Lygia Therese Budnik

Author(s): Portier, Christopher J; Armstrong, Bruce K; Baguley, Bruce C; Baur, Xaver; Belyaev, Igor; Bellé, Robert; Belpoggi, Fiorella; Biggeri, Annibale; Bosland, Maarten C; Bruzzi, Paolo; Budnik, Lygia Therese; Bugge, Merete D; Burns, Kathleen; Calaf, Gloria M; Carpenter, David O; Carpenter, Hillary M; López-Carrillo, Lizbeth; Clapp, Richard; Cocco, Pierluigi; Consonni, Dario; Comba, Pietro; Craft, Elena; Dalvie, Mohamed Aqiel; Davis, Devra; Demers, Paul A; De Roos, Anneclaire J; DeWitt, Jamie; Forastiere, Francesco; Freedman, Jonathan H; Fritschi, Lin; Gaus, Caroline; Gohlke, Julia M; Goldberg, Marcel; Greiser, Eberhard; Hansen, Johnni; Hardell, Lennart; Hauptmann, Michael; Huang, Wei; Huff, James; James, Margaret O; Jameson, CW; Kortenkamp, Andreas; Kopp-Schneider, Annette; Kromhout, Hans; Larramendy, Marcelo L; Landrigan, Philip J; Lash, Lawrence H; Leszczynski, Dariusz; Lynch, Charles F; Magnani, Corrado; Mandrioli, Daniele; Martin, Francis L; Merler, Enzo; Michelozzi, Paola; Miligi, Lucia; Miller, Anthony B; Mirabelli, Dario; Mirer, Franklin E; Naidoo, Saloshni; Perry, Melissa J; Petronio, Maria Grazia; Pirastu, Roberta; Portier, Ralph J; Ramos, Kenneth S; Robertson, Larry W; Rodriguez, Theresa; Röösli, Martin; Ross, Matt K; Roy, Deodutta; Rusyn, Ivan; Saldiva, Paulo; Sass, Jennifer; Savolainen, Kai; Scheepers, Paul TJ; Sergi, Consolato; Silbergeld, Ellen K; Smith, Martyn T; Stewart, Bernard W; Sutton, Patrice; Tateo, Fabio; Terracini, Benedetto; Thielmann, Heinz W; Thomas, David B; Vainio, Harri; Vena, John E

Recycling of electric and electronic waste products (e-waste) which amounted to more than 50 million metric tonnes per year worldwide is a massive and global operation. Unfortunately, an estimated 70-80% of this waste has not been properly managed because the waste went from developed to low-income countries to be dumped into landfills or informally recycled. Such recycling has been carried out either directly on landfill sites or in small, often family-run recycling shops without much regulations or oversights. The process traditionally involved manual dismantling, cleaning with hazardous solvents, burning and melting on open fires, etc., which would generate a variety of toxic substances and exposure/hazards to applicators, family members, proximate residents and the environment. The situation clearly calls for global responsibility to reduce the impact on human health and the environment, especially in developing countries where poor residents have been shouldering the hazardous burden. On the other hand, formal e-waste recycling has been mainly conducted in small scales in industrialized countries. Whether the latter process would impose less risk to populations and environment has not been determined yet. Therefore, the main objectives of this review are: 1. to address current trends and emerging threats of not only informal but also formal e-waste management practices, and 2. to propose adequate measures and interventions. A major recommendation is to conduct independent surveillance of compliance with e-waste trading and processing according to the Basel Ban Amendment. The recycling industry needs to be carefully evaluated by joint effort from international agencies, producing industries and other stakeholders to develop better processes. Subsequent transition to more sustainable and equitable e-waste management solutions should result in more effective use of natural resources, and in prevention of adverse effects on health and the environment.

The tumor promoter, phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), is known to modulate the response of several steroidogenic tissues presumably by activating a Ca++- and phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C). The presence of this kinase has been demonstrated in bovine corpus luteum, although its role in steroidogenesis by these cells is unknown. We report here the effects of PMA on progesterone production by the enzymically dispersed bovine luteal cells in vitro. PMA (1-50 nM) produced a dose- and time-related increase in progesterone production by the luteal cells. The maximum stimulation was achieved with 10 nM PMA. Higher concentrations of PMA led to a decline of steroidogenesis close to the basal level. A nonpromoting derivative, 4 alpha-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate had no effect. The PMA-induced stimulation of progesterone production was not associated with a change in the cAMP level. PMA added together with suboptimal doses of human CG, 8Br-cAMP, cholera toxin, or forskolin significantly increased the amount of progesterone produced. PMA as well as human CG-induced steroidogenesis was sensitive to cycloheximide inhibition. The conversion of exogenous pregnenolone or 25-hydroxycholesterol to progesterone was not altered by PMA. We conclude that PMA at nanomolar concentrations is able to stimulate progesterone production by bovine luteal cells and that the site of action of PMA is distal to the formation of cAMP but before the formation of pregnenolone. The observed effects of PMA in luteal cells are probably linked to its ability to activate protein kinase C, since a diacylglycerol could mimic the steroidogenic action of PMA.