Maternal exposure to cooking oil fumes during pregnancy and autistic-like behaviors in Chinese preschoolers.

There is growing evidence that cooking oil fumes (COFs) are harmful indoor air pollutants. However, there is a dearth of research investigating whether maternal COFs exposure during pregnancy may affect children's autistic-like behaviors in China. This study aimed to explore this association, and examine the effects of different cooking fuels and ventilation methods used by mothers on the presence of autistic-like behaviors. This study analyzed the survey data of the Longhua Child Cohort Study in 2017 with a total of 62,372 mothers enrolled in this study. A self-administrative questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, cooking habits during pregnancy, and autistic-like behaviors (measured using the Autism Behavior Checklist). After adjusting for potential confounders, the results showed that compared with children whose mothers never cooked during pregnancy, children whose mothers cooked sometimes, often, always during pregnancy had the higher risk of autistic-like behaviors. As the amounts of COFs exposed to and the frequency of cooking during pregnancy increased, the risk of a child's autistic-like behaviors also increased. Mothers using natural gas as cooking fuels had a lower risk of their child having autistic-like behaviors, compared with mothers using coal or other cooking fuels. Furthermore, pregnant women using ventilation measures during cooking significantly decreased likelihood of the presence of autistic-like behaviors in their children. These results suggest that maternal exposure to COFs during pregnancy may increase the likelihood of the presence of autistic-like behaviors in offspring. These findings support a recommendation that pregnant women should avoid exposure to COFs and use clean fuels and ventilation equipment in kitchens to reduce the risk of autistic-like behaviors in children.

Critical window for the association between prenatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and preterm birth.

Although environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure is considered to be a severe public health problem and a modifiable risk factor for preterm birth (PTB), we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the PTB risk associated with trimester-specific prenatal ETS exposure. This study aimed to examine the accumulation of risk across trimester ETS exposure and the critical window of the association between maternal ETS exposure during pregnancy and PTB. A total of 63,038 mother-child pairs were involved in the analysis of the 2017 survey of Longhua Child Cohort Study. Information about socio-demographic characteristics, prenatal ETS exposure, and birth outcomes were collected using a self-report questionnaire. A series of logistic regression models were employed to assess the associations between prenatal ETS exposure and PTB. We found that maternal ETS exposure during pregnancy significantly increased the risk of PTB and this association increased with both the average level of daily ETS exposure and the number of trimesters of ETS exposure. Moreover, mothers who were initially exposed to ETS in the 1st trimester of pregnancy had significant higher risk of PTB (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.25-1.44). Furthermore, mothers exposed to ETS in the 1st trimester only (OR = 1.26, 95%CI: 1.04-1.50), in both 1st and 2nd trimester (OR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.08-1.67) and throughout pregnancy (OR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.24-1.46) experienced a significantly high risk of PTB. Prenatal maternal ETS exposure during only the 2nd trimester also resulted in a high risk of PTB with marginal significance (OR = 1.33, 95% CI:0.78-2.13). To conclude, the 1st and early 2nd trimester might be the critical window for prenatal ETS exposure causing PTB.

Association between prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and autistic-like behaviors among preschool children.

Indoor air pollution is a recognized risk factor for a range of negative health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the association between maternal prenatal exposure to indoor air pollution and the presence of autistic-like behaviors among preschool children. Data were obtained from the Longhua Child Cohort Study in 2017, in which we enrolled a total of 65 317 preschool children. Associations between maternal exposure to four sources of indoor air pollution (e.g., cooking, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), mosquito coils, and home decoration) during pregnancy and preschool children's autistic traits were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Our results showed that maternal exposure to indoor air pollution from four different sources during pregnancy was associated with the presence of children's autistic-like behaviors. There was dose-response relationship between the accumulative exposure to the four different indoor air pollution sources and the risk of autistic-like behaviors. Furthermore, we found a significant additive interaction between prenatal exposure to both cooking and mosquito coil incense on the risk of autistic-like behaviors. Maternal prenatal exposure to the indoor air pollution from four sources might increase with the risk of autistic-like behaviors being present among preschool children, with an additive interaction effect between some pollution sources.

Association between environmental tobacco smoke exposure in early life and autistic-like behaviors in Chinese preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have evaluated the association between children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in early life (during pregnancy, from birth to one year and from one to three years) and autistic-like behaviors. This study aimed to explore this association. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed data collected in 2017 as part of the Longhua Child Cohort Study. Autistic-like behaviors were measured using the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC). Data on ETS exposure and autistic-like behaviors of children were collected via self-administered questionnaires completed by the mothers. Multivariate logistic regression models were undertaken to assess the associations. RESULTS: Of the 65,243 participants included in this study, 1958 children met criteria for having autistic-like behaviors. The results showed that children were more likely to exhibit autistic-like behaviors when they were exposed to ETS in early life (AOR = 1.38; 95% CI = 1.26-1.52), compared to preschoolers without ETS exposure at any period of their early life. Compared with their unexposed counterparts, children who were exposed to ETS during gestation (AOR = 1.42; 95% CI = 1.29-1.57), or from birth to one year old (AOR = 1.42; 95% CI = 1.19-1.69) had significantly increased risk of autistic-like behaviors. In addition, with the increase in duration of exposure and average number of cigarettes smoked in the child's immediate environment, the risk of autistic-like behaviors increased. CONCLUSION: Our study indicated that children's ETS exposure in early life was significantly associated with autistic-like behaviors. When children's exposure to cigarettes in early life increased in duration and number, the likelihood of the presence of autistic-like behaviors was higher.

Identification of Five Cytotoxicity-Related Genes Involved in the Progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Background: Breast cancer is one of the deadly tumors in women, and its incidence continues to increase. This study aimed to identify novel therapeutic molecules using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data of breast cancer from our hospital. Methods: 30 pairs of human breast cancer tissue and matched normal tissue were collected and RNA sequenced in our hospital. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were calculated with raw data by the R package "edgeR", and functionally annotated using R package "clusterProfiler". Tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) were estimated using a website tool TIMER 2.0. Effects of key genes on therapeutic efficacy were analyzed using RNA-seq data and drug sensitivity data from two databases: the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP). Results: There were 2,953 DEGs between cancerous and matched normal tissue, as well as 975 DEGs between primary breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer. These genes were primarily enriched in PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, and cell cycle. Notably, CD8+ T cell, M0 macrophage, M1 macrophage, regulatory T cell and follicular helper T cell were significantly elevated in cancerous tissue as compared with matched normal tissue. Eventually, we found five genes (GALNTL5, MLIP, HMCN2, LRRN4CL, and DUOX2) were markedly corelated with CD8+ T cell infiltration and cytotoxicity, and associated with therapeutic response. Conclusion: We found five key genes associated with tumor progression, CD8+ T cell and therapeutic efficacy. The findings would provide potential molecular targets for the treatment of breast cancer.

High expression of PRKDC promotes breast cancer cell growth via p38 MAPK signaling and is associated with poor survival.

BACKGROUND: DNA-Dependent Protein Kinase Catalytic Subunit (PRKDC), a key component of the DNA damage repair pathway, is associated with chemotherapy resistance and tumor progression. METHODS: Here we analyzed transcriptome data of ~2,000 breast cancer patients and performed functional studies in vitro to investigate the function of PRKDC in breast cancer. RESULTS: Our results revealed overexpression of PRKDC in multiple breast cancer subtypes. Consistent with patients' data, overexpression of PRKDC was also observed in breast cancer cell lines compared to normal breast epithelial cells. Knockdown of PRKDC in MCF-7 and T47D breast cancer cell lines resulted in proliferation inhibition, reduced colony formation and G2/M cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, we showed that PRKDC knockdown induced proliferation inhibition through activation of p38 MAPK, but not ERK MAPK, signaling pathway in breast cancer cells. Blockage of p38 MAPK signaling could largely rescue proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest induced by PRKDC knockdown. Moreover, we analyzed gene expression and clinical data from six independent breast cancer cohorts containing ~1,000 patients. In all cohorts, our results consistently showed that high expression of PRKDC was significantly associated with poor survival in both treated and untreated breast cancer patients. CONCLUSION: Together, our results suggest that high expression of PRKDC facilitates breast cancer cell growth via regulation of p38 MAPK signaling, and is a prognostic marker for poor survival in breast cancer patients.

Association between prenatal exposure to household inhalants exposure and ADHD-like behaviors at around 3 years of age: Findings from Shenzhen Longhua Child Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of ADHD or ADHD-like behaviors. But we still lack a comprehensive assessment of household air pollutants exposure on the development of ADHD-like behaviors during childhood. OBJECT: We aimed to assess whether prenatal household inhalants exposure is associated with preschoolers' ADHD-like behaviors in a nonclinical population. METHODS: This study used the baseline data of the Longhua Child Cohort Study. During 2015-2017, we recruited 42,983 mothers and their kindergarten-aged children who enrolled at kindergarten in the Longhua district of Shenzhen, to obtain the demographic data and relevant exposure information through self-administrated questionnaire survey. The source of prenatal household inhalants exposure include cooking fumes, environmental tobacco smoke, mosqutio coils, home renovated and indoor burning incense. Logistic and censored least absolute deviations (CLAD) models were used to reveal the association between prenatal exposure to household air pollutants and hyperactive behaviors in child. RESULTS: We found that exposure to five types of household inhalants during pregnancy were independently associated with an increased risk of child hyperactive behaviors. Moreover, we observed a significant interaction between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and cooking fumes during gestation on child hyperactive behaviors in CLAD models. We also found a significant joint effect between burning mosquito coils and incense during gestation for child hyperactive behaviors risk both in CLAD and Logistic models. Furthermore, a household inhalants exposure index was used to demonstrate a dose-response relationship between the cumulative effect of exposure to the five household air pollutants and child hyperactivity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that prenatal exposure to different household inhalants might increase the risk of children's hyperactive behaviors at around 3 years of age with the presence of interaction effects between some inhalants.

PRKDC is a prognostic marker for poor survival in gastric cancer patients and regulates DNA damage response.

A hallmark of gastric cancer is the high rate of genomic instability associated with deregulation of DNA damage repair pathways. DNA-Dependent Protein Kinase Catalytic Subunit (PRKDC) is a key component of the non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway. By reanalyzing transcriptome data of 80 pairs of gastric cancer tumors and the adjacent normal tissues from non-treated patients, we identified PRKDC as the top upregulated DNA damage repair genes in gastric cancer. High expression of PRKDC is associated with poor survival of gastric cancer patients, and genomic amplification of the gene is frequently observed across most gastric cancer subtypes. Knockdown of PRKDC in gastric cell lines resulted in reduced proliferation and cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, we showed that loss of PRKDC induced DNA damage and enhanced gastric cancer cell chemosensitivity to DNA-damaging reagents. Together, our results suggest that PRKDC is a prognostic marker of poor survival and is a putative target to overcome chemoresistance in gastric cancer.

Prenatal Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Hyperactivity Behavior in Chinese Young Children.

This study aimed to examine the association between prenatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and hyperactivity behaviors in young children. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among 21,243 participants from all of the kindergartens in Longhua District of Shenzhen, China. Multivariate logistic regression models and hierarchical linear models were employed to assess the associations. After adjusting for potential confounders of gender, preterm birth, birth asphyxiation, etc., prenatal ETS exposure was significantly associated with an increased risk of hyperactivity behaviors in young children (OR (95% CI) = 1.51 (1.28-1.77); ß (95% CI) = 0.017 (0.013-0.020)). Along with increases in children's prenatal ETS exposure dose (measured by daily ETS exposure duration, daily cigarette consumption by household members, and overall score of prenatal ETS exposure), the children were also increasingly more likely to exhibit hyperactivity behaviors. Furthermore, children whose mothers had prenatal ETS exposure in any one or more of the pregnancy trimesters were more likely to exhibit hyperactivity behaviors as compared with those born to non-exposure mothers (all p < 0.05). Overall, prenatal ETS exposure could be associated with a detrimental impact on offspring's hyperactivity behaviors, and public health efforts are needed to reduce prenatal ETS exposure.

The association between second-hand smoke exposure and depressive symptoms among pregnant women.

Tobacco smoking and depression are strongly associated, but the possible association between second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure and depression is unclear. This study aimed to examine the possible relation between SHS exposure and depressive symptoms among pregnant women. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Shenzhen, China, using a multistage sampling method. The univariable and multivariable logistic regression models were used to explore the associations between SHS exposure and depressive symptoms. Among 2176 pregnant women, 10.5% and 2.0% were classified as having probable and severe depressive symptoms. Both binary and multinomial logistic regression revealed that there were significantly increased risks of severe depressive symptoms corresponding to SHS exposure in homes or regular SHS exposure in workplaces using no exposure as reference. In addition, greater frequency of SHS exposure was significantly associated with the increased risk of severe depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that SHS exposure is positively associated with depressive symptoms in a dose-response manner among the pregnant women.