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ObjectiveTo comprehensively and systematically analyze mercury concentration and associated characteristics in aquatic products, and to evaluate the degree of pollution and make a dietary mercury exposure risk assessment.MethodsBased on a large amount of nationwide data regarding mercury contents of aquatic products published during the last decade, we analyzed the characteristics of mercury contents in aquatic products and further made a health risk assessment using Monte Carlo simulation combined with residents’ food consumption data.ResultsThe number of valid samples was up to 19 531. Generally, mercury concentrations in aquatic products were far lower than national standard values and marine products were obviously higher than freshwater products. Mercury concentrations of some fish, marine shellfish and freshwater crustaceans were even up to slight to moderate polluted level. Intriguingly, mercury contents of seawater farmed fish were significantly higher than wild fish. Dietary exposure risk was below the PTWI established by JECFA while all kinds of aquatic products for women aged 45 or older and people aged 6 to 17 were at higher risk with P95 exposure level.ConclusionThe mercury concentration of aquatic products is relatively low and its associated health dietary risk is acceptable in spite of higher risk for specific population. More attention should be paid on fish breeding model around the South China Sea.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore prospective relationships between changing patterns of BMI/waist to height ratio (WHtR) during adolescence and subsequent neurobehavioral development. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, randomized stratified sampling was used to recruit six middle schools and 609 students in Shanghai, China. In Grades 6, 7, and 9, the Youth Self Report scale was used to assess student neurobehavioral status and anthropometric measurements were conducted to calculate BMI z scores and WHtRs. Longitudinal data were analyzed using latent class mixture modeling to delineate trajectories of BMI z scores ("stable," "decreasing," "rapidly increasing") and WHtRs ("stable," "rapidly increasing"), and their associations with neurobehavioral status in Grade 9 were assessed. Results: In Grades 6 through 9 (ages 11–15 years), the prevalence of overall obesity and abdominal obesity ranged from 10.7% to 13.0% and 13.0% to 19.8%, respectively. Compared with the stable BMI z score trajectory, the rapidly increasing BMI z score trajectory was longitudinally associated with delinquent behavior, aggressive behavior, and externalizing problems (incidence rate ratio: 1.564–1.613, adjusted p < 0.05). Compared with the stable WHtR trajectory, the rapidly increasing WHtR trajectory significantly predicted increased risks of social problems and delinquent behavior (incidence rate ratios: 1.776–1.967, adjusted p < 0.05). Significant associations of the rapidly increasing BMI z score/WHtR trajectories with subsequent neurobehavioral deficits were observed among girls (adjusted p < 0.05) but not among boys (adjusted p > 0.05). Conclusions: Rapid increases in BMI or WHtR during adolescence could predict subsequent neurobehavioral deficits, especially for externalizing behaviors. Timely intervention for weight control may be considered to promote adolescent mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Several studies conducted during the past two decades suggested increasing trend of childhood allergic diseases in China. However, few studies have provided detailed description of geographic variation and explored risk factors of these diseases. This study investigated the pattern and risk factors of asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema in eight metropolitan cities in China. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey during November-December 2005 in eight metropolitan cities in China. A total of 23791 children aged 6-13 years participated in this survey. Questions from the standard questionnaire of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Children (ISAAC) were used to examine the pattern of current asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the risk factors for childhood allergies. Results The average prevalence of childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema across the eight cities was 3∙3% (95% Confidence interval (CI): 3∙1%, 3∙6%), 9∙8% (95% CI: 9∙4%, 10∙2%) and 5∙5% (95% CI: 5∙2%, 5∙8%), respectively. Factors related to lifestyle, mental health and socio-economic status were found to be associated with the prevalence of childhood allergies. These risk factors were unevenly distributed across cities and disproportionately affected the local prevalence. Conclusions There was apparent geographic variation of childhood allergies in China. Socio-environmental factors had strong impacts on the prevalence of childhood allergies; but these impacts differed across regions. Thus public health policies should specifically target at the local risk factors for each individual area.

