Publications by authors named "Pi-I D Lin"
Background: The long-term associations between metal mixtures in pregnancy and women's mid-life blood pressure (BP) and hypertension remain unclear.
Methods: In Project Viva (enrolled 1999-2002), we measured nonessential (arsenic, barium, cadmium, cesium, mercury, lead) and essential metals (copper, magnesium, manganese, selenium, zinc) in red blood cells, along with folate and vitamin B12 in plasma, collected during pregnancy. We measured mid-life BP from 2017 to 2021 (median age, 51.
Background: PFAS may impair bone health, but effects of PFAS exposure assessed during pregnancy and the perimenopause-life stages marked by rapidly changing bone metabolism-on later life bone health are unknown.
Methods: We studied 531 women in the Boston-area Project Viva cohort. We used multivariable linear, generalized additive, and mixture models to examine associations of plasma PFAS concentrations during early pregnancy [median (IQR) maternal age 32.
Article Synopsis
- The study explores the relationship between green space and childhood obesity by using advanced metrics like NDVI and street-view imagery, rather than solely relying on BMI.
- Participants were assessed from mid-childhood through late adolescence to analyze how green space exposure relates to various measures of adiposity, including BMI and fat mass index.
- The research aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how green environments may influence children's health outcomes over time, factoring in socio-economic and demographic variables.
Background: Accurately capturing individuals' experiences with greenspace at ground-level can provide valuable insights into their impact on children's health. However, most previous research has relied on coarse satellite-based measurements.
Methods: We utilized CVH and residential address data from Project Viva, a US-based pre-birth cohort, tracking participants from mid-childhood to late adolescence (2007-21).
Article Synopsis
- A study investigated how prenatal dietary patterns affect child outcomes related to autism, analyzing data from up to 6084 participants across 14 cohorts.
- Results showed that higher scores on healthy eating indices were linked to lower scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), indicating a potential connection between better prenatal diets and social behaviors in children.
- However, there were no significant links found between prenatal diets and official autism diagnoses, suggesting that while diet may influence some traits, more research is needed to clarify its effects on autism-related conditions.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how prenatal dietary quality, assessed through the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Pattern (EDIP), impacts infant sizes at birth and growth patterns up to age 24 months.
- Researchers analyzed data from 2854 parent-child pairs participating in a long-term health program, highlighting the diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds of the participants.
- Results revealed that a healthier diet during pregnancy (high HEI score) is linked to lower likelihoods of having large infants at birth and experiencing rapid growth, suggesting that dietary choices may play a vital role in combating obesity later in life.
Article Synopsis
- Limited research exists on how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) impact bone mineral density (aBMD) during adolescence and whether factors like physical activity and dairy intake can mitigate these effects.
- A study within the Project Viva cohort analyzed the relationship between PFAS levels in mid-childhood and aBMD Z-scores in early and late adolescence, finding that higher levels of specific PFAS, like PFOA and PFDA, were associated with lower aBMD in females and some males.
- The findings suggest that greater physical activity and dairy consumption may provide some protective effects against the negative impact of PFAS on bone accrual through adolescence.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how prenatal exposure to metals influences kidney function in adolescents, specifically through measuring metal concentrations in the blood during pregnancy and their association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in teenagers.
- Results showed that higher levels of certain metals like cadmium, chromium, nickel, and vanadium in the first trimester correlated with lower eGFR, but these findings were not statistically significant after accounting for multiple comparisons.
- The research emphasizes the need for further exploration of how prenatal environmental factors, particularly metal exposure, could impact long-term kidney health and function.
Importance: Limited access to healthy foods, resulting from residence in neighborhoods with low food access, is a public health concern. The contribution of this exposure in early life to child obesity remains uncertain.
Objective: To examine associations of neighborhood food access during pregnancy or early childhood with child body mass index (BMI) and obesity risk.
Article Synopsis
- Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), like preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, significantly affect maternal and child health, prompting a study on the role of metal mixtures and vitamins in their development.
- In a cohort study involving 1,386 participants, researchers assessed the levels of essential and nonessential metals and vitamins in early pregnancy, finding a complex relationship between these substances and the incidence of HDP.
- The results indicated that higher levels of certain metals, like copper, were linked to lower odds of preeclampsia, while increased vitamin B levels were associated with higher odds of gestational hypertension, although these effects diminished after considering dietary influences.
Background: Evidence suggests that prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and metals, two classes of chemicals found ubiquitously in human populations, influence immune system development and response.
Objective: We evaluated whether first trimester blood PFAS and metals were associated with antigen- or mitogen-stimulated cord blood lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine secretion.
Methods: We measured six PFAS, as well as six nonessential and four essential metals, in first trimester blood from participants in the longitudinal pre-birth Project Viva cohort, recruited between 1999 and 2000 in eastern Massachusetts.
Background: Antidepressants are among the most commonly prescribed medications, but evidence on comparative weight change for specific first-line treatments is limited.
