Blood metals and vitamin D status in a pregnancy cohort: A bidirectional biomarker analysis.

Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), a biomarker of vitamin D status, is associated with reduced immune function and adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth. Observational studies indicate that long-term, high level exposure to metals such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) can impact a person's vitamin D status. However, the directionality of the association is uncertain, particularly for low-level exposures.

"A spray bottle and a lollipop stick": An examination of policy prohibiting sterile injecting equipment in prison and effects on young men with injecting drug use histories.

Background: Australian young male prisoners with histories of injecting drug use are more likely to report injecting in prison, to do so more frequently, and to be involved in more un-safe injecting-related practices than their older counterparts. Despite international evidence that prison needle and syringe programs are both feasible and effective in reducing the harms associated with injecting drug use in prison, these young men do not have access to such equipment.

Methods: We critically analyse the interview transcripts of 28 young men with histories of injecting drug use who were recently released from adult prisons in Victoria, Australia, and prison drug policy text.

Continuous low-dose antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent urinary tract infection in adults who perform clean intermittent self-catheterisation: the AnTIC RCT.

Background: People carrying out clean intermittent self-catheterisation (CISC) to empty their bladder often suffer repeated urinary tract infections (UTIs). Continuous once-daily, low-dose antibiotic treatment (antibiotic prophylaxis) is commonly advised but knowledge of its effectiveness is lacking.

Objective: To assess the benefit, harms and cost-effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis to prevent UTIs in people who perform CISC.

Ethical Issues in Social Media Research for Public Health.

Social media (SM) offer huge potential for public health research, serving as a vehicle for surveillance, delivery of health interventions, recruitment to trials, collection of data, and dissemination. However, the networked nature of the data means they are riddled with ethical challenges, and no clear consensus has emerged as to the ethical handling of such data. This article outlines the key ethical concerns for public health researchers using SM and discusses how these concerns might best be addressed.

Delayed versus Immediate Cord Clamping in Preterm Infants.

Background: The preferred timing of umbilical-cord clamping in preterm infants is unclear.

Methods: We randomly assigned fetuses from women who were expected to deliver before 30 weeks of gestation to either immediate clamping of the umbilical cord (≤10 seconds after delivery) or delayed clamping (≥60 seconds after delivery). The primary composite outcome was death or major morbidity (defined as severe brain injury on postnatal ultrasonography, severe retinopathy of prematurity, necrotizing enterocolitis, or late-onset sepsis) by 36 weeks of postmenstrual age.

A Grapevine Anthocyanin Acyltransferase, Transcriptionally Regulated by VvMYBA, Can Produce Most Acylated Anthocyanins Present in Grape Skins.

Anthocyanins are flavonoid compounds responsible for red/purple colors in the leaves, fruit, and flowers of many plant species. They are produced through a multistep pathway that is controlled by MYB transcription factors. VvMYBA1 and VvMYBA2 activate anthocyanin biosynthesis in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) and are nonfunctional in white grapevine cultivars.

Prenatal dexamethasone programs expression of genes in liver and adipose tissue and increased hepatic lipid accumulation but not obesity on a high-fat diet.

The association between low birth weight and cardiovascular disease is amplified by the development of obesity. We explored the effects of postnatal high-fat (HF) feeding in dexamethasone (Dex)-programmed rats, in which prenatal glucocorticoid overexposure is associated with reduced birth weight and adult glucose intolerance. Male Wistar rats exposed to Dex or vehicle (Veh) during the last week of gestation were weaned onto HF or control diets for 6 months.

Pre- and post-conception pesticide exposure and the risk of birth defects in an Ontario farm population.

The use of pesticides has enhanced the health and economies of nations around the world by improving crop production. However, pesticides may pose health risks, particularly to the fetus and young children. In a secondary analysis of the Ontario Farm Family Health Study, we explored the relationship between birth defects and parental pesticide exposure during the 3 months prior to conception and the first trimester of pregnancy.

The influence of the environment and other exogenous agents on spontaneous abortion risk.

It is estimated that close to 30% of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion. Although about 60% of spontaneous abortions are thought to be due to genetic, infectious, hormonal, and immunological factors, the role of the environment remains poorly understood. Pregnancy involves a delicate balance of hormonal and immunological functions, which may be affected by environmental substances.

Two new grape cultivars, bud sports of Cabernet Sauvignon bearing pale-coloured berries, are the result of deletion of two regulatory genes of the berry colour locus.

Bud sports are infrequent changes in phenotype affecting shoots of woody perennials but the molecular basis of these mutations has rarely been identified. In this report, we show that the bronze-coloured berries of the Malian cultivar, a documented bud sport of the wine grape Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.), lack anthocyanins in the subepidermal cells compared to the red/black berried Cabernet Sauvignon in which both the epidermis and several subepidermal cell layers contain anthocyanin.

Reduced adipose glucocorticoid reactivation and increased hepatic glucocorticoid clearance as an early adaptation to high-fat feeding in Wistar rats.

Altered peripheral glucocorticoid metabolism may be important in the pathogenesis of obesity in humans and animal models. Genetically obese Zucker rats, Lep/ob mice, and obese humans exhibit increased regeneration of active glucocorticoids selectively in adipose tissue by 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD-1) and increased glucocorticoid clearance by hepatic A-ring reductases. We have examined whether dietary obesity in rats induces the same changes in glucocorticoid metabolism.

Intergenerational consequences of fetal programming by in utero exposure to glucocorticoids in rats.

Epidemiological studies linking low birth weight and subsequent cardiometabolic disease have given rise to the hypothesis that events in fetal life permanently program subsequent cardiovascular risk. The effects of fetal programming may not be limited to the first-generation offspring. We have explored intergenerational effects in the dexamethasone-programmed rat, a model in which fetal exposure to excess glucocorticoid results in low birth weight with subsequent adult hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia underpinned by increased activity of the key hepatic gluconeogenic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK).

The intergenerational effects of fetal programming: non-genomic mechanisms for the inheritance of low birth weight and cardiovascular risk.

Many epidemiological studies in diverse populations have demonstrated a link between low birth weight and subsequent disease. This evidence has given rise to the fetal origins hypothesis, which suggests that exposure of the fetus to an adverse environment in utero leads to permanent programming of tIssue function and a risk of cardiovascular disease. An alternative hypothesis is that low birth weight and adult cardiovascular disease are independent features of a genetic predisposition to cardiovascular disease.