Below is a summary of the information posted this week on SOT's social media platforms as well as diverse science news headlines.
SOT Member Research
Hoping to better understand the vascular toxic effects of carbon nanotubes, SOT member Jan Simak of the US Food and Drug Admnistration and a research team investigated the toxicity of carboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes in endothelial cells. Their research, published in Nanomedicine discovered that “pharmacological stimulation of the autophagic flux may represent a new method of cytoprotection against toxic effects of nanomaterials.” For more, see Nanowerk's article on the research.
(Multiwalled carbon nanotube. Credit: Eric Wieser/Wikimedia Commons)
“Toxic or Not?” This is the question SOT member Angela Slitt asks her University of Rhode Island students, but the scientific answer is only the beginning of the lesson. Dr. Slitt helps her students navigate the murky waters of news and reporting in the digital age, encouraging them to weed through misleading and false information on the internet, while spreading more accurate information through the class’ Twitter feed.
Stimulant use, not a diagnosis of ADHD, is associated with higher BMI and obesity according to new research by SOT Member Brian S. Schwartz and colleagues at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The research, published in “Pediatrics,” studied the electronic health records of 163,820 children aged 3 to 18 in central and northeastern Pennsylvania, discovering a connection between treatment of ADHD with stimulants and changes in body mass index. For more information, please visit the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health website.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with their more than 200 different congeners based on the multiple positions for chlorination are the focus of the Toxicological Sciences Editor's Highlight for the April 2014 issue of the journal. The research, PCB 136 Atropselectively Alters Morphometric and Functional Parameters of Neuronal Connectivity in Cultured Rat Hippocampal Neurons via Ryanodine Receptor-Dependent Mechanisms, by SOT Members Dongren Yang, Izabela Kania–Korwel, Atefeh Ghogha, Hao Chen, Marianna Stamou, Diptiman D. Bose, Isaac N. Pessah, Hans–Joachim Lehmler, and Pamela J. Lein.
Science Headlines
Toxicological Sciences Editor–in–Chief Gary W. Miller is quoted in BPA: The Scientists, The Scare, The 100–Million Dollar Surge (Forbes)
Scientists Uncover New Brominated Flame Retardant in Consumer Electronics (Chemical and Engineering News)
Epigenetics starts to make it mark (Nature)
Disease Burdens Associated with PM2.5 Exposure: How a New Model Provided Global Estimates (Environmental Health Perspectives)
European Parliment Approves Bill To Increase Clinical Trial Transparency (Science)
Maine study shows possible link between arsenic in drinking water and intelligence (Kennebec Journal)
To stay abreast of these types of items through the week, be sure to "like" SOT on Facebook and "follow" SOT on Twitter.
Have news or research you want featured in the future? Send an email to Michelle Werts.