Legacy health effects among never smokers exposed to occupational secondhand smoke.

Objectives: Secondhand tobacco smoke (SHTS) is a tremendous public health hazard, leading to morbidity and premature mortality worldwide, with racial and ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status disproportionately affected. Flight attendants were historically exposed to high levels of SHTS in the aircraft cabin. The health effects of active smoking are known to persist for up to a lifetime, but the legacy effects of SHTS exposure have not been well characterized.

Informatively empty clusters with application to multigenerational studies.

Exposures with multigenerational effects have profound implications for public health, affecting increasingly more people as the exposed population reproduces. Multigenerational studies, however, are susceptible to informative cluster size, occurring when the number of children to a mother (the cluster size) is related to their outcomes, given covariates. A natural question then arises: what if some women bear no children at all? The impact of these potentially informative empty clusters is currently unknown.

Socio-demographic predictors of prepulse inhibition: A prospective study in children and adolescents from Mexico City.

Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a sensorimotor gating mechanism that reduces interfering influences to the neural processing of incoming stimuli, and is associated with several neurodevelopmental disorders. To date, research on PPI and neurodevelopmental disorders has primarily been in cross-sectional, clinical settings. In this prospective, epidemiologic study, we used a data-driven prediction model to identify socio-demographic predictors of PPI in children and adolescents from Mexico City to inform future etiologic studies evaluating PPI.

Effect of Residential Greenness and Nearby Parks on Respiratory and Allergic Diseases among Middle School Adolescents in a Chinese City.

Research on the health impacts of green environments has mainly been conducted in developed countries. Differences in the urban forms between China and Western countries make it essential to understand the role of greenspace in Chinese settings. From 2014 to 2015, middle school students ( = 5643) in Suzhou, China were enrolled in a study on the health effect of residential greenness.

Synthesis of Harvard Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Center studies on traffic-related particulate pollution and cardiovascular outcomes in the Greater Boston Area.

The association between particulate pollution and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is well established. While the cardiovascular effects of nationally regulated criteria pollutants (e.g.

Association between prenatal particulate air pollution exposure and telomere length in cord blood: Effect modification by fetal sex.

Introduction: In utero particulate matter exposure produces oxidative stress that impacts cellular processes that include telomere biology. Newborn telomere length is likely critical to an individual's telomere biology; reduction in this initial telomere setting may signal increased susceptibility to adverse outcomes later in life. We examined associations between prenatal particulate matter with diameter ≤2.

High phthalate exposure increased urinary concentrations of quinolinic acid, implicated in the pathogenesis of neurological disorders: Is this a potential missing link?

Background: Quinolinic acid (QA), a neuroactive metabolite of the Kynurenine Pathway (KP), is an excitotoxin that is implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurological disorders. KP is the main tryptophan degradation pathway. Phthalates can structurally mimic tryptophan metabolites and diets containing phthalates in rats enhanced the production and excretion of QA.

Impacts of air pollution, temperature, and relative humidity on leukocyte distribution: An epigenetic perspective.

Background: Exploring the associations of air pollution and weather variables with blood leukocyte distribution is critical to understand the impacts of environmental exposures on the human immune system.

Objectives: As previous analyses have been mainly based on data from cell counters, which might not be feasible in epidemiologic studies including large populations of long-stored blood samples, we aimed to expand the understanding of this topic by employing the leukocyte distribution estimated by DNA methylation profiles.

Methods: We measured DNA methylation profiles in blood samples using Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip from 1519 visits of 774 Caucasian males participating in the Normative Aging Study.

Associations of prenatal exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers and polychlorinated biphenyls with long-term gut microbiome structure: a pilot study.

Background: The gut microbiome is influenced by early-life exposures, but-despite potentially enormous implications for child health-is understudied in environmental epidemiology. This pilot study is one of the first to explore exposures and long-term gut microbiome profiles. We examined the association between exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during pregnancy and the mid-childhood gut microbiome.

Prenatal cortisol modifies the association between maternal trauma history and child cognitive development in a sex-specific manner in an urban pregnancy cohort.

Women's experience of trauma may cause lifelong alterations in physiological stress regulation, which can be transmitted to offspring in utero. We investigated, in a prospective pregnancy cohort, associations among maternal lifetime interpersonal trauma (IPT) history, prenatal cortisol dysregulation, and children's memory domains. Sex-specific effects were also explored.

Gene-environment interaction and maternal arsenic methylation efficiency during pregnancy.

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may influence arsenic methylation efficiency, affecting arsenic metabolism. Whether gene-environment interactions affect arsenic metabolism during pregnancy remains unclear, which may have implications for pregnancy outcomes.

Objective: We aimed to investigate main effects as well as potential SNP-arsenic interactions on arsenic methylation efficiency in pregnant women.

Modeling the health effects of time-varying complex environmental mixtures: Mean field variational Bayes for lagged kernel machine regression.

There is substantial interest in assessing how exposure to environmental mixtures, such as chemical mixtures, affect child health. Researchers are also interested in identifying critical time windows of susceptibility to these complex mixtures. A recently developed method, called lagged kernel machine regression (LKMR), simultaneously accounts for these research questions by estimating effects of time-varying mixture exposures, and identifying their critical exposure windows.

