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Due to the complexity of emission sources, a better understanding of aerosol optical properties is required to mitigate climate change in China. Here, an intensive real-time measurement campaign was conducted in an urban area of China before and during the COVID-19 lockdown in order to explore the impacts of anthropogenic activities on aerosol light extinction and the direct radiative effect (DRE). The mean light extinction coefficient (bext) decreased from 774.7 ± 298.1 Mm−1 during the normal period to 544.3 ± 179.4 Mm−1 during the lockdown period. A generalised additive model analysis indicated that the large decline in bext (29.7 %) was due to sharp reductions in anthropogenic emissions. Chemical calculation of bext based on a ridge regression analysis showed that organic aerosol (OA) was the largest contributor to bext in both periods (45.1 %–61.4 %), and the contributions of two oxygenated OAs to bext increased by 3.0 %–14.6 % during the lockdown. A hybrid environmental receptor model combined with chemical and optical variables identified six sources of bext. It was found that bext from traffic-related emissions, coal combustion, fugitive dust, the nitrate and secondary OA (SOA) source, and the sulfate and SOA source decreased by 21.4 %–97.9 % in the lockdown, whereas bext from biomass burning increased by 27.1 %, mainly driven by the undiminished need for residential cooking and heating. An atmospheric radiative transfer model was further used to illustrate that biomass burning, rather than traffic-related emissions, became the largest positive effect (10.0 ± 10.9 W m−2) on aerosol DRE in the atmosphere during the lockdown. Our study provides insights into aerosol bext and DRE from anthropogenic sources, and the results imply the importance of controlling biomass burning for tackling climate change in China in the future.

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution is still one of China's most important environmental issues, especially in northern cities during wintertime. In this study, intensive real-time measurement campaigns were conducted in Xi’an, Shijiazhuang, and Beijing to investigate the chemical characteristics and source contributions of PM2.5 and explore the formation progress of heavy pollution for policy implications. The chemical compositions of PM2.5 in the three cities were all dominated by organic aerosol (OA) and nitrate (NO3-). Results of source apportionment analyzed by the hybrid environmental receptor model (HERM) showed that the secondary nitrate plus sulfate contributed higher to PM2.5 compared to other primary sources. Biomass burning was the dominant primary source in the three pilot cities. The contribution of coal combustion to PM2.5 is non-negligible in Xi’an and Shijiazhuang but is no longer the important contributor in the capital city of Beijing due to the execution of a strict coal-banning policy. The potential formation mechanisms of secondary aerosol in three cities were further explored by establishing the correlations between the secondary nitrate plus sulfate and aerosol liquid water content (ALWC), and Ox (O3 + NO2), respectively. The results showed that photochemical oxidation and aqueous-phase reaction were two important pathways of secondary aerosol formation. According to the source variations, air pollution events that occurred in campaigns were classified into three types: biomass combustion dominated, secondary nitrate plus sulfate dominated, and a combination of primary and secondary sources. Additionally, this study compared the changes in chemical composition and source contributions of PM2.5 in past decades. The results suggested that the clean energy replacements for the rural household should be urgently encouraged to reduce the primary source emissions in northern China, and collaborative control on ozone and particulate matter need to be continuously promoted to weaken the atmosphere oxidation capacity for the sake of reducing secondary aerosol formation.

Background: To investigate the causal link between early-life exposures and long-term health consequences, we established the Tianjin Birth Cohort (TJBC), a large-scale prospective cohort in northern China. Methods: TJBC aims to enroll 10,000 families with follow-ups from pregnancy until children’s six year-old. Pregnant women and their spouses were recruited through a three-tier antenatal healthcare system at early pregnancy, with follow-ups at mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy, delivery, 42 days after delivery, 6 months after delivery, and each year until 6 years old. Antenatal/neonatal examination, biological samples and questionnaires were collected. Results: From August 2017 to January 2019, a total of 3,924 pregnant women have already been enrolled, and 1,697 women have given birth. We observed the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus as 18.1%, anemia as 20.4%, and thyroid hypofunction as 2.0%. In singleton live births, 5.6% were preterm birth (PTB), 3.7% were low birth weight, and 7.3% were macrosomia. Based on current data, we also identified maternal/paternal factors which increased the risk of PTB, including paternal age (OR 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01–1.14 for each year increase), vaginal bleeding during pregnancy (OR 2.82; 95% CI, 1.54–5.17) and maternal early-pregnancy BMI (OR 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01–1.15 for each kg/m2 increase). Conclusion: TJBC has the strength of collecting comprehensive maternal, paternal, and childhood information. With a diverse range of biological samples, we are also engaging with emerging new technologies for multi-omics research. The study would provide new insight into the causal link between macro/micro-environmental exposures of early life and short/long-term health consequences.

