Influence of nutritional supplements on antibody levels in pregnant women vaccinated with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

BACKGROUND: Because of the significantly higher demand for nutrients during pregnancy, pregnant women are more likely to have nutrient deficiencies, which may adversely affect maternal and fetal health. The influence of nutritional supplements on the immune effects of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines during pregnancy is not clear. METHODS: In a multicenter cross-sectional study, we enrolled 873 pregnant women aged 18-45 y in Guangdong, China. The general demographic characteristics of pregnant women and their use of nutritional supplements were investigated, and the serum antibody levels induced by inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were measured. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between nutritional supplements and SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels. RESULTS: Of the 873 pregnant women enrolled, 825 (94.5%) took folic acid during pregnancy, 165 (18.9%) took iron supplements, and 197 (22.6%) took DHA. All pregnant women received at least one dose of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and the positive rates of serum SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies were 44.7% and 46.4%, respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors, whether pregnant women took folic acid, iron supplements, or DHA did not influence NAb positivity or IgG positivity (P > 0.05). Compared with pregnant women who did not take folic acid, the odds ratios (ORs) for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 NAb and IgG antibody in pregnant women who took folic acid were 0.67 (P = 0.255; 95% CI, 0.34-1.32) and 1.24 (P = 0.547; 95% CI, 0.60-2.55), respectively. Compared with pregnant women who did not take iron supplements, the ORs for the presence of NAb and IgG antibody in pregnant women who took iron supplements were 1.16(P = 0.465; 95% CI, 0.77-1.76) and 0.98 (P = 0.931; 95% CI, 0.64-1.49), respectively. Similarly, the ORs for NAb and IgG antibody were 0.71 (P = 0.085; 95% CI, 0.49-1.04) and 0.95 (P = 0.801; 95% CI, 0.65-1.38) in pregnant women who took DHA compared with those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Nutritional supplementation with folic acid, iron, or DHA during pregnancy was not associated with antibody levels in pregnant women who received inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Association of coffee consumption with the prevalence of hearing loss in US adults, NHANES 2003-2006.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the association between coffee consumption and the prevalence of hearing loss in American adults based on a national population-based survey. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of reported audiometric status and coffee intake from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Multivariate logistic regression, forest plots and restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses were used to explore the associations and dose-response relationships between coffee consumption frequency and hearing loss. SETTING: The USA. PARTICIPANT: This study included 1894 individuals aged ≥ 20 from the 2003-2006 NHANES. RESULTS: In this study, the prevalence of speech-frequency hearing loss (SFHL) and high-frequency hearing loss (HFHL) among the participants was 35·90 % and 51·54 %, respectively. Compared with those who no consumed coffee, non-Hispanic White who consumed ≥ 4 cups/d had higher prevalence of SFHL (OR: 1·87; 95 % CI: 1·003. 3·47). And a positive trend of coffee consumption frequency with the prevalence of HFHL was found (Ptrend = 0·001). This association of HFHL was similar for participants aged 20-64 (Ptrend = 0·001), non-Hispanic White (Ptrend = 0·002), non-noise exposure participants (Ptrend = 0·03) and noise-exposed participants (Ptrend = 0·003). The forest plots analysis found that the association between 1 cup-increment of daily coffee consumption and the prevalence of HFHL was statistically significant in males. RCS model supported a positive linear association of coffee consumption with SFHL (P for overall association = 0·02, P for nonlinearity = 0·48) and a positive non-linear association of coffee consumption with HFHL (P for overall association = 0·001, P for nonlinearity = 0·001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggested that coffee consumption was associated with higher prevalence of hearing loss. Further cohort studies in larger population are needed to investigate these findings.

Association between serum selenium concentrations and learning disability in a nationally representative sample of U.S. children.

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders. As an anti-oxidative agent, selenium plays an important role in human health. However, the relationship between selenium status and learning disability (LD), a common neurodevelopmental disorder, is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between serum selenium concentrations and learning disability. DESIGN: Nationwide, population-based, cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Children aged 4-11 years who have available data on serum selenium concentrations and LD (N = 1,076) from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2000. EXPOSURE: Serum selenium levels were measured using atomic absorption spectrometry. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Diagnosis of LD was reported by the children's parents. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Logistic regression models with survey weights were conducted adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, family income, total energy intake, body mass index, and serum cotinine levels. RESULTS: In this study, 8.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 5.2%-11.2%) of children had a diagnosis of LD. Serum selenium concentration was lower among children with LD than those without LD (geometric mean ± standard error, 107.7 ± 2.7 ng/mL vs. 112.8 ± 1.0 ng/mL, P for difference = 0.08). The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of LD comparing the highest with lowest tertile of serum selenium concentrations was 0.39 (95% CI 0.19-0.82). Each 10 ng/mL increment in serum selenium concentrations was associated with 31% (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.93) lower odds of LD. CONCLUSIONS: Higher serum selenium concentration was associated with a lower risk of LD in U.S. children. The causal relationship between selenium and LD and the underlying mechanisms warrant further investigation.

