Nerlich B, Panese F, Pickersgill M, Richardson S, Rüegg J, Schmitz S, Stelmach A, Villa PI. The biosocial genome? Interdisciplinary perspectives on environmental epigenetics, health and society. EMBO Rep 2017; 18:1677-1682. [PMID: 28931580 DOI: 10.15252/embr.201744953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Müller
- Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) and School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Clare Hanson
- Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Mark Hanson
- Institute of Developmental Sciences and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Michael Penkler
- Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) and School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Georgia Samaras
- Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) and School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Luca Chiapperino
- Sciences and Technologies Studies Laboratory, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - John Dupré
- Centre for the Study of Life Sciences (Egenis) and Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Martha Kenney
- Women and Gender Studies, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, USA
| | - Christopher Kuzawa
- Department of Anthropology and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA
| | | | - Stephanie Lloyd
- Department of Anthropology, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
| | | | - Molly Macdonald
- School of English and Drama, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Maurizio Meloni
- Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Brigitte Nerlich
- School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Francesco Panese
- Sciences and Technologies Studies Laboratory, Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Martyn Pickersgill
- Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, Edinburgh Medical School, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Sarah Richardson
- Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
| | - Joëlle Rüegg
- Unit of Toxicology Sciences and Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Swetox Södertälje, Sweden
| | - Sigrid Schmitz
- Department of History, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Aleksandra Stelmach
- School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
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27
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Abstract
The notion that biological memories of environmental experiences can be embedded in the human genome and even transmitted transgenerationally is increasingly relevant in the postgenomic world, particularly in molecular epigenetics, where the genome is conceptualized as porous to environmental signals. In this article I discuss the current rethinking of race in epigenetic rather than genetic terms, emphasizing some of its paradoxical implications, especially for public policy. I claim in particular that: (i) if sociologists want to investigate race in a postgenomic world they should pay more attention to this novel plastic and biosocial view of race; and (ii) there are no reasons to believe that an epigenetic view will extinguish race, or that soft-inheritance claims will produce a less exclusionary discourse than genetics (hard heredity). Quite the opposite, the ground for a re-racialization of social debates and the reinforcement of biological boundaries between groups are highlighted in the article.
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28
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Caviola E, De Servi B, Meloni M. 883 Hair follicle bulb developed as 3D scaffold free microtissue. J Invest Dermatol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2017.02.909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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29
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Meloni M, Balzaretti S, De Servi B. 655 Epidermal response to bacterial and yeast adhesion: RHE model in co-colture with THP-1 cells. J Invest Dermatol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2017.02.677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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30
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Meloni M. Disentangling life: Darwin, selectionism, and the postgenomic return of the environment. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci 2017; 62:10-19. [PMID: 28196347 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2016] [Revised: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 02/02/2017] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, I analyze the disruptive impact of Darwinian selectionism for the century-long tradition in which the environment had a direct causative role in shaping an organism's traits. In the case of humans, the surrounding environment often determined not only the physical, but also the mental and moral features of individuals and whole populations. With its apparatus of indirect effects, random variations, and a much less harmonious view of nature and adaptation, Darwinian selectionism severed the deep imbrication of organism and milieu posited by these traditional environmentalist models. This move had radical implications well beyond strictly biological debates. In my essay, I discuss the problematization of the moral idiom of environmentalism by William James and August Weismann who adopted a selectionist view of the development of mental faculties. These debates show the complex moral discourse associated with the environmentalist-selectionist dilemma. They also well illustrate how the moral reverberations of selectionism went well beyond the stereotyped associations with biological fatalism or passivity of the organism. Rereading them today may be helpful as a genealogical guide to the complex ethical quandaries unfolding in the current postgenomic scenario in which a revival of new environmentalist themes is taking place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- Dept. of Sociological Studies, Northumberland Road, Elmfield, S10 2NN, University of Sheffield, UK.
