Identifying susceptible exposure windows for ambient nitrogen dioxide before and during pregnancy and increased risks of small/large for gestational age / 环境与职业医学

Background Exposure to ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) could increase the risks of small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA). Nevertheless, previous published studies usually use a time period over relatively long durations as the exposure window, such as trimester-specific or gestational months, to identify adverse pregnancy outcomes related susceptible exposure windows for ambient air pollution. At present, no study has explored associations of weekly-specific ambient air NO2 exposure around pregnancy with SGA and LGA. Objective To evaluate the associations of exposure to ambient NO2 over the preconception and entire pregnancy period with risks of SGA and LGA, as well as to explore critical windows of NO2 exposure by refining exposure period to specific weeks. Methods Based on a birth cohort established by the project Environmental and LifEstyle FActors iN metabolic health throughout life-course Trajectories (ELEFANT) situated in Tianjin, 10 916 singleton pregnant women whose dates of the last menstrual period and delivery were both between June 2014 and June 2016, and whose gestational age were within 24-42 completed gestational weeks were included in this study. Each pregnant woman's exposures to ambient NO2 throughout 12 weeks before pregnancy and pregnancy period were matched with daily average NO2 concentrations obtained from the Chinese air quality reanalysis datasets (CAQRA). Distributed lag models incorporated in Cox proportional hazard regression models were applied to explore the associations of maternal exposure to weekly ambient NO2 throughout 12 weeks before pregnancy and pregnancy period with risks of SGA and LGA after controlling for potential confounders including maternal age, ethnicity, educational level, occupation, body mass index before pregnancy, residence, times of gravidity and parity, smoking, alcohol consumption, husband smoking, and season of conception. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated per 3 μg·m−3 increase in ambient NO2 concentrations. Results The average levels of maternal exposure to NO2 over the preconception, first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and entire pregnancy periods were (39.6±10.8), (42.7±10.5), (44.8±12.7), (37.7±11.1), and (41.6±4.8) μg·m−3, respectively. For a 3 μg·m−3 increase in NO2 over the first trimester, the risk of SGA increased by 19.0% (95%CI: 8.0%-32.0%). For a 3 μg·m−3 increase in NO2 over the preconception, first trimester, and entire pregnancy, the associated risks of LGA increased by 7.0% (95%CI: 1.0%-13.0%), 37.0% (95%CI: 29.0%-46.0%) and 19.0% (95%CI: 9.0%-31.0%), respectively. For SGA, the susceptible exposure windows for NO2 were observed during the 7th to 12th preconceptional weeks and the 6th to 12th gestational weeks, with the strongest association found at the 12th preconceptional week, when the risk of SGA increased by 6.0% (95%CI:3.2%-8.9%) for a 3 μg·m−3 increase in NO2. For LGA, the susceptible exposure windows for NO2 were observed during the 1st to 12th preconceptional weeks and the 1st to 6th gestational weeks, with the strongest association found at the 12th preconceptional week, when the risk of LGA increased by 6.1% (95%CI: 4.5%-7.8%) for a 3 μg·m−3 increase in NO2. Conclusion Exposure to ambient NO2 is associated with increased risks of both SGA and LGA, and the most susceptible weekly exposure windows are nested within the 12 weeks before pregnancy and early pregnancy.

The effect and safety of monoclonal antibodies to calcitonin gene-related peptide and its receptor on migraine: a systematic review and meta-analysis / 中华神经科杂志

Objective:To evaluate the effect and safety of monoclonal antibodies to calcitonin gene-related peptide and its receptor (CGRP-mAbs) on migraine.Methods:Database of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, CNKI, Wangfang digital journals were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CGRP-mAbs in treatment of migraine. Quality of enrolled literature was assessed by the software of Review Manager 5.3 and software of StataMP14 was employed to conduct meta analysis.Results:A total of 13 RCTs were included, including 6 218 adult migraine patients (experimental group: 2 679 patients, placebo group: 3 539 patients). Meta analysis suggested that CGRP-mAbs for preventive treatment of migraine significantly reduced the monthly migraine days from baseline (standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.35, 95% CI-0.4--0.3) and monthly acute migraine-specific medication consumption from baseline (SMD=-0.38, 95% CI-0.43--0.32), as compared with placebo group. CGRP-mAbs for preventive treatment of migraine significantly increased the ≥50% reduction from baseline in migraine days per month ( RR=1.65, 95% CI 1.54-1.76). The adverse events were similar between the CGRP-mAbs group and placebo group ( RR=1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.10). Conclusion:CGRP-mAbs are effective and safe for preventive treatment of migraine.

Research progress on electroencephalogram characteristics of anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis / 浙江大学学报·医学版

Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis is a kind of autoimmune disease aiming at NR1 subunit of NMDA receptor. In the early stage, functional damage is the main cause. Electroencephalogram (EEG) can reflect the abnormal brain function by recording the changes of EEG signals. The common EEG patterns of anti NMDA receptor encephalitis are slow wave abnormality, epileptic discharge, a large number of β activity, extreme delta brush, etc. Here we review the waveform characteristics, origin, pathogenesis and clinical value of EEG in patients with NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Combinational expression of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase and taxadiene synthase in Coprinopsis cinerea / 生物工程学报

Taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene is the precursor for paclitaxel biosynthesis. The diterpenoid paclitaxel (marketed as Taxol), a plant secondary metabolite isolated from yew, is an effective drug widely used in the treatment of numerous cancers. However, further application of taxol has been restricted due to its low yield in plants and the difficulties in extraction. To increase the intact isoprene flux, we constructed the fusion gene plasmid pBgGGTS and individual cassette plasmid pBgGGgTS to enhance the expression levels of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase gene (ggpps) and a taxadiene synthase gene (ts) in Coprinopsis cinerea. These two plasmids were separately transformed into C. cinerea LT2 strain, resulting in several putative transformants. Putative transformants were determined by PCR technique, indicating that 5 out of 13 putative transformants transformed by pBgGGTS and 6 out of 13 putative transformants transformed by pBgGGgTS, respectively. Additionally, the Southern blotting analysis of these 10 transformants confirmed that both ggpps and ts gene were stably integrated into the genome of C. cinerea. Crude extracts from each of the transformants were analyzed. There is no difference in the mycelium extracts among the wild-type LT2 and two types of transformants. However, analysis of culture filtrates indicated that an additional GC peak was found at the retention time of 16.762 min which was absent in the wild type control. The mass fragmentation pattern of this peak had the same diagnostic ions with taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene. According to peak area, the amounts of taxa-4(5),11(12)-diene in each fermented broth were 44 ng/L (transformed with pBgGGgTS) and 30 ng/L (transformed with pBgGGTS), respectively. In conclusion, co-expression of the ggpps and ts gene could increase the taxadiene production in C. cinerea.

Preliminary study of rare-earth elements on the growth of Ganodema lucidum / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE：Rare-earth compound was added to the medium of Ganoderma lucidum to study the effect of rare-earth elements on the hypha growth,the fresh and dry weight of fruit body of G.lucidum.METHODS:The culture medium dressed with rare-earth elements.RESULTS:It showed that all concentrations of rare-earth elements had some inhibition on the hypha growth of G.lucidum.However they could make the hypha of G.lucidumwhiter.The fresh and dry weight of fruit body increased significantly when the concentrations of rare-earth elements were 100μg.g-1 and 150μg.g-1.Their raising rates were +4.13%，+0.20% and +16.47，+5.84%respectively.CONCLUSION:The yield of G.lucidum can be increased by rare-earth elements when its concentrations were 100～150μg.g-1.