Associations of environmental cadmium exposure with kidney damage: Exploring mediating DNA methylation sites in Chinese adults.

Environmental exposure is widely recognized as the primary sources of Cadmium (Cd) in the human body, and exposure to Cd is associated with kidney damage in adults. Nevertheless, the role of DNA methylation in Cd-induced kidney damage remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the epigenome-wide association of environmental Cd-related DNA methylation changes with kidney damage. We included 300 non-smoking adults from the China in 2019. DNA methylation profiles were measured with Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip array. Linear mixed-effect model was employed to estimate the effects of urinary Cd with DNA methylation. Differentially methylated positions (DMPs) associated with urinary Cd were then tested for the association with kidney damage indicators. The mediation analysis was further applied to explore the potential DNA methylation based mediators. The prediction model was developed using a logistic regression model, and used 1000 bootstrap resampling for the internal validation. We identified 27 Cd-related DMPs mapped to 20 genes after the adjustment of false-discovery-rate for multiple testing among non-smoking adults. 17 DMPs were found to be associated with both urinary Cd and kidney damage, and 14 of these DMPs were newly identified within the Chinese. Mediation analysis revealed that DNA methylation of cg26907612 and cg16848624 mediated the Cd-related reduced kidney damage. In addition, ten variables were selected using the LASSO regression analysis and were utilized to develop the prediction model. It found that the nomogram model predicted the risk of kidney damage caused by environmental Cd with a corrected C-index of 0.779. Our findings revealed novel DMPs associated with both environmental Cd exposure and kidney damage among non-smoking adults, and developed an easy-to-use nomogram-illustrated model using these novel DMPs. These findings could provide a theoretical basis for formulating prevention and control strategies for kidney damage from the perspective of environmental pollution and epigenetic regulation.

Ligustilide alleviates the insulin resistance, lipid accumulation, and pathological injury with elevated phosphorylated AMPK level in rats with diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the major risk factors of disability and death worldwide. Despite of the protective role of ligustilide (LIG) in many cell types, we aimed to investigate whether LIG could be a potential to treat DM. METHODS: Sprague Dawley rats were randomly assigned to five groups. Rats except control were raised on a high-fat diet (HFD). Streptozotocin was intraperitoneally injected into HFD-fed rats to construct DM model. Rats in the LIG intervention groups received intraperitoneal injection of LIG (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) post-induction of DM. Blood glucose, plasma insulin (p-insulin), adiponectin, HbA1C%, obesity index, HOMA-IR, and biochemical parameters were estimated. Histopathological analysis and apoptosis in liver and kidney, along with proliferation and apoptosis of islet ß-cells, were analyzed. Expression of CPT-1 and ACC, and phosphorylation of Nrf2 and AMPKα1, were finally assessed. RESULTS: DM-induced alterations were all relived by LIG intervention. In brief, obesity index, glucose level, P-insulin content, HbA1C, and HOMA-IR were lowered while adiponectin level was elevated. Meanwhile, levels of TC, TG, ALT, and AST were decreased in the LIG intervention groups, along with up-regulated CPT-1 level and down-regulated ACC level. Pathological changes in liver and kidney tissues were alleviated, and apoptotic cells were reduced by LIG treatment. For islet ß-cells, LIG up-regulated Ki67 and c-Myc expression, and mitigated ratios of Bax/Bcl-2 and cleaved cas3(9)/cas3(9). Finally, LIG could promote phosphorylation of Nrf2 and AMPKα1. CONCLUSIONS: LIG alleviated the insulin resistance, lipid accumulation, and pathological injury with the activation of AMPK pathway in DM rats.

Validation of spot urine in predicting 24-h sodium excretion at the individual level.

