OBJECTIVE: To analyze the association between outdoor artificial light-at-night (ALAN) exposure and overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 years in China. METHODS: Using follow-up data of 5 540 children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 years conducted from November 2019 to November 2020 in eight provinces of China, latitude and longitude were determined based on school addresses, and the mean monthly average nighttime irradiance at the location of 116 schools was extracted by the nearest neighbor method to obtain the mean outdoor ALAN exposure [unit: nW/(cm²·sr)] for each school. Four indicators of overweight and obesity outcomes were included: Baseline overweight and obesity, persistent overweight and obesity, overweight and obesity progression and overweight and obesity incidence. Mixed effects Logistic regression was used to explore the association between ALAN exposure levels (divided into quintiles Q1-Q5) and baseline overweight and obesity, persistent overweight and obesity, overweight and obesity progression and overweight and obesity incidence. In addition, a natural cubic spline function was used to explore the exposure response association between ALAN exposure (a continuous variable) and the outcomes. RESULTS: The prevalence of baseline overweight and obesity, persistent overweight and obesity, overweight and obesity progression and overweight and obesity incidence among the children and adolescents in this study were 21.6%, 16.3%, 2.9% and 12.8%, respectively. The OR value for the association between ALAN exposure and baseline overweight and obesity was statistically significant when ALAN exposure levels reached Q4 or Q5, 1.90 (95%CI: 1.26-2.86) and 1.77 (95%CI: 1.11-2.83), respectively, compared with the children and adolescents in the Q1 group of ALAN exposure. Similar to the results for baseline overweight and obesity, the OR values for the association with persistent overweight and obesity were 1.89 (95%CI: 1.20-2.99) and 1.82 (95%CI: 1.08-3.06) when ALAN exposure levels reached Q4 or Q5, respectively, but none of the OR values for the association between ALAN and overweight and obesity progression and overweight and obesity incidence were statistically significant. Fitting a natural cubic spline function showed a non-linear trend between ALAN exposure and persistent overweight and obesity. CONCLUSION There is a positive association between ALAN exposure and overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, and the promotion of overweight obesity in children and adolescents by ALAN tends to have a cumulative effect rather than an immediate effect. In the future, while focusing on the common risk factors for overweight and obesity in children and adolescents, there is a need to improve the overweight and obesity-causing nighttime light exposure environment.
Humans ; Adolescent ; Child ; Overweight/etiology* ; Pediatric Obesity/etiology* ; Light Pollution ; Risk Factors ; China/epidemiology*

Eight sesquiterpenoids were isolated from petroleum ether extract of Aquilariae Lignum Resinatum by various column chromatography techniques including silica gel, ODS, and semi-preparative HPLC. Their structures were identified on the basis of physicochemical properties, UV, IR, MS, and NMR spectroscopic data as(4S,5S,7R,10S)-5,7-dihydroxy-11-en-eudesmane(1),(7R,10S)-eudesma-4-en-11,15-diol(2),(2R,4S,5R,7R)-2-hydroxyeremophila-9,11-dien-8-one(3), 7α-H-9(10)-ene-11,12-epoxy-8-oxoeremophilane(4),(+)-9β,10β-epoxyeremophila-11(13)-en(5), 4(14)-eudesmene-8α,11-diol(6), 12,15-dioxo-selina-4,11-dien(7), and 2β,8 aα-dihydroxy-11-en-eremophilane(8). Compounds 1 and 2 are new compounds, and their absolute configurations were determined by calculating ECD. Compounds 1, 4, and 6-8 could significantly improve taurocholic acid(TCA)-induced gastric mucosal GES-1 cell injury at a concentration of 20 μmol·L~(-1), and the cell protection rates were 23.51%±2.79%, 16.10%±1.25%, 24.45%±4.89%, 17.48%±2.93%, and 21.44%±2.39%, respectively.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Molecular Structure ; Sesquiterpenes/chemistry*

