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BACKGROUND: Asian Americans are among the fastest growing subpopulations in the United States. However, evidence about maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and preterm birth among Asian Americans is lacking. METHODS: This population-based study used nationwide birth certificate data from the US National Vital Statistics System 2014 to 2018. All Asian American mothers who had a singleton live birth were included. According to Asian-specific cutoffs, maternal prepregnancy BMI was classified into underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)), normal weight (BMI 18.5–22.9 kg/m(2)), overweight (BMI 23.0–27.4 kg/m(2)), class I obesity (BMI 27.5–32.4 kg/m(2)), class II obesity (BMI 32.5–37.4 kg/m(2)), and class III obesity (BMI ≥37.5 kg/m(2)). Preterm birth was defined as gestational age less than 37 weeks. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of preterm birth. RESULTS: We included 1 081 341 Asian American mother-infant pairs. The rate of preterm birth was 6.51% (n = 70 434). The rate of maternal prepregnancy overweight and obesity was 46.80% (n = 506 042). Compared with mothers with normal weight, the adjusted OR of preterm delivery was 1.04 (95% CI, 1.01–1.07) for underweight mothers, 1.18 (95% CI, 1.16–1.20) for overweight mothers, 1.41 (95% CI, 1.37–1.44) for mothers with class I obesity, 1.69 (95% CI, 1.63–1.76) for mothers with class II obesity, and 1.78 (95% CI, 1.66–1.90) for mothers with class III obesity. Similar patterns of associations were observed in Asian American mothers across different country origins. CONCLUSIONS: Among Asian American mothers, maternal prepregnancy overweight or obesity, defined by Asian-specific, lower BMI cutoffs, was significantly associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. The risk of preterm birth increased with increasing obesity severity. These findings highlight the importance of using Asian-specific BMI cutoffs in assessing risk of preterm birth among Asian American mothers.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder that usually persists into adulthood. However, limited evidence is available regarding its influence on adult health outcomes beyond neuropsychiatric comorbidities. This study aimed to examine the association of ADHD with diabetes in US adults.We analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a leading health survey of a nationally representative sample in the United States. We included adults aged 20-79 years who participated in the NHIS 2007 and 2012. Physician-diagnosed ADHD and diabetes were reported during an in-person household interview. Logistic regression with survey sampling weights was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of diabetes.This analysis included 52 821 adults (weighted mean age 45.5 years; 48.6% males). Among them, 1642 participants reported a diagnosis of ADHD and 4631 reported a diagnosis of diabetes. In the multivariable analysis adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education level, family income level, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, and body mass index, the OR of diabetes among adults with ADHD vs those without ADHD was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.16-2.04). In the stratified analyses, the significant association of ADHD with diabetes remained in most strata, and the associations were not significantly modified by age, sex, race/ethnicity, or obesity status.In a nationally representative sample of US adults, we found a significant association between a history of ADHD diagnosis and diabetes.背景: 注意缺陷力/多动症(ADHD)是一种儿童期出现并通常持续到成年的一种神经发育障碍。除外神经精神病合并症以外, ADHD对患者长期健康结局影响的研究证据非常有限。本项研究旨在了解美国成人ADHD与糖尿病的关系。 方法: 美国国家健康访谈调查(NHIS)是一项针对美国全国代表性样本的健康调查。我们纳入了2007年和2012参加这项调查的20-79岁成年人。在面对面的家庭访谈中收集了ADHD和糖尿病的诊断信息。用纳入了调查样本权重的逻辑回归分析来估计糖尿病的优势比(OR)和95%置信区间(CI)。 结果: 这项分析包括52821名成年人(加权平均年龄45.5岁；48.6%为男性)。其中, 有1642名受试者报告了ADHD的诊断, 4631名受试者报告了糖尿病的诊断。在对年龄, 性别, 种族/族裔, 教育程度, 家庭收入水平, 吸烟, 饮酒, 体育锻炼和体重指数进行校正的多变量分析中, 患有ADHD的成年人与未患ADHD的成年人相比, 其糖尿病OR为1.54(95 % CI:1.16-2.04)。在分层分析中, ADHD与糖尿病之间的显著关联存在于大多数层级中, 并且该关联并未因年龄, 性别, 种族/民族或肥胖状况有明显改变。 结论: 在美国成年人的全国代表性样本中, 我们发现了ADHD的诊断历史与糖尿病之间存在显著关联。.

Methamphetamine (MA) abuse has become a global public health problem due to damage to various systems throughout the body, especially the central nervous system. However, the differences in resting-state brain function between short-term and long-term abstinence, the pros and cons of treatments, and the relationship between resting-state brain function and behavioral tests are unknown. Sixty-three MA abstinent individuals were followed up for nearly 1 year and treated with three different methods. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) based on the Harvard-Oxford atlas (HOA) were measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Impulsivity was evaluated by the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 (BIS-11). Brain regions with significant increases in ALFF and ReHo values in the long-term abstinent group compared to the short-term abstinent group were around the right frontal pole (McKetin et al., 2012, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03933.x) and right middle frontal gyrus (Wang et al., 2015, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133431). There were no significant differences among the three groups that experienced long-term abstinence. The changes in ALFF and ReHo in the right middle frontal gyrus were significantly associated with BIS total scores, BIS attention scores, and BIS nonplanning scores. The right middle frontal gyrus is a critical region in MA long-term abstinent individuals exposed to therapeutic intervention, and this region may be useful, when combined with BIS-11, as a potential biomarker to identify the effect of abstinence with therapeutic intervention in MA individuals.

In order to improve some characteristics of a β-1,3-1,4-glucanase from Bacillus subtilis MA139, directed evolution was conducted in this study. After error-prone PCR, the β-1,3-1,4-glucanase gene, glu-opt, was cloned into the vector pBGP1 and transformed into Pichia pastoris X-33 to construct a mutant library. Three variants named as 7-32, 7-87, and 7-115 were screened from 8000 colonies. Amino-acid sequence analysis showed that these mutants had one or two amino-acid substitutions (7-32: T113S, 7-87: M44V/N53H, and 7-115: N157D). The variants were over-expressed in P. pastoris by methanol induction. After purification of the enzyme proteins, the characteristics of the variants were analyzed in detail. It indicated that these mutant enzymes had broader ranges of pH value and better pH stability than the wild-type enzyme. The mutant enzyme 7-87 had the best ability to tolerate an acid environment (pH 2.0), while the wild-type enzyme had no activity under this condition. Moreover, all these mutants demonstrated improved thermal stability. In particular, the mutant enzyme 7-32 had residual enzymatic activity of 60% and 40% after being incubated at 80 °C and 90 °C for 10 min. While, the wild-type enzyme had no residual enzymatic activity after being incubated at 80 °C for 4 min. In addition, the mutant enzymes had better tolerance to some chemicals than the wild-type enzyme. The improved stability could enhance the prospects for this enzyme to have use in the feed industry to reduce the effects of the anti-nutritional factor β-glucan.