Long-term exposure to cadmium disrupts neurodevelopment in mature cerebral organoids.

Cadmium (Cd) is a pervasive environmental pollutant. Increasing evidence suggests that Cd exposure during pregnancy can induce adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, due to the limitations of neural cell and animal models, it is challenging to study the developmental neurotoxicity and underlying toxicity mechanism of long-term exposure to environmental pollutants during human brain development. In this study, chronic Cd exposure was performed in human mature cerebral organoids for 49 or 77 days. Our study found that prolonged exposure to Cd resulted in the inhibition of cerebral organoid growth and the disruption of neural differentiation and cortical layer organization. These potential consequences of chronic Cd exposure may include impaired GFAP expression, a reduction in SOX2+ neuronal progenitor cells, an increase in TUJ1+ immature neurons, as well as an initial increase and a subsequent decrease in both TBR2+ intermediate progenitors and CTIP2+ deep layer cortical neurons. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that long-term exposure to Cd disrupted zinc and copper ion homeostasis through excessive synthesis of metallothionein and disturbed synaptogenesis, as evidenced by inhibited postsynaptic protein. Our study employed mature cerebral organoids to evaluate the developmental neurotoxicity induced by long-term Cd exposure.

An appraisal of current embryo transfer strategies.

Embryo transfer, one of the most essential procedures in assisted reproductive technology, plays a vital role in the success of in-vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. During the last decades, the strategies for embryo transfer have changed dramatically. In this review, we evaluate the efficacy and safety of several current embryo transfer strategies including fresh versus frozen embryo transfer, cleavage- versus blastocyst-stage embryo transfer, and single- versus double-embryo transfer. Available evidence indicates that the freeze-only strategy improves the live birth rate after the first embryo transfer in high responders while making no difference in normal responders. The risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is significantly reduced in the freeze-only strategy. Fresh blastocyst-stage embryo transfer increased live birth rate compared to cleavage-stage embryo transfer. The best embryo transfer strategy is one which tailors to individual circumstances and preferences.

Effect of sexuality education for parents of preschoolers / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To evaluate the effect of sexuality education for parents of preschoolers, to provide a basis for sexuality educational programs in rural settings.@*Methods@#This community intervention trial chose four kindergartens in Jiangyang District of Luzhou City as the intervention group and other four kindergartens in Jiangyou City of Mianyang City of Sichuan Province as the control group. Sexuality education for parents was carried out in the intervention group, and the control group received routine arrangement. The baseline survey was conducted from March to May 2019, and the final survey was conducted in December 2019. The investigators conducted a face to face or self filled questionnaires among each parent who agreed to participate in the survey by using the self designed questionnaire "Research on Current Situation and Countermeasures of Early Childhood Sexuality Education in Rural Areas (Parent)".@*Results@#Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the basic information of parents and their children, and the situation of early childhood sexuality education between the intervention group and the control group( P > 0.05 ). After intervention, parents of the intervention group and the control group showed differences in correct rate of the knowledge regarding early childhood sexuality education (41.5%，32.1%), proportion of recognition of parental responsibility (90.7%， 81.3 %), sexuality education in the family (55.7%，45.9%), sexuality education in schools (70.2%，39.1%) and attitude behavior consistency (28.9%，16.3%) ( χ 2=4.05，8.05，4.17，42.48，9.59， P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Sexuality education towards parents is effective through improving knowledge, responsibility, the implementation of sexuality education in the family, and attitude behavior consistency among parents.

Awareness of early childhood sex education and influencing factors among rural kindergarten teachers in Sichuan / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the awareness of sexuality education knowledge in kindergarten teachers in rural areas of Sichuan and its influencing factors, and to provide a scientific basis for sex education capacity improvement among rural teachers.@*Methods@#With multi stage stratified cluster sampling method, 162 teachers selected from 16 rural kindergartens in rural areas of Sichuan Province to conduct questionnaires related to early childhood sex education.@*Results@#The awereness of early childhood sex education foreskin care in rural areas in Sichuan was 73.8%. Knowledge regarding foreskin care(58.8%)", "the function of the family includes rest and entertainment functions(65.6%)", "girls need to clean the reproductive truets from the front to back (68.8%)". Multivariate non conditional Logistic regression analysis results showed that teaching experience>4 years(OR=4.16, 95%CI=1.74-9.98), notice of young children with sexual related behaviors(OR=2.97, 95%CI=1.19-7.40), the number of sources of sexual knowledge sources ≥5(OR=3.39, 95%CI=1.42-8.13) were associated with high awareness of preschool sex education knowledge.@*Conclusion@#The preschool sex education knowledge awareness among Sichuan rural kindergarten teachers needs to be improved. A variety of sex education channels should be constructed to encourage teachers, especially those who are newly employed, to acquire more relevant knowledge, pay attention to children’s sex related behaviors, and improve their ability in sex education.

Sex-related knowledge and behavior among children in senior grade of kindergarten in rural areas fo Sichuan Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To analyze the level of sex-related knowledge and behavior and related factors among children in senior grade of kindergarten in rural areas, and to provide the evidence for early childhood sexuality education.@*Methods@#Multi-state stratified sampling method was adopted. From March to May 2019,a total of 324 students and their parents from 16 kindergartens of rural areas in Sichuan Province were enrolled, self-developed questionnaire was used to collect the basic demographic characteristics, information of sexuality education knowledge and sex-related behavior.@*Results@#The average score of sexuality education knowledge was 5(4,6) point, and the awareness rate was 33.6%(109). The qualified sex-related behavior was observed in 75.0%(243 of all the children), while 25.0%(81) needed to be improved. Multivariate analysis showed that,compared with children were aware of the sexuality education knowledge, children who were unaware of the sexuality education knowledge were more likely to have good sex-related behavior, with the OR(95%CI) value was 2.06(1.14-3.72). The possibility of having good sex-related behavior among those children with more than 2 members in the family parents carring out sexuality education was higher than children without sexuality education in the family, with the OR(95%CI) value being 2.40(1.17-4.89).@*Conclusion@#The level of sexuality education knowledge among children in senior grade of kindergarten of rural areas in Sichuan is low, and most children s behavior needs to be improved. Children s awareness of sexuality education knowledge and the number of family members who have carried out sexuality education are related to the occurrence of children s sex-related behavior.

Analysis of the demand and influencing factors for children’s sexual education knowledge among rural parents / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the demand of rural parents for children’s sexual education knowledge and associated factors, to provide reference and advise for the development of the children’s sexual education in the rural areas.@*Methods@#In this study,1 015 parents from 16 rural kindergartens in Luzhou City and Mianyang City were selected as the research objects by multiple-stage stratified sampling from March to May, 2019. The self-interview or face-to-face questionnaire survey was used to investigate the demand for children’s sexual education among parents.@*Results@#Totally 81.7%(829) of parents expressed their demand for children’s sexual education knowledge. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age was negatively associated with demand for sexual education of children(OR=0.73,95%CI=0.61-0.88). Junior middle school education background of mothers(OR=2.45,95%CI=1.36-4.41), received sexual education for children(OR=2.85，95%CI=1.84-4.42), reckon sexual education for children as necessary(OR=4.97，95%CI=3.16-7.83)and regarded it as parents’ own responsibility(OR=2.11，95%CI=1.30-3.43) had a high demand for children’s sexual education knowledge(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Parents in Sichuan rural areas generally have a high demand for children’s sexual education. We should intensify publicity and training about sexual education knowledge among parents in rural areas and attach importance to the cooperation between family and kindergarten in order to jointly promote the development of children’s sexual education.