Prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and infant growth and adiposity: the Healthy Start Study

Background: Prenatal exposures to certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been linked to lower weight and adiposity at birth but greater weight and adiposity in childhood. We hypothesized that faster growth in early infancy may be associated with maternal PFAS concentrations. Methods: Among 415 mother-infant pairs in a longitudinal cohort study, we estimated associations between maternal pregnancy serum concentrations of six PFAS and offspring weight and adiposity at ~5 months of age, and growth in early infancy. Linear and logistic regression models were adjusted for potential confounders including maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index. Effect modification by infant sex was evaluated. We evaluated potential confounding by correlated exposures via multipollutant linear regression and elastic net penalized regression. Results: Associations between maternal PFAS concentrations and infant weight and adiposity differed by offspring sex. In male infants, maternal perfluorooctanoate and perfluorononanoate were positively associated with adiposity, with percent fat mass increases of 1.5–1.7% per ln-ng/mL increase in PFAS (median adiposity at ~5 months: 24.6%). Maternal perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) were associated with lower weight-for-age z-score among female infants only (−0.26 SD per ln-ng/mL PFOS, 95% CI −0.43, −0.10; −0.17 SD per ln-ng/mL PFHxS, 95% CI −0.33, −0.01). In analyses pooled by sex, 2-(N-methyl-perfluorooctane sulfonamido) acetate above vs. below the limit of detection was associated with greater odds of rapid growth in weight-for-age (odds ratio [OR] 2.2, 95% CI 1.1, 4.3) and weight-for-length (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.8, 6.2). Multipollutant models generally confirmed the results and strengthened some associations. Discussion: We observed sex- and chemical-specific associations between maternal serum PFAS concentrations and infant weight and adiposity. Multipollutant models suggested confounding by correlated PFAS with opposing effects. Although maternal PFAS concentrations are inversely associated with infant weight and adiposity at birth, rapid gain may occur in infancy, particularly in fat mass

Prenatal exposure to per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, umbilical cord blood DNA methylation, and cardio-metabolic indicators in newborns: The healthy start study

BACKGROUND: Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are environmentally persistent chemicals widely detected in women of reproductive age. Prenatal PFAS exposure is associated with adverse health outcomes in children. We hypothesized that DNA methylation changes may result from prenatal PFAS exposure and may be linked to offspring cardio-metabolic phenotype. OBJECTIVES: We estimated associations of prenatal PFAS with DNA methylation in umbilical cord blood. We evaluated associations of methylation at selected sites with neonatal cardio-metabolic indicators. METHODS: Among 583 mother–infant pairs in a prospective cohort, five PFAS were quantified in maternal serum (median 27 wk of gestation). Umbilical cord blood DNA methylation was evaluated using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 array. Differentially methylated positions (DMPs) were evaluated at a false discovery rate (FDR) <0:05 and differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified using comb-p (Šidák-adjusted p <0:05). We estimated associations between methylation at candidate DMPs and DMR sites and the following outcomes: newborn weight, adiposity, and cord blood glucose, insulin, lipids, and leptin. RESULTS: Maternal serum PFAS concentrations were below the median for females in the U.S. general population. Moderate to high pairwise correla-tions were observed between PFAS concentrations (q =0:28 − 0:76). Methylation at one DMP (cg18587484), annotated to the gene TJAP1, was associated with perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) at FDR < 0:05. Comb-p detected between 4 and 15 DMRs for each PFAS. Associated genes, some common across multiple PFAS, were implicated in growth (RPTOR), lipid homeostasis (PON1, PON3, CIDEB, NR1H2), inflammation and immune activity (RASL11B, RNF39), among other functions. There was suggestive evidence that two PFAS-associated loci (cg09093485, cg09637273) were associated with cord blood triglycerides and birth weight, respectively (FDR < 0:1). DISCUSSION: DNA methylation in umbilical cord blood was associated with maternal serum PFAS concentrations during pregnancy, suggesting potential associations with offspring growth, metabolism, and immune function. Future research should explore whether DNA methylation changes mediate associations between prenatal PFAS exposures and child health outcomes. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP6888

Using curriculum differentiation to respond to students’ diversity

The article observes the results of the questionnaire of 1923 tenth-formers and their mathematics teachers. Statistical analysis of these results has been done using SPSS 13.0. The practice of curriculum differentiation in Lithuania is the subject of the observation. The research has shown that about 70 per cent of teachers more or less base their syllabus on the content of the textbook. The students’ achievements are dependent both on the teacher‘s understanding that syllabus has to be adapted to the students and ability to do that effectively. The following conclusion could be done: about 60 per cent of mathematics teachers should improve their competence in planning and developing syllabus. Organizing learning process about 80 per cent of teachers basically use reproductive teaching-learning method which requires little independent students’ activity. The institutions that prepare teachers and care about their competence should pay more attention to teachers’ qualification to apply teaching and learning methods in practice. The article has also observed the students and teachers’ understanding of principles and criteria and assessment used in schools and the quality of students’ feet-back.More attention should be paid to teachers’ competence providing faster and more efficient feet-back to students and help they needVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij

Apolipoprotein A-IV Genetic Polymorphism and Its Impact on Quantitative Traits in Normoglycemic and Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetic Hispanics from the San Luis Valley, Colorado

Apolipoprotein A -IV exhibits a common two-allele polymorphism in several human populations studied to date. Using isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting, we have analyzed plasmas from 188 non-insulin-dependent diabetic and 238 normoglycemic Hispanic individuals from the San Luis Valley, Colorado , to determine APOA 4 genotype frequencies and to estimate the impact of the genotypes on quantitative traits. The frequencies of the two common alleles, APOA 4 * l and AP OA 4 * 2 , were 0.929 and 0.069, respectively, in normal subjects and 0.901 and 0.096 , respectively, in diabetics. The third rare allele, APOA 4 * 3, was detected sporadically in both groups. We studied the impact of APOA 4 polymorphism on the levels of total plasma cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and its subfractions (HDL 3 and HDL 2), LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin. We observed no significant effect of the APOA4 polymorphism on any trait in diabetics. However, we did note a significant sex -specific effect in normoglycemic females on the level of total HDL cholesterol (p = 0.001 ) and its subfractions HDL2 (p = 0.043) and HDL3 (p = 0.001). The effect of the APOA 4 * 2 allele in normal Hispanic females was to low er the total HDL, HDL 2, and HDL 3 cholesterol by 8.75 mg /dl, 2.37 mg/dl, and 5.36 mg/dl, respectively , compared to the common APOA 4 * l allele