Dietary iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy and the development of type 1 diabetes: a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>To investigate the impact of iron intake on the development of type 1 diabetes (T1DM).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Case-control study with self-administered questionnaire among families of children with T1DM who were less than 10 years old at the time of the survey and developed diabetes between age 1 and 6 years. Data on the types of infant feeding in the first 4 months of life was collected from parents of children with T1DM (n = 128) and controls (n = 67) <10 years old. Because some cases had sibling controls, we used conditional logistic regression models to analyze the data in two ways. First we performed a case-control analysis of all 128 cases and 67 controls. Next, we performed a case-control analysis restricted to cases (n = 59) that had a sibling without diabetes (n = 59). Total iron intake was modeled as one standard deviation (SD) increase in iron intake. The SD for iron intake was 540 mg in the total sample and 539 mg in the restricted sample as defined above.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median (min, max) total iron intake in the first 4 months of life was 1159 (50, 2399) mg in T1DM cases and 466 (50, 1224) mg among controls (<it>P </it>< 0.001). For each one standard deviation increase in iron intake, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for type 1 diabetes was 2.01 (1.183, 3.41) among all participants (128 cases and 67 controls) while it was 2.26 (1.27, 4.03) in a restricted sample of T1 D cases with a control sibling (59 cases and 59 controls) in models adjusted for birth weight, age at the time of the survey, and birth order.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this pilot study, high iron intake in the first 4 months of infancy is associated with T1DM. Whether iron intake is causal or a marker of another risk factor warrants further investigation.</p

Preparation of proton-conducting membranes by direct sulfonation. 1. Effect of radicals and radical decay on the sulfonation of poly(vinyl fluoride) films

The effect of irradiation treatment on the structure and sulfonation reactivity of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) films was studied mainly with EPR and IR spectroscopy. The main radical species produced by electron irradiation are aliphatic radicals, whereas proton irradiation creates a significant amount of polyenyl radicals. The half-life time of the aliphatic radicals was about 6 h. FTIR study shows that sulfonation reaction of PVF is a single-stage process and thus the formed sulfonic acid structures do not react further and produce new structures. In addition, it is independent of the irradiation treatment. Despite the careful synthesis and removal of O 2 from the sulfonation solution, the most important side reaction produced by the sulfonation is the formation of C=O functionalities. Irradiation treatment increases the C=O content. Both the sulfonation time and sulfonation reagent concentration demonstrate similar linear correlation with the extent of oxidation. Therefore, the oxidation cannot be decreased by means of optimizing these variables. The only important factor allowing adjustment of the structure of the final membranes is the type of irradiation and radical decay in the case of proton irradiation. Irradiation with either electrons or protons did not increase the ion exchange capacity as measured with a titrimetric method. IR study of the samples showed, however, indication of the formation of derivates of sulfonic acid in the proton-irradiated samples containing radicals