In a rapidly urbanizing world, many people have little contact with natural environments, which may affect health and well-being. Existing reviews generally conclude that residential greenspace is ...beneficial to health. However, the processes generating these benefits and how they can be best promoted remain unclear.
During an Expert Workshop held in September 2016, the evidence linking greenspace and health was reviewed from a transdisciplinary standpoint, with a particular focus on potential underlying biopsychosocial pathways and how these can be explored and organized to support policy-relevant population health research.
Potential pathways linking greenspace to health are here presented in three domains, which emphasize three general functions of greenspace: reducing harm (e.g. reducing exposure to air pollution, noise and heat), restoring capacities (e.g. attention restoration and physiological stress recovery) and building capacities (e.g. encouraging physical activity and facilitating social cohesion). Interrelations between among the three domains are also noted. Among several recommendations, future studies should: use greenspace and behavioural measures that are relevant to hypothesized pathways; include assessment of presence, access and use of greenspace; use longitudinal, interventional and (quasi)experimental study designs to assess causation; and include low and middle income countries given their absence in the existing literature. Cultural, climatic, geographic and other contextual factors also need further consideration.
While the existing evidence affirms beneficial impacts of greenspace on health, much remains to be learned about the specific pathways and functional form of such relationships, and how these may vary by context, population groups and health outcomes. This Report provides guidance for further epidemiological research with the goal of creating new evidence upon which to develop policy recommendations.
•Although it appears that greenspace benefits health, the pathways are unclear.•We have organized pathways into three domains that emphasize greenspace functions.•Pathways likely intertwine and vary by context, populations and health outcomes.•We identify diverse challenges in measurement and analysis that require attention.•Research guided by our discussion will better efforts to enable greenspace-related health benefits.
Assessment of health benefits associated with physical activity depend on the activity duration, intensity and frequency, therefore their correct identification is very valuable and important in ...epidemiological and clinical studies. The aims of this study are: to develop an algorithm for automatic identification of intended jogging periods; and to assess whether the identification performance is improved when using two accelerometers at the hip and ankle, compared to when using only one at either position.
The study used diarized jogging periods and the corresponding accelerometer data from thirty-nine, 15-year-old adolescents, collected under field conditions, as part of the GINIplus study. The data was obtained from two accelerometers placed at the hip and ankle. Automated feature engineering technique was performed to extract features from the raw accelerometer readings and to select a subset of the most significant features. Four machine learning algorithms were used for classification: Logistic regression, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest and Extremely Randomized Trees. Classification was performed using only data from the hip accelerometer, using only data from ankle accelerometer and using data from both accelerometers.
The reported jogging periods were verified by visual inspection and used as golden standard. After the feature selection and tuning of the classification algorithms, all options provided a classification accuracy of at least 0.99, independent of the applied segmentation strategy with sliding windows of either 60s or 180s. The best matching ratio, i.e. the length of correctly identified jogging periods related to the total time including the missed ones, was up to 0.875. It could be additionally improved up to 0.967 by application of post-classification rules, which considered the duration of breaks and jogging periods. There was no obvious benefit of using two accelerometers, rather almost the same performance could be achieved from either accelerometer position.
Machine learning techniques can be used for automatic activity recognition, as they provide very accurate activity recognition, significantly more accurate than when keeping a diary. Identification of jogging periods in adolescents can be performed using only one accelerometer. Performance-wise there is no significant benefit from using accelerometers on both locations.
Living with dogs appears to protect against allergic diseases and airway infections, an effect possibly linked with immunomodulation by microbial exposures associated with dogs. The aim of this study ...was to characterize the influence of dog ownership on house dust microbiota composition. The bacterial and fungal microbiota was characterized with Illumina MiSeq sequencing from floor dust samples collected from homes in a Finnish rural-suburban (LUKAS2, N = 182) birth cohort, and the results were replicated in a German urban (LISA, N = 284) birth cohort. Human associated bacteria variable was created by summing up the relative abundances of five bacterial taxa. Bacterial richness, Shannon index and the relative abundances of seven bacterial genera, mostly within the phyla Proteobacteria and Firmicutes, were significantly higher in the dog than in the non-dog homes, whereas the relative abundance of human associated bacteria was lower. The results were largely replicated in LISA. Fungal microbiota richness and abundance of Leucosporidiella genus were higher in dog homes in LUKAS2 and the latter association replicated in LISA. Our study confirms that dog ownership is reproducibly associated with increased bacterial richness and diversity in house dust and identifies specific dog ownership-associated genera. Dogs appeared to have more limited influence on the fungal than bacterial indoor microbiota.
