Fine particulate matter exposure and systemic inflammation: A potential mediating role of bioactive lipids.

Inflammation is a key mechanism underlying the adverse health effects of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM). Bioactive lipids in the arachidonic acid (ARA) pathway are important in the regulation of inflammation and are reportedly altered by PM exposure. Ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P), a class of sphingolipids, is required to initiate ARA metabolism.

Exercise intervention in middle-aged and elderly individuals with insomnia improves sleep and restores connectivity in the motor network.

Exercise is a potential treatment to improve sleep quality in middle-aged and elderly individuals. Understanding exercise-induced changes in functional plasticity of brain circuits that underlie improvements in sleep among middle-aged and older adults can inform treatment of sleep problems. The aim of the study is to identify the effects of a 12-week exercise program on sleep quality and brain functional connectivity in middle-aged and older adults with insomnia.

Particulate Air Pollution and Blood Pressure: Signaling by the Arachidonate Metabolism.

Background: Short-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) can raise blood pressure, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We explored whether arachidonate metabolites serve as biological intermediates in PM-associated prohypertensive changes.

Methods: This panel study recruited 110 adults aged 50 to 65 years living in Beijing, China.

Cardiovascular effects of wearing respirators against particulate matter: A randomized crossover trial.

Fine particles (PM) are implicated as an important risk to cardiovascular health. N95 respirators had been widely used to provide protection by filtering particles. Yet the practical effects of wearing respirators have not been fully understood.

Development and validation of a simple and rapid HILIC-MS/MS method for the quantification of low-abundant lysoglycerophospholipids in human plasma.

Lysoglycerophospholipids (Lyso-GPLs) are an essential class of signaling lipids with potential roles in human diseases, such as cancer, central nervous system diseases, and atherosclerosis. Current methods for the quantification of Lyso-GPLs involve complex sample pretreatment, long analysis times, and insufficient validation, which hinder the research of Lyso-GPLs in human studies, especially for Lyso-GPLs with low abundance in human plasma such as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI), lysophosphatidylglycerol (LPG), lysophosphatidylserine (LysoPS), lyso-platelet-activating factor (LysoPAF), and cyclic phosphatidic acid (cPA). Herein, we report the development and validation of a simple and rapid liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the quantification of Lyso-GPLs with low abundance in plasma.

Ambient Air Pollution and Atherosclerosis: A Potential Mediating Role of Sphingolipids.

Background: The pathophysiological mechanisms of air pollution-induced atherosclerosis are incompletely understood. Sphingolipids serve as biological intermediates during atherosclerosis development by facilitating production of proatherogenic apoB (apolipoprotein B)-containing lipoproteins. We explored whether sphingolipids mediate the proatherogenic effects of air pollution.

Personal exposure to electrophilic compounds of fine particulate matter and the inflammatory response: The role of atmospheric transformation.

Atmospheric oxidation can produce electrophilic compounds, altering the health effects induced by fine particulate matter (PM); however, little is known about these electrophilic compounds or their health effects. Using electron capture negative ionization, we systematically detected 301 electrophilic compounds from personal PM samples in a panel study in urban Beijing. Most were oxygen-containing compounds with 3-17 double bond equivalents (DBE), suggesting the dominance of oxidized aromatic structures.

Glucose Metabolic Disorders Enhance Vascular Dysfunction Triggered by Particulate Air Pollution: a Panel Study.

Background: Vascular dysfunction is a biological pathway whereby particulate matter (PM) exerts deleterious cardiovascular effects. The effects of ambient PM on vascular function in prediabetic individuals are unclear.

Methods: A panel study recruited 112 Beijing residents with and without prediabetes.

A simple and rapid method for extraction and measurement of circulating sphingolipids using LC-MS/MS: a targeted lipidomic analysis.

Sphingolipids are a class of lipids with high structural diversity and biological pleiotropy. Mounting evidence supports a role for sphingolipids in regulating pathophysiology of cardiometabolic diseases, and they have been proposed as potential cardiometabolic biomarkers. Current methods for quantifying sphingolipids require laborious pretreatment and relatively large sample volumes, and cover limited species, hindering their application in epidemiological studies.

Fine particulate matter and vasoactive 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid: Insights into the mechanisms of the prohypertensive effects of particulate air pollution.

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that biological intermediates play an important role in initiating fine particulate matter (PM)-associated prohypertensive pathways, but sensitive biomarkers for this pathway are lacking.

Aim: To explore whether short-term exposure to PM is associated with the concentration of 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE), a potent vasoactive lipid relevant to the pathophysiology of hypertension.

Methods: In this longitudinal panel study, we repeatedly (up to seven times) measured the blood concentrations of 20-HETE in 120 adults living in Beijing, China.

Serum branched-chain amino acids modifies the associations between air pollutants and insulin resistance.

Growing evidence supports that air pollution exposure has become a risk factor of type II diabetes mellitus through the induction of insulin resistance (IR), but the presented findings did not provide a consistent relationship between air pollution exposure and IR in the temporal scale and the magnitude. Reported associated with IR and air pollution exposure, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in blood might modify the association between air pollution exposure and IR. We took advantage of an existing panel study on elderly people who were healthy or with pre-diabetes.

Proinflammatory lipid signals trigger the health effects of air pollution in individuals with prediabetes.

Individuals with metabolic disorders exhibit enhanced susceptibility to the cardiovascular health effects of particulate air pollution, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. We aim to assess whether changes in proinflammatory lipid signals are associated with fine particulate matter (PM) exposure in individuals with and without prediabetes. A longitudinal panel study was conducted in Beijing, China, and included 120 participants followed up over 589 clinical visits from August 2013 to February 2015.

Organic Components of Personal PM Exposure Associated with Inflammation: Evidence from an Untargeted Exposomic Approach.

