Gender-specific effects of prenatal mixed exposure to serum phthalates on neurodevelopment of children aged 2-3 years:the Guangxi Birth Cohort Study.

Phthalates have been shown to have adverse effects on neurodevelopment, which may be gender-specific. However, the association between prenatal mixed exposure to phthalates and children's neurodevelopment remains inconsistent. We measured 15 prenatal serum phthalate levels and evaluated children's neurodevelopmental indicators using Gesell Developmental Schedule (GDS) (n = 750). Generalized linear regression was fitted to examine the association. Among boys, mono-2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl phthalate (MEHHP) had adverse effects on gross motor [odds ratio (OR): 7.38, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.42, 38.46]. For gross motor in boys, joint effect was discovered between mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) and MEHHP. Moreover, synergistic effects were found for MEHP with vanadium and cadmium, and antagonistic effects for MEHP with magnesium, calcium, titanium, iron, copper, selenium, rubidium, and strontium. We did not find statistically significant relationships in girls. In the 1st trimester, adverse effects were identified between mono-2-ethyl-5-oxoyhexyl phthalate (MEOHP) and adaptation (P = 0.024), and monomethyl phthalate (MMP) with social area (P = 0.017). In the 2nd trimester, MEHHP had adverse effects on social area (P = 0.035). In summary, we found boys may be more vulnerable to the neurotoxicity than girls in gross motor, and we also discovered the detrimental effects of phthalates on children's neurodevelopment in the 1st and 2nd trimesters. Therefore, the supplementation of appropriate elements in the 1st and 2nd trimesters may help reduce the adverse effects of phthalates on children's neurodevelopment, especially among boys.

Causal relationships between blood calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, copper, and lead levels and multisystem disease outcomes in over 400,000 Caucasian participants.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Metal elements have been associated with a wide range of clinical outcomes. The available epidemiological evidence for these associations is often inconsistent and suffers from confounding and reverse causation. We aimed to explore the broad clinical effects of varying blood metal element levels and possible underlying mechanisms. METHODS: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis by using metal element-associated genetic loci as instrumental variable to evaluate the causal associations between blood metal element levels and 1050 disease outcomes in a UK Biobank cohort. A total of 408,910 White British participants were enrolled in the analysis. We further used the metal element-related genes and disease-related genes to construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. RESULTS: Eight metal elements were associated with 63 diseases in total. Notably, we found nine pairs of suggestive evidence between two different metal elements for the same disease. Selenium and lead share some of the associated clinical outcomes, including diabetes mellitus, type 2 diabetes, lymphoid leukemia, and acute pharyngitis. Lead and zinc share the associated disease of acquired hypothyroidism. Iron and copper share the associated disease of arthropathies. Copper and zinc share the associated disease of occlusion of cerebral arteries. Calcium and zinc share the associated disease of arthropathies. In addition, the PPI network provided potential links between metal elements and disease outcomes at the genetic level. CONCLUSIONS: Our MR study of eight metal elements comprehensively characterized their shared and unique clinical effects, highlighting their potential causal roles in multiple diseases. Given the modifiable nature of blood metal elements and the potential for clinical interventions, these findings warrant further investigation.

Causal Effect of Genetically Determined Blood Copper Concentrations on Multiple Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization and Phenome-Wide Association Study.

Exposures to copper have become a health concern. We aim to explore the broad clinical effects of blood copper concentrations. A total of 376,346 Caucasian subjects were enrolled. We performed a Mendelian randomization and phenome-wide association study (MR-PheWAS) to evaluate the causal association between copper and a wide range of outcomes in UK Biobank, and we constructed a protein-protein interaction network. We found association between blood copper concentrations and five diseases in the overall population and nine diseases in male. MR analysis implicated a causal role of blood copper in five diseases (overall population), including prostate cancer (OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.77-0.98), malignant and unknown neoplasms of the brain and nervous system (OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.38-0.89), and hypertension (OR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98), essential hypertension (OR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.90-0.98) and cancer of brain and nervous system (OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.41-0.98). For male, except for dysphagia being newly associated with blood copper (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.18-1.63), other MR results were consistent with the overall population. In addition, the PPI network showed possible relationship between blood copper and four outcomes, namely brain cancer, prostate cancer, hypertension, and dysphagia. Blood copper may have causal association with prostate cancer, malignant and unknown neoplasms of the brain and nervous system, hypertension, and dysphagia. Considering that copper is modifiable, exploring whether regulation of copper levels can be used to optimize health outcomes might have public health importance. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43657-022-00052-3.

Low serum folate status in the second trimester increase the risk of low birthweight in Chinese women.

AIM: This study aimed to explore the influence of maternal folate and vitamin B12 (B12) status during pregnancy on the incidence of low birthweight (LBW) infants. METHODS: A total of 6203 eligible women registered in seven hospitals in southern China, and 230 cases with singleton live births and 382 controls were matched for further analyses. The concentrations of serum folate and B12 were detected with chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay on ARCHITECT i2000-1. Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the effects of folate and B12 levels on LBW. RESULTS: Maternal serum folate levels increased basically with increasing the period of folic acid supplementation (P trend <0.001). Moreover, maternal serum folate and B12 levels gradually decreased with the increase of gestational age (P < 0.001). Conditional logistic regressions analysis results showed increased odds ratios (OR) for LBW from the fourth to first folate quartiles (P trend <0.01) in the second trimester. Compared with the women in the highest quartile, those in the lowest quartile of serum folate in the second trimester were found with higher risk of LBW (adjusted OR = 1.67, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-2.73). However, no significant association was observed between serum folate and LBW in the first trimester or third trimester. In addition, serum B12 exhibited no significant association with LBW. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum folate levels in the second trimester significantly increases the risk of LBW amongst Chinese women with singleton pregnancies.

