The coexistence of low muscle mass and obesity evaluated by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, rather than low muscle mass or obesity alone, is associated with macrovascular but not microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM: The prevalence of the coexistence of low muscle mass and obesity is increasing, particularly with a rising trend observed in patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the association between the coexistence of low muscle mass and obesity and diabetic complications remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate these associations in patients with T2D. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted, including 2387 hospitalized patients with T2DM. Data on demographic characteristics, biochemical parameters, diabetic complications and body composition was from electronic health records. The participants were categorized as control, low muscle mass, obesity and the coexistence of the low muscle mass and obesity groups according to the body compositions evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to assess the associations between the pattern of body composition and complications of diabetes. RESULTS: After adjustment for potential confounders, compared with patients in the control group, the odds ratios [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] of macrovascular complications of diabetes were 0.62 (95% CI, 0.27-1.39) for those in the low muscle mass group, 1.12 (95% CI, 0.59-2.11) in the obesity group, and 2.43 (95% CI, 1.16-5.07) in the coexistence of the low muscle mass and obesity group, respectively; the odds ratios (95% CIs) of microvascular complications of diabetes were 0.86 (95% CI, 0.52-1.43) for those in the low muscle mass group, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.53-1.26) in the obesity group, and 1.21 (95% CI, 0.69-2.15) in the coexistence of the low muscle mass and obesity group, respectively. CONCLUSION: According to our findings, the coexistence of low muscle mass and obesity, rather than low muscle mass or obesity alone, was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of macrovascular complications in hospitalized patients with T2DM. This association was not observed for diabetic microvascular complications.

A developmental stage-specific network approach for studying dynamic co-regulation of transcription factors and microRNAs during craniofacial development.

Craniofacial development is regulated through dynamic and complex mechanisms that involve various signaling cascades and gene regulations. Disruption of such regulations can result in craniofacial birth defects. Here, we propose the first developmental stage-specific network approach by integrating two crucial regulators, transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs (miRNAs), to study their co-regulation during craniofacial development. Specifically, we used TFs, miRNAs and non-TF genes to form feed-forward loops (FFLs) using genomic data covering mouse embryonic days E10.5 to E14.5. We identified key novel regulators (TFs Foxm1, Hif1a, Zbtb16, Myog, Myod1 and Tcf7, and miRNAs miR-340-5p and miR-129-5p) and target genes (Col1a1, Sgms2 and Slc8a3) expression of which changed in a developmental stage-dependent manner. We found that the Wnt-FoxO-Hippo pathway (from E10.5 to E11.5), tissue remodeling (from E12.5 to E13.5) and miR-129-5p-mediated Col1a1 regulation (from E10.5 to E14.5) might play crucial roles in craniofacial development. Enrichment analyses further suggested their functions. Our experiments validated the regulatory roles of miR-340-5p and Foxm1 in the Wnt-FoxO-Hippo subnetwork, as well as the role of miR-129-5p in the miR-129-5p-Col1a1 subnetwork. Thus, our study helps understand the comprehensive regulatory mechanisms for craniofacial development.

Comparison of the binding characteristics of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 RBDs to ACE2 at different temperatures by MD simulations.

Temperature plays a significant role in the survival and transmission of SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and SARS-CoV-2. To reveal the binding differences of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domains (RBDs) to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) at different temperatures at atomic level, 20 molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 RBD-ACE2 complexes at five selected temperatures, i.e. 200, 250, 273, 300 and 350 K. The analyses on structural flexibility and conformational distribution indicated that the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 RBD was more stable than that of the SARS-CoV RBD at all investigated temperatures. Then, molecular mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area and solvated interaction energy approaches were combined to estimate the differences in binding affinity of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 RBDs to ACE2; it is found that the binding ability of ACE2 to the SARS-CoV-2 RBD was stronger than that to the SARS-CoV RBD at five temperatures, and the main reason for promoting such binding differences is electrostatic and polar interactions between RBDs and ACE2. Finally, the hotspot residues facilitating the binding of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 RBDs to ACE2, the key differential residues contributing to the difference in binding and the interaction mechanism of differential residues that exist at all investigated temperatures were analyzed and compared in depth. The current work would provide a molecular basis for better understanding of the high infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 and offer better theoretical guidance for the design of inhibitors targeting infectious diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2.