Police-Related Deaths and Neighborhood Economic and Racial/Ethnic Polarization, United States, 2015-2016.

Objectives: To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States.

Methods: We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015-2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of Concentration at the Extremes as a segregation measure.

Prenatal Exposure to Traffic Pollution and Childhood Body Mass Index Trajectory.

Limited evidence suggests an association between prenatal exposure to traffic pollution and greater adiposity in childhood, but the time window during which growth may be most affected is not known. We studied 1,649 children in Project Viva, a Boston-area pre-birth cohort. We used spatiotemporal models to estimate prenatal residential air pollution exposures and geographic information systems to estimate neighborhood traffic density and roadway proximity.

Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and circulating biomarkers of endothelial cell activation: The Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Short-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular events, potentially by promoting endothelial cell activation and inflammation. A few large-scale studies have examined the associations and have had mixed results.

Methods: We included 3820 non-current smoking participants (mean age 56 years, 54% women) from the Framingham Offspring cohort examinations 7 (1998-2001) and 8 (2005-2008), and Third Generation cohort examination 1 (2002-2005), who lived within 50 km of a central monitoring station.

Patterns of body mass index milestones in early life and cardiometabolic risk in early adolescence.

Background: Few studies have examined the independent and combined relationships of body mass index (BMI) peak and rebound with adiposity, insulin resistance and metabolic risk later in life. We used data from Project Viva, a well-characterized birth cohort from Boston with repeated measures of BMI, to help fill this gap.

Methods: Among 1681 children with BMI data from birth to mid childhood, we fitted individual BMI trajectories using mixed-effects models with natural cubic splines and estimated age, and magnitude of BMI, at peak (in infancy) and rebound (in early childhood).

Bayesian variable selection for multivariate zero-inflated models: Application to microbiome count data.

Microorganisms play critical roles in human health and disease. They live in diverse communities in which they interact synergistically or antagonistically. Thus for estimating microbial associations with clinical covariates, such as treatment effects, joint (multivariate) statistical models are preferred.

Stress and hair cortisol concentrations from preconception to the third trimester.

Stress is an important and modifiable determinant of health, and its association with hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) during pregnancy remains unclear. We selected a random sample of 97 participants from a cohort of pregnant participants attending prenatal clinics in Lima, Peru. Each provided a hair sample at enrollment (mean gestational age = 13.

Effects of Indoor and Ambient Black Carbon and [Formula: see text] on Pulmonary Function among Individuals with COPD.

Background: Particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been associated with decreased pulmonary function, but the exposure–response relationship in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is uncertain, and most studies have only focused on exposures to ambient pollution.

Objectives: We aimed to assess associations between pulmonary function and indoor and ambient PM [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) and black carbon (BC).

Methods: Between November 2012 and December 2014, 125 patients with COPD (mean age, 73.

Correlation over time of toenail metals among participants in the VA normative aging study from 1992 to 2014.

Background: Scientists use biomarkers to evaluate metal exposures. One biomarker, toenails, is easily obtained and minimally invasive, but less commonly used as a biomarker of exposure. Their utility will depend on understanding characteristics of their variation in a population over time.

Accelerated DNA methylation age and the use of antihypertensive medication among older adults.

The discrepancy of DNA methylation age (DNAmAge) with chronological age (termed as age acceleration, AA) has been identified to be associated with many aging-related health outcomes including hypertension. Since taking antihypertensive medication (AHM) could prevent aging-related diseases caused by hypertension, we hypothesized that using AHM could also reduce the AA. We examined this hypothesis among 546 males aged 55-85 years by exploring the associations of AHM use with AA and its change rate (Δ) in two visits with a median follow-up of 3.

Recent exposure to particle radioactivity and biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation: The Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Decay products of radioactive materials may attach to ambient fine particles and form radioactive aerosol. Internal ionizing radiation source from inhaled radioactive aerosol may contribute to the fine particulate matter (PM)-inflammation pathway. However, few studies in humans have examined the associations.

Assessing the contributions of metals in environmental media to exposure biomarkers in a region of ferroalloy industry.

Residential proximity to ferroalloy production has been associated with increased manganese exposure, which can adversely affect health, particularly among children. Little is known, however, about which environmental samples contribute most to internal levels of manganese and other ferroalloy metals. We aimed to characterize sources of exposure to metals and evaluate the ability of internal biomarkers to reflect exposures from environmental media.

Bayesian varying coefficient kernel machine regression to assess neurodevelopmental trajectories associated with exposure to complex mixtures.

Exposure to environmental mixtures can exert wide-ranging effects on child neurodevelopment. However, there is a lack of statistical methods that can accommodate the complex exposure-response relationship between mixtures and neurodevelopment while simultaneously estimating neurodevelopmental trajectories. We introduce Bayesian varying coefficient kernel machine regression (BVCKMR), a hierarchical model that estimates how mixture exposures at a given time point are associated with health outcome trajectories.