Fine particulate matter (PM) can promote chronic diseases through the fundamental mechanism of inflammation; however, systemic information is lacking on the inflammatory PM components. To decipher organic components from personal PM exposure that were associated with respiratory and circulatory inflammatory responses in older adults, we developed an exposomic approach using trace amounts of particles and applied it on 424 personal PM samples collected in a panel study in Beijing. Applying an integrated multivariate and univariate untargeted strategy, a total of 267 organic compounds were filtered and then chemically identified according to their association with exhaled nitric oxide (eNO)/interleukin (IL)-6 or serum IL-1β/IL-6, with monocyclic and polycyclic aromatic compounds (i.

The health effects of wearing facemasks on cardiopulmonary system of healthy young adults: A double-blinded, randomized crossover trial.

Background: Facemask had increasingly been utilized as a personal protective measure to reduce exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) during heavily-polluted days and routine life. However, evidence on the potential effects on cardiovascular system by wearing particulate-filtering facemask was limited.

Methods: We conducted a double-blinded randomized crossover trial (RCT) to evaluate the effects of wearing N95 facemasks on the molecular responses of cardiopulmonary system among 52 healthy college students in Beijing, China.

Associations between changes in adipokines and exposure to fine and ultrafine particulate matter in ambient air in Beijing residents with and without pre-diabetes.

Objective: Exposure to particulate matter (PM) is a risk factor to diabetes, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Adipokines play important roles in glucose metabolism. This study examined the associations between short-term exposure to ambient PM and adipokine levels and evaluated whether metabolic disorders could enhance susceptibility to PM-induced health effects.

Changes in bioactive lipid mediators in response to short-term exposure to ambient air particulate matter: A targeted lipidomic analysis of oxylipin signaling pathways.

Background: Exposure to ambient air particulate matter (PM) is a risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases. The knowledge of the underlying mechanisms is still evolving, but systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are central to the ability of PM to induce cardiometabolic effects. Oxylipins derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are bioactive lipid mediators that have fundamental roles in the signaling of inflammatory events.

A rapid and high-throughput approach to quantify non-esterified oxylipins for epidemiological studies using online SPE-LC-MS/MS.

Oxylipins are highly bioactive lipid mediators derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and have fundamental roles in a diverse set of homeostatic and inflammatory processes. Current targeted methods of analyzing oxylipins require long runtimes and laborious sample preparation, limiting their application to epidemiological studies. Here, we report the development of an online solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (online SPE-LC-MS/MS) method to quantify 49 non-esterified oxylipins and PUFAs, including prostanoids, leukotrienes, lipoxins, resolvins, hydroxy PUFAs, epoxy PUFAs, and their PUFA precursors, in 50-μL samples of human serum.

Respiratory Inflammation and Short-Term Ambient Air Pollution Exposures in Adult Beijing Residents with and without Prediabetes: A Panel Study.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals with glucose metabolism disorders are susceptible to mortality associated with fine particles. However, the mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Objectives: We examined whether particle-associated respiratory inflammation differed between individuals with prediabetes and healthy control participants.

Association of internal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with inflammation and oxidative stress in prediabetic and healthy individuals.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are key air pollutants that may contribute to the risk of numerous diseases by inducing inflammation and oxidative stress. Individuals with metabolic disorders may be more susceptible to PAH-induced inflammation and oxidative stress. To test this hypothesis, we designed a panel study involving 60 patients with pre-type 2 diabetes (pre-T2D) and 60 reference participants, and conducted up to seven repeated clinical examinations.

Susceptibility of prediabetes to the health effect of air pollution: a community-based panel study with a nested case-control design.

Background: Recent studies suggest that people with diabetes or who are at risk of developing diabetes, i.e. prediabetic (preDM), are potentially susceptible to air pollution, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear because the existing epidemiological studies did not include healthy control groups and only focused on limited health outcomes.

A prospective study (SCOPE) comparing the cardiometabolic and respiratory effects of air pollution exposure on healthy and pre-diabetic individuals.

Air pollution is known to be a major risk factor for cardiopulmonary disease, but this is unclear for cardiometabolic disease (e.g. diabetes).

Microfluidic assay of circulating endothelial cells in coronary artery disease patients with angina pectoris.

Background: Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) are widely reported as a promising biomarker of endothelial damage/dysfunction in coronary artery disease (CAD). The two popular methods of CEC quantification include the use of immunomagnetic beads separation (IB) and flow cytometry analysis (FC); however, they suffer from two main shortcomings that affect their diagnostic and prognostic responses: non-specific bindings of magnetic beads to non-target cells and a high degree of variability in rare cell identification, respectively. We designed a microfluidic chip with spatially staggered micropillars for the efficient harvesting of CECs with intact cellular morphology in an attempt to revisit the diagnostic goal of CEC counts in CAD patients with angina pectoris.

Plasma growth differentiation factor 15 predicts first-ever stroke in hypertensive patients.

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a relatively new biomarker that predicts adverse stroke outcomes. However, the association of GDF-15 with first-ever stroke in hypertensive patients has not yet been evaluated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical implications of plasma GDF-15 on the development of first-ever stroke in patients with hypertension.

A comparison of multivessel and culprit vessel percutaneous coronary intervention in non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome patients with multivessel disease: a meta-analysis.

Aims: Percutaneous revascularisation triage has not been evaluated in randomised controlled trials of patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) and multivessel disease. As a result, current guidelines are not available. The objective of our meta-analysis was to investigate the use of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in culprit and non-culprit vessels.

Coronary stenting versus bypass surgery in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: The optimal revascularization strategy in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with HFPEF.

Methods: From July 2003 through September 2005, a total of 920 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and HFPEF (ejection fraction ≥ 50%) underwent PCI (n = 350) or CABG (n = 570).