Publications by authors named "Jessica Laine"

Objectives: to provide evidence on how diet can influence health, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and land use.

Design: cohort study.

Setting And Participants: data collected in the EPIC Italy cohort (N.

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Discrepancies between total life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are in part due to unhealthy lifestyles, in which diet plays an important role. Despite this knowledge, observational studies and randomized trials have yet to show consistent improvements in health and well-being, also known as health-related quality of life (HRQoL), given the variety of elements that conform a healthy diet aside from its content. As such, we aimed to describe the evidence and common topics concerning the effects of modifiable eating behaviors and HRQoL in patients with non-communicable diseases (NCD).

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Recent incidents at nuclear facilities in Ukraine related to the attacks from Russian forces highlight the fragility of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities in war and the very real potential for another environmental nuclear disaster and associated health risks in Europe. Nuclear catastrophes from war can occur from radioactive materials released from war threatened nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities in war zones, in addition to the direct threat from the deployment of nuclear weaponry and can result in immediate and long-term health impacts. Despite historical nuclear catastrophic events, including the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident and atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that for more than a century epidemiologists have studied the consequences of radiation exposures, there are still major unanswered questions regarding radiation risks and human health.

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Consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) has increased worldwide during the last decades because they are hyperpalatable, cheap, and ready-to-consume products. However, uncertainty exists about their impact on health. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the association of UPF consumption with all-cause mortality risk.

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Background: Unhealthy diets, the rise of non-communicable diseases, and the declining health of the planet are highly intertwined, where food production and consumption are major drivers of increases in greenhouse gas emissions, substantial land use, and adverse health such as cancer and mortality. To assess the potential co-benefits from shifting to more sustainable diets, we aimed to investigate the associations of dietary greenhouse gas emissions and land use with all-cause and cause-specific mortality and cancer incidence rates.

Methods: Using data from 443 991 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, a multicentre prospective cohort, we estimated associations between dietary contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and land use and all-cause and cause-specific mortality and incident cancers using Cox proportional hazards regression models.

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This narrative review discusses the current understanding, knowledge gaps and challenges in expanding our knowledge of the association between menopause and the reproductive aging process and cardiometabolic disease (CMD) in women, with a focus on type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The physiological changes that occur at different stages of the reproductive life span, as well as type of menopause and timing, are factors widely associated with CMD risk; however, the underlying mechanisms remain either unclear or insufficiently studied. Decreased ovarian estrogen production and relative androgen excess around menopause onset are the most studied factors linking menopause and cardiometabolic health; nevertheless, the evidence is not persuasive and other hypotheses might explain the changes in CMD risk during menopausal transition.

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Objective: Arteriovenous malformations of the lower extremities (AVM) can present as simple or complex combined or syndromic forms (eg, Parkes Weber Syndrome). We aimed to characterize the differences in clinical presentation and natural history of these potentially life- and limb-threatening congenital vascular malformations.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a consecutive series of patients with AVM who presented to a tertiary referral center in Switzerland between 2008 and 2018.

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Background: PIK3CA (activating mutations of the p110α subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases)-related overgrowth spectrums (PROS) include a variety of clinical presentations that are associated with hypertrophy of different parts of the body. We performed a systematic literature review to assess the current treatment options and their efficacy and safety for PROS.

Methods: A literature search was performed in Embase, MEDLINE (Ovid), Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.

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Mechanisms underlying adverse birth and later in life health effects from exposure to air pollution during the prenatal period have not been not fully elucidated, especially in the context of mixtures. We assessed the effects of prenatal exposure to mixtures of air pollutants of particulate matter (PM), PM, PM, nitrogen oxides, NO, NO, ultrafine particles (UFP), and oxidative potential (OP) of PM on infant birthweight in four European birth cohorts and the mechanistic underpinnings through cross-omics of metabolites and inflammatory proteins. The association between mixtures of air pollutants and birthweight z-scores (standardized for gestational age) was assessed for three different mixture models, using Bayesian machine kernel regression (BKMR).

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An increasing number of findings from epidemiological studies support associations between exposure to air pollution and the onset of several diseases, including pulmonary, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, and malignancies. However, intermediate, and potentially mediating, biological mechanisms associated with exposure to air pollutants are largely unknown. Previous studies on the human exposome have shown that the expression of certain circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), regulators of gene expression, are altered upon exposure to traffic-related air pollutants.

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Background: Socio-economic inequalities in mortality are well established, yet the contribution of intermediate risk factors that may underlie these relationships remains unclear. We evaluated the role of multiple modifiable intermediate risk factors underlying socio-economic-associated mortality and quantified the potential impact of reducing early all-cause mortality by hypothetically altering socio-economic risk factors.

Methods: Data were from seven cohort studies participating in the LIFEPATH Consortium (total n = 179 090).

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A correction to this paper has been published and can be accessed via link at the top of the paper.

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The prenatal period represents a critical window of susceptibility to inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure from contaminated drinking water. Ingested iAs undergoes hepatic methylation generating mono and di-methyl arsenicals (MMAs and DMAs, respectively), a process that facilitates urinary arsenic (As) elimination. Differences in pregnant women's metabolism of As as indicated by greater proportions of MMAs and smaller proportions of  DMAs in urine are a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes.

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Prenatal inorganic arsenic (iAs) exposure is associated with health effects evident at birth and later in life. An understanding of the relationship between prenatal iAs exposure and alterations in the neonatal metabolome could reveal critical molecular modifications, potentially underpinning disease etiologies. In this study, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based metabolomic analysis was used to identify metabolites in neonate cord serum associated with prenatal iAs exposure in participants from the Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) pregnancy cohort, in Gómez Palacio, Mexico.

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Background: Prenatal exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) is associated with dysregulated fetal gene and protein expression. Potential biological mechanisms that underlie these changes include, but are not limited to, changes to the epigenome.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify whether the expression of key genes, proteins, or both and their associated biological pathways are perturbed by compiling datasets from studies on prenatal arsenic exposure.

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Environmental exposure to heavy metals is a potentially modifiable risk factor for preeclampsia (PE). Toxicologically, there are known interactions between the toxic metal cadmium (Cd) and essential metals such as selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn), as these metals can protect against the toxicity of Cd. As they relate to preeclampsia, the interaction between Cd and these essential metals is unknown.

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Background: Exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) from drinking water is a global public health problem, yet much remains unknown about the extent of exposure in susceptible populations.

Objectives: We aimed to establish the Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) prospective pregnancy cohort in Gómez Palacio, Mexico, to better understand the effects of iAs exposure on pregnant women and their children.

Methods: Two hundred pregnant women were recruited for this study.

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Exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) early in life is associated with adverse health effects in infants, children, and adults, and yet the biological mechanisms that underlie these effects are understudied. The objective of this research was to examine the proteomic shifts associated with prenatal iAs exposure using cord blood samples isolated from 50 newborns from Gómez Palacio, Mexico. Levels of iAs in maternal drinking water (DW-iAs) and the sum of iAs and iAs metabolites in maternal urine (U-tAs) were determined.

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The Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) pregnancy cohort in Gómez Palacio, Mexico was recently established to better understand the impacts of prenatal exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs). In this study, we examined a subset (n = 40) of newborn cord blood samples for microRNA (miRNA) expression changes associated with in utero arsenic exposure. Levels of iAs in maternal drinking water (DW-iAs) and maternal urine were assessed.

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Cadmium (Cd) is prevalent in the environment yet understudied as a developmental toxicant. Cd partially crosses the placental barrier from mother to fetus and is linked to detrimental effects in newborns. Here we examine the relationship between levels of Cd during pregnancy and 5-methylcytosine (5mC) levels in leukocyte DNA collected from 17 mother-newborn pairs.

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