Maternal multivitamin intake and orofacial clefts in offspring: Japan Environment and Children's Study (JECS) cohort study

Objectives: Orofacial clefts are common birth defects with a lack of strong evidence regarding their association with maternal nutrition. We aimed to determine whether a relationship exists between maternal nutrient or multivitamin intake and orofacial clefts. Design: This is a prospective, population-based nationwide cohort study. Setting: The study was conducted in 15 regional centres, consisting of local administrative units and study areas. Participants: A total of 98 787 eligible mother–child pairs of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study were included. Intervention: Exposures were maternal nutrition and the use of supplemental multivitamins in mothers. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Outcomes were the occurrence of any orofacial cleft at birth. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between maternal multivitamin intake and the incidence of orofacial clefts. Results: Of the 98 787 children, 69 (0.07%) were diagnosed with cleft lip alone, 113 (0.11%) were diagnosed with cleft lip and palate, and 52 (0.05%) were diagnosed with cleft palate within 1 month after birth. Regarding the total orofacial cleft outcome, statistically significant point estimates of relative risk ratios (RR) were determined for multivitamin intake before pregnancy (RR=1.71; 95% CI 1.06 to 2.77) and during the first trimester (RR=2.00; 95% CI 1.18 to 3.37), but the association was not significant for multivitamin intake after the first trimester (RR=1.34; 95% CI 0.59 to 3.01). Maternal micronutrient intake via food was not associated with the incidence of orofacial clefts in offspring. Conclusions: Intake of multivitamin supplements shortly before conception or during the first trimester of pregnancy was found to be associated with an increased incidence of orofacial clefts at birth. Pregnant women and those intending to become pregnant should be advised of the potential risks of multivitamin supplementation

1 2 3 Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry An International Journal Dealing with All Aspects and Applications of Nuclear Chemistry Volume

Abstract We carried out time-series observations of 210 Po and 210 Pb radioactivity in the western North Pacific Ocean. The sinking fluxes of particulate organic carbon (POC) in the mesopelagic zone were estimated from 210 Po radioactivity during several seasons in the subarctic and subtropical regions of the western North Pacific. The seasonal changes of POC fluxes at a depth of 400 m were larger in the subarctic region than in the subtropical region. The annual mean POC flux at a depth of 400 m was larger in the subarctic region (57 mgC m -2 day -1 ) than in the subtropical region (36 mgC m -2 day -1 ). The annual mean of the e-ratio (the ratio of POC flux to primary productivity) in the subarctic region (18 %) was about twice the e-ratio in the subtropical region (10 %). These results imply that the efficiency of the biological pump is larger in the subarctic region than in the subtropical region of the western North Pacific

Co-activation of macrophages and T cells contribute to chronic GVHD in human IL-6 transgenic humanised mouse model.

BACKGROUND: Graft-versus host disease (GVHD) is a complication of stem cell transplantation associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Non-specific immune-suppression, the mainstay of treatment, may result in immune-surveillance dysfunction and disease recurrence. METHODS: We created humanised mice model for chronic GVHD (cGVHD) by injecting cord blood (CB)-derived human CD34 FINDINGS: In cGVHD humanised mice, we found activation of T cells in the spleen, lung, liver, and skin, activation of macrophages in lung and liver, and loss of appendages in skin, obstruction of bronchioles in lung and portal fibrosis in liver recapitulating cGVHD. Acute GVHD humanised mice showed activation of T cells with skewed TCR repertoire without significant macrophage activation. INTERPRETATION: Using humanised mouse models, we demonstrated distinct immune mechanisms contributing acute and chronic GVHD. In cGVHD model, co-activation of human HSPC-derived macrophages and T cells educated in the recipient thymus contributed to delayed onset, multi-organ disease. In acute GVHD model, mature human T cells contained in the graft resulted in rapid disease progression. These humanised mouse models may facilitate future development of new molecular medicine targeting GVHD

Sorption and Diffusion of Normal Hydrocarbons in Natural Rubber

Solubility and diffusion coefficients of normal C2-C6 hydrocarbons in unvulcanized natural rubber have been determined. Data on concentration dependence of the solubility constant could be correlated by S=S0 exp(αc) and the parameter α are related to the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter χ approximately by α=2χ+1. The concentration dependence of diffusion coefficient are fitted by the expression D=D0(1-αc) exp (βc) derived from a first-approximation free volume theory. The diffusion coefficient, D0 extrapolated to zero concentration and its activation energy decrease with increasing molecular size up to C3 and reach a constant value for C4 and higher hydrocarbons. The parameter β is almost constant for C4-C6 hydrocarbons. It is demonstrated that these hydrocarbons would move through polymeric media like a needle in concert with the thermal motion of polymer segments and only the free volumes larger than the effective cross-sectional diameter of the diffusant molecule is available for diffusion

Association of maternal heavy metal exposure during pregnancy with isolated cleft lip and palate in offspring: Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) cohort study