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31
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Bellemere G, Brédif S, Meloni M, Menu F, Baudouin C. Modèles de peau pédiatrique in vitro pour l’étude de la dermatite atopique. Ann Dermatol Venereol 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.annder.2016.09.454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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32
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Leblanc V, Adriaens E, Grandidier M, Hollanders K, Jacobs A, Meloni M, Nardelli L, Roper C, Van Rompay A, Vinall J, Cotovio J, Alepée N. SkinEthic™ HCE eye irritation test method on solid and liquid chemicals: Reliability, relevance and contribution to serious eye damage/eye irritation global assessment. Toxicol Lett 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.06.1334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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33
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Meloni M. Interpreting evolution
History Within The Science, Culture, and Politics of Bones, Organisms, and Molecules
Marianne Sommer
University of Chicago Press, 2016. 552 pp. Science 2016. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
A probing history sheds light on the social and cultural biases that have shaped the study of human origins
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- The reviewer is the author of Political Biology: Science and Social Values in Human Heredity from Eugenics to Epigenetics (Palgrave, Basingstoke, UK, 2016)
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34
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Abstract
Advances in epigenetics spur modern support for a long-discredited theory of inheritance
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- The reviewer is the author of Political Biology: Science and Social Values in Human Heredity from Eugenics to Epigenetics (Palgrave, Basingstoke, 2016)
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36
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Abstract
In an archaeological spirit this paper comes back to a founding event in the construction of the twentieth‐century episteme, the moment at which the life‐ and the social sciences parted ways and intense boundary‐work was carried out on the biology/society border, with significant benefits for both sides. Galton and Weismann for biology, and Alfred Kroeber for anthropology delimit this founding moment and I argue, expanding on an existing body of historical scholarship, for an implicit convergence of their views. After this excavation, I look at recent developments in the life sciences, which I have named the ‘social turn’ in biology (Meloni, 2014), and in particular at epigenetics with its promise to destabilize the social/biological border. I claim here that today a different account of ‘the biological’ to that established during the Galton–Kroeber period is emerging. Rather than being used to support a form of boundary‐work, biology has become a boundary object that crosses previously erected barriers, allowing different research communities to draw from it.
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Alépée N, Leblanc V, Adriaens E, Grandidier M, Lelièvre D, Meloni M, Nardelli L, Roper C, Santirocco E, Toner F, Van Rompay A, Vinall J, Cotovio J. Multi-laboratory validation of SkinEthic HCE test method for testing serious eye damage/eye irritation using liquid chemicals. Toxicol In Vitro 2016; 31:43-53. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2015.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2015] [Revised: 11/14/2015] [Accepted: 11/19/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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38
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Alépée N, Piroird C, Aujoulat M, Dreyfuss S, Hoffmann S, Hohenstein A, Meloni M, Nardelli L, Gerbeix C, Cotovio J. Prospective multicentre study of the U-SENS test method for skin sensitization testing. Toxicol In Vitro 2015; 30:373-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2015.09.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2015] [Revised: 09/21/2015] [Accepted: 09/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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39
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Leblanc V, Adriaens E, Grandidier MH, Hollanders K, Jacobs A, Meloni M, Nardelli L, Roper C, Santirocco E, Toner F, Van Rompay A, Vinall J, Cotovio J, Alepee N. Serious eye damage/eye irritation assessment: How SkinEthic™ HCE reconstructed human corneal test method can address this area for liquid test substances. Toxicol Lett 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2015.08.924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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40
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Besnier M, Meloni M, Caporali A, Baker A, Miller A, Emanueli C. IL-33/ST2 in angiogenesis and limb ischemia in mice. Atherosclerosis 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.04.090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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41
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Proiti M, Andreano A, Schiaffino S, Turtulici G, Laeseke P, Meloni M. Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Ultrasound Int Open 2015; 1:E27-9. [PMID: 27689147 DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1554658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
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42
