2021
Within the research activity area of Environmental Toxicants Emerging in Daily Life, our team is currently focused on the toxicants of melamine and phthalates. We have concentrated on their effect on risk of kidney disease and immunological disorders and have sought to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these effects. Additionally, we have assessed and continue to assess the risks associated with co-exposure of these two common environmental toxicants in general and susceptible populations, develop acceptable daily intake recommendations, and provide important information to authorities wanting to establish and implement health policies. Over the last few years, RCEM has gained an admirable international reputation in the field of food safety. In the current year, our research teams have published 24 papers related to this field, and among these, 14 papers have been published in high-quality journals (impact factor >5 or ranked in the top 10% in each field). Our achievements include in following: (1) We found the co-exposure of melamine and oxalate accelerates kidney injury via excess oxidative stress, suggesting the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine should be adjusted in different susceptible populations (Ecotoxicol Environ Saf., 2021, 225:112756.). (2) We integrated the risk assessment expertise of Dr. Chu-Chih Chen at National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) to evaluate the melamine exposure threshold in early chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We found that early-stage CKD patients should strictly refrain from using melamine tableware and related melamine-made products (Environ Int., 2021, 156:106652). These research findings were also translated into the health education articles and published on the NHRI website (https://reurl.cc/pxEDEb). (3) We found that co-exposure of the two toxicants, melamine and phthalates, might be associated with markers of early kidney injury in pregnant women (Chemosphere., 2021, 272:129925). (4) We found that dermal DEP level to be significantly associated with a decrease in lung function test values, suggesting asthmatic individuals should avoid environmental exposure to phthalates (Environ Res., 2021, 194:110613).
Within our research activity area of Local and National Environmental Hazards, the RCEM actively utilizes the resources available at Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital, a KMU system hospital KMU, to study the adverse effects of factories in a heavily industrialized area in the southern Kaohsiung. Therefore, our research group along with the community health care system has been able to perform several studies, including intervention studies, to elucidate the special composition of air pollutants around Kaohsiung Industrial Park, study its relationship with community health, and improve our community health care system. In this year, our research teams have published 14 articles in this area, and among these papers, six were published in high-quality journals. With regard to outdoor air pollution issues, our research findings have been incorporated into health education articles and published as educational posters on outpatient bulletin boards at the Siaogang Hospital. In addition, we have worked with local communities to create and promote a learning exchange platform for environmental education. With regard to indoor air pollution issues, our research team designed a novel fumes collector capable of reducing up to seventy-six percent of aldehyde concentrations in cooking oil fumes (COFs) (Environ Res., 2021, 195:110815). This innovation can reduce the hazards of COFs to human health. In addition, we recently coordinated with Prof. Timothy Wiedmann at the Masonic Cancer Center of University of Minnesota to build the simulation chambers for COFs generation for exposure studies. We aim to analyze the composition of COFs and investigate the pathological mechanism of lung damage induced by COFs.
The RCEM actively collaborates with the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota to implement and integrate the specialized analysis platform for DNA adductomics at our center. This unique analysis platform will be used to explore and elucidate the interactions and mechanisms between environment, genes, and diseases. Currently, the RCEM is establishing the preliminary analysis platform for the DNA adducts caused by 2,4-decadienal, a long-chain aldehyde, the main component released in cooking oil fumes (COFs). In addition, one of our postdoctoral researchers, Dr. Yu-Ming Hsu, a member of the adductomic platform team will do research at Prof. Robert Turesky’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota for one year.
2020
Within the area of Environmental Toxicants Emerging in Daily Life, our research team is currently focused on the toxicants, melamine and phthalates. We have concentrated on their effect on risk of kidney disease and immunological disorders and have sought to elucidate the mechanisms underlying these effects. Additionally, we had assessed and continue to assess the risks associated with co-exposure of these two common environmental toxicants in general and susceptible populations develop acceptable daily intake recommendations and provide important information to authorities wanting to establish and implement health policies. Over the last few years, RCEM has gained an admirable international reputation in the field of food safety. In 2020, our melamine research team combined the risk assessment expertise of Dr. Chu-Chih Chen at National Health Research Institutes have published two important articles about the relationship between melamine and kidney injury. In the next two years, RCEM will continue its use of innovative scientific strategies for investigating these toxicants and gradually establish tolerance daily intakes (TDI) for susceptible groups, including early-stage chronic kidney patients. Besides the kidney diseases, we hope that our same research strategy can also be applied to reduce the incidence of allergic diseases in children and set up the recommended TDI as references when forming government health policies.
