Spatial distribution of low birth weight and association with chemical fertilizer application in rural areas of Shanxi province / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective@#To explore the spatial distribution of low birth weight (LBW) and the potential environmental risk factors and provide the evidence for the prevention and intervention of LBW.@*Methods@#Data were from a surveillance system for newly born population and adverse pregnancy outcome between 2007 and 2012 in Pingding county, Shanxi province. The data from 313 villages were analyzed. Spatial hierarchical Bayesian model was used to adjust the risk of LBW at village level, Moran’s I and Getis-Ord Gi* were used to analyze the difference in distribution of LBW risk area. Spatial negative binomial model was used to evaluate the association between the risk of LBW and chemical fertilizer application.@*Results@#A total of 18 749 new births were recorded between 2007 and 2012, including 911 LBW cases, the total incidence of LBW was 4.86%. The result of the spatial hierarchical Bayesian model showed that high-risk area of LBW was in the southeast of Pingding and low-risk area was in the middle west of Pingding. The result of Moran’s I showed that there was a clustering pattern of LBW risk, and Getis-Ord Gi* found a high risk (hot spot) area in the south area. Moreover, the findings of association analysis showed that the risk of LBW increased with the increased chemical fertilizer application at village level.@*Conclusions@#There were area specific differences in the risk of LBW, and dose-response relationship between chemical fertilizer application and the risk of LBW. Our findings suggest that maternal exposure to chemical fertilizer during pregnancy might be a potential risk factor for LBW in rural area.

Associations between maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy and the risk of offspring's low birth weights / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To explore the association between the consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of low birth weight (LBW),to provide references for prevention programs on LBW and to improve the birth outcomes.Methods Stratified multivariate logistic regression method was used in this study involving 153 preterm LBW infants,179 term LBW infants and 204 normal control infants that were randomly selected from the birth monitoring data between October 2007 and September 2012 in Pingding county,Shanxi province.Associations between the risk of LBW and maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy were identified.A normal control group was set up to compare results between preterm and term LBW groups.Results Totally,18 749infants were born between 2007 and 2012,with the total incidence rates of LBW as 48.5‰,preterm LBW as 19.4‰,and term LBW as 29.1‰.Concerning the case control study on preterm LBW,after adjustment for confounding factors,the risk of preterm LBW appeared 2.51 (95％CI:1.05-5.99) times higher in villages with annual consumption of chemical fertilizer ≥ 100 tons than those villages that using chemical fertilizer less than 50 tons.No significant statistical associations were found between the amounts of household chemical fertilizer consumption and the risks of preterm LBW.Regarding the case control study on term LBW,after adjustment for confounding factors,in villages with ≥ 100tons annual consumption of chemical fertilizers,the risk of term LBW was 4.03 (95％CI:1.63-9.92)times of the risk in villages where the annal use of chemical fertilizers was less than 50 tons.There was no significant association between household consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of term LBW.Conclusions Maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy was associated with the risk of LBW.Our findings suggested that the amount of chemical fertilizer consumption in rural areas seemed also associated with the risks of other adverse pregnancy outcomes.Women should avoid the chance of exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy and the consumption of chemical fertilizers should be carefully managed.

Associations between maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy and the risk of offspring's low birth weights / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To explore the association between the consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of low birth weight (LBW),to provide references for prevention programs on LBW and to improve the birth outcomes.Methods Stratified multivariate logistic regression method was used in this study involving 153 preterm LBW infants,179 term LBW infants and 204 normal control infants that were randomly selected from the birth monitoring data between October 2007 and September 2012 in Pingding county,Shanxi province.Associations between the risk of LBW and maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy were identified.A normal control group was set up to compare results between preterm and term LBW groups.Results Totally,18 749infants were born between 2007 and 2012,with the total incidence rates of LBW as 48.5‰,preterm LBW as 19.4‰,and term LBW as 29.1‰.Concerning the case control study on preterm LBW,after adjustment for confounding factors,the risk of preterm LBW appeared 2.51 (95％CI:1.05-5.99) times higher in villages with annual consumption of chemical fertilizer ≥ 100 tons than those villages that using chemical fertilizer less than 50 tons.No significant statistical associations were found between the amounts of household chemical fertilizer consumption and the risks of preterm LBW.Regarding the case control study on term LBW,after adjustment for confounding factors,in villages with ≥ 100tons annual consumption of chemical fertilizers,the risk of term LBW was 4.03 (95％CI:1.63-9.92)times of the risk in villages where the annal use of chemical fertilizers was less than 50 tons.There was no significant association between household consumption of chemical fertilizers and the risk of term LBW.Conclusions Maternal exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy was associated with the risk of LBW.Our findings suggested that the amount of chemical fertilizer consumption in rural areas seemed also associated with the risks of other adverse pregnancy outcomes.Women should avoid the chance of exposure to chemical fertilizers during pregnancy and the consumption of chemical fertilizers should be carefully managed.

Synergistic immunoreaction of acupuncture-like dissolving microneedles containing thymopentin at acupoints in immune-suppressed rats

Dissolving microneedles carried drug molecules can effectively penetrate the stratum corneum of skin to improve the transdermal drug delivery. The traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture is based on the needle stimulation at a specific location (acupoint) to generate and transmit biochemical and physiological signals which alter the pathophysiological state of patients. However, the pain associated with conventional acupuncture needles and the requirement of highly trained professionals limit the development of acupuncture in non-Asian countries. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the dissolving microneedles can be utilized as a self-administered painless replacement for acupuncture and locally released drug molecules can achieve expected therapeutic outcomes. Immunosuppressive rats were treated with acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) acupoint using microneedles containing thymopentin. The immune functions and psychological mood of the immunosuppressed animals were examined. The proliferation of splenocytes was examined by CCK-8 assay. CD4 and CD8 expression patterns in spleen cells were detected by flow cytometry. The current study showed that use of either microneedles containing thymopentin or conventional acupuncture both resulted in immune cell proliferation, which was confirmed by flow cytometry. Furthermore, either conventional acupuncture or microneedles were able to effectively mitigate the anxiety caused by immune-suppression when applied on the ST36.

Influence of physical properties of carrier on the performance of dry powder inhalers

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) offer distinct advantages as a means of pulmonary drug delivery and have attracted much attention in the field of pharmaceutical science. DPIs commonly contain micronized drug particles which, because of their cohesiveness and strong propensity to aggregate, have poor aerosolization performance. Thus carriers with a larger particle size are added to address this problem. However, the performance of DPIs is profoundly influenced by the physical properties of the carrier, particularly their particle size, morphology/shape and surface roughness. Because these factors are interdependent, it is difficult to completely understand how they individually influence DPI performance. The purpose of this review is to summarize and illuminate how these factors affect drug-carrier interaction and influence the performance of DPIs.