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that fasting increases lead absorption in the gastrointestinal tract of adults. Regular meals/snacks are recommended as a nutritional intervention for lead poisoning in children, but epidemiological evidence of links between fasting and blood lead levels (B-Pb) is rare. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between eating a regular breakfast and B-Pb among children using data from the China Jintan Child Cohort Study. Methods Parents completed a questionnaire regarding children's breakfast-eating habit (regular or not), demographics, and food frequency. Whole blood samples were collected from 1,344 children for the measurements of B-Pb and micronutrients (iron, copper, zinc, calcium, and magnesium). B-Pb and other measures were compared between children with and without regular breakfast. Linear regression modeling was used to evaluate the association between regular breakfast and log-transformed B-Pb. The association between regular breakfast and risk of lead poisoning (B-Pb≥10 μg/dL) was examined using logistic regression modeling. Results Median B-Pb among children who ate breakfast regularly and those who did not eat breakfast regularly were 6.1 μg/dL and 7.2 μg/dL, respectively. Eating breakfast was also associated with greater zinc blood levels. Adjusting for other relevant factors, the linear regression model revealed that eating breakfast regularly was significantly associated with lower B-Pb (beta = -0.10 units of log-transformed B-Pb compared with children who did not eat breakfast regularly, p = 0.02). Conclusion The present study provides some initial human data supporting the notion that eating a regular breakfast might reduce B-Pb in young children. To our knowledge, this is the first human study exploring the association between breakfast frequency and B-Pb in young children.

Abstract Background Habitual snoring, a prominent symptom of sleep-disordered breathing, is an important indicator for a number of health problems in children. Compared to adults, large epidemiological studies on childhood habitual snoring and associated predisposing factors are extremely scarce. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of habitual snoring among Chinese school-aged children. Methods A random sample of 20,152 children aged 5.08 to 11.99 years old participated in a cross-sectional survey, which was conducted in eight cities of China. Parent-administrated questionnaires were used to collect information on children's snoring frequency and the possible correlates. Results The prevalence of habitual snoring was 12.0% (14.5% for boys vs. 9.5% for girls) in our sampled children. Following factors were associated with an increased risk for habitual snoring: lower family income (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.46), lower father's education (OR = 1.38 and 1.14 for middle school or under and high school of educational level, respectively), breastfeeding duration < 6 months (OR = 1.17), pregnancy maternal smoking (OR = 1.51), obesity (OR = 1.50), overweight (OR = 1.35), several respiratory problems associated with atopy and infection, such as chronic/allergic rhinitis (OR = 1.94), asthma (OR = 1.43), adenotonsillar hypertrophy (OR = 2.17), and chronic otitis media (OR = 1.31), and family history of habitual snoring (OR = 1.70). Conclusion The prevalence of habitual snoring in Chinese children was similar to that observed in other countries. The potential predisposing factors covered socioeconomic characteristics, environmental exposures, chronic health problems, and family susceptibility. Compared to socioeconomic status and family susceptibility, environmental exposures and chronic health problems had greater impact, indicating childhood habitual snoring could be partly prevented by health promotion and environmental intervention.

1. Introduction Over the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in the relationship between cognitive and sensorimotor performances during the developmental process in children. It is widely [...], To investigate the influence of forepaw sensorimotor deprivation on memory and synaptic plasticity, Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: a sham-operated group and a group deprived of forepaw sensorimotor function by microsurgical operation at postnatal day 13 (PN13). Behavioral and electrophysiological studies were performed at PN25, PN35, PN45, and PN60. Open field test was used to assess the spontaneous locomotor activity. Morris water maze was used to evaluate spatial reference learning and memory. The long-term potentiation (LTP) in the medial perforant path--dentate gyrus (MPP-DG) pathway was examined with hippocampal slices. We found that forepaw sensorimotor deprivation did not affect spontaneous activity of the rats. However, spatial reference learning and memory were significantly impaired in their early life (PN25, PN35, and PN45). In accordance with the behavior results, LTP in MPP-DG pathway was significantly suppressed in their early life. These data demonstrated that forepaw sensorimotor deprivation led to the impairments on spatial memory via inducing pronounced deficits in the MPP-DG pathway to exhibit LTP, one of the major cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Copyright [C] 2009 Yuanyuan Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.