Pyroptosis is involved in maternal nicotine exposure-induced metabolic associated fatty liver disease progression in offspring mice.

We have investigated whether inflammasomes and pyroptosis are activated in maternal nicotine exposure (MNE) offspring mice and whether they are involved in MNE-promoted metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in adult offspring. We injected pregnant mice subcutaneously with saline vehicle or nicotine twice a day on gestational days 11-21. Offspring mice from both groups were fed with a normal diet (ND) or a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 months at postnatal day 21 to develop the MAFLD model. Serum biochemical indices were analyzed, and liver histology was performed. The expression levels of inflammasome and pyroptosis proteins were detected by western blot. We found MNE significantly aggravated the injury of MAFLD in adult offspring mice. MNE activated inflammasomes and pyroptosis in both infant and adult offspring mice. HFD treatment activated inflammasomes but not pyroptosis at 3 months, while it showed no effect at 6 months. However, pyroptosis was more severe in MNE-HFD mice than in MNE-ND mice at 6 months. Taken together, our data suggest MNE promotes MAFLD progression in adult offspring mice. MNE also induces NLRP3 and NLRP6 inflammasome activation and pyroptosis in both infant and adult offspring mice, which may be involved in MNE-promoted progression of MAFLD.

Synergistic biocontrol of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens against early blight disease in tomato.

Early blight of tomato caused by Alternaria solani results in significant crop losses. In this study, Bacillus subtilis J3 and Pseudomonas fluorescens J8 were co-cultured as a synthetic microbial community (BCA) for synergistic biocontrol of A. solani, and the inhibition mechanism was investigated. BCA presented an inhibition ration against A. solani at 94.91%, which lowered the disease incidence by 38.26-42.87%; reduced peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase activity of tomatoes by 73.11-90.22%; and promoted the biomass by 66.91-489.21%. With BCA protection, the relative expression of tomato resistance genes (including gPAL2, SWRKY, PR-10, and CHI) in roots and leaves was 12.83-90.70% lower than without protection. BCA also significantly altered the rhizosphere and phyllosphere microbial community. The abundance of potentially beneficial bacteria, including Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, Lysobacter, and Rhizobium, elevated by 6.58-192.77%. They were negatively correlated with resistance gene expression, indicating their vital involvement in disease control. These results provided essential information on the synergistic biocontrol mechanism of bacteria against pathogens, which could contribute to developing novel biocontrol strategies. KEY POINTS: • Bacillus and Pseudomonas present a synergistic biocontrol effect against A. solani. • Biocontrol prevents pathogen damage and improves tomato growth and systemic resistance. • Beneficial bacteria thrive in the rhizosphere is the key to microbial regulation.

General learning ability in perceptual learning.

Developing expertise in any field usually requires acquisition of a wide range of skills. Most current studies on perceptual learning have focused on a single task and concluded that learning is quite specific to the trained task, and the ubiquitous individual differences reflect random fluctuations across subjects. Whether there exists a general learning ability that determines individual learning performance across multiple tasks remains largely unknown. In a large-scale perceptual learning study with a wide range of training tasks, we found that initial performance, task, and individual differences all contributed significantly to the learning rates across the tasks. Most importantly, we were able to extract both a task-specific but subject-invariant component of learning, that accounted for 38.6% of the variance, and a subject-specific but task-invariant perceptual learning ability, that accounted for 36.8% of the variance. The existence of a general perceptual learning ability across multiple tasks suggests that individual differences in perceptual learning are not "noise"; rather, they reflect the variability of learning ability across individuals. These results could have important implications for selecting potential trainees in occupations that require perceptual expertise and designing better training protocols to improve the efficiency of clinical rehabilitation.

Identifying Long- and Short-Term Processes in Perceptual Learning.

Practice makes perfect in almost all perceptual tasks, but how perceptual improvements accumulate remains unknown. Here, we developed a multicomponent theoretical framework to model contributions of both long- and short-term processes in perceptual learning. Applications of the framework to the block-by-block learning curves of 49 adult participants in seven perceptual tasks identified ubiquitous long-term general learning and within-session relearning in most tasks. More importantly, we also found between-session forgetting in the vernier-offset discrimination, face-view discrimination, and auditory-frequency discrimination tasks; between-session off-line gain in the visual shape search task; and within-session adaptation and both between-session forgetting and off-line gain in the contrast detection task. The main results of the vernier-offset discrimination and visual shape search tasks were replicated in a new experiment. The multicomponent model provides a theoretical framework to identify component processes in perceptual learning and a potential tool to optimize learning in normal and clinical populations.

Responsive change of crop-specific soil bacterial community to cadmium in farmlands surrounding mine area of Southeast China.

In arable soils co-influenced by mining and farming, soil bacteria significantly affect metal (Cadmium, Cd) bioavailability and accumulation. To reveal the soil microecology response under this co-influence, three intersection areas (cornfield, vegetable field, and paddy field) were investigated. With a similar nutrient condition, the soils showed varied Cd levels (0.31-7.70 mg/kg), which was negatively related to the distance from mining water flow. Different soils showed varied microbial community structures, which were dominated by Chloroflexi (19.64-24.82%), Actinobacteria (15.49-31.96%), Acidobacteriota (9.46-20.31%), and Proteobacteria (11.88-14.57%) phyla. A strong correlation was observed between functional microbial taxon (e. g. Acidobacteriota), soil physicochemical properties, and Cd contents. The relative abundance of tolerant bacteria including Vicinamibacteraceae, Knoellia, Ardenticatenales, Lysobacter, etc. elevated with the increase of Cd, which contributed to the enrichment of heavy metal resistance genes (HRGs) and integration genes (intlI), thus enhancing the resistance to heavy metal pollution. Cd content rather than crop species was identified as the dominant factor that influenced the bacterial community. Nevertheless, the peculiar agrotype of the paddy field contributed to its higher HRGs and intlI abundance. These results provided fundamental information about the crop-specific physiochemical-bacterial interaction, which was helpful to evaluate agricultural environmental risk around the intersection of farmland and pollution sources.

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and NMR identification of structurally different A-type procyanidins from peanut skin and their inhibitory effect on acrylamide.

BACKGROUND: Flavan-3-ol polyphenols have been shown to have great advantages in inhibiting acrylamide formation. However, flavan-3-ol polyphenols have structures that vary significantly, and existing research has been focused mainly on the effects of B-type procyanidins and structural units of procyanidins. This study aims to separate structurally different A-type procyanidins from peanut skin and compare their inhibitory effects on acrylamide in an asparagine-glucose simulation system. RESULTS: Five compounds were separated and identified from peanut skin, including epicatechin-(2ߠ→ O â†’ 7, 4ߠ→ 8)-ent-epicatechin, epicatechin-(2ߠ→ O â†’ 7, 4ߠ→ 8)-epicatechin, epicatechin-(2ߠ→ O â†’ 7, 4ߠ→ 8)-epicatechin-(4ߠ→ 6)-catechin, epicatechin-(2ߠ→ O â†’ 7, 4ߠ→ 8)-epicatechin-(4ߠ→ 8)-catechin, and epicatechin-(4ߠ→ 6)-epicatechin-(4ߠ→ 8, 2ߠ→ O â†’ 7)-catechin. All the procyanidins could reduce the acrylamide content within a certain range of concentrations. The highest inhibition rates followed the order of compound 5 (A-type trimer) > compound 1 (A-type dimer) > compound 2 (A-type dimer) > compound 3 (A-type trimer) > compound 4 (A-type trimer). Comparison analysis showed that structurally different A-type procyanidins have various inhibitory effects on acrylamide production, which may be related to their spatial configuration and bond connection mode. CONCLUSION: Overall, our findings help us to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the structure of procyanidins and their inhibitory effects on acrylamide, particularly the inhibitory effect of A-type. There are potential practical implications if people use A-type procyanidins as acrylamide inhibitors in hot processed foods in the future. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Maternal nicotine exposure aggravates metabolic associated fatty liver disease via PI3K/Akt signaling in adult offspring mice.

