Exposure to atrazine by drinking water and the increased risk of neonatal complications in consequence: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis evaluates the association between atrazine (ATR) exposure and small for gestational age (SGA), preterm birth (PTB), and low birth weight (LBW). A comprehensive search was done on academic databases (e.g. PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar) to achieve all pertinent studies up to May 2023. A pooled odd ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were applied to evaluate this correlation. As a result, five eligible studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in our study, and the result of the present meta-analysis showed that ATR exposure increased the risk of SGA (OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.03-1.20 for highest versus lowest category of ATR), PTB (OR = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.03-1.30), and LBW (OR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.10-1.44). This meta-analysis suggests that ATR in drinking water may be a risk factor for SGA, PTB, and LBW.

Mercury Exposure and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Methods: Scopus and PubMed databases were systematically searched from their inception to November 2021 to obtain pertinent studies. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the difference in Hg levels between people with and without T2DM. The association of the Hg exposure with T2DM was assessed using a random-effects model by pooling the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs. Results: A total of 17 studies, with 42,917 participants, aged ≥18 years, were analyzed. Overall, Hg levels were significantly higher in T2DM patients compared with non-T2DM controls (SMD = 1.07; 95%CI = 0.59 to 1.55, P ≤ 0.001), with significant heterogeneity across studies (I2 = 96.1%; P=≤0.001). No significant association was found between Hg exposure and risk of T2DM in the overall analysis and subgroup analysis based on the source of sample and study design. However, higher exposure to Hg was related to reduced risk of T2DM in men (OR = 0.71; 95%CI = 0.57 to 0.88), but not in women. No significant evidence for publication bias was detected. Conclusions: Although the Hg level in T2DM is significantly higher than that of nondiabetics, there was no association between Hg exposure and the overall risk of T2DM. Nevertheless, our study shows that higher exposure to Hg might reduce the risk of T2DM in men.

Metabolic syndrome and its components are associated with increased chronic kidney disease risk: Evidence from a meta-analysis on 11 109 003 participants from 66 studies.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Observational studies examining the relationship between metabolic syndrome and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) have reported inconclusive results. This meta-analysis was performed to resolve these controversies. METHODS: The MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed databases were systematically searched from their inception until March 2016 to identify all relevant studies. Risk estimates and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations of MetS and its components with CKD risk were extracted and pooled using a random-effects model. RESULTS: A total of 66 studies, including 18 prospective cohorts and 48 cross-sectional studies, with 699 065 CKD patients and 11 109 003 participants were included in the meta-analysis. When all definitions were pooled, the presence of MetS was associated with a significant 50% increase of CKD risk (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.43-1.56), with evidence of moderate heterogeneity (I2  = 72.3%, P < .001). The risk of CKD associated with MetS was higher in studies using the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute criteria (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.25-2.10) compared with those using the Adult Treatment Panel III (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.42-1.56) and the International Diabetes Federation (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.22-1.41) definitions. This relationship was independent of diabetes status. Moreover, all individual components of the MetS were significantly associated with CKD, and their coexistence resulted in an escalating dose-response relationship. The sensitivity and subgroup analyses established the stability of the findings. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis strongly suggests that the metabolic syndrome and its components are independently associated with the increased risk of CKD.

A comprehensive review of advanced focused ultrasound (FUS) microbubbles-mediated treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by progressive neurodegeneration, memory loss, and cognitive impairment leading to dementia and death. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) prevents the delivery of drugs into the brain, which can limit their therapeutic potential in the treatment of AD. Therefore, there is a need to develop new approaches to bypass the BBB for appropriate treatment of AD. Recently, focused ultrasound (FUS) has been shown to disrupt the BBB, allowing therapeutic agents to penetrate the brain. In addition, microbubbles (MBs) as lipophilic carriers can penetrate across the BBB and deliver the active drug into the brain tissue. Therefore, combined with FUS, the drug-encapsulated MBs can pass through the ultrasound-disrupted zone of the BBB and diffuse into the brain tissue. This review provides clear and concise statements on the recent advances of the various FUS-mediated MBs-based carriers developed for delivering AD-related drugs. In addition, the sonogenetics-based FUS/MBs approaches for the treatment of AD are highlighted. The future perspectives and challenges of ultrasound-based MBs drug delivery in AD are then discussed.

The relationship between use of complementary and alternative medicine and health literacy in chronically ill outpatient cases: a cross-sectional study in southeastern Iran.

Background: Chronically ill outpatient cases use a variety of complementary and alternative medicines due to their diseases and therapeutic complications. Chronic condition, quality of life, and health literacy all affect the use of complementary medicine among chronically ill outpatient cases. Health literacy helps patients make fully informed decisions about the use of complementary and alternative medicine. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between complementary and alternative medicine and health literacy in chronically ill outpatient cases. Method: This cross-sectional analytical-descriptive study was conducted on 400 chronically ill outpatient cases referred to medical centers affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Convenience sampling was used. Research tools included the complementary and alternative medicine questionnaire and the health literacy questionnaire. SPSS25 was used to analyze data. Results: The mean use of complementary and alternative medicine in a recent year was 16.75 ± 7.89, which was lower than the mid-point of the questionnaire (84). Prayer, medicinal plants, vitamin supplements, music therapy, and art therapy were the mostly used complementary and alternative medicine methods. The most common reasons for using complementary medicine were to reduce physical complications and improve anxiety and stress. The mean satisfaction with the use of complementary and alternative medicine was 34.96 ± 6.69. The mean health literacy score was 67.13 ± 19.90. Decision-making and the use of health information had the highest mean score among the dimensions of health literacy, whereas reading skills received the lowest mean score. We found a significant and direct relationship between the use of complementary and alternative medicine, health literacy, and all its dimensions. Conclusion: The study results showed that health literacy predicted the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Health education and promotion programs may be useful for improvement of health literacy in the community.

Recent progress in the intranasal PLGA-based drug delivery for neurodegenerative diseases treatment.

One of the most challenging problems of the current treatments of neurodegenerative diseases is related to the permeation and access of most therapeutic agents to the central nervous system (CNS), prevented by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Recently, intranasal (IN) delivery has opened new prospects because it directly delivers drugs for neurological diseases into the brain via the olfactory route. Recently, PLGA-based nanocarriers have attracted a lot of interest for IN delivery of drugs. This review gathered clear and concise statements of the recent progress of the various developed PLGA-based nanocarriers for IN drug delivery in brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, brain tumors, ischemia, epilepsy, depression, and schizophrenia. Subsequently, future perspectives and challenges of PLGA-based IN administration are discussed briefly.