Xue Fang

Circulating miRNAs might be promising biomarkers to reflect the dynamic pathological changes in smoking-related interstitial fibrosis

Cigarette smoking is the major risk factor for smoking-related interstitial fibrosis (SRIF). Despite recent advances, the molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of this disease remain elusive. We found 6 months of chronic mainstream smoking exposure induced SRIF in C57 mice, which was associated with pronounced enhanced oxidative stress, bronchoalveolar inflammation and fibrosis but not apoptosis of alveolar septal cell. We used Affymetrix microRNA (miRNA) arrays to determine the temporal alteration in global gene expression of peripheral blood during the progression of diffuse pulmonary interstitial fibrosis in C57 mice. Microarray analysis revealed the upregulation of 3 miRNAs (miR-92b, miR-700 and miR-668) and the downregulation of 5 miRNAs (let-7e, miR-142-5p, miR-350, miR-19a and miR191*) in the peripheral blood of mice exposed to mainstream smoking for 1, 2, 3 and 6 months. We proposed that circulating miRNAs might be promising biomarkers to reflect the dynamic pathological changes of SRIF related interstitial fibrosis.

Circulating biomarkers of hazard effects from cigarette smoking.

Smoking, leading to over 438,000 annual deaths in the US and 92 billion US dollars in lost productivity, is an important risk factor for several diseases. Global smoking statistics for 2002 have shown that 80,000 to 100,000 children worldwide start smoking every day. Human biomonitoring nowadays has provided an efficient and cost-effective means of measuring human exposures and biological effects of smoking. To review the utility of biomarkers in reflecting the hazard from cigarette smoking, we comprehensively searched the Cochrane Library, Medline and EMbase from 1966 to May 2010 with the language limit of English. We found that the currently used biomarkers, such as tobacco-specific metabolites, smoking-induced genotoxic products, may not scientifically reflect the hazard from cigarette smoking. More research is needed to find out more effective biomarkers for estimating hazards from cigarette smoking. This paper is expected to help researchers understand the current utilization of biomarkers related to cigarette smoking and to provide suggestive guides to tobacco companies in producing less-toxic cigarettes, thus to provide a safe way to smoke.Smoking, leading to over 438,000 annual deaths in the US and 92 billion US dollars in lost productivity, is an important risk factor for several diseases. Global smoking statistics for 2002 have shown that 80,000 to 100,000 children worldwide start smoking every day. Human biomonitoring nowadays has provided an efficient and cost-effective means of measuring human exposures and biological effects of smoking. To review the utility of biomarkers in reflecting the hazard from cigarette smoking, we comprehensively searched the Cochrane Library, Medline and EMbase from 1966 to May 2010 with the language limit of English. We found that the currently used biomarkers, such as tobacco-specific metabolites, smoking-induced genotoxic products, may not scientifically reflect the hazard from cigarette smoking. More research is needed to find out more effective biomarkers for estimating hazards from cigarette smoking. This paper is expected to help researchers understand the current utilization of biomarkers related to cigarette smoking and to provide suggestive guides to tobacco companies in producing less-toxic cigarettes, thus to provide a safe way to smoke.

Grey superior analysis of relationships between chemical components and aroma property of flue-cured tobacco of Chuanyu area

In order to study the importance of chemical component index among tobacco quality evaluation,the importance of chemical components were evaluated according to the relationship between chemical components and sensory quality by grey superior analysis.The results indicated that a group of chemical component index which has close connection with sensory quality had been found by grey superior analysis and tobacco chemistry analysis.For the flue-cured tobacco from Chuanyu tobacco base in the main tobacco-growing areas in north,9 tobacco quality evaluation indexes were chosen such as protein,pH value,citric acid,oleic acid,hexanoic acid dihydroactinidiolide,mgastigmatrienone D,phenylacetaldehyde and dihydro damascenone suggesting the reduction of tobacco quality evaluation indexes to nine from the original sixty-five.

Determination of Palmitic,Linolenic and Linoleic Acids in Tobacco with NIR Spectroscopy

In order to determine the contents of palmitic,linolenic and linoleic acids in tobacco samples rapidly,the calibration models were established by relating the NIR spectra of 242 tobacco samples to their GC determined acid contents with partial least square method.The effects of the spectrum pre-treatment and the spectral range on the models were investigated,the internal cross validation and precision test,and external predictive validation with 30 other tobacco samples were conducted.The results indicated that:1) the multiplicative scatter calibration and the spectral range of 7502-5442.3 and 4427.9-4246.7 cm-1,first derivative and the spectral range of 7502-5442.3 and 4601.5-4246.7 cm-1,and vector normalization and the spectral range of 8724.7-5438.5 and 4427.9-4246.7 cm-1 were suitable for palmitic,linolenic and linoleic acid models,respectively;2) the mean relative precision of the three models were 98.41%,97.84% and 98.84%,respectively;3) the predictive standard deviations of the established models were all less than 5%,and there was no significant difference between NIR prediction and GC measured values.The NIR models are suitable for rapid determination of palmitic,linolenic and linoleic acids in batches of tobacco samples.