子どもの健康と環境に関する全国調査（エコチル調査）＜妊婦の血中重金属濃度と生まれた子どもの口唇口蓋裂との関連について --エコチル調査＞. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-04-12.[Background] Cleft lip and palate (cleft L/P) is one of the most common congenital anomalies and its etiology is assumed to be multifactorial. Recent epidemiological data involving a small number of participants suggested an association between perinatal exposure to heavy metals and cleft L/P in affected children. However, this association requires further investigation in a large cohort. [Methods] This nested case–control study used a dataset of The Japan Environment and Children’s Study, which is an ongoing research project to investigate the association between environmental factors and mother-child health. Participants were enrolled between 2011 and 2014. From the records of fetuses/children, we extracted data of isolated cleft L/P cases and matched children without cleft L/P at a ratio of 1:10. The exposures of interest were in utero exposure to four metals (mercury [Hg], lead [Pb], cadmium [Cd], and manganese [Mn]), which were sampled from mothers in the second/third trimester. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess the association between heavy metal exposure and isolated cleft L/P. Three sensitivity analyses were conducted to test the robustness of the findings, including the change in case definition and statistical methods. [Results] Of 104, 062 fetal records involving both live-birth and stillbirth, we identified 192 children with isolated cleft L/P and 1, 920 matched controls. Overall, the blood metal levels were low (for example, median Pb level was 5.85, 6.22, and 5.75 μg/L in the total cohort, cases, and controls, respectively). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that levels of none of the four heavy metals in the mother’s blood during pregnancy were associated with the risk of cleft L/P in offspring; the adjusted odds ratios (per 1 μg/L increase) with 95% intervals were 0.96 (0.91–1.03), 1.01 (0.94–1.08), 1.00 (0.61–1.63) and 1.00 (0.97–1.03) for Hg, Pb, Cd and Mn, respectively. The results were consistent in all sensitivity analyses. [Conclusions] Exposure to these four metals during pregnancy was not associated with isolated cleft L/P at the low exposure level in our cohort

Phytoplankton composition in the subarctic North Pacific during autumn 2005

http://www.godac.jamstec.go.jp/darwin/cruise/mirai/mr05-04/

1-ブタノールを結晶化調整剤とするZSM-5型ゼオライトの合成とその性質 <論文>

テトラプロピルアンモニウムプロミド(TPABr)のように有機カチオンとしてではなく中性分子として作用し,かつ比較的分子構造が簡単な脂肪族アルコールを結晶化調整剤としてZSM-5型ゼオライト合成を行い,TPABrを用いて合成したZSM-5ゼオライトとその物性を比較することにより,結晶化調整剤としての脂肪族アルコールの役割について検討した.得られたゼオライトの結晶化度は用いたアルコールの種類に依存し,炭素数4～6の直鎖アルコールとりわけ1-ブタノールがZSM-5型ゼオライトの合成に有効であること,及びZSM-5型ゼオライト結晶を純相として得るためには少なくとも1-butano1/SiO2比は1以上にする必要があることがわかった.また,合成できるゼオライトのSiO2/Al2O3比の範囲は20～100とTPABrを用いた場合に比べ狭かった.なお,熱分析および13C-MASNMRの測定結果より,合成直後のゼオライト細孔内には1-ブタノールが存在していることが明らかとなった.さらに,FT-IRスペクトル測定及び水の吸着実験から,1-ブタノールを用いて合成したゼオライトは格子欠陥の少ないことが示唆された.Synthesis of ZSM-5 type zeolites has been carried out using various structure-directing reagents such as amine, diamine, amino alcohol, hydrocarbon and alcohol as well as tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPABr). The role of the directing reagent and the properties of zeolites synthesized, however, have not been sufficiently clarified. In this paper, synthesis of ZSM-5 type zeolites was conducted using various aliphatic alcohol and their properties were investigated in detail. It was found that the highly crystalline ZSM-5 type zeolites were synthesized using 1-butanol and 1-hexanol (Table 1). In the case of 1-butanol, the crystallinity of zeolite was increased with an increase in 1-butanol/SiO2 ratio of the starting synthesis mixture and the highest crystallinity was obtained for over 1 of 1-butanol/SiO2 ratio (Table 2). The production of cristobalite as by-product was considerably depressed by addition of 1-butanol. These results indicate that 1-butanol acts as the structure-directing reagent. The SiO2/Al2O3 ratios of zeolites synthesized using 1-butanol were lower than those of the starting synthesis mixtures. The region of SiO2/Al2O3 ratio (30-150) was much smaller than that of zeolites with TPABr (Table 3). The Al-free zeolite, silicalite, could not be prepared using 1-butanol. Figure 4shows the FT-IR spectra of hydroxyl groups of HZSM-5 zeolites synthesized using (A) 1-butanol and (B) TPABr. The spectra of HZSM-5 from TPABr were characterized by two well-defined absorptions at 3605 and 3740 cm-1. The former band has been assigned to stretching vibration of an acidic bridged OH of Si (OH) Al, while the latter one to terminal Si-OH. On the other hand, two peaks at 3605 and 3740 cm-1 were also observed in the spectra of zeolites using 1-butanol. However, the intensity of the peak at 3740 cm-1 was very weak. The drastic decrease in the intensity of the peak at 3740 cm-1 may suggest the concentration of the internal Si-OH groups (structure defects) is relatively small. This is also confirmed by the fact that the amount of water adsorbed on zeolite synthesized with 1-butanol was smaller than that on zeolite with TPABr