Air pollution and children's health-a review of adverse effects associated with prenatal exposure from fine to ultrafine particulate matter

BACKGROUND@#Particulate matter (PM), a major component of ambient air pollution, accounts for a substantial burden of diseases and fatality worldwide. Maternal exposure to PM during pregnancy is particularly harmful to children's health since this is a phase of rapid human growth and development.@*METHOD@#In this review, we synthesize the scientific evidence on adverse health outcomes in children following prenatal exposure to the smallest toxic components, fine (PM@*RESULTS@#Maternal exposure to fine and ultrafine PM directly and indirectly yields numerous adverse birth outcomes and impacts on children's respiratory systems, immune status, brain development, and cardiometabolic health. The biological mechanisms underlying adverse effects include direct placental translocation of ultrafine particles, placental and systemic maternal oxidative stress and inflammation elicited by both fine and ultrafine PM, epigenetic changes, and potential endocrine effects that influence long-term health.@*CONCLUSION@#Policies to reduce maternal exposure and health consequences in children should be a high priority. PM

Rheumatoid arthritis treated with acupoint application of:a rando-mized controlled trial / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical efficacy differences on rheumatoid arthritis treated with acupoint application of(preparation ofmedicine), tender point herbal application and leflunomide.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety-six patients were randomized into an acupoint herbal application group, a tender point herbal application group and a leflunomide group, 32 cases in each one. In the acupoint herbal application group,paste was used at Dazhui (GV 14), Mingmen (GV 4), Zusanli (ST 36) and the local points on themeridians around the knee joint. In the tender point herbal application group, the self-preparedmedicine was used at tender points, 4 to 6 h each time, at the interval of 7 days. In the leflunomide group, leflunomide was applied for oral administration, 50 mg on each of the first 3 days, once a day; 20 mg each time 3 days later, once a day. The treatment for 1 month made one session in the three groups, and continuous three sessions of treatment were required. The clinical symptoms, laboratory indices such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), rheumatoid factor (RF) and the total score of symptoms were observed before and after treatment in the patients of three groups. The efficacy was evaluated in the 3 groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate was 87.5% (28/32) in the acupoint herbal application group and was 90.6% (29/32) in the leflunomide group, better than 68.8% (22/32) in the tender point herbal application group (both<0.05). After treatment, the clinical symptoms, laboratory indices and the total score of symptoms were all improved as compared with those before treatment in the three groups (all<0.05). Among the three groups, the results of pain, swelling, tenderness and the total score of symptoms as well as ESR and RF in the acupoint herbal application group and the leflunomide group were all better than those in the tender point herbal application group (<0.05,<0.01). Blister and pruritus occurred in 2 cases in each of the acupoint herbal application group and the tender point herbal application group. Nausea and poor appetites in 2 cases, dizziness and lassitude in 1 case and skin rashes in 1 case occurred in the leflunomide group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The improvements in the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and laboratory indices in the acupoint herbal application ofare better than those in the treatment with tender point herbal application. The efficacy of it is similar to that of leflunomide, without adverse reactions such as nausea, poor appetite, dizziness and lassitude.</p>

The study on relationship between cognitive dysfunction and location of lesion and prognosis in patients with cerebral infarction / 中国基层医药