The unique geographical location of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays an important role in regulating global climate change, but the impacts of the chemical components and atmospheric processing on the size distribution and mixing state of individual particles are rarely explored in the southeastern margin of the TP, which is a transport channel for pollutants from Southeast Asia during the pre-monsoon season. Thus a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPAMS) was deployed to investigate how the local emissions of chemical composition interact with the transporting particles and assess the mixing state of different particle types and secondary formation in this study. The TP particles were classified into six main types: the rich-potassium (rich-K) type was the largest fraction of the total particles (30.9 %), followed by the biomass burning (BB) type (18.7 %). Most particle types were mainly transported from the surroundings and cross-border of northern Myanmar; but the air masses from northeastern India and Myanmar show a greater impact on the number fraction of BB (31.7 %) and Dust (18.2 %) types, respectively. Besides, the two episodes events with high particle concentrations showed that the differences in the meteorological conditions in the same air clusters could cause significant changes in chemical components, especially the Dust and EC-aged types changed by a sum of 93.6 % and 72.0 % respectively. Ammonium and Dust particles distribute at a relatively larger size (~ 600 nm), but the size peak of other types is present at ~ 440 nm. The easily volatilized nitrate (62NO3−) during the transport process leads the more abundant sulfate (97HSO4−) to mix internally with the TP particles. C2H3O+, HC2O4−, NH4+, NO3−, and HSO4−, severed as the indicators of secondary formation, are present in the atmospheric aging process of photo-oxidation and aqueous reaction by a linear correlation with Ox (O3+NO2) and relative humidity (RH). This study provides insights that can improve the knowledge of particle composition and size, mixing state, and aging mechanism at high time resolution over the TP region.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention could lead to weight loss and improve cardiovascular risk factors among young women with both gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and newly diagnosed diabetes. A total of 83 young women, who had GDM and were subsequently diagnosed as type 2 diabetes at an average of 2.6 years after delivery, participated in a 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention and a follow-up survey at 6–9 years postintervention. After the 9-month intervention, these women had a weight loss of 2.90 kg (−4.02% of initial weight), decreased waist circumference (−3.12 cm), body fat (−1.75%), diastolic blood pressure (−3.49 mmHg), fasting glucose (−0.98 mmol/L) and HbA1c (−0.72%). During the 6–9 years postintervention period, they still had lower weight (−3.71 kg; −4.62% of initial weight), decreased waist circumference (−4.56 cm) and body fat (−2.10%), but showed a slight increase in HbA1c (0.22%). The prevalence of using glucose-lowering agents increased from 2.4% at baseline to 34.6% after the 9-month lifestyle intervention, and to 48.4% at 6–9 years postintervention. A 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention can produce beneficial effects on body weight, HbA1c and other cardiovascular risk factors among young women with previous GDM who subsequently developed new diabetes.

Black carbon (BC) is one of the most important short-lived climate forcers, and atmospheric motions play an important role in determining its mass concentrations of pollutants. Here an intensive observation was launched in a typical river-valley city to investigate relationships between atmospheric motions and BC aerosols. Equivalent BC (eBC) source apportionment was based on an aethalometer model with the site-dependent absorption Ångström exponents (AAEs) and the mass absorption cross sections (MACs) retrieved using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) model based on observed chemical components (i.e., EC, POC, K+, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, Ca, V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, Se, Br, Sr, Pb, Ga, and Zn) and primary absorption coefficients at selected wavelengths from λ=370 to 880 nm. The derived AAEs from 370 to 880 nm were 1.07 for diesel vehicular emissions, 2.13 for biomass burning, 1.74 for coal combustion, and 1.78 for mineral dust. The mean values for eBCfossil and eBCbiomass were 2.46 and 1.17 µg m−3, respectively. Wind run distances and the vector displacements of the wind in 24 h were used to construct a self-organizing map, from which four atmospheric motion categories were identified (local-scale dominant, local-scale strong and regional-scale weak, local-scale weak and regional-scale strong, and regional-scale dominant). BC pollution was found to be more likely when the influence of local-scale motions outweighed that of regional-scale motions. Cluster analysis for the back-trajectories of air mass calculated by the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model at the study site indicated that the directions of air flow can have different impacts for different scales of motion. The direct radiative effects (DREs) of source-specific eBC were lower when the influence of regional-scale motions outweighed that of the local ones. However, due to chemical aging of the particles during transport – the DRE efficiencies under regional-scale motions were ∼ 1.5 times higher than those under more local influences. The finding that the DRE efficiency of BC increased during the regional transport suggested significant consequences in regions downwind of pollution sources and emphasizes the importance of regionally transported BC for potential climatic effects.

