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In this study, 123 PM2.5 filter samples were collected in Wuhan, Hubei province from December 2014 to November 2015. Water- soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs), elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC) and inorganic elements were measured. Source apportionment and back trajectory was investigated by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and the hybrid single particle lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, respectively. The annual PM2.5 concentration was 80.5 ± 38.2 μg/m3, with higher PM2.5 in winter and lower in summer. WSIIs, OC, EC, as well as elements contributed 46.8%, 14.8%, 6.7% and 8% to PM2.5 mass concentration, respectively. SO42−, NO3− and NH4+ were the dominant components, accounting for 40.2% of PM2.5 concentrations. S, K, Cl, Ba, Fe, Ca and I were the main inorganic elements, and accounted for 65.2% of the elemental composition. The ratio of NO3−/SO42− was 0.86 ± 0.72, indicating that stationary sources play dominant role on PM2.5 concentration. The ratio of OC/EC was 2.9 ± 1.4, suggesting the existence of secondary organic carbon (SOC). Five sources were identified using PMF model, which included secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA), coal combustion, industry, vehicle emission, fugitive dust. SIA, coal combustion, as well as industry were the dominant contributors to PM2.5 pollution, accounting for 34.7%, 20.5%, 19.6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence is available about the associations of phthalates or their metabolites with blood lipids, however, the mixture effects of multiple phthalate metabolites on blood lipid traits remain largely unknown. In this pilot study, 106 individuals at three age groups of <18, 18- and ≥60 years were recruited from the residents (n = 1240) who were randomly selected from two communities in Wuhan city, China. The participants completed the questionnaire survey and physical examination as well as provided urine samples in the winter of 2014 and the summer of 2015. We measured urinary levels of nine phthalate metabolites using a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We estimated the associations of individual phthalate metabolite with blood lipid traits by linear mixed effect (LME) models, and assessed the overall association of the mixture of nine phthalate metabolites with blood lipid traits using Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models. LME models revealed the negative association of urinary mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) with total cholesterol (TC) as well as of urinary mono-benzyl phthalate or urinary MEHP with low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). BKMR models revealed the negative overall association of the mixture of nine phthalate metabolites with TC or LDL-C, and DEHP metabolites (especially MEHP) had a greater contribution to TC or LDL-C levels than non-DEHP metabolites. The findings indicated the negative overall association of the mixture of nine phthalate metabolites with TC or LDL-C. Among nine phthalate metabolites, MEHP was the most important component for the changes of TC or LDL-C levels, implying that phthalates exposure may disrupt lipid metabolism in the body. Image 1 • A mixture of nine phthalate metabolites was negatively associated with TC or LDL-C. • Several phthalate metabolites were negatively related to TC or LDL-C. • DEHP metabolites had prominent effects on TC or LDL-C than non-DEHP metabolites. Exposure to multiple phthalates was negatively related to blood TC or LDL-C values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Health effects of exposure to particulate matter (PM) on male reproductive health remain unclear. Only a limited number of studies have investigated the effects of PM 2.5 or PM 10 exposure on semen quality, and the results were largely inconsistent. Objectives To quantitatively assess the exposure-response association between PM exposure and semen quality in Chinese men who were exposed to a wide concentration range of PM. Methods We investigated 1759 men from Wuhan, China, who were partners of women undergoing assisted reproductive technology procedures, and had semen examined at least once between 2013 and 2015. Individual PM 2.5 and PM 10 exposures during 0–90, 0–9, 10–14 and 70–90 days before each semen examination (corresponding to the entire and three key periods of sperm development, respectively) were retrospectively estimated by inverse distance weighting interpolation. Linear mixed models were used to assess exposure-response relations of PM exposure with sperm concentration, count and motility. Results PM 2.5 exposure during 0–90 lag days ranged from 27.3 to 172.4 μg/m 3 . It was linearly and inversely associated with sperm concentration (β: −0.20; 95% CI: −0.34, −0.07) and count (−0.22; −0.35, −0.08). For the three key exposure periods, only PM 2.5 exposure during the 70–90 lag days was significantly associated with sperm concentration (−0.12; −0.22, −0.03) and count (−0.12; −0.21, −0.02). Sensitivity analyses for a subgroup ( n = 1146) excluding subjects with abnormal sperm concentration, count or motility yielded similar results. Compared with PM 2.5 , we found generally similar associations for PM 10 exposure in relation to sperm concentration and count, except that the associations appeared to be nonlinear with inverted J-shaped relationships. Neither PM 2.5 nor PM 10 exposure was significantly associated with sperm motility (all p > 0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that ambient PM exposure during sperm development adversely affects semen quality, in particular sperm concentration and count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating noise-related cardiovascular risk, noise is generally solely assessed as the major stressor. However, cardiovascular effect of other simultaneous exposure events, such as unhealthy lifestyle and genetic variation, is easily neglected. The aim of this study is to estimate the combined effect of noise and lifestyle on blood pressure alteration, particularly under different genetic background. This study included 536 workers from a tobacco factory in Wuhan, China, who were divided into high exposure group and low exposure group according to noise measurement in their working area. All participants took annual physical examination and questionnaire survey to provide information on individual systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and lifestyle (smoking, drinking and physical activity). Single nucleotide polymorphism at genes related to stress hormone production were determined. Moderated moderation models were constructed to investigate the interaction effect of noise exposure and lifestyle factors on blood pressure with regard to different genetic background. We identified an expected trend in association between noise exposure and SBP among active smokers (P = 0.086). The moderated moderation analysis showed significant three-way interaction effect (COMT rs4680 × smoking status × noise exposure levels) on SBP or DBP (both P < 0.05). For COMT rs4680 GA+AA genotype carriers, active smoking significantly moderated the association between noise exposure and SBP or DBP (both P < 0.05). The results indicated that for COMT rs4680 A allele carriers, tobacco and noise exposure contribute collectively to blood pressure alteration, supporting that stress hormone production may play a certain role in the smoke-and-noise-induced cardiovascular effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The mixture of eight OH-PAHs had an overall effect on telomere length or lung function. • Phthalate metabolites mixture counteracted the overall effect of OH-PAHs mixture on FEV1. • Phthalate metabolites mixture counteracted the overall effect of OH-PAHs mixture on FVC. • Urinary 2 + 3−OHPhe was the most important contributor to decrease in FEV1, FVC or RTL. • Urinary MEHP enhanced an overall effect of PAHs exposure on FEV1 or FVC reduction. Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalates are linked to lung function decline and altered relative telomere length (RTL) accompanying with oxidative stress and inflammatory events in human body. However, limited data are available about impacts of co-exposure of PAHs and phthalates on lung function and RTL. We conducted a pilot study with repeated measures during the winter of 2014 and summer of 2015 in Wuhan city, China. Participants took part in the measures of lung function, RTL, urinary monohydroxylated-PAHs (OH-PAHs) and phthalate metabolites over three consecutive days in each season. Linear mixed-effect (LME) models and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to analyze the relations of OH-PAHs or phthalate metabolites with lung function or RTL. LME models showed the negative associations of 3-day average of hydroxyphenanthrene (2 + 3-, 4−OHPhe) or 1-hydroxypyrene with FEV1, 3-day average of 2 + 3−OHPhe with FVC. BKMR models revealed the negative relation of eight OH-PAHs with FEV1, FVC or RTL; nine phthalate metabolites may counteract an overall effect of eight OH-PAHs on FEV1, FVC or RTL. The findings indicated that urinary phthalate metabolites may counteract the negative association of urinary OH-PAHs on FEV1 or FVC, which may be partially linked to shorter RTL regarding biological aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]