Epidemiological research advances on antibiotic exposure in early life and child health

Early life is a critical window period that determines the growth and development of children, but this delicate and complex period is highly susceptible to the disturbance of various exogenous chemicals, which in consequence may lead to short-term or long-term adverse health effects in human beings. The massive use of antibiotics has contributed to widespread exposure in early life, along with the potentially adverse effects on child health, and has caused great concern in public health. This review summarized recent epidemiological studies on the population with early-life antibiotic exposure and associated health outcomes such as growth and development, allergies, and psycho-behavioral problems in children, as well as potential biological mechanisms underlying these associations. Current findings suggested that antibiotic exposure early in life, including pregnancy and infancy, is strongly associated with childhood allergic diseases (e.g., atopic dermatitis and asthma), growth and development (e.g., obesity and birth length), and childhood psycho-behavioral problems (e.g., autism and anxiety). It also suggested that antibiotic exposure may affect individual health through gut microbiota, thyroid function, inflammation factors, mitochondrial function, and epigenetic mechanisms. In the future, more large prospective birth cohorts should be established to determine the levels of internal exposure to different types of antibiotics at multiple time points in early life and to explore their associations with child health outcomes, as well as to further validate relevant mechanisms, aiming to provide high-quality scientific evidence for research on child health associated with environmental exposure in early life

Placental inflammatory cytokines mRNA expression and preschool children’s cognitive performance: a birth cohort study in China

Abstract Background The immunologic milieu at the maternal–fetal interface has profound effects on propelling the development of the fetal brain. However, accessible epidemiological studies concerning the association between placental inflammatory cytokines and the intellectual development of offspring in humans are limited. Therefore, we explored the possible link between mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines in placenta and preschoolers’ cognitive performance. Methods Study subjects were obtained from the Ma’anshan birth cohort (MABC). Placental samples were collected after delivery, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was utilized to measure the mRNA expression levels of IL-8, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, CRP, IFN-γ, IL-10, and IL-4. Children’s intellectual development was assessed at preschool age by using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV). Multiple linear regression and restricted cubic spline models were used for statistical analysis. Results A total of 1665 pairs of mother and child were included in the analysis. After adjusting for confounders and after correction for multiple comparisons, we observed that mRNA expression of IL-8 (β =  − 0.53; 95% CI, − 0.92 to − 0.15), IL-6 (β =  − 0.58; 95% CI, − 0.97 to − 0.19), TNF-α (β =  − 0.37; 95% CI, − 0.71 to − 0.02), and IFN-γ (β =  − 0.31; 95% CI, − 0.61 to − 0.03) in the placenta was negatively associated with preschoolers’ full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ). Both higher IL-8 and IL-6 were associated with lower children’s low fluid reasoning index (FRI), and higher IFN-γ was associated with lower children’s working memory index (WMI). After further adjusting for confounders and children’s age at cognitive testing, the integrated index of six pro-inflammatory cytokines (index 2) was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with both the FSIQ and each sub-dimension (verbal comprehension index (VCI), visual spatial index (VSI), FRI, WMI, processing speed index (PSI)). Sex-stratified analyses showed that the association of IL-8, IFN-γ, and index 2 with children’s cognitive development was mainly concentrated in boys. Conclusions Evidence of an association between low cognitive performance and high expression of placental inflammatory cytokines (IL-8, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) was found, highlighting the potential importance of intrauterine placental immune status in dissecting offspring cognitive development

Smartphone-based polydiacetylene colorimetric sensor for point-of-care diagnosis of bacterial infections

The rapid progress in point-of-care testing (POCT) has become a promising decentralized patient-centered approach for the control of infectious diseases, especially in resource-limited settings. POCT devices should be inexpensive, rapid, simple operation and preferably require no power supply. Here, we developed a simple bacterial sensing platform that can be operated by a smartphone for bacteria identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) based on using a polydiacetylene (PDA) arrayed membrane chip. Each PDA array produced a unique color ‘fingerprint’ pattern for each bacteria based on different modes of action of toxins from bacteria on biomimetic lipid bilayers within PDA-lipid assemblies. We show that the PDA-based device can detect viable cells of bacteria as low as 104 ​CFU/mL within 1.5 ​h compared with several days of conventional bacterial identification, with the aid of a smartphone app. The device can also be used for an antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) for at least two broad-spectrum antimicrobials within 4 ​h and provide identification of antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance, enabling the selection of appropriate therapies. This PDA-based sensing platform provides an alternative way for bacterial detection and could be used as a portable and inexpensive POCT device for the rapid detection of bacterial infection in limited-resource settings

Mediating effects of DNA methylation in the association between sleep quality and infertility among women of childbearing age

Abstract Background This study aims to investigate the association between sleep quality and infertility among women and to explore the mediating effects of DNA methylation in this association. Methods This study is a population-based case–control study. The relationship between sleep quality and infertility was investigated in women with anovulatory infertility (n = 43) and healthy controls (n = 43). Genome-wide DNA methylation was profiled from peripheral blood samples using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation 850k BeadChip. Differentially methylated CpGs between cases and controls were identified using the ChAMP R package. The mediating effect of DNA methylation between sleep quality and infertility among women was investigated using the Bayesian estimation method provided by the R package “mediation”. Results The survey included 86 women of reproductive age, with 43 participants each in the case and control groups. The average age of the women was 27.6 ± 2.8 years (case group: 27.8 ± 3.0 years, control group: 27.4 ± 2.7 years). A total of 262 differentially methylated CpGs corresponding to 185 genes were identified. Difficulty falling asleep was a risk factor for infertility in women (OR = 3.69, 95%CI = 1.14, 11.99), and a causal mediation effect of DNA methylation CpGs was found. The mediating effect coefficient for cg08298632 was 0.10 (95%CI = 0.01–0.22), and the proportion of the total effect mediated by this methylation site increased to 64.3%. Conclusion These results suggest that DNA methylation CpGs (cg08298632) play a significant role in the relationship between difficulty falling asleep and infertility in females. These findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that connect difficulty falling asleep and infertility in women. Further studies are necessary to fully understand the biological significance and potential therapeutic applications of these findings. The identified DNA methylation sites provide new and valuable insights and potential targets for future studies aiming to prevent and treat female infertility