This study identified the potential sources of the elements in PM2.5 and estimated the health risks of heavy metallic elements at a background site of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region (Jing-Jin-Ji region) in heating and non-heating periods. The results showed that Cu, Zn, Se, Pb, and As were enriched and six sources were identified. The health threats of solid fuel combustion and incinerator were more serious than other sources, especially in heating period. The intensified residential heating activities resulted in higher health risk from burning solid fuel in heating period. Among all the measured heavy metallic elements, the exposure levels of As and Pb were most alarming. Compared with adults, children were prone to higher risks. Ingestion was the primary way for both children and adults to expose under the health risk. To prevent a further deterioration of the environment safety of Xianghe, regulating solid fuel combustion and incinerator should be emphasized in Xianghe.

Very few studies have assessed short-term and long-term cardiovascular effects of an early postpartum lifestyle intervention among women with gestational diabetes mellitus and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to examine whether an early postpartum 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention can lead to weight loss and improve cardiovascular risk factors among women with both GDM and newly diagnosed diabetes, and also to investigate these effects in a long term. A total of 83 women who had GDM and were newly diagnosed as type 2 diabetes at 2.6 year after delivery participated in a 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention and a follow-up survey at 6-9 years post-intervention. A total of 68 women finished the 9-month lifestyle intervention and 39 women finished the 6-9 years post-intervention survey. During the first 9-month intervention, women lost their weight at 2.76 kg (-3.81% initial weight) , decreased their waist circumference (-2.88 cm) , body fat (-1.69%) , diastolic blood pressure (-3.49 mm Hg) , fasting glucose (-0.98 mmol/L) and HbA1c (-0.71%) . During the 6-9 years post intervention, women still lost weight (-3.49 kg; -5.14% initial weight) , decreased their waist circumference (-4.03 cm) , and body fat (-1.93%) , but slightly increased their HbA1c (0.26%) , total cholesterol (0.29 mmol/L) and triglycerides (0.17 mmol/L) . The prevalence of using glucose-lowering agents increased from 2.9% at baseline to 35.3% after the 9 month lifestyle intervention, and to 48.7% at 6-9 years post-intervention. An early postpartum 9-month intensive lifestyle intervention could have effects on weight loss, decreased HbA1c and other cardiovascular risk factors among women with GDM and newly diagnosed diabetes. The weight loss effect with a lifestyle intervention can persist for at least 6 years, however, HbA1c levels slightly increased in the long term. Disclosure G.Hu: None. J.Leng: None. H.Liu: None. L.Wang: None. S.Zhang: None. W.Li: None. W.Li: None. X.Yang: None. J.Tuomilehto: Stock/Shareholder; Orion Pharma. Funding This study is supported by the grant from European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) /Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) /Lilly program for Collaborative Research between China and Europe. Dr. Hu was partly supported by the grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK100790) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM104940) of the National Institutes of Health.

