National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Residential proximity to intensive animal agriculture associates with increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in homes

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a global public health threat, affects rural communities disproportionately due to their unique regional exposures, including proximity to animal feeding operations (AFOs), a source of AMR genes. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated residential prox...

History of miscarriage and type 2 diabetes

Abstract We examined a history-based measure of miscarriage propensity in relation to the future occurrence of miscarriage, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and type 2 diabetes. For each of 42,313 gravid Sister Study participants, we estimated propensity for miscarriage, acco...

Structure-based identification and biological evaluation of a novel MAPKAPK2 inhibitor for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer remains a lethal malignancy with few effective treatment options. MAPKAPK2, a downstream effector of p38 signaling, represents a potential target for disrupting tumor survival pathways. Structure-guided computational screening has become an important strategy fo...

Germline Genomic and DNA Methylation Differences Between MGUS and Multiple Myeloma Among Patients of African Ancestry

Individuals of African ancestry (AA) have approximately twofold higher risk of multiple myeloma (MM) than individuals of European ancestry, yet the molecular determinants between monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and MM remain poorly defined. We performed...

End processing in NHEJ by Polymerase λ and PNKP is coordinated during short-range synapsis

Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a major pathway of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair, capable of directly joining both damaged strands of DNA through the coordinated activities of repair factors that detect the termini, physically bridge them together, and perform the che...

Assessing drug-induced liver injury liabilities in human and animal hepatocytes under static and perfused spheroid culture conditions

Abstract Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) remains a major challenge in drug development, highlighting the need for reliable in vitro tools to assess hepatotoxicity and improve translation from animal to human studies. Models using hepatocytes from preclinical species are also nee...

Patterns of sleep duration, quality, and midpoint across pregnancy in a longitudinal cohort study

Abstract Background Sleep health is a critical component of maternal well-being, and poor sleep during pregnancy is associated with adverse maternal-fetal and cardiometabolic outcomes. Although sleep across pregnancy has been examined in several longitudinal studies, fewer studie...

ToxCompl Completion of the DrugMatrix Toxicogenomics Database: An Integrated Resource for Toxicological Hypothesis Generation

The DrugMatrix database contains systematically generated toxicogenomics data from short-term in vivo studies for over 600 chemicals. However, most potential endpoints are missing due to a lack of experimental measurements. Therefore, we leveraged matrix factorization and machine...

Ambient air pollution and subtype-specific breast cancer risk by race and rurality: findings from a population-based study

Abstract Background Air pollution is the leading environmental risk factor in the U.S. for premature morbidity and mortality and disproportionately impacts marginalized populations. Although the causal link between air pollution and lung cancer is well established, its impact on...

Environmental exposures and risks for the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and its phenotypes: a narrative review

Purpose of review The delineation of myositis-specific autoantibody (MSA) subgroups over the past two decades has reframed environmental research in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs), making it plausible to examine discrete exposure-phenotype pairings within serologically...

Deficiency of ROR$${\rm{\gamma }}$$t promotes inflammation and compromises bacterial clearance in a mouse model of cystic fibrosis-like lung disease

Cystic fibrosis (CF) leads to dehydration of the airway surface liquid layer, resulting in hyperconcentrated mucus, airway obstruction, chronic lung inflammation, bronchiectasis, alveolar space enlargement, compromised mucociliary clearance, and increased susceptibility to bacter...

A proposed evaluation of new approach methodologies for dermal toxicity assessment of botanicals

Background Botanicals are widely used in topical formulations for cosmetics, hair care, and personal care products, reflecting consumer interest in plant-derived materials. Their complex and variable composition, presents challenges for traditional toxicological approaches develo...