Association between Recreational Physical Activity and the Risk of Upper Urinary Calculi.

OBJECTIVE: Upper urinary calculi (UUC) is considered to be a comprehensive disease associated with many risk factors, but the role of physical activity (PA) is undefined. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate this relationship in Asian populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients diagnosed with UUC were the subjects of study and those who participated in a health examination in local medical center were included as controls. Information was collected through the same standard questionnaire. A metabolic equivalent score (METs) was measured for each kind of activity. OR of UUC in categories of PA were determined by logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 1,782 controls and 1,517 cases were enrolled. People who took higher PA (5-9.9, 10-19.9, 20-29.9 and >30 METs/wk) weekly were associated with lower risks of UUC than those took lower PA (<4.9 METs/wk) after adjusting for age, ethnicity, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, water intake, history of gout, history of diabetes mellitus, history of supplemental calcium use and history of hypertension (adjusted OR 0.11, 0.32, 0.24, 0.34; 95% CI 0.08-0.15, 0.23-0.43, 0.15-0.40, 0.22-0.53, respectively; p value <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In our cross-sectional study, PA was associated with UUC.

[Transurethral plasmakinetic enucleation of prostate and suprapubic small cut in the treatment of high risk and senior patient with benign prostatic hyperplasia and bladder stones].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the safety and efficiency of transurethral plasmakinetic enucleation of prostate (TUPKEP) and suprapubic small cut in the treatment of high-risk and senior patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and bladder stones. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted for 68 high-risk and senior patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia and bladder stones. All of them were treated by TUPKEP and suprapubic small cut. RESULTS: Operation was successfully performed in all 68 cases. And there was no instance of transurethral resection syndrome, shock, myocardial infarct, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, permanent urinary incontinence or surgical site infection. Seven patients with temporal urinary incontinence recovered at a mean time of (9.48 ± 1.52) days post-operation. The mean operative duration was (48.63 ± 4.14) min and the mean volume of blood loss (50.97 ± 5.33) ml. The changes of maximum flow rate (Qmax), international prostatic symptom score (I-PSS) and quality-of-life (QOL) were statistically significant before and after operation. Qmax increased from (4.56 ± 0.35) to (18.82 ± 1.65) ml/s (P < 0.001), I-PSS decreased form (21.96 ± 1.89) to (11.23 ± 0.86) (P = 0.018) and QOL decreased from (4.94 ± 0.35) to (1.95 ± 0.32) (P = 0.011). CONCLUSION: The approach of TUPKEP and suprapubic small cut is both safe and effective in the treatment of high-risk and senior patient with benign prostatic hyperplasia and bladder stones and should be widely applied.

[Reducing effect of curcumin on expressions of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in rats with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of curcumin on the expressions of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in rats with chronic nonbacterial prostatitis. METHODS: Sixty healthy adult male SD rats with the body weight of 200 -220 g were equally and randomly divided into a normal control, a positive control, a model, an oral curcumin and an intraperitoneal curcumin group. The rat models of chronic nonbacterial prostatitis were made by hypodermic injection of estradiol benzoate at the dose of 0.25 mg/(kg x d) for 30 days after castration, and then treated with curcumin at 200 mg/(kg x d) by gavage or intraperitoneal injection. The positive controls received oral celebrex at 250 mg/(kg x d), while the normal control and model groups were given saline by gavage. After a week of treatment, the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-8 in the serum and prostate tissues of the rats were detected by ELISA assay. RESULTS: The levels of TNF-alpha and IL-8 in the serum and prostate tissues were significantly lower in the intraperitoneal curcumin than in the positive control group (P < 0.05), but the expression of IL-6 showed no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.01). CONCLUSION: Curcumin is efficacious for chronic nonbacterial prostatitis in rats, and the action mechanism may be associated with its decreasing effect on the proinflammatory cytokines IL-8 and TNF-alpha in the blood and tissues.

[Curcumin inhibits growth, induces G1 arrest and apoptosis on human prostatic stromal cells by regulating Bcl-2/Bax].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of curcumin on apoptosis of human prostatic stromal cells. METHOD: Different concentrations of curcumin were added into culture media system to induce apoptosis of human prostatic stromal cells. The apoptosis was detected by MTT assay, flow cytometry, RT-PCR and TUNEL method. RESULT: Curcumin at concentrations of 10-40 micromol x L(-1) could inhibit the proliferation of human prostatic stromal cells in a doseand time-dependent manner (P < 0.05). Characteristic apoptosis were confirmed by TUNEL RT-PCR manifest downregulation of Bcl-2/Bax (P < 0.05). Cell cycle was arrested into G1 phase by curcumin. CONCLUSION: Curcumin can induce apoptosis in human prostatic stromal cells by down-regulation of Bcl-2/Bax.

[Curcumin in the treatment of prostatic diseases].

The use of turmeric, derived from the root of the plant curcuma longa, for the treatment of various diseases has been described in Ayurveda and in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years. The active component of turmeric responsible for this activity, curcumin, was identified almost two centuries ago. Extensive research over the last decade has indicated that this polyphenol can both prevent and treat prostatic diseases.