The Lancet Commission on pollution and health

Mortality, morbidity, and risk factors in China and its provinces, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

This report builds on a highly valued predecessor, the 1994 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report entitled Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders: Frontiers for Preventive Intervention Research. That report provided the basis for understanding prevention science, elucidating its then-existing research base, and contemplating where it should go in the future. This report documents that an increasing number of mental, emotional, and behavioral problems in young people are in fact preventable. The proverbial ounce of prevention will indeed be worth a pound of cure: effectively applying the evidence-based prevention interventions at hand could potentially save billions of dollars in associated costs by avoiding or tempering these disorders in many individuals. Furthermore, devoting significantly greater resources to research on even more effective prevention and promotion efforts, and then reliably implementing the findings of such research, could substantially diminish the human and economic toll.

Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities

There is extensive experimental evidence that oxidative damage permanently occurs to lipids of cellular membranes, proteins, and DNA. In nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, 8-hydroxy-2' -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) or 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2' -deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) is one of the predominant forms of free radical-induced oxidative lesions, and has therefore been widely used as a biomarker for oxidative stress and carcinogenesis. Studies showed that urinary 8-OHdG is a good biomarker for risk assessment of various cancers and degenerative diseases. The most widely used method of quantitative analysis is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detection (EC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and HPLC tandem mass spectrometry. In order to resolve the methodological problems encountered in measuring quantitatively 8-OHdG, the European Standards Committee for Oxidative DNA Damage was set up in 1997 to resolve the artifactual oxidation problems during the procedures of isolation and purification of oxidative DNA products. The biomarker 8-OHdG or 8-oxodG has been a pivotal marker for measuring the effect of endogenous oxidative damage to DNA and as a factor of initiation and promotion of carcinogenesis. The biomarker has been used to estimate the DNA damage in humans after exposure to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco smoke, asbestos fibers, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In recent years, 8-OHdG has been used widely in many studies not only as a biomarker for the measurement of endogenous oxidative DNA damage but also as a risk factor for many diseases including cancer.

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8-hydroxy-2' -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG): A critical biomarker of oxidative stress and carcinogenesis.

The Endocrine Society's first Scientific Statement in 2009 provided a wake-up call to the scientific community about how environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) affect health and disease. Five years later, a substantially larger body of literature has solidified our understanding of plausible mechanisms underlying EDC actions and how exposures in animals and humans-especially during development-may lay the foundations for disease later in life. At this point in history, we have much stronger knowledge about how EDCs alter gene-environment interactions via physiological, cellular, molecular, and epigenetic changes, thereby producing effects in exposed individuals as well as their descendants. Causal links between exposure and manifestation of disease are substantiated by experimental animal models and are consistent with correlative epidemiological data in humans. There are several caveats because differences in how experimental animal work is conducted can lead to difficulties in drawing broad conclusions, and we must continue to be cautious about inferring causality in humans. In this second Scientific Statement, we reviewed the literature on a subset of topics for which the translational evidence is strongest: 1) obesity and diabetes; 2) female reproduction; 3) male reproduction; 4) hormone-sensitive cancers in females; 5) prostate; 6) thyroid; and 7) neurodevelopment and neuroendocrine systems. Our inclusion criteria for studies were those conducted predominantly in the past 5 years deemed to be of high quality based on appropriate negative and positive control groups or populations, adequate sample size and experimental design, and mammalian animal studies with exposure levels in a range that was relevant to humans. We also focused on studies using the developmental origins of health and disease model. No report was excluded based on a positive or negative effect of the EDC exposure. The bulk of the results across the board strengthen the evidence for endocrine health-related actions of EDCs. Based on this much more complete understanding of the endocrine principles by which EDCs act, including nonmonotonic dose-responses, low-dose effects, and developmental vulnerability, these findings can be much better translated to human health. Armed with this information, researchers, physicians, and other healthcare providers can guide regulators and policymakers as they make responsible decisions.

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EDC-2: The Endocrine Society's Second Scientific Statement on Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

Human exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides and the evaluation of their potential toxicity: An overview.

Reproductive endocrine-disrupting effects of triclosan: Population exposure, present evidence and potential mechanisms

The effects of low-level prenatal lead exposure on birth outcomes.

Prenatal exposure to mercury and neurobehavioral development of neonates in Zhoushan City, China.

Background 
Sufficient sleep during childhood is essential to ensure a transition into a healthy adulthood. However, chronic sleep loss continues to increase worldwide. In this context, it is imperative to make sleep a high-priority and take action to promote sleep health among children. The present series of studies aimed to shed light on sleep patterns, on the longitudinal association of sleep with school performance, and on practical intervention strategy for Chinese school-aged children.


Methods and Findings 
A serial sleep researches, including a national cross-sectional survey, a prospective cohort study, and a school-based sleep intervention, were conducted in China from November 2005 through December 2009. The national cross-sectional survey was conducted in 8 cities and a random sample of 20,778 children aged 9.0±1.61 years participated in the survey. The five-year prospective cohort study included 612 children aged 6.8±0.31 years. The comparative cross-sectional study (baseline: n = 525, aged 10.80±0.41; post-intervention follow-up: n = 553, aged 10.81±0.33) was undertaken in 6 primary schools in Shanghai. A battery of parent and teacher reported questionnaires were used to collect information on children’s sleep behaviors, school performance, and sociodemographic characteristics. The mean sleep duration was 9.35±0.77 hours. The prevalence of daytime sleepiness was 64.4% (sometimes: 37.50%; frequently: 26.94%). Daytime sleepiness was significantly associated with impaired attention, learning motivation, and particularly, academic achievement. By contrast, short sleep duration only related to impaired academic achievement. After delaying school start time 30 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively, sleep duration correspondingly increased by 15.6 minutes and 22.8 minutes, respectively. Moreover, intervention significantly improved the sleep duration and daytime sleepiness.


Conclusions 
Insufficient sleep and daytime sleepiness commonly existed and positively associated with the impairment of school performance, especially academic achievement, among Chinese school-aged children. The effectiveness of delaying school staring time emphasized the benefits of optimal school schedule regulation to children’s sleep health.

https://www.sittereventservices.com/uploads/4/0/1/9/40191555/sleepschoolperformance.pdf

Ying Tian

Papers

Human exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides and the evaluation of their potential toxicity: An overview.

Reproductive endocrine-disrupting effects of triclosan: Population exposure, present evidence and potential mechanisms

The effects of low-level prenatal lead exposure on birth outcomes.

Prenatal exposure to mercury and neurobehavioral development of neonates in Zhoushan City, China.

Sleep, School Performance, and a School-Based Intervention among School-Aged Children: A Sleep Series Study in China