Brain responses to drug cues predict craving changes in abstinent heroin users: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: Loss of control over drug intake occurring in drug addiction is believed to result from disruption of reward circuits, including reduced responsiveness to natural rewards (e.g., monetary, sex) and heightened responsiveness to drug reward. Yet few studies have assessed reward deficiency and related brain responses in abstinent heroin users with opioid use disorder, and less is known whether the brain responses can predict cue-induced craving changes following by prolonged abstinence. METHOD: 31 heroin users (age: 44.13±7.68 years, male: 18 (58%), duration of abstinence: 85.2 ± 52.5 days) were enrolled at a mandatory detoxification center. By employing a cue-reactivity paradigm including three types of cues (drug, sexual, neutral), brain regional activations and circuit-level functional coupling were extracted. Among the 31 heroin users, 15 were followed up longitudinally to assess cue induced craving changes in the ensuing 6 months. RESULTS: One way analysis of variance results showed that heroin users have differential brain activations to the three cues (neutral, drug and sexual) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, orbiotofrontal cortex (OFC) and the bilateral thalamus. Drug cue induced greater activations in left DLPFC, insula and OFC compared to sexual cue. The psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis revealed negative couplings of the left DLPFC and the left OFC, bilateral thalamus, putamen in heroin users during drug cue exposure. In the 6-month follow-up study, both drug cue induced activation of the left DLPFC and the functional coupling of the left DLPFC-bilateral thalamus at baseline was correlated with craving reductions, which were not found for sexual cues. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary study provided novel evidence for the reward deficiency theory of opioid use disorder. Our findings also have clinical implications, as drug cue induced activation of the left DLPFC and functional coupling of left DLPFC-bilateral thalamus may be potential neuroimaging markers for craving changes during prolonged abstinence. Evidently, the findings in the current preliminary study should be confirmed by large sample size in the future.

Reduced thalamic resting-state functional connectivity and impaired cognition in acute abstinent heroin users.

As a critical component of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical loop in addiction, our understanding of the thalamus in impaired cognition of heroin users (HU) has been limited. Due to the complex thalamic connection with cortical and subcortical regions, thalamus was divided into prefrontal (PFC), occipital (OC), premotor, primary motor, sensory, temporal, and posterior parietal association subregions according to white matter tractography. We adopted seven subregions of bilateral thalamus as regions of interest to systematically study the implications of distinct thalamic nuclei in acute abstinent HU. The volume and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) differences of the thalamus were investigated between age-, gender-, and alcohol-matched 37 HU and 33 healthy controls (HCs). Trail making test-A (TMT-A) was adopted to assess cognitive function deficits, which were then correlated with neuroimaging findings. Although no significant different volumes were found, HU group showed decreased RSFC between left PFC_thalamus and middle temporal gyrus as well as between left OC_thalamus and inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area relative to HCs. Meanwhile, the higher TMT-A scores in HU were negatively correlated with PFC_thalamic RSFC with inferior temporal gyrus, fusiform, and precuneus. Craving scores were negatively correlated with OC_thalamic RSFC with accumbens, hippocampus, and insula. Opiate Withdrawal Scale scores were negatively correlated with left PFC/OC_thalamic RSFC with orbitofrontal cortex and medial PFC. We indicated two thalamus subregions separately involvement in cognitive control and craving to reveal the implications of thalamic subnucleus in pathology of acute abstinent HU.

Effect of Potato Pulp Pectic Polysaccharide on the Stability of Acidified Milk Drinks.

In order to broaden the application of potato pulp pectic polysaccharide (PPP) in stabilizing acidified milk drinks (AMDs) and investigate the stabilizing effect and physical properties of AMDs prepared with PPP, a comparative study was made among PPP, commercial high methoxyl pectin (HMP) and low methoxyl pectin (LMP). The zeta potential, rheology, particle size and serum separation of AMDs were evaluated after preparing with PPP, HMP and LMP, respectively. Results indicated that PPP led to lower serum separation than LMP (14.65% for AMDs prepared with 0.5% PPP compared to 25.05% for AMDs prepared with 0.5% LMP), but still higher than HMP (9.09% for AMDs prepared with 0.5% HMP). However, narrower particle size distribution and lower viscosity of AMDs was achieved by PPP than by LMP and HMP. PPP can electrostatically adsorb on the surface of casein and its abundant neutral sugar side chains would provide steric hindrance to prevent casein flocculation in AMDs. Our results might provide some new ideas for the application of PPP in improving the stability of AMDs.