Disease relevance of uranium

• Uranium mining and lung cancer in Navajo men [1].
• Uranium bioaccumulation by a Citrobacter sp. as a result of enzymically mediated growth of polycrystalline HUO2PO4 [2].
• An increased risk of NMSC has been observed among uranium miners, radiologists, and individuals treated with x rays in childhood for tinea capitis (ringworm of the scalp) or for thymic enlargement; NMSC is one of the cancers most strongly associated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki [3].
• Toxicity of depleted uranium [4].
• The structure of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (MAT, ATP:L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase, EC 2.5.1.6.) from Escherichia coli has been determined at 3.0 A resolution by multiple isomorphous replacement using a uranium derivative and the selenomethionine form of the enzyme (SeMAT) [5].

Psychiatry related information on uranium

• Wartime exposures implicated as possible causes of subsequent symptoms include oil well fire smoke, infectious diseases, vaccines, chemical and biological warfare agents, depleted uranium munitions and post-traumatic stress disorder [6].
• The main effects of uranium on the sleep-wake cycle were an increase in rapid eye movement sleep (REM-sleep) and theta band power during the light period, as early as Day 30 after exposure commenced [7].
• METHODS: The titer of 16/6 Id was determined by ELISA in sera of uranium miners exposed to heavy quartz dust: 15 developed definite and 12 probable SLE, 34 had clinical symptoms, and 27 had only serological signs (medium to high titer anti-dsDNA antibodies) of possible connective tissue disease (CTD) development [8].
• Glomerular function was significantly better among the uranium workers than among the referents, though this may have been the result of differences in the physical activity of the groups during the collection period [9].
• Hazard visibility and occupational health problem solving the case of the uranium industry [10].

High impact information on uranium

• Lung cancer mortality among nonsmoking uranium miners exposed to radon daughters [11].
• To estimate the risk of lung cancer mortality among nonsmokers exposed to varying levels of radon daughters, 516 white men who never smoked cigarettes, pipes, or cigars were selected from the US Public Health Service cohort of Colorado Plateau uranium miners and followed up from 1950 through 1984 [11].
• Screening for putative radon-specific p53 mutation hotspot in German uranium miners [12].
• This genome sequence represents a substantial step toward the elucidation of pathways for reduction (and bioremediation) of pollutants such as uranium and chromium and offers a new starting point for defining this organism's complex anaerobic respiration [13].
• Mycelia of industrially steroid-transforming fungi Rhizopus and Absidia are excellent biosorbents for lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, and uranium, binding also other heavy metals up to 25% of the biomass dry weight [14].

Chemical compound and disease context of uranium

• The hazard ratio of stomach cancer was 0.68 for radon (95% CI 0.29-1.59 at 100 Bq/l water), 0.69 per Bq/1 for radium-226 (95% CI 0.33-1.47) and 0.76 per Bq/1 for uranium (95% CI 0.48-1.21) [15].
• The use of lead nitrate in place of uranium nitrate in the Dieterle method for staining Legionnaires' disease organisms is proposed [16].
• Citrate Does Not Change Uranium Chemical Speciation in Cell Culture Medium but Increases Its Toxicity and Accumulation in NRK-52E Cells [17].
• The results suggest that, if in situ bioremediation were attempted in the uranium mine ponds, Desulfosporosinus spp. would be a major contributor to U(VI) and sulfate reduction and Clostridium spp. to U(VI) reduction [18].
• OppA from Salmonella typhimurium has been cloned and expressed in E. coli and the protein cocrystallized with uranyl acetate, producing two distinct crystal forms with different uranium sites [19].