Background: Evidence for the effect of dietary sodium intake on the risk of cardiovascular disease has been controversial. One of the main explanations for the conflicting results lies in the great variability associated with measurement methods for sodium intake. Spot urine collection is a convenient method commonly used for sodium estimation, but its validity for predicting 24-h urinary sodium excretion at the individual level has not been well evaluated among the general population.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of the Kawasaki, the International Cooperative Study on Salt, Other Factors, and Blood Pressure (INTERSALT), and the Tanaka formulas in predicting 24-h urinary sodium excretion by using spot urine samples in Chinese adults.Design: We analyzed the relative and absolute differences and misclassification at the individual level from 3 commonly used methods for estimating sodium intake among 141 Chinese community residents.Results: The mean measured 24-h sodium excretion was 220.8 mmol/d. The median (95% CIs) differences between measured sodium and those estimated from the Kawasaki, INTERSALT, and Tanaka methods were 6.4 mmol/d (-17.5, 36.8 mmol/d), -67.3 mmol/d (-96.5, -46.9 mmol/d), and -42.9 mmol/d (-59.1, -24.8 mmol/d), respectively. The proportions of relative differences >40% with the Kawasaki, INTERSALT, and Tanaka methods were 31.2%, 41.1%, and 22.0%, respectively; and the absolute difference for the 3 methods was >51.3 mmol/d (3 g salt) in approximately half of the participants. The misclassification rate was 63.1% for the Kawasaki method, 78.7% for the INTERSALT method, and 66.0% for the Tanaka method at the individual level.Conclusion: The results from our study do not support the use of spot urine to estimate 24-h urinary sodium excretion at the individual level because of its poor performance with respect to misclassification. This trial was registered at www.chictr.org.cn as ChiCTR-IOR-16010278.

Evaluation of a community-based behavioral weight loss program in Chinese adults: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Weight losses between a group of participants assigned to a weight loss program based in the community [i.e., specifically the methodology used by Weight Watchers (WW)] and a Nutrition Education (NE) control group were compared in this study. METHODS: In this 6-month trial, 300 participants with overweight or obesity were recruited from Beijing city, China, and randomly assigned to the WW or NE group. Weight, waist circumference, and biochemical parameters were assessed at baseline and 6 months. RESULTS: At 6 months, the majority of participants (79% for WW; 89% for NE) completed the study. WW participants lost significantly more weight than the NE group (-4.2 ± 5.6 kg vs. -0.6 ± 3.6 kg). More WW participants lost 5% or 10% of their starting weight [≥5%: 52.0% of WW participants vs. 11.3% of NE participants (odds ratio 8.15, 95% CI: 4.43-14.97)]; [≥10%: 26.0% of WW vs. 3.3% of NE participants (odds ratio 9.39, 95% CI: 3.55-24.83)]. In addition, WW participants reduced waist circumference by 3.9 ± 6.3 cm, while the NE group increased waist circumference by 0.6 ± 5.5 cm. CONCLUSIONS: The WW program was associated with clinically significant weight loss, demonstrating its potential value as an intervention strategy, based in the community, for the treatment of obesity in China.

[Effect of nutritional status during infancy and childhood on the risk of overweight and obesity in adulthood].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between fetal nutritional status and overweight and obesity in their adulthood and to provide evidence for formulation of the strategy on preventing low birth weight. METHODS: Using data from 2002 Nationwide Nutrition and Health Survey to set up a case-control method in order to compare body mass index(BMI), prevalence of overweight and obesity as well as to calculate odds ratio of overweight and obesity of case group compared with control group. Three case groups were selected from those who were born in 1959, 1960,1961 respectively, and the controls were those who were born in 1964. RESULTS: The health consequence of being famines on adulthood was evident in women. Means of BMI in women were significantly higher in three case groups than that in control group(P<0.01). After adjustment on geographic regions, the prevalence of overweight in women was significantly higher in three case groups than that in control group(P< 0.01). The prevalence rates of obesity were significantly higher in 1959, 1960 groups than 1964 group(P< 0.05). The odds ratios of overweight of women in three case groups were 28.9% (95% CI:1.063-1.565), 37.2% (95% CI:1. 136-1.658) and 35.2% (95% CI: 1. 103-1.657) respectively, all higher than that in the control group. The odds ratios of obesity of women born in 1959, 1960 groups were 46.5% (95% CI: 1.088-1.972) and 39.6% (95% CI: 1.039- 1.876) respectively, higher than that in the 1964 group. However, such differences were not found in men. CONCLUSION: Higher risks of overweight and obesity in women were caused by malnutrition during their fetal lives. A strategy on preventing low birth weight should be formulated by the government to prevent the chronic disease in adulthood.