Objective To study the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and location of lesion and prognosis in patients with cerebral infarction.Methods 120 patients with cerebral infarction in the Second People's Hospital of Yueqing were selected.According the results of the cerebral CT or MRI,the patients were divided into primary group(58 cases)and recurrence group (62 cases).3 -10days after admission,the cognitive impairment was evaluated with the method of simple mental state examination (MMSE)scale.The stroke score of the National Institutes of health(NIHSS)in the United States and ability of daily life activity Barthel index score before the admission and after the discharge were conducted on the patients.And the relationship between different lesion location of primary or recurrent infarction,cognitive disability and prognosis were observed.Results The incidence of cognitive impairment in the ecurrence group was 90.32%,which was obviously higher than 72.41% in the primary group(χ2 =6.419,P =0.011);In the two groups,the proportion of thalamic cortex was the highest,but there was no significant difference between the two groups (χ2 =0.000,P =1.000).The NIHSS and Barthel scores of patients with thalamic infarction were (11.4 ±1.6)points and (27.5 ±3.7)points respectively,both of which were the highest(FNIHSS =47.22, PNIHSS =0.000;FBarthel index =17.77,PBarthel index =0.000);the NIHSS and Barthel indexes in each part of the two groups at discharge were lower than those before the admission (all P 0.05);the NIHSS scores of the primary group and the recurrent group at discharge were (6.3 ±0.5)points and (7.8 ±0.7)points respectively;the Barthel scores were (24.3 ±7.3)points and (30.8 ± 6.8)points respectively.And all of them were lower than those at admission and the improvement degree of the primary group were more significant than those of the recurrence group(tNIHSS =13.43,PNIHSS =0.000;tBarthel index =5.05, PBarthel index =0.000).Conclusion Cognitive impairment after cerebral infarction is associated with lesion,and thalamic infarction is the most prone to perform cognitive disfunction with poor prognosis,and the frontal and temporal lobe are also common parts where targeted prevention is needed.

Multi-band mucosectomy for early esophageal cancer and precancerous lesions / 中华消化内镜杂志

Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of multi-band mucosectomy (MBM) for early esophageal cancer and precancerous lesions.Methods Data of 28 patients with early esophageal cancer or precancerous lesions undergoing MBM were reviewed in regarding of procedure complications and follow-up results.Results A total of 32 lesions were resected successfully by MBM in one session,with mean procedure time of 28.3 minutes.The mean diameter of specimens was 12mm.No residual neoplasm was found at the base of any resected specimens.The post-MBM pathological findings consisted of 2 cases of intramucosal cancer,1 case of submucosal cancer,and 25 cases of moderate-severe dysplasia.No perforation,delayed hemorrhage or subcutaneous emphysema occurred.Intraoperative bleeding occurred in 23 cases,including 3 cases of pulsatile bleeding,which were controlled with metal clip,and 20 cases of minor bleeding which were managed with APC or halted automatically at the end of procedure.Chest pain after the procedure occurred in 5 cases and were relieved soon.The patient with submucosal cancer underwent subsequent surgical resection,with no residual cancer in surgical specimen or lymph node metastasis.Twenty seven other cases were followed up endoscopically for 2-12 months.Esophageal stricture occurred in 2 cases,and were successfully relieved by dilatation with stent or bougienage.No recurrent lesion or metastasis were revealed.Conclusion MBM is a relatively safe and effective endoscopic technique for treatment of early esophageal intramucosal cancer and precancerous lesions,but further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term results.

Effects of nonylphenol exposure via placenta on spatial learning and memory capacity and uitrastructural changes in hippocampus of offspring in rat / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To explore the influence of nonylphenol(NP) on the filial generation rats spatial learning and memory capacity which were exposed to the parent rat during its pregnancy. Methods At the first day of the pregnancy, the rats were divided into four groups, which were orally administered with NP at doses of 0,50, 100 and 200 mg/kg,respectively, on gestational days 9～15. Cognitive function was tested by Morris water maze and step-down test. The ultrastructure of hippocampus tissues were observed by electronic microscope.Result The escape latency extended ((61.14±5.92) s) and erroring time increased ((4.57±1.13)times) in Morris water maze, and step down latency extended ((37.5±6.3)s), step through latency shortened((97.8±11.0)s) and erroring time increased ((3.0±1.4) times) in step down test in the N P 200 mg/kg treated groups (P<0 05). The correspond indexes were separately (35.85±4. 29) s, (2.57±0.97) time, (27.1±3.8) s,(172.0±89.2)s and(0.9±0.7)time in control group. Compared to the control group, there were significant differences in the results of the water maze test and step-down test between NP 200 mg/kg and the control group (P <005). The changes of the uhrastructure were found among the hippocampus neurons of NP 200 mg/kg group that characterized with chromatin condensed,clumped in circa-nuclei and mitochondrial tumefaction and vacuolization.Conclusion Exposures to NP during gestation might decreased abilities of spatial learning and memory capacity on F1 rats significantly.