Few randomized controlled trials (RCT) that have thus far been published have not unequivocally found that early postpartum lifestyle intervention can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) . The aim of the present large-scale, long-term RCT was to assess whether an early postpartum lifestyle intervention can reduce or delay type 2 diabetes risk in women with prior GDM in the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prevention Program in China. A total of 1180 women who were diagnosed with GDM from 20to 20were randomly assigned to either a 4-year lifestyle intervention (n = 586) or a control group (n = 594) . Major elements of the intervention included six face-to-face meetings with study dietitians in the first year, and two additional sessions and two telephone calls in each subsequent year. The mean follow-up was 4.5 years. During the trial, overweight women with GDM in the intervention group compared with the control group were more likely to lose weight. The incidence of diabetes was 0.87 and 1.46 per 100 person-years in the lifestyle intervention and control groups, respectively; the lifestyle intervention reduced the incidence by 45 percent (P = 0.023) . An early postpartum healthy lifestyle management markedly reduced the incidence of diabetes among women with prior GDM. Disclosure G.Hu: None. X.Yang: None. J.Tuomilehto: Stock/Shareholder; Orion Pharma. H.Liu: None. J.Leng: None. L.Wang: None. S.Zhang: None. W.Li: None. W.Li: None. L.Qi: None. Z.Yu: None. Funding This study is supported by the grant from European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) /Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) /Lilly program for Collaborative Research between China and Europe. Dr. Hu is partly supported by the grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK100790) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM104940) of the National Institutes of Health.

To investigate the seasonal variation of black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) light absorption at an urban site in Xi'an, China, an annual measurement was conducted by using a 7-wavelengths Aethalometer (model AE33). The results showed the aerosol absorptions were observed approximately 5–8 times greater in winter (395 Mm−1 at 370 nm and 99 Mm−1 at 880 nm, respectively) than those in autumn (49 Mm−1 at 370 nm and 18 Mm−1 at 880 nm, respectively). BC was the dominant light absorbing carbonaceous component at all wavelengths (from 370 nm to 950 nm). BrC absorption (370 nm) maximized during winter with 41% of the total aerosol absorption, and was lower in autumn (16%). The light absorption contributions of primary BrC (BrCpri) were higher than that of secondary BrC (BrCsec) in four seasons, with more than 67% of total BrC light absorption. The seasonal absorption Angstrom exponents (AAEs) of BrC, BrCpri, and BrCsec were directly derived with the highest values (3.91, 3.69, and 4.94, respectively) in wintertime. The BrCpri contributed much higher solar absorptions percentage to BC than BrCsec. The results underlined the primary emissions of urban BrCpri and BC, implying that the strategies of energy efficiency enhancement and energy structure reformation will be very important in reducing primary emissions in China. Such investigations should be conducted in other developing countries with severe air pollution.

Light absorption by black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) aerosols determines their impacts on climate warming, and the absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) attribution method often is used to dis...

Background: We investigated the association between prenatal GDM exposure and offspring DNA methylation (DNAm) age at 3–10 years of age in the Tianjin GDM Observational Study. Methods: This study included 578 GDM and 578 non-GDM mother-child pairs. Children underwent an exam with anthropometric measurements and blood draw for DNAm analysis (Illumina 850 K array) at a median age of 5.9 years (range 3.1–10.2). DNAm age was calculated using two epigenetic clock algorithms (Horvath and Hannum). The residual resulting from regressing DNAm age on chronological age was used as a metric for age acceleration. Results: Chronological age was positively correlated with Horvath DNAm age (r = 0.53, p < 0.0001) and Hannum DNAm age (r = 0.38, p < 0.0001). Offspring age acceleration was higher in the GDM group than non-GDM group after adjustment for potential confounders (Horvath: 4.96 months higher, adjusted for sex, pre-pregnancy BMI, cell-type proportions, and technical bias, p = 0.0002; Hannum: 11.2 months higher, adjusted for cell-type proportions and technical bias, p < 0.0001). Increased offspring DNAm age acceleration was associated with increased offspring weight-for-age Z-score, BMI-for-age-Z-score, waist circumference, body fat percentage, subscapular skinfold, suprailiac skinfold, upper-arm circumference, and blood pressure; findings were stronger in the GDM group. Conclusions: We found that offspring of women with GDM exhibit accelerated epigenetic age compared to control participants, independent of other maternal factors. Epigenetic age in offspring was associated with cardiometabolic risk factors, suggesting that GDM and GDM-associated factors may have long-term effects on offspring epigenetic age and contribute to health outcomes.

