Impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals and folic acid supplementation on liver injury and steatosis in mother-child pairs.

Background And Aims: Scarce knowledge about the impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) on steatotic liver disease limits opportunities for intervention. We evaluated pregnancy MDC-mixture associations with liver outcomes, and effect modification by folic acid (FA) supplementation in mother-child pairs.

Methods: We studied ∼200 mother-child pairs from the Mexican PROGRESS cohort, with measured 43 MDCs during pregnancy (estimated air pollutants, blood/urine metals or metalloids, urine high- and low-molecular-weight phthalate [HMWPs, LMWPs] and organophosphate-pesticide [OP] metabolites), and serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST) at ∼9 years post-parturition.

The World Trade Center exposome and health effects in 9/11 rescue and recovery workers.

Background: In the aftermath of the World Trade Center (WTC) attack on 11 September 2001, rescue and recovery workers faced hazardous conditions and toxic agents. Prior research linked these exposures to adverse health effects, but mainly examined individual factors, overlooking complex mixture effects.

Methods: This study applies an exposomic approach encompassing the totality of responders' experience, defined as the WTC exposome.

Windows of Susceptibility to Air Pollution During and Surrounding Pregnancy in Relation to Longitudinal Maternal Measures of Adiposity and Lipid Profiles.

Pregnancy is a critical window for long-term metabolic programming of fetal effects stemming from airborne particulate matter ≤2.5μm (PM ) exposure. Yet, little is known about long-term metabolic effects of PM exposure during and surrounding pregnancy in mothers.

Source-Specific PM and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Mortality.

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM) exposure is adversely linked to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). However, most studies focused on PM mass rather than its chemical composition and specific sources. Particulate pollution sources can have distinct, cumulative, and potentially synergistic health impacts.

Air pollution mixture exposure during pregnancy and postpartum psychological functioning: racial/ethnic- and fetal sex-specific associations.

Background: Prenatal air pollution (AP) exposure has been linked to postpartum psychological functioning, impacting health outcomes in both women and children. Extant studies primarily focused on individual pollutants.

Objective: To assess the association between prenatal exposure to a mixture of seven AP components and postpartum psychological functioning using daily exposure data and data-driven statistical methods.

Cross-Cohort Mixture Analysis: A Data Integration Approach With Applications on Gestational Age and DNA-Methylation-Derived Gestational Age Acceleration Metrics.

Data integration of multiple studies can provide enhanced exposure contrast and statistical power to examine associations between environmental exposure mixtures and health outcomes. Extant research has combined populations and identified an overall mixture-outcome association, without accounting for differences across studies. We extended the Bayesian Weighted Quantile Sum (BWQS) regression to a hierarchical framework to analyze mixtures across cohorts.

Residential segregation and summertime air temperature across 13 northeastern U.S. states: Potential implications for energy burden.

High ambient summertime temperatures are an increasing health concern with climate change. This is a particular concern for minoritized households in the United States, for which differential energy burden may compromise adaptive capacity to high temperatures. Our research question was: Do minoritized groups experience hotter summers than the area average, and do non-Hispanic white people experience cooler summers? Using a fine-scaled spatiotemporal air temperature model and U.

Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analysis of Manganese-Associated Parkinsonism: a Case-Control Study in Brescia, Italy.

Background And Objectives: Excessive Manganese (Mn) exposure is neurotoxic and can cause Mn-Induced Parkinsonism (MnIP), marked by cognitive and motor dysfunction. Although metabolomic and lipidomic research in Parkinsonism (PD) patients exists, it remains limited. This study hypothesizes distinct metabolomic and lipidomic profiles based on exposure status, disease diagnosis, and their interaction.

Social Vulnerability and Biological Aging in New York City: An Electronic Health Records-Based Study.

Chronological age is not an accurate predictor of morbidity and mortality risk, as individuals' aging processes are diverse. Phenotypic age acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) is a validated biological age measure incorporating chronological age and biomarkers from blood samples commonly used in clinical practice that can better reflect aging-related morbidity and mortality risk. The heterogeneity of age-related decline is not random, as environmental exposures can promote or impede healthy aging.

