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Query: UMLS:C0240066 (iron deficiency)
 7,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Although past national public health efforts have reduced lead exposure significantly, lead poisoning remains the most common environmental health problem affecting American children. Currently, lead exposure occurs predominantly through ingestion of lead-contaminated household dust and soil in older housing containing lead-based paint; exposure can be increased with housing deterioration or renovation. Environmental prevention efforts focus on improvement in risk assessment, development of housing-based standards for lead-based paint hazards, and safe and cost-effective lead hazard remediation techniques. Educational efforts address parental awareness of lead exposure pathways, hygiene, and housekeeping measures to prevent ingestion of dust and soil. Blood lead screening is recommended either universally at ages 1 and 2 years or in a targeted manner where local health departments can document a low prevalence of elevated blood lead levels. Nutritional interventions involve provision of regular meals containing adequate amounts of calcium and iron and supplementation for iron deficiency. Lead chelation should complement environmental, nutritional, and educational interventions, when indicated. Collaboration of multiple federal agencies in a new strategy to eliminate childhood lead poisoning should further prevention efforts.
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PMID:Prevention of childhood lead poisoning. 1102 6

Iron ranks fourth in the sequence of abundance of the elements in the Earth's crust, but its low bio-availability often limits plant growth. When present in suboptimal amounts, the acquisition of iron by plants is aided by a suite of responses, comprising molecular and developmental changes that facilitate the uptake of iron from sparingly soluble pools. The expression of genes involved in the mobilization of iron (CsHA1), the reduction of ferric chelates (CsFRO1), and in the uptake of ferrous iron (CsIRT1) was investigated in epidermal cells of Fe-sufficient and Fe-deficient cucumber (Cucumis sativum L.) roots using the Laser Microdissection and Pressure Catapulting (LMPC) method. Growing plants hydroponically in media deprived of iron induced the differentiation of almost all epidermal cells into root hairs. No root hairs were formed under iron-replete conditions. The formation of root hairs in response to Fe starvation was associated with a dramatic increase in message levels of CsFRO1, CsIRT1, and the iron-inducible H(+)-ATPase isoform CsHA1, when compared to epidermal cells of Fe-sufficient plants. On the contrary, transcripts of a housekeeping ATPase isoform, CsHA2, were not detected in root hairs, suggesting that Fe-deficiency-induced acidification is predominantly mediated by CsHA1. These data show that the formation of root hairs in response to iron deficiency is associated with cell-specific accumulation of transcripts that are involved in iron acquisition. The results also show that this includes the differential regulation of ATPase isoforms with similar function, but supposedly different characteristics, to counteract the imbalance in nutrient supply efficiently.
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PMID:Laser microdissection-assisted analysis of the functional fate of iron deficiency-induced root hairs in cucumber. 1831 19

Iron deficiency currently affects over two billion people worldwide despite significant advances in technology and society aimed at mitigating this global health problem. Biofortification of food staples with iron (Fe) represents a sustainable approach for alleviating human Fe deficiency in developing countries, however, biofortification efforts have focused extensively on cereal staples while pulses have been largely overlooked. In this study we describe a genetic engineering (GE) approach to biofortify the pulse crop, chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), with Fe using a combination of the chickpea nicotianamine synthase 2 (CaNAS2) and soybean (Glycine max) ferritin (GmFER) genes which function in Fe transport and storage, respectively. This study consists of three main components: (1) the establishment for baseline Fe concentration of existing germplam, (2) the isolation and study of expression pattern of the novel CaNAS2 gene, and (3) the generation of GE chickpea overexpressing the CaNAS2 and GmFER genes. Seed of six commercial chickpea cultivars was collected from four different field locations in Australia and assessed for seed Fe concentration. The results revealed little difference between the cultivars assessed, and that chickpea seed Fe was negatively affected where soil Fe bioavailability is low. The desi cultivar HatTrick was then selected for further study. From it, the CaNAS2 gene was cloned and its expression in different tissues examined. The gene was found to be expressed in multiple vegetative tissues under Fe-sufficient conditions, suggesting that it may play a housekeeping role in systemic translocation of Fe. Two GE chickpea events were then generated and the overexpression of the CaNAS2 and GmFER transgenes confirmed. Analysis of nicotianamine (NA) and Fe levels in the GE seeds revealed that NA was nearly doubled compared to the null control while Fe concentration was not changed. Increased NA content in chickpea seed is likely to translate into increased Fe bioavailability and may thus overcome the effect of the bioavailability inhibitors found in pulses; however, further study is required to confirm this. This is the first known example of GE Fe biofortified chickpea; information gleaned from this study can feed into future pulse biofortification work to help alleviate global Fe deficiency.
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PMID:Investigation of Baseline Iron Levels in Australian Chickpea and Evaluation of a Transgenic Biofortification Approach. 2996 65