We aim to find a biomarker that can effectively predict the prognosis of patients with cutaneous melanoma (CM). The RNA sequencing data of CM was downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) ...database and randomly divided into training group and test group. Survival statistical analysis and machine-learning approaches were performed on the RNA sequencing data of CM to develop a prognostic signature. Using univariable Cox proportional hazards regression, random survival forest algorithm, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) in the training group, the four-mRNA signature including CD276, UQCRFS1, HAPLN3, and PIP4P1 was screened out. The four-mRNA signature could divide patients into low-risk and high-risk groups with different survival outcomes (log-rank
p
< 0.001). The predictive efficacy of the four-mRNA signature was confirmed in the test group, the whole TCGA group, and the independent GSE65904 (log-rank
p
< 0.05). The independence of the four-mRNA signature in prognostic prediction was demonstrated by multivariate Cox analysis. ROC and timeROC analyses showed that the efficiency of the signature in survival prediction was better than other clinical variables such as melanoma Clark level and tumor stage. This study highlights that the four-mRNA model could be used as a prognostic signature for CM patients with potential clinical application value.
Studies investigating the relationship between maternal passive smoking and the risk of preterm birth have reached inconsistent conclusions. A birth cohort study that included 10,095 nonsmoking women ...who delivered a singleton live birth was carried out in Lanzhou, China, between 2010 and 2012. Exposure to passive smoking during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of very preterm birth (<32 completed weeks of gestation; odds ratio = 1.98, 95% confidence interval: 1.41, 2.76) but not moderate preterm birth (32-36 completed weeks of gestation; odds ratio = 0.98, 95% confidence interval: 0.81, 1.19). Risk of very preterm birth increased with the duration of exposure (P for trend = 0.0014). There was no variability in exposures by trimester. The associations were consistent for both medically indicated and spontaneous preterm births. Overall, our findings support a positive association between passive smoking and the risk of very preterm birth.
Background: The relationship between air borne particulate matter ≤10 m (PM10) exposure and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is inconclusive. Few studies have been conducted, and fewer were ...conducted in areas with high levels of PM10. Methods: To examine the association between PM10 and PIH by different exposure time windows during pregnancy, we analyzed data from a birth cohort study conducted in Lanzhou, China including 8 745 pregnant women with available information on air pollution during pregnancy. A total of 333 PIH cases (127 gestational hypertension (GH) and 206 preeclampsia (PE)) were identified. PM10 daily average concentrations of each subject were calculated according to the distance between home work addresses and monitor stations using an inverse-distance weighting approach. Results: Average PM10 concentration over the duration of entire pregnancy was significantly associated with PIH (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.23 per 10 g m−3 increase), PE (OR = 1.16, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.30 per 10 g m−3 increase), late onset PE (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.32 per10 g m−3 increase), and severe PE (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.48 per 10 g m−3 increase). Average PM10 during the first 12 gestational weeks was associated with the risk of GH (OR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.21 per 10 g m−3 increase), and PM10 exposure before 20 gestational weeks was associated with the risk of severe PE (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.30 per 10 g m−3 increase). Conclusions: We found that high level exposure to ambient PM10 during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of PIH, GH and PE and that the strength of the association varied by timing of exposure during pregnancy.
In recent years, the regulatory activities of long noncoding RNAs have received increasing attention as an important research focus. This study aimed to characterize the expression and detailed roles ...of TTC39A antisense RNA 1 (TTC39A-AS1) in breast cancer (BC), in addition to concentrating on its downstream mechanisms.
Quantitative RT-PCR was performed to determine the expression levels of TTC39A-AS1, microRNA-483-3p (miR-483-3p), and metastasis-associated gene 2 (MTA2). Further, the detailed functions of TTC39A-AS1 in BC cells were confirmed using the Cell Counting Kit 8 assay, flow cytometric analysis, and Transwell cell migration and invasion assays. The targeting relationship between TTC39A-AS1, miR-483-3p, and MTA2 in BC was predicted via bioinformatics analysis and further confirmed by performing the luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation.
TTC39A-AS1 was present in high levels in BC; this result was confirmed in our sample cohort and The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Patients with BC with a high level of TTC39A-AS1 had a shorter overall survival than those with a low level of TTC39A-AS1. Functionally, the absence of TTC39A-AS1 accelerated cell apo-ptosis but retained cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Mechanistically, TTC39A-AS1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA in BC by sponging miR-483-3p and thereby indirectly increasing MTA2 expression. Finally, rescue experiments revealed that the tumor-inhibiting actions of TTC39A-AS1 knockdown on the malignant characteristics of BC cells could be reversed by inhibiting miR-483-3p or upregulating MTA2.
The newly identified TTC39A-AS1/miR-483-3p/MTA2 pathway was revealed to be a critical regulator in the tumorigenicity of BC, possibly offering a novel therapeutic direction for the anticancer treatment of BC.
Exposure to ambient particulate matter during pregnancy has been suggested as a risk factor for preterm birth. However results from limited epidemiologic studies have been inconclusive. Very few ...studies have been conducted in areas with high air pollution levels.
We investigated the hypothesis that high level exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter no larger than 10μm (PM10) during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth.
A birth cohort study was carried out between 2010 and 2012 in Lanzhou, China, including 8969 singleton live births with available information on daily PM10 levels from four monitoring stations, individual exposures during pregnancy were calculated using inverse-distance weighting based on both home and work addresses. Unconditional logistic regression modeling was used to examine the associations between PM10 exposure and risk of preterm birth and its clinical subtypes.