Metabolism-Disrupting Chemical Mixtures during Pregnancy, Folic Acid Supplementation, and Liver Injury in Mother-Child Pairs.

Background And Aims: Scarce knowledge about the impact of metabolism-disrupting chemicals (MDCs) on liver injury limits opportunities for intervention. We evaluated pregnancy MDC-mixture associations with liver injury and effect modification by folic acid (FA) supplementation in mother-child pairs.

Methods: We studied ∼200 mother-child pairs from the Mexican PROGRESS cohort, with measured 43 MDCs during pregnancy (estimated air pollutants, blood/urine metals or metalloids, urine high- and low-molecular-weight phthalate [HMWPs, LMWPs] and organophosphate-pesticide [OP] metabolites), and serum liver enzymes (ALT, AST) at ∼9 years post-parturition.

A pilot study to identify factors associated with frailty within the World Trade Center general responder cohort.

Background: Given the significant exposures experienced by the World Trade Center (WTC) general responders, there is increasing interest in understanding the effect of these exposures on aging in this population. We aim to identify factors that may be associated with frailty, a clinical syndrome characterized by a decrease in one's reserve that has been linked to poor health outcomes.

Methods: WTC general responders enrolled in the WTC Health Program aged 50 and older provided informed consent.

Maternal lifetime stress and psychological functioning in pregnancy is associated with preschoolers' temperament: Exploring effect modification by race and ethnicity.

Background: Psychosocial stress and psychopathology frequently co-occur, with patterns differing by race and ethnicity. We used statistical mixtures methodology to examine associations between prenatal stress and child temperament in N = 382 racially and ethnically diverse maternal-child dyads to disentangle associations among maternal stressful life events, maternal psychological functioning in pregnancy, childhood neurobehavior, and maternal race and ethnicity.

Methods: This study utilized data from a longitudinal pregnancy cohort, PRogramming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM).

DNA methylation-based biomarkers for cardiometabolic-related traits and their importance for risk stratification.

Recent Findings: The prevalence of cardiometabolic syndrome in adults is increasing worldwide, highlighting the importance of biomarkers for individuals' classification based on their health status. Although cardiometabolic risk scores and diagnostic criteria have been developed aggregating adverse health effects of individual conditions on the overall syndrome, none of them has gained unanimous acceptance. Therefore, novel molecular biomarkers have been developed to better understand the risk, onset and progression of both individual conditions and the overall cardiometabolic syndrome.

Prenatal Household Air Pollution Exposure and Childhood Blood Pressure in Rural Ghana.

Background: The association between prenatal household air pollution (HAP) exposure and childhood blood pressure (BP) is unknown.

Objective: Within the Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS) we examined time-varying associations between ) maternal prenatal and ) first-year-of-life HAP exposure with BP at 4 years of age and, separately, whether a stove intervention delivered prenatally and continued through the first year of life could improve BP at 4 years of age.

Methods: GRAPHS was a cluster-randomized cookstove intervention trial wherein pregnant women were randomized to one of two stove interventions: ) a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove or improved biomass stove, or ) control (open fire cooking).

The World Trade Center Exposome and Health Effects in 9/11 Rescue and Recovery Workers.

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center (WTC) attack, rescue and recovery workers faced hazardous conditions and toxic agents. Prior research linked these exposures to adverse health effects, but mainly examined individual factors, overlooking complex mixture effects. This study applies an exposomic approach encompassing the totality of responders' experience, defined as the WTC exposome.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution and BWGA Z-score: Modifying effects of placenta leukocyte telomere length and infant sex.

Background: Air pollutants, such as fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone (O), have been associated with adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight, often exhibiting sex-specific effects. However, the modifying effect of placental telomere length (TL), reflecting cumulative lifetime oxidative stress in mothers, remains unexplored.

