Associations between exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and estimated glomerular filtration rate in population without kidney disease / 环境与职业医学

Background Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are classified as persistent organic pollutants and have been widely detected in human. Studies investigating the associations between PFASs exposure and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) yielded inconsistent results, and little is known about the effects of PFASs on eGFR in population without kidney disease. Objective To explore the associations of exposure to PFASs with eGFR and renal dysfunction in population without kidney disease. Methods A total of 609 participants with an eGFR > 60 mL·min−1·1.73 m−2 and without renal impairment matched for sex and age (1∶1) were recruited from endocrinology department and medical examination center of two hospitals in Tianjin, China, from April 2021 to March 2022. Each subject was interviewed using a structured questionnaire to collect information about sex, age, height, weight, disease history, smoking, alcohol intake, etc. Clinical parameters were obtained from medical record, such as fasting blood glucose (FBG), creatinine (Cre), total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured by professionals using standard methods. The serum concentrations of PFASs were determined by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Multivariable linear and logistic regression models were performed to evaluate the associations of PFASs exposure with eGFR and renal dysfunction, respectively. Subgroup analyses stratified by age and sex were also performed to assess the modified effects of covariates on the associations of PFASs exposure with eGFR. Results There were 283 males, accounting for 46.5% of the total population. The mean age of the participants was (56.86±12.47) years, and the average body mass index (BMI) was (25.59±3.84) kg·m−2. Perfluoro-n-octanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid (PFNA), perfluoro-n-decanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoro-n-undecanoic acid (PFUnDA), sodium 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluoro-1-octanesulfonate (6:2 FTS), and perfluoropentane sulfonic acid (PFPeS) were positive in more than 75% of serum samples, and the corresponding median concentrations were 9.50, 1.67, 17.22, 1.86, 1.41, 0.78, 0.42, and 0.43 μg·L−1, respectively. After full adjustments of sex, age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, TC, TG, smoking, and drinking, the linear regression models showed that log2-transformed PFHxS concentration was negatively associated with eGFR (b=−1.160, 95%CI: −2.280, −0.410). Compared with the lowest exposure tertile, the estimated change of eGFR in the highest tertile for PFHxS was significantly decreased (b=−2.471, 95%CI: −4.574, −0.368). Furthermore, compared with males, the negative association of PFHxS with eGFR was strengthened among females (female: b=−1.281, 95%CI: −2.388, −0.174; male: b=−0.781, 95%CI: −2.823, 1.261, Pinteraction=0.043). Conclusion A significant negative association between serum PFHxS and eGFR is observed in the sampled population without kidney disease, and females are more susceptible to PFASs exposure than the males.

Early prenatal exposure to air pollutants and congenital heart disease: a nested case-control study

BACKGROUND@#Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common congenital malformations in humans. Inconsistent results emerged in the existed studies on associations between air pollution and congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of gestational exposure to air pollutants with congenital heart disease, and to explore the critical exposure windows for congenital heart disease.@*METHODS@#The nested case-control study collected birth records and the following health data in Tianjin Women and Children's Health Center, China. All of the cases of congenital heart disease from 2013 to 2015 were selected matching five healthy controls for each case. Inverse distance weighting was used to estimate individual exposure based on daily air pollution data. Furthermore, the conditional logistic regression with distributed lag non-linear model was performed to identify the association between gestational exposure to air pollution and congenital heart disease.@*RESULTS@#A total of 8,748 mother-infant pairs were entered into the analysis, of which 1,458 infants suffered from congenital heart disease. For each 10 µg/m3 increase of gestational exposure to PM2.5, the ORs (95% confidence interval, 95%CI) ranged from 1.008 (1.001-1.016) to 1.013 (1.001-1.024) during the 1st-2nd gestation weeks. Similar weak but increased risks of congenital heart disease were associated with O3 exposure during the 1st week and SO2 exposure during 6th-7th weeks in the first trimester, while no significant findings for other air pollutants.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This study highlighted that gestational exposure to PM2.5, O3, and SO2 had lag effects on congenital heart disease. Our results support potential benefits for pregnancy women to the mitigation of air pollution exposure in the early stage, especially when a critical exposure time window of air pollutants may precede heart development.

