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Wastewater microbiology
Published in Rumana Riffat, Taqsim Husnain, Fundamentals of Wastewater Treatment and Engineering, 2022
The coronavirus is zoonotic; meaning it is derived from animals. Historically, many of the viruses trivial to animals have mutated and affected humans in significant ways. Mutations cause new variants to occur; some emerge and disappear, while others persist and spread. The H1N1 virus, which was the mutation of the bird flu virus, had contracted pigs and then affected humans. Although there are controversies related to the specific origin of SARS-CoV-2, it has shown a high correlation with Bat Coronavirus RaG13 of low risk, which became significantly dangerous through mutation. Although many variants of the coronavirus were observed in many parts of the world, some variants are of major concern with regard to how they spread, and are resistant to treatment and vaccination. The Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), and Gamma (P.1) variants were initially detected in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil and eventually spread to other parts of the world. The Delta (B.617.2) variant which was initially identified in India, soon became the most prevalent one in mid-2021. It spread more easily and quickly than the other variants and led to an increased number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. In November 2021, the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant was identified in South Africa, which spread quickly all over the world. Many other variants may eventually appear, and the effects of those variants on humans will be a continuing area of research for scientists and researchers.
Cell Line Development
Published in Wei-Shou Hu, Cell Culture Bioprocess Engineering, 2020
Aneuploid cells have abnormal chromosomal counts, and many of their chromosomes have macroscopic structural aberrations. Such chromosomal alterations accumulate over time, generating a heterogeneous cell population created by different cells carrying different sets of chromosomes with different structural abnormalities. Some cell lines are highly heterogenous, with a wide range of chromosome abnormality and numbers. For example, some CHO cell lines have a wide range of structural variation.4,15 Others, such as Vero cells,16 have a relatively low level of heterogeneity, with a narrow distribution of chromosome numbers and variations of karyotypes. At a detailed molecular level, base-pair mutations, varying lengths of segmental DNA duplications, deletions, inversions, and translocations frequently occur in aneuploid cells. These structural variations occur during DNA replication at the single-cell level. Some genomic structural variants may carry phenotypic or physiological variations as well. Cells with some types of genome or karyotype variations may grow to become a noticeable subpopulation. The population of an aneuploid cell line is thus heterogeneous in genomic variants.
Pharmacogenomics: Ethical, Social, and Public Policy Issues
Published in Shaker A. Mousa, Raj Bawa, Gerald F. Audette, The Road from Nanomedicine to Precision Medicine, 2020
Seemingly, progress has been made since. In October 2018, The FDA approved the 23andMe Personal Genome Service Pharmacogenetic Reports test as a direct-to-consumer test to detect 33 variants for multiple genes. Specifically, these genetic variants may be associated with a patient’s ability to metabolize certain medications. The concerns expressed by the FDA in 2010 are evidently still salient. For example, the FDA’s news release concerning the 23andMe test states very clearly that the test is not intended to provide information as to a patient’s ability to respond to a given medication, and that health care providers should not use the test as an aid to make treatment decisions [15]. The FDA even indicated that any results from the 23andMe test should be confirmed with “independent pharmacogenetic testing before making any medical decisions” [15].
Genetic variants affecting chemical mediated skin immunotoxicity
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2022
Isisdoris Rodrigues de Souza, Patrícia Savio de Araujo-Souza, Daniela Morais Leme
To better describe the selected genes and their variants, genes were grouped into 7 categories, as follows: (1) xenobiotic metabolism; (2) oxidative stress; (3) aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) pathway; (4) skin barrier function and transepidermal water loss (TEWL); (5) inflammatory processes; (6) major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and (7) neuroendocrine pathways. The role of each category of genes in the susceptibility to immunotoxicity was discussed based upon the functional consequences of the genetic variants, when molecular data were available. Both in vivo and in vitro studies addressing the molecular consequences of the genetic variants were considered. The potential contribution of the genetic variants in susceptibility to skin immunotoxicity was demonstrated, and to illustrate this, tables were formulated.
Posthumanism: Creation of ‘New Men’ Through Technological Innovation
Published in The New Bioethics, 2021
Only a small percentage of genetic disorders are monogenic, that is, involving or controlled by a single gene. The norm is that disorders are massively polygenic and determined by the interactions of several alleles, as is the case for most human traits (Chabris et al. 2015). Alleles are each of the two or more alternative forms of a gene that come about through mutations in its DNA nucleotide sequence; the size of the mutations can range from one base-pair (single-nucleotide polymorphism, SNP) to several thousands. These alterations in the DNA sequence are called gene variants. Genetic risk of most diseases is conferred by a large number of alleles, including common alleles with small effects that might be detected by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in which gene variants are found by comparing the genomes of different individuals. For example, schizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder. A multi-stage schizophrenia GWAS study of 36,989 cases and 113,075 controls, identified 128 independent associations distributed in 108 conservatively defined loci (specific positions in a chromosome) that meet genome-wide significance, 83 of which had not been previously reported. The 128 gene variants appeared to account for perhaps 7% of a given person’s actual risk (Schizophrenia Working Group 2014).