Associations among phthalate exposure, DNA methylation of TSLP, and childhood allergy.

BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) expressions is linked to asthma and allergic disease. Exposure to phthalate esters, a widely used plasticizer, is associated with respiratory and allergic morbidity. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) causes TSLP upregulation in the skin. In addition, phthalate exposure is associated with changes in environmentally induced DNA methylation, which might cause phenotypic heterogeneity. This study examined the DNA methylation of the TSLP gene to determine the potential mechanism between phthalate exposure and allergic diseases. RESULTS: Among all evaluated, only benzyl butyl phthalate (BBzP) in the settled dusts were negatively correlated with the methylation levels of TSLP and positively associated with children's respiratory symptoms. The results revealed that every unit increase in BBzP concentration in the settled dust was associated with a 1.75% decrease in the methylation level on upstream 775 bp from the transcription start site (TSS) of TSLP (ß = - 1.75, p = 0.015) after adjustment for child's sex, age, BMI, parents' smoking status, allergic history, and education levels, PM2.5, formaldehyde, temperature; and relative humidity. Moreover, every percentage increase in the methylation level was associated with a 20% decrease in the risk of morning respiratory symptoms in the children (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.65-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to BBzP in settled dust might increase children's respiratory symptoms in the morning through decreasing TSLP methylation. Therefore, the exposure to BBzP should be reduced especially for the children already having allergic diseases.

Reduced Serum Levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Are Related to Mild Cognitive Impairment in Chinese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and cognitive dysfunction. The present study sought to assess the role of serum levels of BDNF in the pathophysiological process of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a preclinical phase of dementia in 715 Chinese patients with T2DM. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were obtained from 715 patients with T2DM recruited from a Chinese diabetes center. Serum levels of BDNF were measured with sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The influence of BDNF on MCI was examined using univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: In univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, for each one-unit increase of BDNF, the unadjusted and adjusted risk of MCI decreased by 9% (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.88-0.93, p < 0.001) and 6% (0.94; 0.87-0.98, p < 0.001) respectively. In multivariate models comparing the first (Q1), second and third quartiles against the fourth quartile of BDNF, BDNF in Q1 and Q2 were associated with MCI, and increased risk of MCI by 275% (OR 3.75; 95% CI 2.38-6.03) and 155% (2.55; 1.32-4.02). These results suggested that for each 1 ng/mL increase of serum level of BDNF, the association became stronger among obese diabetic patients (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.96; p < 0.001) versus nonobese diabetic patients (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.86-0.98; p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The present data demonstrated that reduced serum levels of BDNF were associated with increased risk of MCI and might be useful for identifying diabetic patients at risk of dementia for early prevention strategies.

Reduced serum levels of oestradiol and brain derived neurotrophic factor in both diabetic women and HFD-feeding female mice.

The estrogen levels in the pre and post menstrual phases interact with brain-derived neurotrophic factor in a complex manner, which influences the overall state of the body. To study the role of oestradiol and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in modulating obesity related type 2 diabetes and the interactions between two factors, we enrolled 15 diabetic premenopausal women and 15 diabetic postmenopausal women respectively, the same number of healthy pre and postmenopausal women were recruited as two control groups. The fasting blood glucose, insulin, lipids, estrogen, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels were measured through clinical tests. Additionally, we set up obese female mouse model to mimic human trial stated above, to verify the relationship between estrogen and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Our findings revealed that there is a moderately positive correlation between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and oestradiol in females, and decreased brain-derived neurotrophic factor may worsen impaired insulin function. The results further confirmed that high fat diet-fed mice which exhibited impaired glucose tolerance, showed lower levels of oestradiol and decreased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA in the ventromedial hypothalamus. The level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor reduced on condition that the level of oestradiol is sufficiently low, such as women in postmenopausal period, which aggravates diabetes through feeding-related pathways. Increasing the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor may help to alleviate the progression of the disease in postmenopausal women with diabetes.

[Manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis patients of cold syndrome and heat syndrome using wrist ultrasound].

OBJECTIVE: To explore distinctive manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients of cold syndrome and heat syndrome using wrist joints ultrasound. METHOD: s Totally 65 RA patients were syndrome typed as cold syndrome (29 cases, cold-damp blockage syndrome) and heat syndrome (36 cases, damp-heat obstruction syndrome). Grey-scale synovitis, power doppler (PD) signals, tenosynovitis, and bone erosion were observed using wrist ultrasound. Distinctive manifestations of cold syndrome and heat syndrome were analyzed using wrist ultrasound. RESULTS: In RA patients of cold syndrome, the positive rate of synovitis, PD, tenosynovitis, and bone erosion was 51.72%, 20.68%, 51.72%, and 37.93%, respectively, while they were 97.22%, 91.67%, 75.0%, and 63.89%, respectively in RA patients of heat syndrome. Compared with patients of cold syndrome, the positive rate of synovitis, PD, and bone erosion increased in patients of heat syndrome (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the positive rate of tenosynovitis between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the cold syndrome group, there was statistical difference in the constituent ratio of synovitis, PD, and bone erosion in the heat syndrome group (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.05), but with no statistical difference in the constituent ratio of tenosynovitis (P > 0.05). Results of the ROC curve showed that the sensitivity was 86.1% and the specificity was 62.1% in judging heat syndrome, when the total score of synovitis in two wrists was more than 1.5; the sensitivity was 80.0% and the specificity was 93.1% in judging heat syndrome, when the total score of PD in two wrists was more than 1.5. CONCLUSIONS: Positive rates of synovitis, PD, and bone erosion were significantly higher in RA patients of heat syndrome than those of cold syndrome. Especially serious manifestations were more often seen in RA patients of heat syndrome. The total score of synovitis or PD in the two wrist joints higher than 1.5 was characteristic manifestations of heat syndrome using wrist ultrasound.