Prenatal Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Birth Weight in China

Adverse birth outcomes are a leading cause of mortality in children in China, but the environmental influences of these conditions remain largely unexplained in this population. We aimed to evaluate the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Chinese pregnant women and their newborns, and to examine the association between levels of PAHs and infant birth weight. We conducted a cross-sectional study including 81 pairs of mothers and newborns from four hospitals in four different cities in China. High Performance Liquid Chromatography was used to measure the concentration of nine PAHs in maternal and cord blood and multiple linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of these PAHs with infant birth weight. Anthracene (ANT) had the highest average concentration and detection rate (geometric mean = 69.54 ng/g and 76.5%, respectively) in maternal serum samples, while fluoranthene (FLT) had the highest concentration and detection rate (geometric mean = 68.4 ng/g and 50.6%, respectively) in the cord blood. Most of the measured PAHs in maternal serum and three PAHs in cord blood were inversely but non-significantly associated with birth weight. The strongest associations were observed for higher concentrations of benzo (a) pyrene (BaP) in maternal serum (230.7 g decrease for levels > median vs. < LOD;p = 0.151) and for ANT in cord blood (153.1 g decrease for levels < median vs. < LOD;p = 0.208). Ant and FLT were the predominant PAHs in the maternal and cord blood serum. Serum concentrations of several measured PAHs were associated with a decreased birth weight, although not significantly, suggesting that further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate our findings.

Effectiveness of an Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) Intervention on Reducing IAP and Improving Women’s Health Status in Rural Areas of Gansu Province, China

Given the deleterious health effects associated with indoor air pollution (IAP), this study was conducted to evaluate an IAP intervention in rural areas in Gansu, one of the poorest provinces of China. We selected 371 rural households to take part in intervention measures including stove improvement and health education. Eight of 371 households were selected to conduct IAP sampling. Four hundred and thirteen women in these households completed a questionnaire and 49 women took part in lung function tests. After the intervention, PM4 levels reduced from 455 μg/m3 to 200 μg/m3 and CO reduced from 3.40 ppm to 2.90 ppm in indoor air. The percentage of predicted value of FEV1 and FVC improved to some degree after the intervention, but all the parameters of lung function assessment did not show a significant change. Prevalence rates of several symptoms associated with IAP significantly declined in the study population, compared with baseline levels. Intervention measures combining stove improvement with health education were effective in reducing IAP levels. Women’s health status, including eye and respiratory symptoms, also showed improvement. However, the effect on lung function was not apparent and warranted additional follow-up. Similarly, evaluation of the long term effects of the IAP intervention will require future studies.

Cold chain and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission:a review for challenges and coping strategies

Since June 2020,the re-emergence of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)epidemics in parts of China was linked to the cold chain,which attracted extensive attention and heated discussions from the public.According to the typical characteristics of these epidemics,we speculated a possible route of transmission from cold chain to human.A series of factors in the supply chain contributed to the epidemics if the cold chain were contaminated by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2),such as temperature,humidity,personal hygiene/protection,and disinfection.The workers who worked in the cold chain at the receiving end faced a higher risk of being infected when they were not well protected.Facing the difficult situation,China put forward targeted and powerful countermeasures to block the cold chain-related risk.However,in the context of the unstable pandemic situation globally,the risk of the cold chain needs to be recognized and evaluated seriously.Hence,in this review,we reviewed the cold chain-related epidemics in China,analyzed the possible mechanisms,introduced the Chinese experience,and suggested coping strategies for the global epidemic prevention and control.

Prenatal metal mixture exposure and birth weight: A two-stage analysis in two prospective cohort studies

The understanding of the impact of prenatal exposure to metal mixtures on birth weight is limited.We aimed to identify metal mixture components associated with birth weight and to determine additional pairwise interactions between metals showing such associations.Concentrations of 18 metals were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in urine samples collected in the 3rd trimester from a prenatal cohort(discovery;n=1849)and the Healthy Baby Cohort(replication;n=7255)in Wuhan,China.In the discovery set,we used two penalized regression models,i.e.,elastic net regression for main effects and a lasso for hierarchical interactions,to identify important mixture components associated with birth weight,which were then replicated.We observed that 8 of the 18 measured metals were retained by elastic net regression,with five metals(vanadium,manganese,iron,cesium,and barium)showing negative associations with Z-scores for birth weight and three metals(cobalt,zinc,and strontium)showing positive associations.In replication set,associations remained significant for vanadium(β=-0.035;95%confidence interval[CI],-0.059 to0.010),cobalt(β=-0.073;95%CI,0.049 to 0.097),and zinc(β=-0.040;95%CI,0.016 to 0.065)after Bonferroni correction.We additionally identified and replicated a single pairwise interaction between iron and copper exposure on birth weight(P<0.001).Using a two-stage analysis,we identified and replicated individual metals and additional pairwise interactions-associated birth weight.The approach could be used in other studies estimating the effect of complex mixtures on human health.