Kerri Smith

2 months ago | nature.com | Ling Wang |Elizabeth Wasilevich |Jennifer Gray |Kerri Smith |Jordan M. Bailey |Taylor S. Noyes | +4 more

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may disrupt thyroid hormones although the literature shows mixed evidence of this effect and exposure to mixtures of PFAS remains poorly understood. We used the Michigan PFAS Exposure and Health Study cohort to examine linear and nonlinear associations between serum PFAS concentrations, both alone and as a mixture, and serum thyroid hormone concentrations. Study participants included 728 adolescents and adults living in an area with past PFAS contamination of drinking water. We quantified 39 individual PFAS and four thyroid hormones in serum from participants between the years 2020 and 2021. Linear regression, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, supervised Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression (BKMR) were used. When analyzed individually, a 1% increase in PFUnA serum concentrations was associated with a 0.023% decrease in TT3 concentration (95% CI: -0.04%, -0.01%, p < 0.05). All three mixture analyses consistently indicated an inverse relationship between PFAS mixtures and TT3 concentrations: (1) a one standard deviation increase in the WQS of the PFAS mixture was associated with a 2.0% decrease in TT3 concentration (95% CI= -4%, 0%, p < 0.05) adjusting for covariates, (2) using PCA, one standard deviation increase in a PFAS mixture was associated with a 1.2% decrease in TT3 (95% CI: -2.1%, -0.4%), and (3) BKMR similarly suggested a negative association between the PFAS mixture and TT3. We observed cross-sectional associations between a mixture of serum PFAS concentrations and thyroid hormone dysregulation, largely manifesting as decreased TT3 serum concentrations.

Mar 25, 2025 | biorxiv.org | John Lees |Stina Berglund |Kerri Smith |Betul Bicici

AbstractAdverse conditions within the embryonic environment can alter embryogenesis, programming systemic physiological changes that may manifest as disease states in adult life. The process of developmental programming represents an important factor underlying cardiometabolic diseases, many of which are leading causes of death globally.

Oct 11, 2024 | nature.com | Emily Bates |Kerri Smith

Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print)

Oct 6, 2024 | spektrum.de | Kerri Smith

Hintergrund Lesedauer ca. 12 Minuten DruckenTeilen Physiologie: Die Entschlüsselung des GeruchssinnsUnser Geruchssinn reagiert auf etwa eine Billion verschiedene molekulare Verbindungen. Dahinter steht eine hochkomplexe molekulare Maschinerie, die Wissenschaftler jetzt nach und nach aufklären. Exklusive Übersetzung ausDer Duft im Labor war neu. Und er erwies sich als überaus hartnäckig: Mehr als eine Woche lang haftete das Aroma an dem Papier, auf das es getupft worden war.

Sep 3, 2024 | nature.com | Kerri Smith

The smell in the laboratory was new. It was, in the language of the business, tenacious: for more than a week, the odour clung to the paper on which it had been blotted. To researcher Alex Wiltschko, it was the smell of summertime in Texas: watermelon, but more precisely, the boundary where the red flesh transitions into white rind. “It was a molecule that nobody had ever seen before,” says Wiltschko, who runs a company called Osmo, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.