Predictors and Consequences of Global DNA Methylation in Cord Blood and at Three Years

DNA methylation changes have been implicated in many common chronic diseases leading to the hypothesis that environmental and age-related DNA methylation changes within individuals are involved in disease etiology. Few studies have examined DNA methylation changes within an individual over time and all of these studies have been conducted in adults. Here, we aim to characterize how global DNA methylation changes from birth to age three within a longitudinal birth cohort study and to determine whether there are consistent predictors of DNA methylation levels measured three years apart. We measured global DNA methylation in the same children at birth (cord blood) and again at three years of age among 165 children, using an immunoassay. We found that on average, DNA methylation was significantly higher in blood at age 3-years than in cord blood (p&0.01). However, for any individual child, the difference was less than would be expected by chance. We found that pre-pregnancy BMI was negatively predictive of both cord and three-year DNA methylation, even after statistical adjustment to account for the correlation between cord blood and three-year DNA methylation. The biologic implications of small changes in global DNA methylation are unknown. However, the observation that global DNA methylation levels persist within an individual from birth to age three supports the belief that factors that influence global DNA methylation, including pre-pregnancy BMI, may confer long-term effects

From Global Policies to Local Practices: Behavioural Advice for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV

HIV/AIDS, als rein biomedizinisch definiertes Syndrom, erhält weltweit große Beachtung durch internationale Organisationen, die sich auf einen westlich geprägten, biomedizinischen Diskurs stützen, obwohl die höchsten HIV-Raten in den Ländern des südlichen Afrikas evident sind. HIV kann während der Schwangerschaft, der Geburt und über die Muttermilch von der Mutter auf das Kind übertragen werden. In diesem Artikel beschreibe ich daher die biomedizinischen Empfehlungen zur Prävention der HIV-Übertragung von Mutter auf Kind durch die Muttermilch. Empfehlungen zur sicheren Säuglingsernährung werden international debattiert, von der Weltgesundheitsorganisation veröffentlicht, von Lesothos Gesundheitsministerium interpretiert und von Krankenhausmitarbeitern vermittelt, bevor sie in den Haushalten zur Anwendung kommen. Ich argumentiere, dass jeder Akteur die Anweisung dem jeweiligen ‘frame of reference‘ anpasst und somit transformiert. Das, was von einem zum nächsten Akteur weitergegeben wird, wird mit Attributen angereichert und hier gilt es zu bedenken, dass es sich um materielle und immaterielle Güter handelt, die transportiert werden: Anweisungen zur Säuglingsernährung. Der materielle Part, die Muttermilch, kommt erst auf einem Graswurzellevel in den Fokus, während der immaterielle Teil, die Ansichten, was Muttermilch überhaupt ist, stark von den Interessen der Akteure abhängt. Dieselbe Flüssigkeit, Muttermilch, wird daher einerseits als immunologisch wertvoll oder andererseits als infektiös charakterisiert. Soziale Interaktion und institutionelle Einbettung prägen die jeweilige Interpretation einer hoch politischen Körperflüssigkeit. Summary HIV/AIDS, as a purely biomedically defined syndrome, receives most attention from biomedical researchers in industrialised countries, despite the fact that the highest prevalences are found in countries belonging to the global South. Following up on biomedical recommendations for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV via breastmilk, this article describes the internationally debated recommendations on safe infant feeding, the guidelines published by the World Health Organization, their interpretation by Lesotho's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the nurses' and counsellors' information exchange with their clients. At the end of this information chain, health messages are interpreted and implemented at household level. The token – here infant feeding advice – is passed from bodies of global relevance to national and local bodies. This paper illustrates how stakeholders on each and every level fit the token into their respective ‘frame of reference’. As it passes through these different frames, the token is repeatedly ‘translated’ and thereby imbued with attributes, ideas, and interests which are valid in a particular frame. Thus, the immaterial value attached to the token reflects the stakeholders' diverse notions: one and the same liquid, here breast milk containing the HI-virus, is seen as immunologically valuable on the one hand, and infectious on the other, which makes it a highly politicised fluid

The Effects of the World Trade Center Event on Birth Outcomes among Term Deliveries at Three Lower Manhattan Hospitals-2

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "The Effects of the World Trade Center Event on Birth Outcomes among Term Deliveries at Three Lower Manhattan Hospitals"</p><p>Environmental Health Perspectives 2004;112(17):1772-1778.</p><p>Published online 8 Sep 2004</p><p>PMCID:PMC1253672.</p><p>This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original DOI.</p

Univariate ^a Predictors of Cord and Three Year DNA Methylation (continuous).

<p>Univariate^a Continuous Predictors of Log-transformed Cord and Three Year DNA Methylation, Beta and Correlation Coefficients.</p>a<p>Regression analyses corrected for inter-plate variation.</p>b<p>The ‘subset’ includes children who have contributed both cord and three year DNA samples.</p><p>Abbreviations: Yr (year); Ht (height); Wt (weight); BMI (Body Mass Index); PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons).</p