Intensive measurements were conducted in Xi’an, China before and during a COVID-19 lockdown period to investigate how changes in anthropogenic emissions affected the optical properties and radiative effects of brown carbon (BrC) aerosol. The contribution of BrC to total aerosol light absorption during the lockdown (13%–49%) was higher compared with the normal period (4%–29%). Mass absorption cross-sections (MAC) of specific organic aerosol (OA) factors were calculated from a ridge regression model. Of the primary OA (POA), coal combustion OA (CCOA) had the largest MACs at all tested wavelengths during both periods due to high molecular-weight BrC chromophores; that was followed by biomass burning OA (BBOA) and hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA). For secondary OA (SOA), the MACs of the less-oxidized oxygenated OA (OOA) species (LO-OOA) at λ = 370–590 nm were higher than those of more-oxidized OOA (MO-OOA) during both periods, presumably due to chromophore bleaching. The largest contributor to BrC absorption at the short wavelengths was CCOA during both periods, but BrC absorption by LO-OOA and MO-OOA became dominant at longer wavelengths during the lockdown. The estimated radiation forcing efficiency of BrC over 370–600 nm increased from 37.5 W· g-1 during the normal period to 50.2 W·g-1 during the lockdown, and that enhancement was mainly caused by higher MACs for both LO-OOA and MO-OOA. This study provides insights into the optical properties and radiative effects of source-specific BrC aerosol when pollution emissions are reduced.

Background & objectives: Examine maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), macrosomia and DNA methylation in candidate genes IGF1, IGF2, H19, ARHGRF11, MEST, NR3C1, ADIPOQ and RETN. Materials & methods: A total of 1145 children (572 GDM cases and 573 controls) from the Tianjin GDM study, including 177 with macrosomia, had blood DNA collection at median age 5.9 (range: 3.1–10.0). We used logistic regression to screen for associations with GDM and model macrosomia on 37 CpGs, and performed mediation analysis. Results: One CpG was associated with macrosomia at false discovery rate (FDR)

The impacts of anthropogenic emissions on the reduction of source-specific equivalent black carbon (eBC) aerosols and their direct radiative effects (DREs) were investigated during the lockdown of the coronavirus outbreak in a megacity of China in 2020. Five eBC sources were identified using a hybrid environmental receptor model. Results showed that biomass burning, traffic-related emissions, and coal combustion were the dominant contributors to eBC. The generalized additive model indicated that the reduction of traffic-related eBC during the lockdown was entirely attributed to the decrease of emissions. Decreased biomass-burning activities and favorable meteorological factors are both important drivers for the biomass-burning eBC reduction during the lockdown. A radiative transfer model showed that the DRE efficiency of eBC from biomass burning was the strongest, followed by coal combustion and traffic-related emissions. This study highlights that aggressive reduction in the consumption of residential solid fuels would be effective in achieving climate change mitigation.

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse health consequences for women and their offspring. It is associated with maternal body mass index (BMI) and may be associated with gestational weight gain (GWG). But due to the heterogeneity of diagnosis and treatment and the potential effect of GDM treatment on GWG, the association between the two has not been thoroughly clarified. Compared to body weight, BMI has the advantage that it considers height during the whole course of pregnancy. Understanding BMI changes during pregnancy may provide new evidence for the prevention of GDM. Methods This study investigated the BMI change of pregnant women based on a retrospective study covering all communities in Tianjin, China. According to the results of GDM screening at 24–28 weeks of gestation, pregnancies were divided into the GDM group and the non-GDM group. We compared gestational BMI change and GWG in the two groups from early pregnancy to GDM screening. GWG was evaluated according to the IOM guidelines. Logistic regression was applied to determine the significance of variables with GDM. Results A total of 41,845 pregnant women were included in the final analysis (GDM group, n = 4257 vs. non-GDM group, n = 37,588). BMI gain has no significant differences between the GDM and non-GDM groups at any early pregnancy BMI categories (each of 2 kg/m2), as well as weight gain (P > 0.05). Early pregnancy BMI was a risk factor for GDM (OR 1.131, 95% CI 1.122–1.139). And BMI gain was associated with a decreased risk of GDM in unadjusted univariate analysis (OR 0.895, 95% CI 0.869–0.922). After adjusting on early pregnancy BMI and other confounding factors, the effect of BMI gain was no longer significant (AOR 1.029, 95% CI 0.999–1.061), as well as weight gain (AOR 1.006, 95% CI 0.995–1.018) and GWG categories (insufficient: AOR 1.016, 95% CI 0.911–1.133; excessive: AOR 1.044, 95% CI 0.957–1.138). Conclusions BMI in early pregnancy was a risk factor for GDM, while BMI gain before GDM screening was not associated with the risk of GDM. Therefore, the optimal BMI in early pregnancy is the key to preventing GDM.

