Impact of phthalate metabolites on vitamin D levels and subclinical inflammation: national health and nutrition examination survey, 2013-2018.

This study explores the association between phthalates and total vitamin D levels and the link between phthalates exposure and subclinical inflammation using monocyte percentage to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (MHR), utilizing three National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) survey cycles 2013-2018. This study is cross-sectional, utilizing one-time urine samples from randomly selected NHANES participants to assess phthalate metabolites. An inverse association between vitamin D and all Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) metabolites was found. The molar sum of DEHP metabolites was inversely associated with vitamin D (ß -2.329; 95% CI -3.937,-0.720). An inverse association was observed between monocarboxynonyl phthalate and vitamin D (ß -0.0278; 95% CI -0.0527,-0.00298). A similar relationship was found between monocarboxyoctyl phthalate and vitamin D (ß -0.0160; 95% CI -0.0242,-0.00775). There was no association between phthalate metabolites and MHR. Stratified analysis showed that the association between phthalate metabolites and MHR may vary according to vitamin D status.

Design and Synthesis of N-Doped Porous Carbons for the Selective Carbon Dioxide Capture under Humid Flue Gas Conditions.

The design of novel porous solid sorbents for carbon dioxide capture is critical in developing carbon capture and storage technology (CCS). We have synthesized a series of nitrogen-rich porous organic polymers (POPs) from crosslinking melamine and pyrrole monomers. The final polymer's nitrogen content was tuned by varying the melamine ratio compared to pyrrole. The resulting polymers were then pyrolyzed at 700 °C and 900 °C to produce high surface area nitrogen-doped porous carbons (NPCs) with different N/C ratios. The resulting NPCs showed good BET surface areas reaching 900 m2 g-1. Owing to the nitrogen-enriched skeleton and the micropore nature of the prepared NPCs, they exhibited CO2 uptake capacities as high as 60 cm3 g-1 at 273 K and 1 bar with significant CO2/N2 selectivity. The materials showed excellent and stable performance over five adsorption/desorption cycles in the dynamic separation of the ternary mixture of N2/CO2/H2O. The method developed in this work and the synthesized NPCs' performance towards CO2 capture highlight the unique properties of POPs as precursors for synthesizing nitrogen-doped porous carbons with a high nitrogen content and high yield.

Assessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in relation to shisha smoking among adults in Qatar: An analytical cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Tobacco smoking is a preventable cause of disease and death worldwide. Shisha has become a popular method of smoking tobacco. In Qatar, the prevalence of smoking in 2019 was 25.2%, of which 20.9% was smoking shisha. Shisha smoking is thought to have a harmful effect on the cardiovascular system. The main objective of this study was to understand the relationship between shisha smoking and cardiovascular disease risks. METHODS: All data were obtained from the Qatar Biobank (QBB). The study population consisted of 1045 individuals, which included cases defined as participants who had a history of angina, heart attack and/or stroke and their matched healthy controls for age and gender. The measurement of both the exposure and the outcome was done through the survey provided by QBB. A conditional logistic regression model was used to assess the association between smoking and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated after adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: After adjusting for hypertension diagnosis, diabetes diagnosis, dyslipidemia diagnosis, abdominal obesity, and sedentary lifestyle, exclusive shisha smokers had 1.65 times higher odds of reporting cardiovascular disease diagnoses compared to non-smokers (95% CI: 0.71-1.91). Dual shisha and cigarette smokers also had 1.47 times higher odds of reporting cardiovascular disease diagnoses compared to non-smokers (95% CI: 0.88-2.45). CVD cases had a younger median age of initial shisha smoking compared to controls (20 years vs 25 years, p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Shisha smoking was associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. However, this association did not reach the level of statistical significance within this study. A finding to consider that showed strong evidence is the younger age of initial shisha smoking in cases. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the true relationship between shisha smoking and cardiovascular disease.