Associations between air pollution exposure and birth defects: a time series analysis.

Air pollution is a serious environmental problem in China. Birth defects are particularly vulnerable to outdoor air pollution. Our study was to evaluate the association between short-term exposure to air pollutants and the risk of birth defects. Daily data including the air pollutants, meteorological characteristics, and birth records were obtained in Hefei, China, during January 2013 to December 2016. The findings showed that PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 exposures were positively correlated with the risk of birth defects. Maternal exposure to PM2.5 and SO2 during the 4th to 13th gestational weeks was observed to have a significant association with the risk of birth defects, with the maximum effect in the 7th or 8th week for PM2.5 and the maximum effect in the 7th week for SO2. The positively significant exposure windows were the 4th to 14th weeks for PM10, the 4th to 12th weeks for NO2, and the 26th to 35th weeks for O3, respectively. The strongest associations were observed in the 8th week for PM10, the 7th week for NO2, and in the 31st or 32nd week for O3. The findings of this study demonstrate that air pollutants increase the risk of birth defects among women during pregnancy in Hefei, China, which provide evidence for improving the health of pregnant women and neonates in developing countries, and uncovered potential opportunities to reduce or prevent birth defects by proactive measures during pregnancy.

Associations between weekly air pollution exposure and congenital heart disease.

BACKGROUND: The topic of congenital heart diseases (CHDs) has attracted more and more attentions. Accumulating evidence suggests that exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy is associated with CHDs, yet the results are inconsistent and study about weekly exposure is few. Our study evaluated the association between weekly air pollution and CHDs in Hefei, China. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Daily CHDs admission data were obtained from eight hospitals in Hefei from October 2015 to September 2017. Meteorological data and air quality were collected from China Meteorological Data Network. Distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) considering both the lag effect of exposure factors and the nonlinear relationship of exposure-reaction was used to assess the effect of weekly air pollutants exposure on CHDs admission. RESULTS: During the study period, totally 47,046 cases of perinatal infants were recruited, and the incidence of CHDs was 9.71 per thousand. The findings showed PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NO2 significantly increased the risk of CHDs. Each 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 during gestational weeks 20-26 increased the risk of CHDs. The susceptibility windows of PM10 (weeks 0-2 and weeks 25-29 of pregnancy), SO2 (weeks 8-16 and weeks 29-38) and NO2 (week 40), while the strongest effects of these 4 pollutants on CHDs were observed in week 22 (RR = 1.034, 95% CI: 1.007-1.062), week 0 (RR = 1.081, 95% CI: 1.02-1.146), week 37 (RR = 1.528, 95% CI: 1.085-2.153) and week 40 (RR = 1.171, 95% CI: 1.006-1.364), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Air pollutants (SO2, NO2, PM10, and PM2.5) exposure could increase the risk of CHDs, while the most crucial susceptibility windows for the exposure were mainly in the second and third trimesters. Boys seemed to be more sensitive to air pollution. Our study contributes to the knowledge of the association between maternal exposure to air pollution and CHDs, but the associations need to be verified by further studies.

Cubic Mesoporous Silica Material as a Highly Efficient Solid Phase Extraction Sorbent for Bisphenol A, Tert-Nonylphenol from Water.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including bisphenol A (BPA), tert-nonylphenol (t-NP) in aqueous solutions, were extracted by cubic mesoporous silica material (MCM-48) and determined by high performance liquid chromatography--fluorometric detection simultaneously. The effect of eluent solvent and its volume, the pH of sample solution and the sample volume on the extraction recovery of MCM-48 composite for EDCs was investigated by the batch techniques. Comparative studies showed that MCM-48 was superior to C18 for the extraction of the more polar analyte bisphenol A and and at least as effective as C18 for the extraction of tert-nonylphenol. The results showed that the excellent recovery towards BPA (87.4%-95.6%) and t-NP (83.6%-96.3%) was achieved by using this method. The good linearity was obtained for BPA and t-NP (R2 > 0.993) at a range from 5 to 1000 µg L(-1). Under the optimum conditions, the detection limits of this method were 96 and 150 ng L(-1) for BPA and t-NP in water sample, based on a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3, respectively. This method has been also successfully applied for the determination of other EDCs in natural environmental water samples.

Selenium deficiency inhibits the conversion of thyroidal thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3) in chicken thyroids.

Selenium (Se) influences the metabolism of thyroid hormones in mammals. However, the role of Se deficiency in the regulation of thyroid hormones in chickens is not well known. In the present study, we examined the levels of thyroidal triiodothyronine (T3), thyroidal thyroxine (T4), free triiodothyronine, free thyroxine (FT4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone in the serum and the mRNA expression levels of 25 selenoproteins in chicken thyroids. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to analyze the relationships between the selenoproteins. The results indicated that Se deficiency influenced the conversion of T4 to T3 and induced the accumulation of T4 and FT4. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of the selenoproteins were generally decreased by Se deficiency. The PCA showed that eight selenoproteins (deiodinase 1 (Dio1), Dio2, Dio3, thioredoxin reductase 2 (Txnrd2), selenoprotein i (Seli), selenoprotein u (Selu), glutathione peroxidase 1 (Gpx1), and Gpx2) have similar trends, which indicated that they may play similar roles in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. The results showed that Se deficiency inhibited the conversion of T4 to T3 and decreased the levels of the crucial metabolic enzymes of the thyroid hormones, Dio1, Dio2, and Dio3, in chickens. In addition, the decreased selenoproteins (Dio1, Dio2, Dio3, Txnrd2, Seli, Selu, Gpx1, and Gpx2) induced by Se deficiency may indirectly limit the conversion of T4 to T3 in chicken thyroids. The information presented in this study is helpful to understand the role of Se in the thyroid function of chickens.