AIM: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of maternal nicotine exposure (MNE) on the development of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) in adulthood offspring and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Pregnant mice (n = 22) were subcutaneously injected with either saline vehicle (n = 11) or nicotine (n = 11) twice a day on gestational days 11-21. Offspring mice (n = 176) from both groups were weaned at postnatal day 21, and for 6 months after postnatal day 21, 96 mice were fed either a standard chow diet (n = 48) or a high-fat diet (n = 48). Serum lipid indicators, liver function indicators, insulin, and liver mitochondrial respiration were analyzed. The expression levels of fibrosis-related proteins, phosphorylated PI3K, phosphorylated Akt, sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP1c), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR-α) were detected in the liver by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. RESULTS: MNE significantly decreased the weight of both maternal and offspring mice (~30%) and inhibited organ growth in offspring mice (P < .05). MNE also significantly increased serum levels of total bile acid, triglycerides, total cholesterol, glucose, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, low-density lipoprotein, and insulin while decreasing serum high-density lipoprotein levels and mitochondrial respiration activity in mice fed either the normal diet or high-fat diet (all P < .05). These effects of MNE on lipid metabolism and insulin resistance were mediated via PI3K and Akt phosphorylation and down-regulation of SREBP1c and PPAR-α. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate MNE induces lipid metabolism disorder and insulin resistance to promote MAFLD progression in adult offspring through activation of PI3K/Akt signaling and suppression of SREBP1c and PPARα protein expression.

Independent associations of thyroid-related hormones with hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in euthyroid overweight/obese Chinese adults.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study is to explore the independent association of free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) with hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 88 overweight/obese adults who underwent anthropometric measurements [BMI, waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR)], hepatic steatosis assessment (FibroScan) and thyroid-related hormones tests was conducted from 2018 to 2020 in Xiamen, China. RESULTS: Subjects with increasing tertiles of FT3 showed significantly higher levels of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) ((295.4 ± 44.1, 290.1 ± 68.2 and 331.7 ± 43.6 (dB/m) for tertile 1-3, respectively, p = 0.007) and fatty liver index (FLI) score (47.7 (33.9-60.8), 61.5 (45.1-88.9) and 90.5 (84.5-94.8), respectively, p < 0.001). FT3 significantly and positively correlated with obesity index (BMI, WC, and WHtR), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and hepatic steatosis (CAP and FLI). Multivariable linear regression analyses with adjustment for potential confounding factors showed FT3 was independently associated with BMI (regression coefficient (ß (95%CI): 0.024 (0.004-0.043), p = 0.020), HOMA-IR (ß (95%CI): 0.091 (0.007-0.174), p = 0.034), CAP (ß (95%CI): 25.45 (2.59-48.31), p = 0.030) and FLI (ß (95%CI): 0.121 (0.049-0.194), p = 0.001). Neither FT4 nor TSH was significantly associated with any indicators of obesity, insulin resistance or hepatic steatosis. CONCLUSIONS: Increased FT3, but not FT4 or TSH, was independently associated with higher risks of hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in euthyroid overweight/obese Chinese adults. Trial registration Registration is not applicable for our study.

Sex-specific associations between prenatal antibiotics exposure and offspring's body mass index.