[The role of dietary factors in chronic disease control in China].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of dietary patterns with chronic diseases and their indicators. METHODS: Using the data from 2002 National Nutrition and Health Survey, we divided the subjects into clusters according to their dietary patterns classified by different percentage of energy intake from cereal foods, carbohydrate and fat, respectively. The analysis of variance was used to identify the difference in chronic disease prevalence across clusters of subjects while controlling for age, gender and geographic regions. Logistic regression analysis was applied to calculate the odd ratios (OR) for association of chronic disease and each dietary pattern, after adjusted for age, gender, region, energy intake, leisure time. RESULTS: The higher percentage of energy intake from cereals was significantly associated with lower body mass index (BMI), lower total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). While it was significantly associated with lower risk for overweight/obesity, hypertension, high total cholesterol, high triglyceride (TG) and high LDL-C, but the prevalence of underweight was significantly higher in the cluster of subjects with cereal energy share more than 75%. The higher percentage of energy intake from fat was significantly associated with higher BMI, higher total cholesterol and higher LDL-C, which accordingly, was significantly associated with higher risk for overweight/obesity, hypertension, high total cholesterol, triglyceride and high LDL-C. CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the important role of dietary pattern in chronic disease control; in particular, appropriate percentage of energy intake from fat and cereals/carbohydrates are beneficial to control and prevention of chronic diseases.

[The influence of maternal nutrition on children physical development].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of maternal nutrition status on child growth in China. METHODS: The study was performed using data from 2002 China Nutrition Health Survey in which data were collected through stratified multi-stage cluster samples in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Accroding to the height of women aged 18-44 y was 156.4 cm, the data on mother and children' weight and height/length (n = 1380) were analyzed. RESULTS: The findings suggest child's length (age 2) were significantly correlated with maternal heights (P < 0.0001). The mean length in children born to mothers with a height below 156.4 cm was 2.4 cm less than those in children born to mothers with a height above 156.4 cm. The prevalence of stunting in children at age 2 born to mothers with a height below 156 cm was 2.07 times of that in children born to mothers with a height above 156 cm. Therefore, the risk for stunting in children at 2 is lower in children born to mothers with greater height. CONCLUSION: The maternal nutrition status could have a significant influence on children physical development.

[Study on weight and height of the Chinese people and the differences between 1992 and 2002].

OBJECTIVE: To describe the current situation and trends of mean weight and height of the Chinese people. METHODS: Subjects of 71,971 households from 31 provinces were selected by stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Height from 210 136 and weight from 202 749 subjects aged 2-79 years were used to describe their trends of development during 1992-2002. The height of children younger than 3 years of age was measured by infant height bed while the others were measured by metal height pole within 0.1 cm accuracy. Fasting body weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg. RESULTS: Data on the mean height (cm) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were gathered which include: 1) in urban area: boys as 90.1 (2y), 118.4 (6y), 144.9 (11y), 170.2 (17y); girls as: 89.0 (2y), 117.0 (6y), 145.8 (11y), 158.6 (17y); 2) in rural area:boys as 87.6 (2y), 113.1 (6y), 139.2 (11y), 166.3 (17y) while girls as 86.2 (2y), 112.9 (6y), 140.0 (11y), 157.0 (17y). When compared to the results from 1992, the average height increased among all age groups. The values of increase among different groups aged 2-5 years were seen as: 3.6 cm of boys in urban and 3.0 cm of boys in rural areas while 3.8 cm of girls in urban and 3.0 cm of girls in rural areas. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, the average increasing values of height were 3.1 cm, 3.4 cm, 2.8 cm and 3.1 cm of city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively versus adults as 0.7 cm, 0.9 cm, 0.6 cm and 1.0 cm, respectively. The mean weight (kg) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were listed as below: boys in urban area: 13.5 (2y), 22.2 (6y), 37.4 (11y), 58.7 (17y); girls in urban area: 12.7 (2y), 21.2 (6y), 36.7 (11y), 51.9 (17y); boys in rural area: 12.8 (2y), 19.4 (6y), 31.9 (11y), 54.9 (17y); girls in rural area: 11.9 (2y), 18.7 (6y), 31.8 (11y), 51.2 (17y). The average weights of all age groups on 2002 were all higher than their same age counterparts in 1992. The average increasing values of weight among children aged 2-5 years were 1.0 kg, 0.6 kg, 0.8 kg and 0.5 kg for city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, they were 2.0 kg, 1.5 kg, 1.4 kg and 1.1 kg, while among the adults aged 20-70 years, they were 3.2 kg, 3.0 kg, 1.6 kg and 2.9 kg, respectively. CONCLUSION: Both mean weight and height had a remarkable increase and the physical status improved among all age groups for the last ten years.