Increased risk of very preterm birth was associated with exposure to PM10 during the last two months of pregnancy (OR, 1.07; 95%CI, 1.02–1.13 per 10μg/m3 increase for last four weeks before delivery; 1.09; 1.02–1.15 for last six weeks before delivery; 1.10; 1.03–1.17 for last eight weeks before delivery). Compared to the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (150μg/m3), higher exposure level (≥150μg/m3) of PM10 during entire pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of preterm birth (1.48; 1.22–1.81) and the association was higher for medically indicated preterm birth (1.80, 1.24–2.62) during entire pregnancy and for very preterm during last 6weeks before delivery (2.03, 1.11–3.72).
Our study supports the hypothesis that exposure to high levels of ambient PM10 increases the risk of preterm birth. Our study also suggests that the risk may vary by clinical subtypes of preterm birth and exposure time windows. Our findings are relevant for health policy makers from China and other regions with high levels of air pollution to facilitate the efforts of reducing air pollution level in order to protect public health.
•Very few studies have been conducted in areas with high air pollution levels.•Exposure to high levels of ambient PM10 increases the risk of preterm birth.•The risks vary by clinical subtypes of preterm birth and exposure time windows.
Purpose
Folic acid supplementation has been suggested to reduce the risk of preterm birth. However, results from previous epidemiologic studies have been inconclusive. We investigated the hypothesis ...that folic acid supplementation and dietary folate intake during pre- and post-conception reduces the risk of preterm birth.
Methods
We analyzed data from a birth cohort study conducted between 2010 and 2012 in Lanzhou, China, including 10,179 pregnant women with live singleton births.
Results
Compared to non-users, folic acid supplement users with >12-week duration had a reduced risk of preterm birth (OR 0.67, 95 % CI 0.55–0.83) with a significant dose–response relationship (
P
for trend = 0.01). A similar pattern was observed for spontaneous preterm birth. Stronger associations were seen for ever use of folic acid supplement and very preterm birth (OR 0.50, 95 % CI 0.36–0.69) and spontaneous very preterm birth (OR 0.42, 95 % CI 0.29–0.63). Dietary folate intake during preconception and pregnancy were also associated with reduced risk of preterm birth (OR 0.68, 95 % CI 0.56–0.83, OR 0.57, 95 % CI 0.47–0.70 for the highest quartiles, respectively), particularly for spontaneous very preterm (OR 0.41, 95 % CI 0.24–0.72, OR 0.26, 95 % CI 0.15–0.47 for the highest quartiles, respectively). There were also decreased risks of preterm birth observed per 10-µg increase in dietary folate intake, and similar associations were found after stratification by folic acid supplementation status.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that folic acid supplementation and higher dietary folate intake during preconception and pregnancy reduces the risk of preterm birth, and the protective effect varies by preterm subtypes.
Studies on environmental exposures during pregnancy commonly use maternal residence at time of delivery, which may result in exposure misclassification and biased estimates of exposure and disease ...association. Studies on residential mobility during pregnancy are needed in various populations to aid studies of the environmental exposure and birth outcomes. However, there is still a lack of studies investigating residential mobility patterns in Asian populations.
We analyzed data from 10,542 pregnant women enrolled in a birth cohort study in Lanzhou, China (2010–2012), a major industrial city. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate residential mobility patterns in relation to maternal complications and birth outcomes.
Of the participants, 546 (5.2%) moved during pregnancy; among those who moved, 40.5%, 34.8%, and 24.7% moved during the first, second, and third trimester, respectively. Most movers (97.3%) moved once with a mean distance of 3.75 km (range: 1–109 km). More than half (66.1%) of the movers moved within 3 km, 13.9% moved 3–10 km, and 20.0% moved > 10 km. Pregnant women who were > 30 years or multiparous, or who had maternal complications were less likely to have moved during pregnancy. In addition, movers were less likely to deliver infants with birth defects, preterm births, and low birth weight.
Residential mobility was significantly associated with several maternal characteristics and complications during pregnancy. The study also showed a lower likelihood of adverse birth outcomes among movers than non-movers, suggesting that moving might be related to reduce exposure to environmental hazards. These results confirm the hypothesis that residential mobility may be important with respect to exposure misclassification and that this misclassification may vary by subpopulations.
•Limited studies have investigated residential mobility during pregnancy.•The use of maternal residence at delivery as a proxy for environmental exposure may lead to exposure misclassification.•Residential mobility was significantly associated with certain maternal characteristics and complications during pregnancy.•Mothers who moved during pregnancy were less likely to have infants with birth defects, preterm births, and low birth weight.•Residential mobility should be considered in studies that relay on residential address for environmental exposure assessment.
Early studies have suggested that biomass cooking fuels were associated with increased risk of low birth weight (LBW). However it is unclear if this reduced birth weight was due to prematurity or ...intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).
In order to understand the relationship between various cooking fuels and risk of LBW and small for gestational age (SGA), we analyzed data from a birth cohort study conducted in Lanzhou, China which included 9,895 singleton live births.
Compared to mothers using gas as cooking fuel, significant reductions in birth weight were observed for mothers using coal (weight difference = 73.31 g, 95 % CI: 26.86, 119.77) and biomass (weight difference = 87.84 g, 95 % CI: 10.76, 164.46). Using biomass as cooking fuel was associated with more than two-fold increased risk of LBW (OR = 2.51, 95 % CI: 1.26, 5.01), and the risk was mainly seen among preterm births (OR = 3.43, 95 % CI: 1.21, 9.74). No significant associations with LBW were observed among mothers using coal or electromagnetic stoves for cooking.
These findings suggest that exposure to biomass during pregnancy is associated with risk of LBW, and the effect of biomass on LBW may be primarily due to prematurity rather than IUGR.
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