Method: Using data from a Northeastern U.

How Healthcare Systems Negatively Impact Environmental Health? The Need for Institutional Commitment to Reduce the Ecological Footprint of Medical Services.

The global healthcare industry plays a crucial role in preserving human health and well-being [...

Longitudinal associations between early-life fluoride exposures and cardiometabolic outcomes in school-aged children.

Background/aim: Fluoride is a natural mineral present in food, water, and dental products, constituting ubiquitous long-term exposure in early childhood and across the lifespan. Experimental evidence shows fluoride-induced lipid disturbances with potential implications for cardiometabolic health. However, epidemiological studies are scarce.

DNA methylation profiles reveal sex-specific associations between gestational exposure to ambient air pollution and placenta cell-type composition in the PRISM cohort study.

Background: Gestational exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with adverse health outcomes for mothers and newborns. The placenta is a central regulator of the in utero environment that orchestrates development and postnatal life via fetal programming. Ambient air pollution contaminants can reach the placenta and have been shown to alter bulk placental tissue DNA methylation patterns.

Household Air Pollution and Child Lung Function: The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study.

The impact of a household air pollution (HAP) stove intervention on child lung function has been poorly described. To assess the effect of a HAP stove intervention for infants prenatally to age 1 on, and exposure-response associations with, lung function at child age 4. The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study randomized pregnant women to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), improved biomass, or open-fire (control) stove conditions through child age 1.

Integrating Data Across Multiple Sites in the Northeastern United States to Examine Associations Between a Prenatal Metal Mixture and Child Cognition.

We applied a novel hierarchical Bayesian weighted quantile sum (HBWQS) regression to combine data across 3 study sites to examine associations between prenatal exposure to metals and cognitive functioning in childhood. Data from 326 mother-child dyads enrolled in an ongoing cohort study, the Programming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM) Study, based in New York, New York (recruitment in 2013-2020) and Boston, Massachusetts (recruitment 2011-2013), and the First Thousand Days of Life (FTDL) cohort study (recruitment 2012-2019), based in northern Virginia, were used. Arsenic, cadmium, manganese, lead, and antimony were measured in urine collected during pregnancy.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and thyroid cancer risk.

Background: Although per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure is a potential contributor to the increasing thyroid cancer trend, limited studies have investigated the association between PFAS exposure and thyroid cancer in human populations. We therefore investigated associations between plasma PFAS levels and thyroid cancer diagnosis using a nested case-control study of patients with thyroid cancer with plasma samples collected at/before cancer diagnosis.

Methods: 88 patients with thyroid cancer using diagnosis codes and 88 healthy (non-cancer) controls pair-matched on sex, age (±5 years), race/ethnicity, body mass index, smoking status, and year of sample collection were identified in the BioMe population (a medical record-linked biobank at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York); 74 patients had papillary thyroid cancer.

Short-term exposure to PM and 1.5 million deaths: a time-stratified case-crossover analysis in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

Background: Satellite-based PM predictions are being used to advance exposure science and air-pollution epidemiology in developed countries; including emerging evidence about the impacts of PM on acute health outcomes beyond the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and the potential modifying effects from individual-level factors in these associations. Research on these topics is lacking in low and middle income countries. We aimed to explore the association between short-term exposure to PM with broad-category and cause-specific mortality outcomes in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA), and potential effect modification by age, sex, and SES characteristics in such associations.

Maternal steroids during pregnancy and their associations with exposure to lifetime stressful life events, prenatal stress appraisal and psychological functioning.

Background: During pregnancy, steroids enable physiological adaptations in response to many factors, including maternal stress or psychological functioning. While stress and psychological dysfunction can have endocrine-disrupting effects beyond cortisol disruption, associations between prenatal maternal stress or related psychological dysfunction and the broader steroid milieu remain understudied.

Aim: To assess associations between independent and joint maternal stress and psychological functioning measures and steroid profiles in pregnancy (22-40 gestational weeks) in the Programming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM) birth cohort (n = 334).