A retrospective cohort study of long-term nitrogen dioxide exposure and incident hypertension / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effect of long-term exposure of nitrogen dioxide on the incidence of hypertension.@*Methods@#From March to December 2009, 37 386 eligible residents from four cities in northern China (Tianjin, Shenyang, Taiyuan, and Rizhao) were enrolled in a follow-up study by using the random cluster sampling method. Demographic characteristics, lifestyle, history of diseases, and self-report situation of hypertension were collected by using questionnaire. Based on the average annual concentration of NO2 during the period from the cohort to the onset of hypertension as an estimate of exposure, the effect of NO2 exposure on hypertension was analyzed by employing Cox proportional hazards model. The interactions between NO2 exposure and different characteristics (age, sex, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, education, economy, exercise, and fruit intake) were also examined.@*Results@#The baseline age of residents was (43.74±13.78) years, and the body mass index (BMI) was (22.56±2.92) kg/m2. During an average follow-up time of 11.40 years, 2 619 (7.0%) new cases of hypertension were reported. The overall mean environmental pollution levels during the study period for the entire cohort was (40.74±17.07) μg/m3. After adjusting for age, sex, BMI, family history of hypertension, socio-economic information, and lifestyle, the hazard ratio (HR) of incident hypertension with a 10 μg/m3 increase of NO2 was 1.21 (95%CI: 1.18-1.25). Compared with residents aged 60 years and over (HR=1.19, 95%CI: 1.14-1.26), former and current smoking (HR=1.20, 95%CI: 1.14-1.25), and high-frequency fruit consumption (HR=1.17, 95%CI: 1.13-1.21), residents younger than 60 years (HR=1.28, 95%CI: 1.25-1.32), non-smoker (HR=1.23, 95%CI: 1.19-1.27), and low-frequency fruit consumption (HR=1.27, 95%CI: 1.20-1.35) had stronger interaction effect with NO2 (all P values for interaction<0.05).@*Conclusion@#NO2 exposure may lead to the onset of hypertension, which has a stronger effect on people younger than 60 years old, without smoking history and with low-frequency fruit consumption.

The relationship between total IgE and atopic dermatitis in maternal serum and neonatal umbilical cord blood and allergen testing / 天津医药

Objective To explore the correlation of total IgE and childhood atopic dermatitis (AD) in maternal serum and newborn cord blood, as well as its clinical significance of allergen testing. Methods Thirty-five cases diagnosed as AD (AD group) were selected, and other 35 children who were not diagnosed as AD (control group) were randomly selected from a birth cohort established in 2009—2011. The total IgE levels were detected by ELISA in maternal serum and newborn cord blood. The serum specific IgE antibody level was detected by quantitative immunoblotting method. Results The serum total IgE level was significantly higher in mother and newborn cord blood in AD group than that in control group (χ2=16.568 and 14.933, P<0.01). Compared to control group, there was a significantly higher positive rate of mother serum allergen includ?ing dust mites, house dust, ragweed pollen, song kind of pollen, poplar, surname and elm pollen, mould, shrimp, marine fish, in AD group (P<0.05). There was a significantly higher positive rate of artemisia pollen and fungi IgE in newborn cord blood in AD group (P<0.05). Conclusion The increased total IgE in maternal serum may play a predictive effect on infants suf?fering from AD. There is no obvious consistency in allergic state between mothers and infants.

The serumproteomics research of vinyl chloride workers / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To screen out serum differential proteins between vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)-exposed workers and healthy controls by proteomics and analyze the functions of differential proteins, and to provide a basis for elucidating the pathogenesis of diseases caused by VCM exposure and searching for the protein biomarkers.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fasting venous blood was collected from 125 VCM-exposed workers and 40 healthy controls according to accumulated exposure doses. Proteins were precipitated by acetone precipitation. These proteins were identified by 2D-nano LC-ESI-TOF/MS and quantified by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation. The functions of differential proteins were analyzed by gene ontology.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 596 proteins were identified, including 194 quantified proteins. There were 21 differential proteins according to the screening criteria (19 upregulated proteins and 2 downregulated proteins), including complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein. The functions of these differential proteins were binding, enzyme regulator activity, catalytic activity, and transporter activity, and they were involved in the biological processes including immune system process and response to stimulus.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The complement, apolipoprotein, and glycoprotein identified in the proteomics may be related to liver injury caused by VCM exposure, and they could be used as candidate protein biomarkers of diseases caused by VCM exposure.</p>

