Association between air pollution and upper respiratory tract infection in hospital outpatients aged 0-14 years in Hefei, China: a time series study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between air pollution and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in children aged 0-14 years in Hefei, China in 2014-2015. STUDY DESIGN: An ecological method (i.e. generalised additive model [GAM]) was used to explore the effects of air pollutants on paediatric hospital outpatients with URTI. METHODS: GAM was used to evaluate the lag effects (including lag0 to lag6, lag01 and lag06) between daily changes in particulate matter (PM10), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) and the number of hospital outpatients with URTI in 2014-2015, after controlling for the confounding effects of long-term trends, seasonality, day of the week, public holidays and meteorological factors. RESULTS: PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and CO in the single-pollutant models had significant positive effects on the number of paediatric hospital outpatients with URTI. It was found that per 10 µg/m3 increasing in concentrations of PM10 at lag3, PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and CO at lag06 were associated with an increase of Excess risk (ER) with 0.15% (95% CI: 0.07%∼0.23%), 0.38% (95% CI: 0.17%∼0.60%), 2.92% (95% CI: 1.88%∼3.97%), 4.47% (95% CI: 3.69%∼5.25%) and 0.05% (95% CI: 0.02%∼0.08%), respectively. Only NO2 remained significantly positively associated with the number of hospital outpatients with URTI in the full-pollutant models, and ERs were 4.72% (95% CI = 3.76%-5.69%) and 4.70% (95% CI = 3.76%-5.65%) per 10 µg/m3 increase in NO2 in Model 1 (including PM10, SO2, NO2, O3 and CO) and Model 2 (including PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3 and CO), respectively. CONCLUSION: This study showed that short-term exposure to air pollution was associated with increased risk of URTI among paediatric hospital outpatients aged 0-14 years in Hefei. NO2 was the major air pollutant affecting the daily number of paediatric hospital outpatients with URTI.

Determination of Oleandrin in Blood and Liver Samples by LC-MS/MS.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （LC-MS/MS） analytical method for the determination of oleandrin in blood and liver tissues, which could be applied to the cases of death caused by oleander poisoning. METHODS: Blood or liver tissues underwent a liquid-liquid extraction （LLE） using ethyl acetate, and the extract was separated on an Agilent ZORBAX SB-C18 column and eluted with a gradient of acetonitrile and 20 mmol/L ammonium acetate （containing 0.1% formic acid）. Oleandrin was detected using electrospray positive ionization （ESI+） with multiple-reaction monitoring （MRM） mode. RESULTS: Oleandrin showed excellent linearity in both blood and liver samples in the corresponding linear range （r>0.995 0）, with detection limits 1 ng/mL and 2 ng/g, respectively, extraction recovery rates greater than 70.50%, both intra- and inter-day precisions less than 10.71%, accuracies 98.42%-111.63%, and matrix effects 91.52%-106.39%. The method was successfully applied to a case of suspected oleander poisoning. Oleandrin was detected in the blood, urine, liver tissues, bile, stomach wall tissues and stomach contents of the cadaver, with the content ranging from 65.5 to 29 600.0 ng/mL （ng/g）. CONCLUSIONS: The method developed in this study is simple and convenient to operate with good selectivity, and is suitable for the analysis of oleandrin in biological samples such as blood and liver tissues, which can provide technical support for forensic identification and clinical diagnosis and treatment of oleander poisoning.

Development of an empirical model to predict malaria outbreaks based on monthly case reports and climate variables in Hefei, China, 1990-2011.

Malaria remains a significant public health concern in developing countries. Drivers of malaria transmission vary across different geographical regions. Climatic variables are major risk factor in seasonal and secular patterns of P. vivax malaria transmission along Anhui province. The study aims to forecast malaria outbreaks using empirical model developed in Hefei, China. Data on the monthly numbers of notified malaria cases and climatic factors were obtained for the period of January 1st 1990 to December 31st 2011 from the Hefei CDC and Anhui Institute of Meteorological Sciences, respectively. Two logistic regression models with time series seasonal decomposition were used to explore the impact of climatic and seasonal factors on malaria outbreaks. Sensitivity and specificity statistics were used for evaluating the predictive power. The results showed that relative humidity (OR = 1.171, 95% CI = 1.090-1.257), sunshine (OR = 1.076, 95% CI = 1.043-1.110) and barometric pressure (OR = 1.051, 95% CI = 1.003-1.100) were significantly associated with malaria outbreaks after adjustment for seasonality in Hefei area. The validation analyses indicated the overall agreement of 70.42% (sensitivity: 70.52%; specificity: 70.30%). The research suggested that the empirical model developed based on disease surveillance and climatic conditions may have applications in malaria control and prevention activities.

[Research progress of health effect of polybrominated diphenyl ethers].

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) was one of the most common brominated flame retardants, it has been widely used in products such as furnitures, polymer and plastical material, textiles, electronic products and building materials. PBDEs have potential effect such as neurodevelopmental toxicity, reproductive toxicity, thyroid toxicity, immunological toxicity, embryo toxicity, liver toxicity, teratogenicity and potential carcinogenicity. This paper was aimed to review the environmental exposure way, current level, neurotoxicity, neurodevelopmental toxicity and reproductive toxicity of PBDEs. In recent years, PBDEs has been detected in environment, wildlife animal and human body around the world, there were the significant differences of exposure levels of PBDEs. The most abundant congener were tetra-BDE or BDE-47, hexa-BDE or BDE-153, and deca-BDE or BDE-209. Prenatal exposure to PBDEs has great impact on the infants' neurodevelopmental function, induces changes in neuropsychological developmental behavior, decreases of congnition, motivation and attention. High levels of PBDEs have positive relationship with Luteinizing hormone levels, testis disfunction and children's cryptorchidism, and have negative relationship with sperm number and testis size.

