Association of the blood levels of specific volatile organic compounds with nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events in US adults.

BACKGROUND: Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases constitute a major global public health burden. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposure has become progressively severe, endangering human health and becoming one of the main concerns in environmental pollution. The associations of VOCs exposure with nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events have not been identified in observational study with a large sample size, so we aim to examine the association in US adult population. METHODS: Adults aged > 18 years with complete data regarding selected blood levels of VOCs (including benzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and m-/p-xylene) and nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events were included in the analysis (n = 3,968, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES, 2013-2018 survey cycle). Participants were classified into low- and high-exposure based on whether above selected VOCs low limit detect concentration or median value. Weighted multivariate logistic analyses and subgroup analyses were used to detect the association between selected VOCs exposure and nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events in US adults. RESULTS: Weighted multivariate logistic analyses showed that the high-VOCs exposure group had an increased risk of nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events compared with the low-VOCs exposure group; the adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events for the high-VOCs exposure group were 1.41 (0.91, 2.19), 1.37 (0.96, 1.95), 1.32 (0.96, 1.82), and 1.17 (0.82, 1.67) for benzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and m-/p-xylene, respectively, which was not significant assuming statistical significance at a 0.05 significance level (95% CI) for a two-tailed test. Lastly, we found high-VOCs exposure was associated with increased incidence of nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events in both daily smokers an non-daily smokers (p-interaction > 0.01), but the association was not statistically significant in non-daily smokers. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that VOCs (benzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and m-/p-xylene) exposure was associated with increased incidence of nonfatal cardio-cerebrovascular events in US adults, and the results need to be confirmed by larger cohort studies.

Integrated Analysis of DNA Methylome and Transcriptome Reveals Epigenetic Regulation of Cold Tolerance in Litopenaeus vannamei.

DNA methylation is an important epigenetic modification that has been shown to be associated with responses to non-biological stressors. However, there is currently no research on DNA methylation in response to environmental signals in shrimp. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive comparative analysis of DNA methylation profiles and differentially expressed genes between two strains of Litopenaeus vannamei with significantly different cold tolerance through whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) and transcriptome sequencing. Between Lv-C and Lv-T (constant temperature of 28 °C and low temperatures of 18 °C and 10 °C) under cytosine-guanine (CG) environments, 39,100 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified, corresponding to 9302 DMR-related genes (DMRGs). The DMRs were mainly located in the gene body (exons and introns). Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that these DMRGs were significantly enriched in cell parts, catalytic activity, and metabolic processes. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed significant enrichment of these DMRGs in pathways such as proteasome (ko03050), oxidative phosphorylation (ko00190), mTOR signaling pathway (ko04150), fatty acid metabolism (ko01212), and fatty acid degradation (ko00071). The comprehensive results suggested that L. vannamei mainly regulates gene expression in response to low temperatures through hypermethylation or demethylation of some genes involved in thermogenesis, glycolysis, the autophagy pathway, the peroxisome, and drug metabolism pathways. These results provide important clues for studying DNA methylation patterns and identifying cold tolerance genes in shrimp.

Effects of Ambient Temperature and Humidity on Natural Deposition Characteristics of Airborne Biomass Particles.

In the production process of biomass energy with crop straw as the raw material, the indoor dust environment created by smashed plant fiber can affect the health of workers and lead to the risk of fire and explosions. The physical properties of biomass vary with the ambient air conditions, resulting in different deposition processes for airborne biomass particles. In this study, the deposition of biomass particles in different environments in an experimental chamber was examined by independently controlling the internal temperature and relative humidity. The results show that in the ambient temperature range of 20~40 °C and at a relative humidity of 25~65%, the water absorption rates of the biomass particles were 15.4~24.7%. The deposition rates of the airborne biomass particles with different sizes were 0.9~2.9 h-1, which positively correlated with the particle sizes in the same ambient conditions. The increase in ambient temperature and relative humidity promoted the deposition of biomass particles with diameters over 0.5 µm. For the particles with diameters below 0.5 µm, the deposition rates were nonlinearly related to the ambient temperature and relative humidity and were greater at lower temperatures. The significance levels of the factors influencing the particle deposition were particle size > ambient temperature > ambient relative humidity. For the biomass particles below 0.5 µm, the influence of the relative humidity on the deposition was much weaker than that of the temperature.

Research Hotspots and Trends of Exercise on Parkinson's Disease: A Global Bibliometric Analysis From 2012 to 2021.

Background: Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disease, which can be alleviated in drug treatment, but with evident side effects. At the same time, increasing evidence shows that exercise can significantly improve the symptoms of patients with Parkinson's disease, with an effect that cannot be achieved by drug treatment. The related research on exercise on Parkinson's disease increases rapidly with the passage of time. However, the research analysis on Parkinson's disease by means of bibliometrics is rare. The purpose of this study is to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research hotspots and development trends of the global movement on Parkinson's disease from 2012 to 2021. Methods: The literature was derived from the Web of Science core collection database, and the social science citation index was set as SCI-EXPANDED. The language was set to English, and the literature category was set as article and review and published from 2012 to 2021. CiteSpace and other software were used to analyze the relationship among published documents, countries, institutions, journals, authors, references, disciplines, and keywords. Results: A total of 2,222 articles were included in the analysis. The analysis showed that the publication volume increased with the increase in years, with a total of 76 countries and 546 academic journals published; the largest number was that of the United States. The journals are mainly concentrated in the fields of neurology, sports, and ophthalmology. Rush University and Movement Disorders journals are the main institutions and journals. The cited keywords show that trial, cognition, and interference are the research hotspots and development trends in recent years. Conclusion: The number of published articles on Parkinson's disease by exercise has increased rapidly in the past 10 years, and the bibliometric analysis can provide useful information for future research teams and researchers.