Effect of selenium on selenoprotein expression in the adipose tissue of chickens.

This study describes the effects of selenium (Se) deficiency on the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of 25 selenoproteins (Sels) (including glutathione peroxidases (GPx1-GPx4), thioredoxin reductases (TrxR1-TrxR3), iodothyronine deiodinases (ID1-ID3), selenophosphate synthetase 2 (SPS2), 15-kDa Sel (Sel15), SelH, SelI, SelK, SelM, Sepn1, SelO, Sepx, Selpb, SelS, SelT, SelW, Sepp1, and SelU in the adipose tissues (subcutaneous adipose, visceral adipose, and articular adipose) of chickens. One hundred and fifty 1-day-old chickens were randomly assigned to two groups of 75 each and were fed a low-Se diet (0.032 mg/kg Se) or a control diet (0.282 mg/kg Se). The expression levels of 25 Sel mRNAs were determined on days 35, 45, and 55 from three parts (subcutaneous adipose, visceral adipose, and articular adipose) of the chicken adipose tissues. The results showed that the expression levels of the 25 Sel mRNAs were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the low-selenium group than in the control group. In addition, the Sel mRNA expression levels in the three adipose tissues were observed to decrease in a time-dependent manner with increasing feeding time.

Association of NQO1 rs1800566 polymorphism and the risk of colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) rs1800566 polymorphism is found to have a lower enzymatic activity, which may result in increased incidence of several kinds of carcinomas including colorectal cancer. Results from published studies on the association of NQO1 rs1800566 genetic polymorphism with the risk of colorectal cancer are inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to summarize the possible association. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All eligible published studies were searched from PubMed and Elsevier ScienceDirect. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were analyzed for additive, dominant, and recessive models to assess the association using fixed- or random-effect model. RESULTS: We identified 12 case-control studies that include 5,525 cases and 6,272 controls for the present meta-analysis. Significant associations between NQO1 rs1800566 genetic polymorphism and risk of colorectal cancer were observed in additive (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.02-1.16, p = 0.009) and dominant models (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 1.04-1.21, p = 0.004 for TT + CT vs. CC). Moreover, in the subgroup analysis based on ethnicity, significant associations were observed in Caucasians but not in Asians. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis provided evidence that NQO1 rs1800566 genetic polymorphism was associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer and that the T allele probably acts as an important risk factor.

The association of cystathionine ß synthase (CBS) T833C polymorphism and the risk of stroke: a meta-analysis.

As results from published studies on the association of Cystathionine ß Synthase (CBS) T833C genetic polymorphism with the risk of stroke are inconsistent, we performed a meta-analysis to summarize the possible association. Eligible studies published were searched for in PubMed, Elsevier Science Direct, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and the Chinese database, Wanfang. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed for the association using fixed- or random-effect model. We identified 10 case-control studies including 2247 cases and 1813 controls for the present meta-analysis. Significant associations between CBS T833C genetic polymorphism and risk of stroke were observed in most genetic models (OR=1.57, 95% CI=1.02-2.41, p=0.039 for TC+CC vs. TT; OR=1.79, 95% CI=1.14-2.82, p=0.012 for CC vs. TT; OR=1.56, 95% CI=1.01-2.40, p=0.044 for TC vs. TT). Moreover, in the subgroup analysis based on ethnicity, significant associations were observed in most genetic models in Chinese but not in Caucasian. This meta-analysis provided evidence that CBS T833C genetic polymorphism was associated with increased risk of stroke, and the C allele probably acts as an important stroke risk factor.

Flow injection chemiluminescence immunoassay for 17beta-estradiol using an immunoaffinity column.

A new flow injection chemiluminescent immunoassay was developed for the detection of 17beta-estradiol (E2). The method uses p-iodophenol (PIP) as enhancer and is based on a solid-phase immunoassay format in which an E(2)-OVA immobilized immunoaffinity column inserted in the flow system is used to trap unbound horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled anti-E2 antibody after an off-line incubation of E2 with HRP-labeled anti-E2 antibody. The trapped enzyme conjugate was detected by injecting substrates to produce an enhanced chemiluminescence (CL) response. The linear range for E2 was 10.0-1,000.0 ng mL(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.996 and a detection limit of 3.0 ng mL(-1). The sampling and chemiluminescence detection time for one sample was 400 s after a pre-incubation procedure of 30 min. Serum samples detected by this method were in good agreement with the results obtained by EIA with E2-biotin.