Thermally insulating and fire‐retardant bio‐mimic structural composites with a negative Poisson's ratio for battery protection

Abstract Battery safety has attracted considerable attention worldwide due to the rapid development of wearable electronics and the steady increase in the production and use of electric vehicles. As battery failures are often associated with mechanical‐thermal coupled behaviors, protective shielding materials with excellent mechanical robustness and flame‐retardant properties are highly desired to mitigate thermal runaway. However, most of the thermal insulating materials are not strong enough to protect batteries from mechanical abuse, which is one of the most critical scenarios with catastrophic consequences. Here, inspired by wood, we have developed an effective approach to engineer a hierarchical nanocomposite via self‐assembly of calcium silicate hydrate and polyvinyl alcohol polymer chains (referred as CSH wood). The versatile protective material CSH wood demonstrates an unprecedented combination of light weight (0.018 g cm−3), high stiffness (204 MPa in the axial direction), negative Poisson's ratio (−0.15), remarkable toughness (6.67 × 105 J m−3), superior thermal insulation (0.0204 W m−1 K−1 in the radial direction), and excellent fire retardancy (UL94‐V0). When applied as a protective cover or a protective layer within battery packages, the tough CSH wood can resist high‐impact load and block heat diffusion to block or delay the spread of fire, therefore significantly reducing the risk of property damage or bodily injuries caused by battery explosions. This work provides new pathways for fabricating advanced thermal insulating materials with large scalability and demonstrates great potential for the protection of electronic devices

Association between antibiotic exposure and the risk of infertility in women of childbearing age: A case-control study

Background: Based on self-report questionnaires, two previous epidemiological studies investigated the association between the exposure of women to antibiotics and their fertility. However, biomonitoring studies on low-dose antibiotic exposure, mainly from food and water, and its relation to the risk of infertility are missing. Methods: Based on a case-control study design, 302 women with infertility (144 primary infertility, 158 secondary infertility) and 302 women with normal fertility, all aged 20–49 years, were recruited from Anhui Province, China, in 2020 and 2021. A total of 41 common antibiotics and two antibiotic metabolites in urine samples were determined by liquid chromatography–triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QqQ-MS/MS). Results: Twenty-eight antibiotics with detection rates from 10% to 100% in both cases (median concentration: ∼2.294 ng/mL) and controls (∼1.596 ng/mL) were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analysis revealed that after controlling for confounding factors, high concentrations of eight individual antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, sulfaclozine, sulfamonomethoxine, penicillin G, chlorotetracycline, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, and cyadox) and four antibiotic classes (sulfonamides, tetracyclines, quinoxalines, and veterinary antibiotics) were related to a high risk of female infertility, with odds ratios (ORs) ranging from 1.30 to 2.86, except for chlorotetracycline (OR = 6.34), while another nine individual antibiotics (sulfamethazine, azithromycin, cefaclor, amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, pefloxacin, sarafloxacin, enrofloxacin, and florfenicol) and classes of chloramphenicol analogs and human antibiotics were related to a reduced risk of infertility, with ORs ranging from 0.70 to 0.20. Based on restricted cubic spline models after controlling for confounding factors, we observed that the relationship between all of the above protective antibiotics and infertility was nonlinear: A certain concentration could reduce the risk of female infertility while exceeding a safe dose could increase the risk of infertility. Conclusion: These results provide preliminary evidence that the effects of antibiotics on female fertility vary based on the active ingredient and usage and imply the importance of exposure dose. Future studies are needed to verify these results by controlling for multiple confounding factors

Preconception exposure to environmental antibiotics among childbearing couples in Anhui and health risk assessment: A multicenter population-based representative study

Only few studies have assessed the health effects due to preconception exposure to antibiotics among childbearing couples. This study investigated the status of preconception exposure to antibiotics among childbearing couples in Anhui, associated with health risks, and influencing factors. Overall, 1500 childbearing couples were randomly selected from the Reproductive Health of Childbearing Couples - Anhui Cohort (RHCC-AC). The urinary levels of 40 antibiotics and 2 metabolites were determined, and specific gravity (SG) adjusted concentrations of antibiotics were measured to assess health risks. Generalized linear models were used to assess the associations of urinary SG-adjusted concentration of antibiotics with demographic parameters and diet frequency. The total detection rates of all antibiotics were 98.9 % and 99.3 % in wives and husbands, respectively. The detection rates of veterinary antibiotics (VAs) and preferred as VAs (PVAs) were above 90 %. Among eight antibiotics, sulfonamides (95.1 %) and fluoroquinolones (87.6 %) had the highest detection rates in couples. Approximately four-fifths of couples were simultaneously exposed to at least three different antibiotics, and more than half of them were exposed to low concentrations of antibiotics. 8.9 % and 9.2 % of wives and husbands had hazard index value of antibiotics exposure greater than 1. Antibiotic concentrations were associated with residence, sampling season, and diet frequency. In Anhui, nearly 98 % of childbearing couples have environmental exposure to antibiotics, and VAs and PVAs are the primary antibiotics. More than 8 % of couples had health risks due to antibiotic exposure. Several potential determinants of urinary antibiotics deserve more attention in future research