[Three years follow-up study on the changes of overweight and obesity among 862 pre-school children in Beijing city].

OBJECTIVE: To study the trend of changes of overweight and obesity among pre-school children in Beijing city. METHODS: An epidemiological survey was conducted in 10 representative kindergartens in urban Beijing. 862 children who were 3 - 4 years old in the first survey in 2000 were followed in 2001 and 2002. Anthropometric included weight and height. RESULTS: The results from three years follow-up of 862 children indicated that the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased with the age increasing (P < 0.05). The prevalence of obesity of boys was 12.5% in 2002 which increase 8% than that in the year of 2000 (4.4%), and the prevalence of obesity of girls was 10.7% in the year of 2002 which increase 6% than that in the year of 2000 (4.2%), the increasing rate of the obesity group was fast than the normal group. 80 percent of the obesity children remained obesity during the three years and the incidence of the obesity during the normal group was lower than the overweight group.

[Study on the relationship between body mass index and risk factors of chronic diseases of Beijing urban residences].

UNLABELLED: This study aimed to analysis the relationship among body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) with chronic diseases risk factors--serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceridaemia(TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and the prevalence of chronic diseases. The data was collected from 1995 to 1998 in the study of community base integrated intervention of non-communicable chronic diseases. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in male was 41.7% and 14.6%, in female was 32.0% and 20.4% in this population, respectively. BMI and WC had significant positive relationship with TC, TG, SBP and DBP but negative with HDL-C and HDL-C/TC. WC had significant positive relation with FBG. The prevalence of dyslipidaemia hypertension and diabetes were significantly increased in overweight and obese groups. For early prevention, we have to pay more attention to the population with BMI > 24.0 kg/m2, they had increased risk factors of non-communicable chronic diseases.

[Influence of calcium content among different calcium agents on absorbing and bone density of rats].

To identify the influence of different calcium contents among different calcium agents on absorbing and born density of rats, wistar rats are fed with diet containing different contents of calcium of different calcium agents. 3-day calcium metabolization experiment is carried out in the fourth week and atomic absorption spectrophotometry is applied to measure the calcium content of their dejecta and to estimate apparent absorptivity. Rats are killed in the twelfth week, and their thighbones are peeled. the results show that there is significant difference of the apparent absorptivity with different calcium intake. With the same content of calcium from nine kinds of calcium agents, the absorptivity is not significant different with an exception of those of active calcium, milk powder and oatmeal. Born density from the group of rats, which fed with diet with low level, middle level or high level of calcium, is obviously higher than that of rats fed with basic diet (P < 0.05). Born density of thighbone of the group of rats, which fed with diet with middle or high level of calcium content is not significantly different compared with that of rats fed with diet with calcium carbonate. The absorptivity of calcium is related with calcium content in diet. The effect of absorptivity of calcium agents tested is affirmative, but there is no difference of their effect in comparison with the calcium carbonate.