Diet, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers in Pregnancy: a Los Angeles Pregnancy Cohort.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure during pregnancy has been associated with increased oxidative stress. Few studies have evaluated the relationship between diet, urinary PAHs, and oxidative stress biomarkers among pregnant women. We enrolled a prospective cohort of pregnant women who gave birth at UCLA between 2016-2019.

An untargeted metabolome-wide association study of maternal perinatal tobacco smoking in newborn blood spots.

Introduction: Maternal tobacco smoking in the perinatal period increases the risk for adverse outcomes in offspring.

Objective: To better understand the biological pathways through which maternal tobacco use may have long-term impacts on child metabolism, we performed a high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) analysis in newborns, following an untargeted metabolome-wide association study workflow.

Methods: The study population included 899 children without cancer diagnosis before age 6 and born between 1983 and 2011 in California.

Urban greenspace under a changing climate: Benefit or harm for allergies and respiratory health?

An increasing proportion of the world's population lives in urban settings that have limited greenspace. Urbanization puts pressure on existing greenspace and reduces its access. Climate impacts, including increased temperature and extreme weather events, challenge the maintenance of urban vegetation, reducing its ecosystem services and benefits for human health.

The Cost of Adrenal Insufficiency in England-Analysis of NHS HES Data.

Background: Despite steroid replacement therapy, patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI) experience excessive infections and related hospital admissions. However, data examining the evolution of admissions, healthcare resources utilisation and cost burden is sparce.

Design: Analysis of National Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set which contains details of all admissions and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England.

Ambient Toxic Air Contaminants in the Maternal Residential Area during Pregnancy and Cerebral Palsy in the Offspring.

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common permanent neuromotor disorder diagnosed in childhood. Although most cases have unknown etiology, emerging evidence suggests environmental risk factors of CP.

Objectives: We investigated whether ambient toxic air contaminants (TACs) in the maternal residential area during pregnancy, specifically volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metals, were associated with offspring CP risk in California.

Ambient Air Pollution and COPD: The Multiethnic Cohort Study.

Rationale: Globally, in 2019, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the third leading cause of death. While tobacco smoking is the predominant risk factor, the role of long-term air pollution exposure in increasing risk of COPD remains unclear. Moreover, there are few studies that have been conducted in racial and ethnic minoritized and socioeconomically diverse populations, while accounting for smoking history and other known risk factors.

Changes in traffic-related air pollution exposures and associations with adverse birth outcomes over 20 years in Texas.

Background: Billions of dollars have been spent implementing regulations to reduce traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) from exhaust pipe emissions. However, few health studies have evaluated the change in TRAP emissions and associations with infant health outcomes. We hypothesize that the magnitude of association between vehicle exposure measures and adverse birth outcomes has decreased over time, parallelling regulatory improvements in exhaust pipe emissions.

DNA methylation biomarkers for cumulative lead exposures and cognitive impairment.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that cumulative low-level lead exposure has adverse effects on cognitive function in the elderly. To date, the few studies that have measured bone lead exposure relied on K-X-ray fluorescence (KXRF), methods that are mostly unavailable in large community-based studies. Here, we employ a methylation-based estimation method for bone and blood lead in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort.

Danish population based study of familial epilepsy and childhood cancer.

Results from studies investigating the association between maternal or child epilepsy, use of anticonvulsants in pregnancy, and childhood cancer are inconsistent and at times contradictory. Linking Danish national databases, we obtained epilepsy and childhood cancer diagnoses, and anticonvulsant use data. We estimated adjusted odds ratios of all or specific childhood cancers in relation to maternal or child epilepsy and anticonvulsant therapies using conditional logistic regression.

Lifetime physical activity influences Parkinson's disease progression.

Introduction: Past studies suggested that Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who engage in physical activity (PA) after diagnosis have slower motor progression. Here, we examine the influence of lifetime PA prior to PD onset on motor, cognitive, and overall functional decline among PD patients.

Methods: For 495 participants in the Parkinson's Environment and Gene (PEG) studies, we collected PA-related measures through interviews and quantified these using metabolic equivalents (MET) scores.

The Role of Inflammation and Psycho-Behavioral Factors as Mediators Between Acculturation and Time to Incident Dementia Among Older Mexican Americans.

Background: The mechanisms through which acculturation influences the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia are not well understood, especially among older Hispanics.

Objective: To investigate whether inflammation and psycho-behavioral factors mediate the relationship between acculturation and incident dementia among older Mexican Americans.