Within the area of Local and National Environmental Hazards, the RCEM is active to use the resources belonging to Siaogang Hospital, a hospital belonging to the KMU system, to study the adverse effect of factories in a heavy industrial area in Siaogang. Therefore, our research group along with the community health care system has been able to perform several studies, including intervention studies, to make clear the special composition of air pollutants around Kaohsiung Industrial Park, study its relationship with community health and improve in our community health care system. In the past year, we held one forum for which we invited five scholars to give keynote talks related to the air pollution in Kaohsiung Linhai Industrial Park and its impact the health of nearby residents. We published three special communiques on environmental pollution in the Siaogang area and drafted recommendations for the prevention and control of air pollution there. In the next two years, the RCEM will continue conducting research of high-risk groups in heavy industrial areas not only to make recommendations to the industry but also provide the scientific evidence that government agencies can use as references when making policies.
The RCEM is actively cooperating with the Masonic Cancer Center (MCC) at University of Minnesota. We are actively establishing “DNA Adductomics Platform” as well as other platforms at RCEM to explore the interaction of various pollutants and mechanisms underlying environment-gene-disease through academic exchanges between MCC and RCEM. Recently, our research team has established a targeted analytical platform for DNA adducts derived from long-chain aldehydes in cooking oil fumes. Dr. Yu-Ming Hsu, one member in our research team, was awarded a one-year postdoctoral research abroad program in support of his study of the effect of aromatic amines and heterocyclic aromatic amines derived DNA adducts from cooking oil fumes exposure on colorectal cell lines in Dr. Robert Turesky’s lab. In the future, we plan to continue establishing an untargeted analytical platform of DNA adductomics at RCEM and actively pursue academic exchange between our two centers to broaden the global views of our own researchers and promote the center’s academic reputation.
2018~2019
The Center has already established an admirable international reputation in the research field of Food Safety. In 2018, the Center received a Symbol of National Quality (SNQ) award from Taiwan’s Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry in recognition of our multi-disciplinary research team efforts to remediate melamine exposure in both workplace and community. In 2019, the Center received a Food Safety Contribution Award from Taiwan’s Society of Food Safety and Humanity in recognition of our establishment of unique medical services for children affected by the 2011 Taiwan Phthalates-tainted Food Scandal. We will continue to pursue excellence in these areas of research as we seek to protect and improve the health of our society.
The Center published two important research articles in 2019, both reporting the risk of exposure to cooking oil fumes and lung adenocarcinoma. With the use of our scientific evidence-based data, the Ministry of Labor was able to identify the first case of occupation-related lung cancer resulting from long-term exposure to cooking oil fumes in the workplace. In 2019, our first young and talented center-appointed researcher was awarded a two-year Shackleton grant in support of her use of a multidisciplinary approach to studying aldehyde DNA adductome of cooking oil fumes in non-smoking lung adenocarcinoma. Impressed by this achievement, Dr. Robert Turesky, chair professor of the Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota approached our Center’s key research members to join with him in an international cooperation project. In 2019, we jointly received a five-year R01 National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant entitled “DNA adductome of human bladder from the tobacco exposome” from that prestigious institute in the United States. With the assistance of the Masonic Cancer Center, we plan to establish a unique and cutting-edge analytical DNA Adductomics platform at our Center. Concurrently, the Center is continuous to actively participate in academic exchange and research cooperation efforts with the Masonic Cancer Center to strengthen the research and analytical skills of young faculty members, graduate students, and research scientists on both sides of the Pacific.
The Center’s researchers published the first international article in JAMA Psychiatry (2018 Mar 1;75(3):261-269) leading to the inclusion of chronic use of areca nut (betel nut) as a substance use disorder. This article was broadcasted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as “The Science Show” (https://reurl.cc/W4or3k accessed on 19 December 2019) to educate the public on areca nut’s deleterious addictive effect on humans, comparing it with alcohol and nicotine. The Center’s research team continues its investigation of this substance and mechanisms underlying its damage and its addictive effects.
In response to the call of Taiwan government’s “Go South” policy to proactively establish international cooperative relationships with organizations in South Asian countries, the Center is providing research opportunities to scholars from South Asian countries, particularly New Zealand and India. Dr. Stuart McLaren, a senior lecturer from Masey University of New Zealand and recipient of a Taiwan Fellowship scholarship from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as a researcher in the Center for 10 months in 2019 and continues to do so. Here Dr. McLaren conducts his research related to noise hazard to the health and learning abilities of preschool children. The Center also continues to promote academic exchange between organizations and scholars in India, while also advancing Taiwan’s own reputation and credibility internationally.
The Center shares the results and conclusion of its research for the creation of educational brochures and flyers provided to local governments, including Kaohsiung City Bureau of Health and Taipei City Bureau of Environmental Protection. The Center has received acknowledgment for its contributions. Because of their expressed concern for public health in words and deeds, KMU’s undergraduate and graduate students have had the opportunity to work as interns in Kaohsiung City Bureau of Health during the summers of 2018 and 2019. These summer internships bridge the gap between education in university and career in public, cultivating young talent. Because of the appreciation from students from KMU and official staff from local government, we will continue to manage this program.
[/pb_text][/pb_column][/pb_row]