[Effects of extracellular regulated protein kinases protein and impairment of blood testis barriar stucturein of mice with exposure to decabromodiphenyl ether].

Objective: To study changes in expression of claudin-11 and proteins related to mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways, as well as the ultrastructure of the blood testis barrier (BTB), in male ICR mice exposed to decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209). Methods: Fifty-two mice, 4 weeks of age, weighing 15-21 g, were provided with adaptive feeding for 1 week. Mice were randomly divided into 4 groups, named control, low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose groups. The treated groups received BDE-209, by intragastric gavage, at doses, respectively, of 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg. Mice were sacrificed after 6 weeks and organs harvested on ice, weighed and stored at -80 °C. The ultrastructure of testicular tissues was examined by electron microscopy. Western blotting was used to detect proteins related to the MAPK pathway, including p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p38), phosphorylated p38 (p-p38), extracellular regulated protein kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) , phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) , c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), phosphorylated JNK (p-JNK) and the BTB tight junction protein claudin-11. Analyze the difference between each groups. Results: At sacrifice, the body weights in each treated group were compared with those in the control group weighing (41.14 ± 0.60) g. Compared with controls, body weights were significantly different (P<0.05) in the middle dose, at (39.97 ± 0.66) g and high dose, at (39.98± 0.55) g in control group. The coefficients of the testis were significantly lower (P<0.05) in each treated group than in controls, with values of (0.37±0.0)%, (0.31±0.05)% and (0.31±0.04)% for low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose groups, respectively. The epidymus coefficient values were also significantly lower than controls (P<0.05), with values of (0.16±0.06)%, (0.11±0.05)% and (0.07±0.03)%, respectively in the same three dose groups. Electron microscopy ultrastructure showed that, compared with the control group, the testes in the middle and high dose groups had closely connected fractures, cell edema and more vacuoles. Compared with in the control group, levels of p-p38 and p-JNK in testicular tissue were significantly increased (P<0.05). In the control group and in low-, medium- and high-dose groups, the p-p38/p38 ratios were 1.35±0.13, 3.46±0.10, 5.71±0.26 and 4.79±0.21, respectively. The corresponding p-JNK/JNK ratios were 2.07±0.0, 4.77±0.18, 3.63±0.06 and 4.85±0.15. Claudin-11 levels were significantly lower (P<0.05) than control values in each dosed group. The corresponding values in control, low-dose, medium-dose and high-dose groups were 8.33±0.36, 2.06±0.27, 3.37±0.27 and 1.55±0.19, respectively. Conclusion: BDE-209 increased expression of proteins in the MAPK pathway and decreased expression of the BTB tight junction protein claudin-11 in testicular tissue. It also caused ultrastructural damage to the Sertoli cell BTB tight junctions. This suggested that BDE-209 might damage Sertoli cells BTB through effects on the MAPK pathway.

[EPHX1 Tyr113His polymorphism contributes to hepatocellular carcinoma risk: evidfnce from a meta-analysis].

To clarify the association between microsomal epoxide hydrolase gene (EPHX1) Tyr113His polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, a meta-analysis was performed. Overall, EPHX1 Tyr113His polymorphism was associated with increased risk of HCC. Subgroup analyses by status of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in controls further confirmed this association. Through a literature search, 119 relevant records were identified, and 17 individual case-control studies from 13 publications were finally included, involving a total of 1,480 HCC cases and 2,564 controls. In subgroup analyses, increased associations were found in Asians, Caucasians, hepatitis B virus (HBV)- dominant areas, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-dominant areas, high-rate areas of HCC, and medium-rate areas of HCC, but not in Africans and low-rate areas of HCC, respectively. This meta-analysis suggests that EPHX1 Tyr113His polymorphism contributes to HCC risk.

Glutathione S-transferase M1 and T1 polymorphisms and cervical cancer risk: a meta-analysis.

There were some studies on the associations between Glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) and Glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1) polymorphisms and cervical cancer (CC) risk, but the results were inconsistent. Thus, a meta-analysis was performed. The electronic databases PubMed, Science Direct, CBM, and CNKI were searched for possible studies. Finally, 16 studies (1,627 cases and 2,161 controls) were included. For the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms, the unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) from each study were used to estimate summary OR. Subgroup analyses by ethnicity and histological type of CC were also performed. For the GSTM1 polymorphism, the null genotype of GSTM1 was associated with an increased CC risk in total population (OR=1.32, 95% CI=1.06-1.66). Similar association was found in Asians (OR=1.47, 95% CI=1.11-1.94), but not in Caucasians (OR=0.96, 95% CI=0.73-1.27). For the GSTT1 polymorphism, the null genotype of GSTT1 was not statistically significantly associated with CC risk in total population (OR=1.36, 95% CI=0.97-1.90). This result was also found in Asians (OR=1.27, 95% CI=0.87-1.85) and Caucasians (OR=1.09, 95% CI= 0.66-1.79), but not in Latinos (OR=4.58, 95% CI= 2.04-10.28). For the GSTM1/GSTT1 interaction analysis, the dual null genotypes of GSTM1/GSTT1 were significantly associated with increased CC risk in total population (OR=1.77, 95% CI= 1.14-2.75), and all the six studies were from Asia. For subgroup analyses by histological type of CC, the three aspects of the analyses above were all not significantly associated with CC risk in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, respectively. The null genotype of GSTM1 and the dual null genotypes of GSTM1/GSTT1 were risk factors in CC, and the null genotype of GSTT1 was not associated with CC risk.