Role of lens in early refractive development: evidence from a large cohort of Chinese children.

Aims: To document longitudinal changes in spherical equivalent refraction (SER) and related biometric factors during early refractive development.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of Chinese children, starting in 2018 with annual follow-ups. At each visit, children received cycloplegic autorefraction and ocular biometry measurements.

Effect of Extracurricular After-School Physical Activities on Academic Performance of Schoolchildren: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The beneficial effects of increasing outdoor physical activity time on children's myopia onset and physical well-being are widely acknowledged. However, in countries with competitive educational systems, such as China, parents and school administrators may be relatively reluctant to increase the extracurricular physical activity time for children due to concerns that this action will compromise children's academic performance.

Objective: To investigate whether additional extracurricular physical activity time after school compromises the academic performance of schoolchildren.

Longitudinal Changes in Lens Thickness and Lens Power Among Persistent Non-Myopic and Myopic Children.

Purpose: To assess the longitudinal changes in crystalline lens in persistent non-myopic and myopic children.

Methods: Four cohorts of children were recruited from Guangzhou, China, from first year of kindergarten (G0, n = 1129), first year of primary school (G1, n = 1324), fourth year of primary school (G4, n = 1854), and first year of junior high school (G7, n = 867) in 2018 and followed up annually for 2 years. All children received cycloplegic autorefraction and ocular biometry measurement.

Axial Growth Driven by Physical Development and Myopia among Children: A Two Year Cohort Study.

Background: The physical process of axial length growth among children and its role in the occurrence of myopia remain insufficiently explored. In this study, we investigate the patterns of ocular axial growth among persistent myopia (PM) and persistent non-myopia (PNM) children aged 3 to 15 years. Methods: A group of 6353 children aged 3 to 15 years, selected from rural schools in China, were followed up annually for 2 years.

Probable Evidence of Fecal Aerosol Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a High-Rise Building.

Background: The role of fecal aerosols in the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has been suspected.

Objective: To investigate the temporal and spatial distributions of 3 infected families in a high-rise apartment building and examine the associated environmental variables to verify the role of fecal aerosols.

Design: Epidemiologic survey and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses on throat swabs from the participants; 237 surface and air samples from 11 of the 83 flats in the building, public areas, and building drainage systems; and tracer gas released into bathrooms as a surrogate for virus-laden aerosols in the drainage system.

Human Sex Hormone Disrupting Effects of New Flame Retardants and Their Interactions with Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers, a Case Study in South China.

Even though sex hormone disrupting effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely understood, similar effects associated with new flame retardants (NFRs) have not been so well studied. This study aimed to explore the sex hormone disruption of NFRs and their interactions with PCBs and PBDEs through the conduct of an ecological study in an e-waste dismantling and control region in South China. Questionnaires and blood samples were collected from local adult residents.

[Genetic susceptibility of DNA damage induced by vinyl chloride monomer exposure].

Objective: To explore the association between DNA damage induced by vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and polymorphisms of DNA repair genes and xenobiotic metabolism genes of VCM.

Methods: Comet assay was employed to detect DNA damage. Based on the status of DNA damage, the VCM exposure workers were divided into two groups: DNA damage group (75) and control group (75).

Lack of association between cytokine gene polymorphisms and silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in Chinese iron miners.

Silicosis is a fibrotic lung disease produced by the inhalation and deposition of silica dust. The association between silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) has been well established. Cytokines participate in the development and progression of silicosis and PTB.

CYP2E1 mRNA expression, genetic polymorphisms in peripheral blood lymphocytes and liver abnormalities in Chinese VCM-exposed workers.

Objective: To study the relationship between expression of cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) in human lymphocytes, variant CYP2E1 genotype, exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), and liver abnormalities in VCM-exposed workers.

Methods: A case-control study was performed on 90 male occupationally exposed workers and 42 matched male nonexposed controls. Data were collected based on health surveillance, workplace investigation and questionnaire Survey.

Genetic polymorphisms of IL-1A, IL-1B, IL-1RN, NFKB1, FAS, and FASL, and risk of silicosis in a Chinese occupational population.

Objective: To test whether polymorphisms in IL-1, NF-KB, FAS, and FASL genes are associated with risk of silicosis.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted with 183 silicosis patients and 111 silica-exposed miners who were frequency-matched by age, dust exposure duration, work location, and type of work. Genotype analysis was performed on genomic DNA, using a PCR-RFLP assay.

[Polymorphisms of FAS and FASL genes and susceptibility of silicosis].

Objective: To explore the relationship between polymorphisms of FAS and FASL genes and genetic susceptibility of silicosis.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted. The case group was 183 male patients with silicosis and the control group was 111 male silica-exposed but without silicosis miners.

Genetic polymorphisms in alveolar macrophage response-related genes, and risk of silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in Chinese iron miners.

Alveolar macrophages (AMs) play a prominent role in influencing the development of lung inflammation and injury. The aim of this study is to investigate the roles of AMs response-related genes TNF-alpha, iNOS, and NRAMP1 (SLC11A1) in susceptibility to silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), and to analyze the interaction of dust exposure and genetic susceptibility to silicosis, interactions of TNF-alpha-308 and Natural Resistance-associated Macrophage Protein 1 (NRAMP1) INT4, D543N polymorphisms to PTB. Several epidemiological designs were used: retrospective investigations on dust exposure, case-control studies of 184 silicosis cases and 111 miners occupationally exposed to silica dust, and 1:2 matched case-control studies of 61 PTB cases and 122 PTB-free miners.

[Relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms of NRAMP1 gene and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis in workers exposed to silica dusts].

Objective: To explore the relationship between polymorphisms of natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1) gene and genetic susceptibility of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in workers exposed to silica dusts.

Methods: A 1:2 case control study of 61 male workers with PTB (50 silicosis patients and 11 unsilicosis workers) as the case group and 122 male PTB-free workers (100 silicosis patients and 22 unsilicosis workers) as the control group was conducted with the frequency matched for age of +/- 5 years, the job, the silica exposure, and the condition of cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. The polymerase chain reaction-restrained fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP) was used to detect the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NRAMP1 INT4 and D543N.