Methods: We analyzed the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging (1998-2007, SALSA), a longitudinal study (N = 1,194) with 10 years of follow-up, and used g-computation for mediation analysis with pooled logistic regression to evaluate whether acculturation (assessed by the Revised Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans [ARSMA-II]) affected dementia or cognitive impairment but not dementia (CIND) through inflammation (i.

Urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites and their association with oxidative stress among pregnant women in Los Angeles.

Background: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been linked to adverse birth outcomes that have been reported to be induced by oxidative stress, but few epidemiological studies to date have evaluated associations between urinary PAH metabolites and oxidative stress biomarkers in pregnancy and identified critical periods for these outcomes and PAH exposures in pregnancy.

Methods: A cohort of pregnant women was recruited early in pregnancy from antenatal clinics at the University of California Los Angeles during 2016-2019. We collected urine samples up to three times during pregnancy in a total of 159 women enrolled in the cohort.

Preconception and first trimester exposure to pesticides and associations with stillbirth.

Associations of pesticide exposures during preconception with stillbirth have not been well explored. We linked Arizona pesticide use records with birth certificates from 2006 to 2020 and estimated associations of living within 500 m of any pyrethroid, organophosphate (OP), or carbamate pesticide applications during a 90-day preconception window or the first trimester, with stillbirth. We considered a binary measure of exposure (any exposure), as well as log-pounds and log-acres applied within 500 m, in a negative control exposure framework with log-binomial regression.

Contributions of neighborhood physical and social environments to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes in California: A mediation analysis.

Background: Racially minoritized populations experience higher rates of adverse birth outcomes than White populations in the U.S. We estimated the mediating effect of neighborhood social and physical environments on disparities in adverse birth outcomes in California.

A call from 40 public health scientists for an end to the continuing humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in Gaza.

An under-recognised aspect of the current humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is the impact of the war on the environment and the associated risks for human health. This commentary contextualises these impacts against the background of human suffering produced by the overwhelming violence associated with the use of military force against the general population of Gaza. In calling for an immediate cessation to the violence, the authors draw attention to the urgent need to rebuild the health care system and restore the physical and human infrastructure that makes a liveable environment possible and promotes human health and well-being, especially for the most vulnerable in the population.

Genome-wide meta-analysis of short-tandem repeats for Parkinson's disease risk using genotype imputation.

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Recently, the first genome-wide association study on short-tandem repeats in Parkinson's disease reported on eight suggestive short-tandem repeat-based risk loci ( = 5.3 × 10), of which four were novel, i.

Untargeted serum metabolic profiling of diabetes mellitus among Parkinson's disease patients.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common comorbidity among Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Yet, little is known about dysregulated pathways that are unique in PD patients with T2DM. We applied high-resolution metabolomic profiling in serum samples of 636 PD and 253 non-PD participants recruited from Central California.

Lysosomal genes contribute to Parkinson's disease near agriculture with high intensity pesticide use.

Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, develops sporadically, likely through a combination of polygenic and environmental factors. Previous studies associate pesticide exposure and genes involved in lysosomal function with PD risk. We evaluated the frequency of variants in lysosomal function genes among patients from the Parkinson's, Environment, and Genes (PEG) study with ambient pesticide exposure from agricultural sources.

Diet and the gut microbiome in patients with Parkinson's disease.

It has been suggested that gut microbiota influence Parkinson's disease (PD) via the gut-brain axis. Here, we examine associations between diet and gut microbiome composition and its predicted functional pathways in patients with PD. We assessed gut microbiota in fecal samples from 85 PD patients in central California using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Ambient long-term exposure to organophosphorus pesticides and the human gut microbiome: an observational study.

Background: Organophosphorus pesticides (OP) have been associated with various human health conditions. Animal experiments and in-vitro models suggested that OP may also affect the gut microbiota. We examined associations between ambient chronic exposure to OP and gut microbial changes in humans.

Exposure to outdoor ambient air toxics and risk of breast cancer: The multiethnic cohort.

Background: A growing literature has reported associations between traffic-related air pollution and breast cancer, however there are fewer investigations into specific ambient agents and any putative risk of breast cancer development, particularly studies occurring in populations residing in higher pollution areas such as Los Angeles.

Objectives: To estimate breast cancer risks related to ambient air toxics exposure at residential addresses.

Methods: We examined the relationships between ambient air toxics and breast cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort among 48,665 California female participants followed for cancer from 2003 through 2013.