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Abstract
Epigenetics is one of the most rapidly expanding fields in the life sciences. Its rise is frequently framed as a revolutionary turn that heralds a new epoch both for gene-based epistemology and for the wider discourse on life that pervades knowledge-intensive societies of the molecular age. The fundamentals of this revolution remain however to be scrutinized, and indeed the very contours of what counts as 'epigenetic' are often blurred. This is reflected also in the mounting discourse on the societal implications of epigenetics, in which vast expectations coexist with significant uncertainty about what aspects of this science are most relevant for politics or policy alike. This is therefore a suitable time to reflect on the directions that social theory could most productively take in the scrutiny of this revolution. Here we take this opportunity in both its scholarly and normative dimension, that is, proposing a roadmap for social theorizing on epigenetics that does not shy away from, and indeed hopefully guides, the framing of its most socially relevant outputs. To this end, we start with an epistemological reappraisal of epigenetic discourse that valorizes the blurring of meanings as a critical asset for the field and privileged analytical entry point. We then propose three paths of investigation. The first looks at the structuring elements of controversies and visions around epigenetics. The second probes the mutual constitution between the epigenetic reordering of living phenomena and the normative settlements that orient individual and collective responsibilities. The third highlights the material import of epigenetics and the molecularization of culture that it mediates. We suggest that these complementary strands provide both an epistemically and socially self-reflective framework to advance the study of epigenetics as a molecular juncture between nature and nurture and thus as the new critical frontier in the social studies of the life sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Law and Social Sciences Building, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD UK
- Honorary, College of Social Sciences and International Studies, University of Exeter, EX4 4RJ, Exeter, UK
| | - Giuseppe Testa
- European Institute of Oncology, Via Adamello 16, Milan 20139, Italy
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Reni C, Mangialardi G, Meloni M, Emanueli C, Madeddu P. P344Osteoclasts activation contributes to remodeling of the stem cell niche in diabetes. Cardiovasc Res 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvu091.30] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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Caporali A, Meloni M, Mitic T, Nailor A, Emanueli C. 524p75NTR-dependent activation of NF-kB is required for the trafficking and transcriptional regulation of microRNA-503 in microvascular complications of diabetes. Cardiovasc Res 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvu092.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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Avolio E, Mangialardi G, Riu F, Katare R, Mitchell K, Dang Z, Spencer H, Meloni M, Beltrami AP, Madeddu P. P593Human vascular pericytes and cardiac progenitor cells combined transplantation for heart repair. Cardiovasc Res 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvu098.23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Avolio E, Gianfranceschi G, Caragnano A, Athanasakis E, Katare R, Meloni M, Beltrami CA, Cesselli D, Madeddu P, Beltrami AP. 289Pharmacologic rejuvenation of senescent human cardiac stem cells enhances myocardial repair. Cardiovasc Res 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvu087.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Meloni M. The social brain meets the reactive genome: neuroscience, epigenetics and the new social biology. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:309. [PMID: 24904353 PMCID: PMC4033168 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2014] [Accepted: 04/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The rise of molecular epigenetics over the last few years promises to bring the discourse about the sociality and susceptibility to environmental influences of the brain to an entirely new level. Epigenetics deals with molecular mechanisms such as gene expression, which may embed in the organism "memories" of social experiences and environmental exposures. These changes in gene expression may be transmitted across generations without changes in the DNA sequence. Epigenetics is the most advanced example of the new postgenomic and context-dependent view of the gene that is making its way into contemporary biology. In my article I will use the current emergence of epigenetics and its link with neuroscience research as an example of the new, and in a way unprecedented, sociality of contemporary biology. After a review of the most important developments of epigenetic research, and some of its links with neuroscience, in the second part I reflect on the novel challenges that epigenetics presents for the social sciences for a re-conceptualization of the link between the biological and the social in a postgenomic age. Although epigenetics remains a contested, hyped, and often uncritical terrain, I claim that especially when conceptualized in broader non-genecentric frameworks, it has a genuine potential to reformulate the ossified biology/society debate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Meloni
- School of Sociology and Social Policy, Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham Nottingham, UK
