Green and blue spaces and lung function in the Generation XXI cohort: a life-course approach.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to natural environments may affect respiratory health. This study examined the association of exposure to green and blue spaces with lung function in children, and assessed the mediation effect of air pollution and physical activity. METHODS: The study used data from the Generation XXI, a population-based birth cohort from the Porto Metropolitan Area (Portugal). Residential Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) at different buffers (100, 250 and 500 m), the accessibility to urban green spaces (UGS) within 400 and 800 m and the minimum distance to the nearest UGS and to the nearest blue spaces were assessed at birth, 4, 7 and 10 years of age. Three life-course measures were calculated: averaged exposure, early-life exposure (birth) and exposure trend over time (change in exposure). Forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF25-75%) at 10 years were used as outcomes. To assess associations, linear regression models and path analysis were used. RESULTS: This study included 3278 children. The adjusted models showed that increasing the NDVI exposure over time within 100 m of the child's residence was associated with higher values of FEV1 (L) and FEF25-75% (L·s-1) (ß 0.01, 95% CI 0.0002-0.03 and ß 0.02, 95% CI 0.001-0.05, respectively). No significant associations were observed for the remaining measures of exposure, and no mediation effect was found for pollution or physical activity. CONCLUSION: Increasing exposure to greenness at close proximity from residences was associated with improved lung function. While the mechanism remains unknown, this study brings evidence that city greening may improve children's respiratory health.

Structural and molecular analysis of the cancer prostate cell line PC3: Oocyte zona pellucida glycoproteins.

The human oocyte zona pellucida (ZP) is made of four glycoproteins, ZP1-ZP4. Recently, the prostate adenocarcinoma and prostate cancer PC3 cell-line were shown to express the human oocyte ZP3 glycoprotein, which was evaluated in a single report subject to patent. To further clarify whether oocyte zona pellucida glycoproteins are expressed in prostate cancer tissue and PC3-cells, in this report we evaluated protein expression of the four ZP glycoproteins in normal prostate tissue, prostate adenocarcinoma tissue and PC3-cells, and performed quantitative mRNA expression of the four ZP glycoproteins in the PC3 cell-line. Furthermore, as PC3-cells have not yet been studied in detail regarding their ultrastructural characteristics, in the present report we bring forward the detailed ultrastructure of PC3-cells. PC3-cells were divided into pavement and aggregated cells. We observed new ultrastructural features in pavement and aggregated cells, with the later exhibiting two different cell types. In prostate carcinoma tissue and PC3-cells we found protein expression of the four oocyte glycoproteins, ZP1, ZP2, ZP3 and ZP4. In addition, mRNA expression studies revealed expression of ZP1, ZP3 and ZP4 glycoproteins, but not of ZP2. Interestingly, the ZP1 mRNA product exhibited intron retention.