OBJECTIVE: Animal studies and epidemiological studies have shown that there is potential sex-specific sensitivity to the intrauterine environment in relation to the developmental programming of obesity. The objective of this study was to assess the sex-specific association between prenatal antibiotics exposure and body mass index (BMI) in offspring from 1 to 4 years. METHODS: A total of 10,163 mother-child pairs from the Medical Birth Registry in Xiamen, China, were included in this prospective cohort study. Data on prenatal antibiotics exposure were collected from the prescription database. RESULTS: A total of 4909 (48.3%) offspring had prenatal antibiotics exposure. The associations between prenatal antibiotics exposure and offspring's BMI were significantly different among female offspring and male offspring (P for interaction: 0.034 at 1 year of age; 0.033 at 2 years of age; 0.020 at 3 years of age; and 0.021 at 4 years of age). In female offspring, prenatal antibiotic use was significantly associated with a higher BMI Z-score from 1 to 4 years old (difference in BMI Z-score: 0.11 [95% CI: 0.05-0.17] at 1 years of age; 0.10 [95% CI: 0.05-0.16] at 2 years of age; 0.14 [95% CI: 0.09-0.21] at 3 years of age; and 0.13 [95% CI: 0.07-0.19] at 4 years of age) after adjustment for confounder. Prenatal antibiotics use was not associated with offspring BMI Z-score from 1 to 4 years in male offspring. CONCLUSIONS: The association of prenatal antibiotics exposure and BMI Z-score from 1 to 4 years old may differ by sex of offspring.

Halomonas piezotolerans sp. nov., a multiple-stress-tolerant bacterium isolated from a deep-sea sediment sample of the New Britain Trench.

A piezotolerant, H2O2-tolerant, heavy-metal-tolerant, slightly halophilic bacterium (strain NBT06E8T) was isolated from a deep-sea sediment sample collected from the New Britain Trench at depth of 8900 m. The strain was aerobic, motile, Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, oxidase-positive and catalase-positive. Growth of the strain was observed at 4-45 °C (optimum, 30 °C), at pH 5-11 (optimum, pH 8-9) and in 0.5-21 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3-7 %). The optimum pressure for growth was 0.1-30 MPa with tolerance up to 60 MPa. Under optimum growth conditions, the strain could tolerate 15 mM H2O2. Resuls of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain NBT06E8T is closely related to Halomonas aquamarina DSM 30161T (99.5%), Halomonas meridiana DSM 5425T (99.43%) and Halomonas axialensis Althf1T (99.35%). The digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain NBT06E8T and the three related type strains, H. aquamarina, H. meridiana and H. axialensis, were 30.5±2.4 %, 30.7±2.5% and 31.5±2.5 %, respectively. The average nucleotide identity values between strain NBT06E8T and the three related type strains were 86.26, 86.26 and 83.63 %, respectively. The major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω7c and/or C18 : 1 ω6c) and C16 : 0. The predominant respiratory quinone detected was ubiquinone-9 (Q-9). Based on its phenotypic and phylogenetic characteristics, we conclude that strain NBT06E8T represents a novel species of the genus Halomonas, for which the name Halomonas piezotolerans sp. nov. is proposed (type strain NBT06E8T= MCCC 1K04228T=KCTC 72680T).

Xbp1-u and Xbp1-s from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus): Transcriptional profiling upon Streptococcus agalactiae infection and the potential role in B cell activation and differentiation.

X-box protein 1 (Xbp1), an essential transcription factor including an unstable form (Xbp1-u) and a stable form (Xbp1-s), plays an vital role in B cell activation and differentiation to plasma cells. In this study, we cloned and identified Xbp1-u gene from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), containing 783 bp of nucleotide sequence encoding 260 amino acids. The deduced protein possesses a basic region leucine zipper domain (bZIP) and 26 ribonucleotides of OnXbp1-u transcript. Transcription analysis revealed OnXbp1-u and OnXbp1-s were widely distributed in all examined tissues, with a high expression in immune-related tissues. When stimulated with Streptococcus agalactiae in vivo, the expressions of OnXbp1-u and OnXbp1-s were significantly up-regulated in liver, spleen, head kidney, blood, skin and intestine. After in vitro challenge upon S.agalactiae, the similar up-regulations of OnXbp1-u and OnXbp1-s were also demonstrated in head kidney leukocytes. Moreover, the OnXbp1-u and OnXbp1-s could get involved in LPS-inducible B cell activation and (r)OnIL6-inducible B cell differentiation. Taken together, the results indicated that OnXbp1-u and OnXbp1-s might not only involved in the immune response against S. agalactiae challenge, but also in the B cell activation and differentiation in Nile tilapia.