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Moreira da Silva R, De Servi B, Meloni M. Nouvelles données concernant le mécanisme d’action du tannate de gélatine dans le traitement de la diarrhée aiguë. Deuxième partie : activité anti-bactérienne. Arch Pediatr 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.arcped.2013.02.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Meloni M, Reid A, Caujapé-Castells J, Marrero A, Fernández-Palacios JM, Mesa-Coelo RA, Conti E. Effects of clonality on the genetic variability of rare, insular species: the case of Ruta microcarpa from the Canary Islands. Ecol Evol 2013; 3:1569-79. [PMID: 23789068 PMCID: PMC3686192 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2012] [Revised: 03/14/2013] [Accepted: 03/15/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Many plant species combine sexual and clonal reproduction. Clonal propagation has ecological costs mainly related to inbreeding depression and pollen discounting; at the same time, species able to reproduce clonally have ecological and evolutionary advantages being able to persist when conditions are not favorable for sexual reproduction. The presence of clonality has profound consequences on the genetic structure of populations, especially when it represents the predominant reproductive strategy in a population. Theoretical studies suggest that high rate of clonal propagation should increase the effective number of alleles and heterozygosity in a population, while an opposite effect is expected on genetic differentiation among populations and on genotypic diversity. In this study, we ask how clonal propagation affects the genetic diversity of rare insular species, which are often characterized by low levels of genetic diversity, hence at risk of extinction. We used eight polymorphic microsatellite markers to study the genetic structure of the critically endangered insular endemic Ruta microcarpa. We found that clonality appears to positively affect the genetic diversity of R. microcarpa by increasing allelic diversity, polymorphism, and heterozygosity. Moreover, clonal propagation seems to be a more successful reproductive strategy in small, isolated population subjected to environmental stress. Our results suggest that clonal propagation may benefit rare species. However, the advantage of clonal growth may be only short-lived for prolonged clonal growth could ultimately lead to monoclonal populations. Some degree of sexual reproduction may be needed in a predominantly clonal species to ensure long-term viability.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Meloni
- Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich Zollikerstrase 107, Zurich, 8008, Switzerland
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Campagna M, Satta G, Campo L, Flore V, Ibba A, Meloni M, Tocco MG, Avataneo G, Flore C, Fustinoni S, Cocco P. Biological monitoring of low-level exposure to benzene. Med Lav 2012; 103:338-346. [PMID: 23077794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Conflicting opinions exist about the reliability of biomarkers of low-level exposure to benzene. We compared the ability of the urinary excretion of trans,trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA), s-phenilmercapturic acid (s-PAMA) and urinary benzene (U-Benz) to detect low level occupational and environmental exposure to benzene. METHODS We monitored airborne benzene by personal air sampling, and U-Benz, s-PMAI, t,t-MA and cotinine (U-Cotinine) in spot urine samples, collected at 8 am and 8 pm, in 32 oil refinery workers and 65 subjects, randomly selected among the general population of urban and suburban Cagliari, Italy. Information on personal characteristics, diet and events during the sampling day was acquired through in person interviews. RESULTS The median concentration of airborne benzene was 25.2 microg/m3 in oil refinery workers, and 8.5 microg/m3 in the general population subgroup. U-Benz in morning and evening samples was significantly more elevated among oil refinery workers than the general population subgroup (p = 0.012, and p = 7.4 x 10(-7), respectively) and among current smokers compared to non-smokers (p = 5.2 x 10(-8), and p = 5.2 x 10(-5) respectively). Benzene biomarkers and their readings in the two sampling phases were well correlated to each other. The Spearman's correlation coefficient with airborne benzene was significant for U-Benz in the evening sample, while no correlation was seen with t,t-MA and s-PMA readings in either samplings. The two benzene metabolites were frequently below limit of detection (LOD), particularly among the general population study subjects (17-9% and 39%, for t,t-MA and s-PMA respectively). Morning U-Cotinine excretion showed a good correlation with U-Benz in the morning and in the evening sampling (p < 0.001), and with s-PMA in the evening sample (p < 0.001), but not with t,t-MA in either samplings. t,t-MA in the evening sample was the only biomarker showing a moderate inverse correlation with BMI (p < 0.05). The multiple regression analysis adjusting by BMI and number of cigarettes smoked during the day confirmed the results of the univariate analysis. DISCUSSION Our results suggest that unmetabolized U-Benz would allow a more reliable biomonitoring of low-level exposure to benzene than s-PMA and t,t-MA.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Campagna
- Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Occupational Health Section, University of Cagliari, Asse Didattico della Facoltà di Medicina, Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy.
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