Effects of carbon components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on atherogenic index of plasma / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate associations between carbon constituents of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We collected subjects from two communities by a system sampling, and 112 people aged over 60 years old without cardiovascular disease were recruited. The levels of cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) of objects, and personal exposure to PM2.5 were measured on December, 2011. Total carbon (TC), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) of PM2.5 were detected and AIP was calculated according to its definition.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The value of AIP among the 112 subjects was 0.05 ± 0.26. Personal exposure concentration of PM2.5 and its carbon components (TC,OC and EC) were (164.75 ± 110.67), (53.86 ± 29.65), (44.93 ± 26.37) and (9.49 ± 5.75) µg/m(3), respectively. The Pearson analysis showed the linear relationship between TC,OC,EC and AIP, all significant positive correlations. The correlation coefficients were TC (r = 0.307, P < 0.05),OC (r = 0.287, P < 0.05) and EC (r = 0.252, P < 0.05), respectively. The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that when the AIP risk categories were selected as dependent variable and low risk group as reference group, the regression coefficient of TC,OC and EC was separately 1.03 (95%CI:1.01-1.05), 1.03 (95%CI:1.01-1.05), 1.12 (95%CI:1.02-1.22) in the high risk group; while there was no statistical significance of the regression coefficient and OR in the middle risk group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There was stable associations between the carbon constituents (TC,OC and EC) of fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and AIP. The findings suggested that carbon components of PM2.5 should be considered as risk factors of atherogenic.</p>

Study on the association between maternal urinary phthalate metabolites and testicular steroid hormones in the cord blood in a Chinese population / 中华预防医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The purposes of our study were to investigate the association between maternal urinary phthalate metabolites and the levels of inhibin B (INHB) and insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) in the cord blood in a Chinese pregnant population.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Maternal urine samples in the third trimester of pregnancy of 69 participants were collected and stored, and the samples of cord blood (10 ml) were collected at delivery between June 2011 and September 2012 in a comprehensive hospital of gynecology and obstetrics in Tianjin, China.Four phthalate metabolites, monomethyl phthalate (MMP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monobutyl phthalate (MBP), and mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) were measured in the urine samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The levels of INHB, INSL3 in the cord blood were tested by ELISA. Associations of phthalate exposure with INHB and INSL3 levels were determined by spearman correlation and multiple regression model analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The median concentrations of observed metabolites in descending order were 49.74 µg/L for MMP, 24.96 µg/L for MEHP, 19.52 µg/L for MEP and 17.73 µg/L for MBP. The median concentrations of INHB and INSL3 were 89.09 and 106.21 ng/L.Significant negative associations between INHB and MMP(β' = -0.252), MEP(β' = -0.363) or the sum value (∑PAEs) (β' = -0.346) were found by the multiple regression model analysis. For INSL3, only the sum value (β' = -0.313) was inversely significantly associated with the levels of INSL3 in the cord blood.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Maternal urinary phthalate metabolites were associated with INHB and INSL3 in the cord blood in a Chinese population.</p>

Cellular immune responses induced by DNA vaccine against Chlamydia trachomatis E serotype / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective To study cellular immune responses induced by DNA vaccine against Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) serotype E. Methods BALB/c mice were divided into three groups to be intramuscularly immunized by blank plasmid (negative control group), DNA vaccine against Ct serotype E (vaccine group), and inactivated Ct elementary body (positive control group), respectively. Two weeks after the last immunization,delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response was evaluated; MTT assay was performed to detect the proliferation of spleen lymphocytes, ELISA to measure the serum level of interferon-γin mice. Some immunized mice underwent a genital challenge with Ct elementary body followed by isolation of Ct from exfoliated epithelial cells in genital tract and pathological examination of cervical tissue from the challenged mice. Results Compared to negative control group, vaccine group and positive control group experienced a stronger DTH response.The lymphocyte stimulating index and serum level of IFN-γwere highest in the positive control group (3.81 ±0.30, 2891.7 ± 1048.8 μg/L), followed by vaccine group (2.35 ± 0.25, 593.3 ± 342.6 μg/L) and negative control group (1.48 ± 0.15, 309.2 ± 157.9 μg/L), and significant difference was observed between the three groups (P ＜ 0.05 or 0.01 ). After Ct challenge, Ct was isolated from exfoliated epithelial cells and cervical tissue was damaged in the negative control group, while in the other two groups, Ct was undetected and genital tract tissue was intact. Conclusions The DNA vaccine against Ct serotype E could induce Ct-specific cellular immune responses to some extent, and offer a protection against vaginal challenge with Ct.

Research Progress on Effects of Phthalate Esters on Male Reproduction Health / 环境与健康杂志

With rapid development of modern industry,phthalate esters were used wildly in industry and it was found that phthalate esters can cause severe damages in animals growth,development and reproduction system.Even similar adverse effects might occur in human.On the basis of brief introduction for environment pollution situation about these compounds and the level of human exposure,this article introduced research advance made by scientists from various countries on phthalate esters affecting male reproduction health,and discussed the mechanism by which phthalate esters affect androgen.