Molecular characterization and expression analysis of chemokine (CXCL12) from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus).

Chemokines are a class of small molecular weight cytokines of 6-14 kDa, exerting important roles in the regulation of various inflammatory diseases and immune cell migration. In this study, we have identified the CXCL12 gene from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), including CXCL12a (OnCXCL12a) and CXCL12b (OnCXCL12b). The open reading frames of OnCXCL12a and OnCXCL12b are 309 and 297 bp, encoding 102 and 98 amino acids, respectively. Multiple alignment showed that OnCXCL12a and OnCXCL12b have characteristics of CXC chemokines and share high identity with CXCL12 amino acid sequences from the known species. Tissue distribution in the healthy fish indicated that OnCXCL12a and OnCXCL12b expressed in all examined tissues, with the highest expression in muscle and anterior kidney, respectively. After challenged by Streptococcus agalactiae, Poly(I:C) and LPS in vivo and in vitro, OnCXCL12 is transcriptionally up-regulated in immune tissues and cells significantly. The recombinant OnCXCL12 proteins, (r)OnCXCL12a and (r)OnCXCL12b, enhance the release of nitric oxide and increase the expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10) in anterior kidney leukocytes, as well as exhibit chemotactic activity for leukocytes from anterior kidney. Summarizing, these results indicate that OnCXCL12 is involved in the immune response of Nile tilapia against pathogen infection and may play an important role in mediating inflammatory response.

A microfibril-associated glycoprotein 4 (MFAP4) from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) possesses agglutination and opsonization ability to bacterial pathogens.

Microfibril-associated glycoprotein 4 (MFAP4), a pattern recognition-like molecule with a fibrinogen-like domain (FBG), has the ability to combine and agglutinate pathogens, playing an essential role in the first line of innate immune defense. In this study, the sequence of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) microfibril-associated glycoprotein 4 (OnMFAP4) open reading frame (ORF) was amplified and identified. The ORF of OnMFAP4 is 720 bp of nucleotides and codes for 239 amino acids. Spatial mRNA encoding analysis indicated that OnMFAP4 was highly produced in liver, intestine and head kidney in healthy tilapia, and with the lowest expression in muscle. After challenges with Streptococcus agalactiae (S. agalactiae) and Aeromonas hydrophila (A. hydrophila), the expression of OnMFAP4 mRNA was prominently produced in the liver, spleen and head kidney. The up-regulation of OnMFAP4 expression was also presented in head kidney monocytes/macrophages (MO/MΦ) and hepatocytes. Recombinant OnMFAP4 ((r)OnMFAP4) could bind and agglutinate both bacterial pathogens. Moreover, (r)OnMFAP4 could take part in the modulation of inflammation and phagocytosis. In conclusion, this study revealed that OnMFAP4 might take effect in host defense against bacterial infection in Nile tilapia, with agglutination and opsonization capability to bacterial pathogens.