Objective: To compare weight change across common first-line antidepressant treatments by emulating a target trial.
Design: Observational cohort study over 24 months.
Introduction: Protective associations of greenspace with Parkinson's disease (PD) have been observed in some studies. Visual exposure to greenspace seems to be important for some of the proposed pathways underlying these associations. However, most studies use overhead-view measures (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood and nutrition-related factors have the potential to impact development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and quality of life for people with ASD, but gaps in evidence exist. On 10 November 2022, Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute hosted a 1-d meeting to explore the evidence and evidence gaps regarding the relationships of food and nutrition with ASD. This meeting report summarizes the presentations and deliberations from the meeting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Nonessential metals have endocrine disrupting properties, interfere with cellular processes, generate reactive oxygen and deplete antioxidants, while essential metals and vitamins act as antioxidants. The extent to which prenatal metals and vitamins are associated with cord blood hormones involved in maternal and fetal metabolic and growth processes is unknown.
Methods: We measured six nonessential (arsenic, barium, cadmium, cesium, lead, mercury) and four essential (magnesium, manganese, selenium, zinc) metals and trace elements, and two vitamins (B12 and folate) in first trimester blood from participants in the longitudinal pre-birth Project Viva cohort, who were recruited between 1999-2002 in eastern Massachusetts.
Background: Guidelines for the use of antihypertensives changed in 2014 and 2017. To understand the effect of these guidelines, we examined trends in antihypertensive prescriptions in the United States from 2010 to 2019 using a repeated cross-sectional design.
Methods And Results: Using electronic health records from 15 health care institutions for adults (20-85 years old) who had ≥1 antihypertensive prescription, we assessed whether (1) prescriptions of beta blockers decreased after the 2014 Eighth Joint National Committee (JNC 8) report discouraged use for first-line treatment, (2) prescriptions for calcium channel blockers and thiazide diuretics increased among Black patients after the JNC 8 report encouraged use as first-line therapy, and (3) prescriptions for dual therapy and fixed-dose combination among patients with blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg increased after recommendations in the 2017 Hypertension Clinical Practice Guidelines.
Article Synopsis
- * The study analyzed data from over 22,000 pregnant participants and found that those living in food insecure areas tended to have lower birth weights and higher chances of having small-for-gestational-age babies.
- * Individual food insecurity did not show a significant association with birth outcomes, suggesting that neighborhood food access may be a more critical factor during pregnancy.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates how exposure to multiple metals in early childhood affects cognitive development by examining blood metal concentrations in children around 3 years old and their cognitive test scores at about 8 years old.
- Researchers measured levels of various essential and non-essential metals in blood samples and used statistical methods to analyze how these levels correlate with cognitive abilities like vocabulary and memory.
- Findings reveal that higher lead levels were linked to decreased visual-motor skills and vocabulary, while magnesium showed some positive associations, but overall, joint effects of metal mixtures were not observed in this low lead exposure group.
Background: Findings on the associations between prenatal PFAS exposures and offspring adiposity are inconsistent. Whether such associations may extend to adolescence is especially understudied.
Objectives: We investigated associations of prenatal PFAS exposures with offspring adiposity and body composition at 16-20 years of age.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the link between prenatal and childhood exposure to PFAS (pollutants) and blood pressure (BP) changes in kids, utilizing data from Project Viva in Massachusetts.
- Researchers measured PFAS in blood samples taken during pregnancy and midchildhood and tracked BP across various ages in 1506 children, carrying out 9036 BP measurements.
- Results showed specific PFAS connections to BP at certain ages (e.g., some increased systolic BP at birth), but there were no consistent patterns or overall associations with BP across all ages.
Background: The developing fetal brain is sensitive to many environmental exposures. However, the independent and joint effects of prenatal exposure to metals and micronutrients on child cognition are not well understood.
Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate associations of first-trimester ( wk) maternal erythrocyte concentrations of mixtures of nonessential and essential metals and micronutrients with early ( y) and mid-childhood ( y) cognitive test scores in Project Viva, a prebirth cohort in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
In this work, we propose the use of molecular emission of calcium fluoride (CaF) by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to obtain quantitative fluoride distribution images of teeth. LIBS has proved to be an efficient technique to detect low amounts of fluoride in solids, and human teeth have the advantage being a matrix rich in calcium. We used new calibration material from sintered hydroxyapatite pellets doped with fluoride to determine the optimized LIBS conditions of argon flow at 1 L min and using the green emission bands of CaF in 530 nm, and obtained a calibration curve between 0 and 400 μg g, and LOD of 18 μg g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- This study investigated the link between prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and autism-related traits in children using data from 1,429 participants across 10 cohorts in the NIH-funded ECHO program.
- The analysis showed that most PFAS in maternal blood had no significant association with child autism traits, but higher levels of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were linked to increased autism-related traits.
- The findings suggest a potential connection between PFNA levels during pregnancy and modest increases in autism traits, indicating the need for further research on various PFAS and their impacts on child development.