Summary
Understanding the complexity of aging is of utmost importance. This can now be addressed by the novel and powerful approach of metabolomics. However, to date, only a few metabolic studies ...based on large samples are available. Here, we provide novel and specific information on age‐related metabolite concentration changes in human homeostasis. We report results from two population‐based studies: the KORA F4 study from Germany as a discovery cohort, with 1038 female and 1124 male participants (32–81 years), and the TwinsUK study as replication, with 724 female participants. Targeted metabolomics of fasting serum samples quantified 131 metabolites by FIA‐MS/MS. Among these, 71/34 metabolites were significantly associated with age in women/men (BMI adjusted). We further identified a set of 13 independent metabolites in women (with P values ranging from 4.6 × 10−04 to 7.8 × 10−42, αcorr = 0.004). Eleven of these 13 metabolites were replicated in the TwinsUK study, including seven metabolite concentrations that increased with age (C0, C10:1, C12:1, C18:1, SM C16:1, SM C18:1, and PC aa C28:1), while histidine decreased. These results indicate that metabolic profiles are age dependent and might reflect different aging processes, such as incomplete mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. The use of metabolomics will increase our understanding of aging networks and may lead to discoveries that help enhance healthy aging.
Low circulating vitamin D levels have been associated with risk of asthma, atopic dermatitis, and elevated total immunoglobulin E (IgE). These epidemiological associations, if true, would have public ...health importance, since vitamin D insufficiency is common and correctable.
We aimed to test whether genetically lowered vitamin D levels were associated with risk of asthma, atopic dermatitis, or elevated serum IgE levels, using Mendelian randomization (MR) methodology to control bias owing to confounding and reverse causation. The study employed data from the UK Biobank resource and from the SUNLIGHT, GABRIEL and EAGLE eczema consortia. Using four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) strongly associated with 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels in 33,996 individuals, we conducted MR studies to estimate the effect of lowered 25OHD on the risk of asthma (n = 146,761), childhood onset asthma (n = 15,008), atopic dermatitis (n = 40,835), and elevated IgE level (n = 12,853) and tested MR assumptions in sensitivity analyses. None of the four 25OHD-lowering alleles were associated with asthma, atopic dermatitis, or elevated IgE levels (p ≥ 0.2). The MR odds ratio per standard deviation decrease in log-transformed 25OHD was 1.03 (95% confidence interval CI 0.90-1.19, p = 0.63) for asthma, 0.95 (95% CI 0.69-1.31, p = 0.76) for childhood-onset asthma, and 1.12 (95% CI 0.92-1.37, p = 0.27) for atopic dermatitis, and the effect size on log-transformed IgE levels was -0.40 (95% CI -1.65 to 0.85, p = 0.54). These results persisted in sensitivity analyses assessing population stratification and pleiotropy and vitamin D synthesis and metabolism pathways. The main limitations of this study are that the findings do not exclude an association between the studied outcomes and 1,25-dihydoxyvitamin D, the active form of vitamin D, the study was underpowered to detect effects smaller than an OR of 1.33 for childhood asthma, and the analyses were restricted to white populations of European ancestry. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource and data from the SUNLIGHT, GABRIEL and EAGLE Eczema consortia.
In this study, we found no evidence that genetically determined reduction in 25OHD levels conferred an increased risk of asthma, atopic dermatitis, or elevated total serum IgE, suggesting that efforts to increase vitamin D are unlikely to reduce risks of atopic disease.
Fetal metabolism may be changed by the exposure to maternal factors, and the route to obesity may already set in utero. Cord blood metabolites might predict growth patterns and later obesity. We ...aimed to characterize associations of cord blood with birth weight, postnatal weight gain, and BMI in adolescence.
Over 700 cord blood samples were collected from infants participating in the German birth cohort study LISAplus. Glycerophospholipid fatty acids (GPL-FA), polar lipids, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and amino acids were analyzed with a targeted, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry based metabolomics platform. Cord blood metabolites were related to growth factors by linear regression models adjusted for confounding variables.
Cord blood metabolites were highly associated with birth weight. Lysophosphatidylcholines C16:1, C18:1, C20:3, C18:2, C20:4, C14:0, C16:0, C18:3, GPL-FA C20:3n-9, and GPL-FA C22:5n-6 were positively related to birth weight, while higher cord blood concentrations of NEFA C22:6, NEFA C20:5, GPL-FA C18:3n-3, and PCe C38:0 were associated with lower birth weight. Postnatal weight gain and BMI z-scores in adolescents were not significantly associated with cord blood metabolites after adjustment for multiple testing.
Potential long-term programming effects of the intrauterine environment and metabolism on later health cannot be predicted with profiling of the cord blood metabolome.