Idiopathic asthenozoospermia, a common factor in male infertility, is characterized by altered sperm motility function in fresh ejaculate. Although the β-defensin 126 (DEFB126) protein is associated with asthenozoospermia, DEFB126 gene polymorphisms have not been extensively studied. Therefore, the association between DEFB126 gene polymorphisms and asthenozoospermia requires further investigation. Screening was performed by semen analysis, karyotype analysis, and Y microdeletion detection, and 102 fertile men and 106 men with asthenozoospermia in Chengdu, China, were selected for DEFB126 gene sequence analyses. Seven nucleotide mutations and two nucleotide deletions in the DEFB126 gene were detected. rs11467417 (317-318 del/del), rs11467497 (163-166 wt/del), c.152T>C, and c.227A>G were significantly different between the control and asthenozoospermia groups, likely representing high-risk genetic factors for asthenozoospermia among males. DEFB126 expression was not observed in sperm with rs11467497 homozygous deletion and was unstable in sperm with rs11467417 homozygous deletion. The rs11467497 four-nucleotide deletion leads to truncation of DEFB126 at the carboxy-terminus, and the rs11467417 binucleotide deletion produces a non-stop messenger RNA (mRNA). The above deletions may be responsible for male hypofertility and infertility by reducing DEFB126 affinity to sperm surfaces. Based on in silico analysis, the amino acids 51M and 76K are located in the highly conserved domain; c.152T>C (M51T) and c.227A>G (K76R) are predicted to be damaging and capable of changing alternative splice, structural and posttranslational modification sites of the RNA, as well as the secondary structure, structural stability, and hydrophobicity of the protein, suggesting that these mutations are associated with asthenozoospermia.
Male ; Humans ; Asthenozoospermia/metabolism* ; Sperm Motility/genetics* ; Homozygote ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Semen ; Sequence Deletion/genetics* ; Spermatozoa/metabolism* ; Nucleotides/metabolism* ; beta-Defensins/metabolism*

Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional ; Funnel Chest/surgery* ; Humans ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Right/diagnostic imaging* ; Ventricular Function, Right

Objective::To screen out the effective components of Salvia miltiorrhiza by establishing an in vitro model of pulmonary epithelial mesenchymal transformation. Method::Different concentrations of salvianolic acid A (10, 20, 40, 80, 160 μmol·L^-1), salvianolic acid B (10, 20, 40, 80, 160 μmol·L^-1), tanshinol (10, 20, 40, 80, 160 μmol·L^-1), tanshinoneⅡ_A (10, 20, 40, 80, 160 μmol·L^-1) and the blank group were applied to A549 cell, cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assay (MTS) were used to detect the proliferation effect of menthol on A549 cells.After screening the safe concentration of the active ingredients of salvia miltiorrhiza by MTS, cells were divided into blank group, model group, salvianolic acid A group, salvianolic acid B group, tanshinol group and tanshinoneⅡ_A.Then, the inhibitory effect of the active ingredients of salvia miltiorrhiza on the proliferation of A549 cells induced by TGF-β₁ was detected by MTS. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to detect salvia miltiorrhiza effective component of fiber protein(FN), collagen type I (COL-Ⅰ) expression. Based on the above results, the active components of salvia miltiorrhiza, which have best inhibition were screened out, and their effects on the expression of E-calcium-viscosity (E-Cad) protein were detected by Western blot. Result::Compared with blank group, salvianolic acid A 40 μmol·L^-1, salvianolic acid B 160 μmol·L^-1, tanshinol 160 μmol·L^-1 had toxic effects on A549 cells (P<0.05). In the non-toxic concentration range, compared with the model group, salvianolic acid A 10, 20 μmol·L^-1, salvianolic acid B 80 μmol·L^-1 showed inhibition effect after 24 h culture (P<0.05). After 72 h culture, salvianolic acid A 5, 10, 20 μmol·L^-1, salvianolic acid B 40, 80 μmol·L^-1inhibition effect was very significant (P<0.01). ELISA results showed that with the blank group, model group cells the expression of FN and COL-Ⅰ increased significantly (P < 0.01). Compare with model group, salvianolic acid A 20 μmol·L^-1, salvianolic acid B 80 μmol·L^-1 inhibited FN and COL-Ⅰ(P<0.05). Western blot results showed that salicylic acid A and salicylic acid B had protective effects on E-Cad (P<0.01). Conclusion::Salvianolic acid A and salvianolic acid B have inhibitory effects on epithelial mesenchymal transformation by TGF-β₁, which may be the main effective components of salvianolic acid in the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis.