User:Navessss/Epigenetic effects of smoking

Effects of Paternal Smoking
A group of studies have shown that maternal smoking during pregnancy causes placental hypomethylation, which also correlated with increased expression of CYP1A1, a gene implicated in xenobiotic metabolism. On the other hand, smoking during pregancy causes hypermethylation of the BDNF gene, which results in underexpression of this important trophic factor and in behavioral alterations in offspring. The epigenetic alterations brought by smoking are more pronounced in male offspring. This holds true more generally, as there's evidence to suggest that males exhibit stronger phenotypic responses and risks in response to environmental influences. Maternal smoking also increases the risk of respiratory ailments, such as asthma and allergies, in offspring.

Paternal smoking can also have epigenetic effects on offspring. Hypermethylation brought by smoking may contribute to male sterility.

(In response to the feedback from Week 4, this is my second topic. I put it on another sandbox because I thought that's what I needed to do. This platform is spectacularly non-intuitive)

Exercise and Pain
Both acute and chronic exercise can cause epigenetic alterations. In rats, a single exercise session reduces the rate of histone deacetylation in a manner similar to histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors. Since HDAC activity is positively correlated with neuronal excitability, this evidence may partly explain the hypoalgesic effects of exercise. However, exercise may actually contribute to chronic pain in some instances. It is well knwon that exercise upregulates the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which enhances some aspects of brain function and the stress response. However, it has been found that people with fibromyalgia show higher levels of expression of BDNF. Indeed, exercise can worsen chronic pain in some patients.

Summary of review article regarding smoking:

The study sought to review the current literature regarding epigenetic changes induced by common cigarette smoke, as these may hold clinical significance in the detection and treatment of illness caused by exposure to tobacco smoke. They found 80 studies that suggested that smoking caused changes in the rates of histone modifications and other mechanisms related to epigenetic mechanisms.These studies tended to find that the genes AHRR, F2RL3, DAPK, and p16 were particularly affected by cigarette smoke. Furthermore, these studies found that miRNAs such as miR16, miR21, miR146, and miR222 acted as biomarkers for an increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is for out-of-utero individuals. 22 of the studies highlighted heritable effects of smoking. The results are summarized in my first draft on this sandbox.

Summary of review article regarding exercise:

There's a plethora of research showing that stress during early life, inflammation, and physical activity can change patterns of gene expression. Gene expression patterns can be measured by measuring methylation and microRNAs, which can serve as biomarkers. Studies have shown that exercise is greatly beneficial to the quality of life of most people, and these benefits arise, at least in part, from epigenetic alterations brought by strenous physical activity. The epigenetic changes caused by exercise can, however, have negative effects on particular groups of people due to the same epigenetic mechanisms that make it beneficial in most others.

'''There already exists a similar article see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetic_effects_of_smoking. You need to read this article and redo your proposal to be a substantial improvement to this article. Does the current article discuss your topic?'''

'''Update this page with details on how you can improve this article -- it is not a given that you can. You need to find new information. You probably can because the last material change to the article was 2018 I think. Look at the article and find where else it could be improved. I think that you need to add a little more to make this viable.'''

Also, you were supposed to propose two topics.

'''Update this page to include a second proposed topic and add a link to the citaiton. -- Dr. Atkinson'''