Biological context of uranium

• Mutations of p53 and ras genes in radon-associated lung cancer from uranium miners [20].
• To investigate the mutational spectrum associated with exposure to high levels of radon, we sequenced exons 5-9 of the p53 tumour suppressor gene and codons 12-13 of the Ki-ras protooncogene in 19 lung cancers from uranium miners exposed to radon and tobacco smoke [20].
• In contrast, exposure to radon through uranium mining did not affect the prevalence for methylation [21].
• This review focuses on the chemistry, pharmacokinetics, and toxicological effects of depleted and natural uranium on several systems in the mammalian body [22].
• These individuals include those exposed to radiation resulting from nuclear accidents, the use of depleted uranium missiles, and astronauts undertaking space travel [23].

Anatomical context of uranium

• Epidemiologic evidence indicates that in addition to tobacco use other factors are causally related to the development of cancers of the oral cavity, lung and esophagus and that these factors (e.g., radon exposure in uranium miners who smoke) can act synergistically [24].
• In thin sections of resting lymphocytes selectively stained for DNA, the extended non-nucleosomal chromatin was located in a solitary, large agglomerate which corresponds to the solitary, large fibrillar centre observed in uranium-lead-stained sections [25].
• In vitro dissolution of uranium oxide by baboon alveolar macrophages [26].
• The results of in vitro chemical and cellular tests were compared, with four main conclusions: a good reproducibility of the three tests in Eagle's basal medium the effect of hydration state on solubility, the classification of UO3 in terms of ICRP solubility criteria, and the ability of macrophages to decrease uranium solubility in medium [27].
• The aim of this work was to assess the influence of uranium speciation on its absorption from the gastrointestinal tract by using both computer speciation modeling and direct measurement of the fractional absorption in vivo in rats after ingestion of five different samples of contaminated water [28].

Associations of uranium with other chemical compounds

• Lung cancer mortality (1950-80) in relation to radon daughter exposure in a cohort of workers at the Eldorado Port Radium uranium mine: possible modification of risk by exposure rate [29].
• Nuclear bodies about 250 nm in diameter, and with a strong affinity for uranium and acriflavine, appear in the nuclei of maturing egg cells of Pteridium [30].
• Chelating agents used for plutonium and uranium removal in radiation emergency medicine [31].
• Several French mineral waters have been studied and the results compared with determinations of uranium and thorium concentrations by ICPMS and time-resolved laser induced fluorescence (TRLIF) [32].
• The samples differed with respect to nitrate, uranium, heavy metals, organic carbon content, pH and dissolved oxygen levels [33].

Gene context of uranium

• The prevalence of methylation of the p16, DAPK and RASSF1A genes was investigated in lung adenocarcinoma from smokers, former uranium miners and never smokers [34].
• In vivo effects of chronic contamination with depleted uranium on CYP3A and associated nuclear receptors PXR and CAR in the rat [35].
• Adenocarcinomas from 157 smokers, 46 never smokers and 34 former uranium miners were evaluated for methylation of the p16, DAPK and RASSF1A genes using the methylation-specific PCR assay [34].
• The use of pharmacological inhibitors suggested that both p38 MAPK and protein kinase C (PKC) participate in the signal transduction of uranium-induced TNFalpha secretion [36].
• Uranium induces TNF alpha secretion and MAPK activation in a rat alveolar macrophage cell line [36].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of uranium

• We performed a population-based case-control study to examine the association between uranium mining and lung cancer in Navajo men, a predominantly nonsmoking population [1].
• A cohort study of 8,487 workers employed between 1948 and 1980 at a uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada, has been conducted [37].
• At domestic exposure levels, the relevant bronchial cells are very rarely traversed by more than one alpha particle, whereas at higher radon levels-at which epidemiological studies in uranium miners allow lung-cancer risks to be quantified with reasonable precision-these bronchial cells are frequently exposed to multiple alpha-particle traversals [38].
• Uranium-loaded apoferritin with antibodies attached: molecular design for uranium neutron-capture therapy [39].
• This hypothesis was tested by conducting a cross-sectional study of 70 former uranium miners from the Uranium Epidemiological Study cohort who were at high risk for lung cancer [40].

References