Health risks and source identification of dietary exposure to indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Lanzhou, China.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widely present in multiple environmental media even long after the phaseout, posing a health risk to the general population. Dietary intake is the major exposure route of PCBs; however, information is limited regarding PCBs in food that people directly consume. This study aims to measure personal exposure to indicator PCBs, evaluate the health risks, and identify their sources in a typical metropolitan city in China. Multi-day food samples were collected from 21 subjects in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, in two seasons using the duplicate plate method. Samples were extracted and analyzed for seven indicator PCBs using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Average daily doses (ADDs) of ∑7PCBs were estimated using Monte Carlo analysis with food intake information. Results show that PCB-118 and PCB-180 were the major congeners in food samples with average concentrations of 1.42 and 1.11 ng/g, respectively. The average (± SD) ADD of ∑7PCBs was 26.47 ± 22.10 ng/kg day among adults aged 18-69 years and displayed small variation across age groups. Comparing with the chronic RfD of 7 ng/kg day, 67% of people had their ADDs exceeding this threshold. The median cancer risk was 5.52 × 10-5, and 51% of residents had risks exceeding the action level of 10-4. The principal component analysis identified waste incineration, gasoline engine production, and leakage of #1 PCBs as the major PCBs sources. In conclusion, a large portion of Lanzhou residents has high non-cancer and cancer risks from dietary exposure to PCBs, which warrants control actions targeting these major sources.

Effects of Prepregnancy Body Mass Index, Weight Gain, and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on Pregnancy Outcomes: A Population-Based Study in Xiamen, China, 2011-2018.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear that how prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG), and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affect pregnancy outcomes in -China. Thus, we explored how BMI, GWG, and GDM affect the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. METHODS: We performed a retrospective, population-based study included all births in Xiamen, China, 2011-2018. Demographic data and pregnancy outcomes of 73,498 women were acquired from the Medical Birth Registry of Xiamen. Women were categorized into groups on prepregnancy BMI and GWG in order to assess the risk of pregnancy outcomes. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to evaluate risk factors. RESULTS: Overall, 6,982 (9.37%) women were obese, and 8,874 (12.07%) women were overweight. Obese women are more vulnerable to cesarean delivery, preterm birth, large-for-gestational age (LGA), and macrosomia (crude OR [cOR] 2.00, 1.89-2.12; 1.35, 1.20-1.51; 2.12, 1.99-2.26; 2.53, 2.25-2.86, respectively, adjusted ORs 1.73, 1.62-1.84; 1.25, 1.10-1.42; 2.03, 1.90-2.18; 2.77, 2.44-3.16, respectively). Similar results were observed in overweight women (cORs 1.49, 1.42-1.57; 1.02, 0.91-1.15; 1.60, 1.50-1.70; 2.01, 1.78-2.26, respectively). Furthermore, women who gain weight in excessive group were 1.43, 2.06, and 2.16 times to deliver cesarean, LGA, and macrosomia, respectively. Additionally, GDM women were easily subjected to cesarean section, preterm birth, LGA, low birth weight, and macrosamia (cORs 1.52, 1.55, 1.52, 1.37, 1.27, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Obesity prior to pregnancy, excessive GWG, and GDM were all associated with increased odds of cesarean, LGA, and macrosomia. Blood glucose and weight control before and during pregnancy are needed that may reduce the complications of pregnancy.

Molecular cloning, expression analysis, and the immune-related role of a thymosin ß in the goldfish, Carassius auratus.

ß-Thymosins play critical roles in the regulation of many important physiological processes, but their function in teleost fishes remains poorly understood. In this study, the full-length cDNA coding for a thymosin ß (Tß) was cloned and identified in goldfish, Carassius auratus (gfTß). The gfTß cDNA consisted of 653 bp with an open reading frame of 135 bp that encodes a 44 amino acid polypeptide. Sequence analysis revealed one thymosin domain and a highly conserved actin-binding motif (18LKKTET23). Expression of gfTß transcript was detected ubiquitously in all tissues examined, with relatively higher levels in the brain, intestine, spleen, gill, skin, kidney, and testis. Cadmium and H2O2 exposure induced increases in gfTß transcript levels in the liver and spleen. Moreover, gfTß transcription was upregulated in response to LPS challenge in the spleen while Poly I:C treatment did not affect gfTß expression. In vivo injection of recombinant gfTß generated from an Escherichia coli system induced expression of T lymphocyte-related genes (RAG1 and CD8α). These results suggest that gfTß may be involved in the immune response of teleost fishes via modulation of T lymphocyte development.