The association between air pollution exposure and emotional and behavioural problems in children is unclear. We aimed to assess prenatal and postnatal exposure to several air pollutants and child's ...depressive and anxiety symptoms, and aggressive symptoms in children of 7–11 years.
We analysed data of 13182 children from 8 European population-based birth cohorts. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ≤10 μm (PM10), ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and between 10 and 2.5 μm (PMcoarse), the absorbance of PM2.5 filters (PM2.5abs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were estimated at residential addresses of each participant. Depressive and anxiety symptoms and aggressive symptoms were assessed at 7–11 years of age using parent reported tests. Children were classified in borderline/clinical range or clinical range using validated cut offs. Region specific models were adjusted for various socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics and then combined using random effect meta-analysis. Multiple imputation and inverse probability weighting methods were applied to correct for potential attrition bias.
A total of 1896 (14.4%) children were classified as having depressive and anxiety symptoms in the borderline/clinical range, and 1778 (13.4%) as having aggressive symptoms in the borderline/clinical range. Overall, 1108 (8.4%) and 870 (6.6%) children were classified as having depressive and anxiety symptoms, and aggressive symptoms in the clinical range, respectively. Prenatal exposure to air pollution was not associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms in the borderline/clinical range (e.g. OR 1.02 95%CI 0.95 to 1.10 per 10 μg/m3 higher NO2) nor with aggressive symptoms in the borderline/clinical range (e.g. OR 1.04 95%CI 0.96 to 1.12 per 10 μg/m3 higher NO2). Similar results were observed for the symptoms in the clinical range, and for postnatal exposures to air pollution.
Overall, our results suggest that prenatal and postnatal exposure to air pollution is not associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms or aggressive symptoms in children of 7 to 11 years old.
•We included air pollution data from eight European birth cohorts.•Concentrations of the analysed pollutants varied substantially across Europe.•We assessed emotional and aggressive behaviour symptoms in children of 7–11 years.•Air pollution was not associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms in children.•Air pollution was not associated with aggressive behaviour symptoms in children.
Zusammenfassung
Die Molaren-Inzisiven-Hypomineralisation (MIH) – mittlerweile auch bekannt unter dem Begriff der Kreidezähne – stellt heute neben der Karies eine häufige Erkrankung der Zähne im ...Kindes- und Jugendalter dar. Neben den ästhetischen Einschränkungen insbesondere an den Frontzähnen sind Hypersensibilitäten und Schmelzeinbrüche an bleibenden Molaren für die Betroffenen von funktioneller Bedeutung. Während die Häufigkeit der MIH in einer Größenordnung zwischen ~ 10 % und ~ 30 % liegt und gut beschrieben ist, stellt sich die Situation bezüglich der Ursachenforschung unbefriedigend dar. Obwohl in der Vergangenheit Anstrengungen zur Klärung der Ätiologie unternommen wurden, liegt bis in die Gegenwart keine plausible Ätiologiekette vor. Ursachenforschungen sind dabei als methodisch anspruchsvoll zu beurteilen, da diese optimalerweise in prospektiv geplante Geburtskohortenstudien eingebettet sein sollten, welche spätestens mit der Geburt beginnen. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrages ist es, die klinische Charakteristik der MIH, Häufigkeiten und potenzielle Ursachen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung bereits publizierter Ergebnisse aus den beiden Münchner Geburtskohortenstudien GINIplus und LISA zusammenfassend darzustellen.
•This genome-wide study investigated the association of gene expression with PM2.5.•Two differentially expressed transcripts were associated with PM2.5 exposure at birth.•Integration of gene ...expression and DNA methylation identified hubs linked to PM2.5.•Our study shows the added value of integrating environmental and multi-omics data.
Air pollution has been associated with adverse health effects across the life-course. Although underlying mechanisms are unclear, several studies suggested pollutant-induced changes in transcriptomic profiles. In this meta-analysis of transcriptome-wide association studies of 656 children and adolescents from three European cohorts participating in the MeDALL Consortium, we found two differentially expressed transcript clusters (FDR p < 0.05) associated with exposure to particulate matter < 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) at birth, one of them mapping to the MIR1296 gene. Further, by integrating gene expression with DNA methylation using Functional Epigenetic Modules algorithms, we identified 9 and 6 modules in relation to PM2.5 exposure at birth and at current address, respectively (including NR1I2, MAPK6, TAF8 and SCARA3). In conclusion, PM2.5 exposure at birth was linked to differential gene expression in children and adolescents. Importantly, we identified several significant interactome hotspots of gene modules of relevance for complex diseases in relation to PM2.5 exposure.
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