Seminar Critique

The topic of discussion for the seminar was Tobacco smoking during pregnancy and Biomarkers of exposure and relationship to genetics. The speaker was Steven R. Myers, Ph. D, an associate professor of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Louisville, School of Medicine. He talked about the different chemicals found in cigarette and how these chemicals can be traced to see if they affected the mother and the baby by the use of biomarkers.

A biomarker is a molecular, biochemical, or cellular alterations that are measurable in biological media, such as human tissues, cells, or fluids. For a biomarker to be useful as a monitoring tool, the following criteria has to be met which are specificity, sensitivity and practicality. Biomarkers are needed because there are 4000 chemicals that are generated during burning and smoking of tobacco. These chemicals are the leading cause of avoidable cancer deaths in the US and the world.

To monitor the effect of smoking during pregnancy, amniotic fluid was used as a biomarker during the first trimester of pregnancy and hemoglobin as a biomarker of carcinogen and tobacco exposure.

From the research they further proved that if an expectant mother smokes during her pregnancy, certain risk factors are increased. These factors include:
- miscarriages
- stillborn babies
- premature birth
- low birth-weight babies
- placenta previa
- placental abruption
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Because of these complications many babies are born with low IQ levels by 25-30% and with learning difficulties as a child. A reported 2,000,000 ear infections and 530,000 doctor visits for asthma are reported on a yearly basis.

People who consume tobacco may develop illnesses such as:
- cancer
- cardiovascular disease
- cerebrovascular diseases
- respiratory diseases and
- pediatric diseases.

 One of the compounds found in cigarette smoke is 4-aminobiphenol which has the structure shown below.