Aims/Introduction We investigated the association between leukocyte counts and glucose challenge test (GCT) level during pregnancy. Materials and Methods We collected prenatal information of women who had their first clinic visit in early pregnancy. Women underwent GCT at 24–28 gestational weeks, and a result of ≥7.8 mmol/L was considered positive. Participants were divided into quartiles of leukocyte counts, and association with GCT results and positive rate were analyzed by logistic regression. Results Among 20,707 pregnant women, the median of leukocyte counts was higher in the positive group than the normal group (8.5 × 109/L vs 8.2 × 109/L, P 9.70 × 109/L) was significantly associated with positive GCT results (adjusted odds ratio 1.378, 95% confidence interval 1.246–1.524), and the linear relationship between increased risk of positive result and increasing leukocyte quartiles persisted (P for linear trend, There was a linear trend in glucose challenge test results and positive rate with increasing leukocyte quartiles. Elevated leukocyte counts in early pregnancy were independently and linearly associated with the risk of positive glucose challenge test levels, indicating that inflammation might play an important role in the development of gestational diabetes mellitus.

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a major macrosomia risk factor. Variations in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT; rs4680) genotypes are associated with heightened susceptibility to environmental exposures and nutritional conditions. However, macrosomia risks associated with COMT genetics, epigenetics, and the interaction between genetic and epigenetics among children with and without exposure to GDM are unknown. Methods: Data from women/children pairs (n = 1087) who participated in the Tianjin Gestational Diabetes Birth Cohort were used to examine the odds of being born with macrosomia associated with COMT-genotypes, 55 CpG sites located on the COMT gene, and genetic and epigenetic interactions. Odds of macrosomia associated with COMT genetic, epigenetic, genetic and epigenetic interactions, and moderations with GDM were tested using adjusted logistic regression models. Results: Overall, 16.1% (n = 175) of children were born with macrosomia. Models showed that children with at least one copy of the minor allele (A) had higher odds of macrosomia (odds ratio, 1.82; 95% confidence interval 1.25–2.64) compared with children with the GG-genotype. After false discovery rate corrections, none of the 55 CpG sites located on the COMT gene was associated with odds of macrosomia. The genetic and epigenetic associations were not modified by exposure to GDM. Conclusion: Findings suggest carriers of the COMT GG-genotype had lower odds of macrosomia, and this association was not modified by epigenetics or exposure to GDM.

AIMS Aim of this study is to assess dyslipidemia risk between children exposed to maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and those not exposed. METHODS We recruited 1144 mother-child pairs (572 GDM and 572 non-GDM women matched by their offspring's age and sex). The age of offspring ranged from 3 to 9 years old. We used general linear models to compare mean values of different lipid profiles among children born to mothers with and without GDM. Logistic regression models were used to assess associations of maternal GDM with abnormal lipid profiles in offspring. RESULTS After adjustment for maternal and children's characteristics, children born to mothers with GDM had lower mean values of high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (1.40 ± 0.01 vs. 1.50 ± 0.01; p

We present a generic and accurate method to transfer part-level labels from annotated 3D shapes to images or annotated images to 3D shapes. The label transfer problem is formulated as a Conditional random field (CRF) model, in which a novel local correspondence encoding term encoding the probability of label assignment of each pixel as a label histogram serves as the likelihood of the labels. With the aid of local correspondence encoding, highly accurate part-level label transfer results can be easily achieved. Our method works well for the bi-directional label transfer between 3D shapes and images, suitable to image-guided 3D shape segmentation, 3D shape-guided image segmentation, and has also found various applications. We thoroughly evaluate our method and demonstrate its superiority over the state-of-the-art methods through experiments on benchmark datasets.

OBJECTIVE Several studies assessed maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with the risk of childhood high blood pressure, and the results were inconsistent. We investigated the association between maternal GDM and hypertension risk in offspring during early childhood. METHODS We performed a large study in 1,156 mother–child pairs (578 GDM and 578 non-GDM matched by their offspring’s age and sex). Maternal GDM was diagnosed according to the World Health Organization criteria. Childhood height, weight, and blood pressure were measured using standardized methods. Age-, sex-, and height-specific blood pressure Z score, childhood hypertension, and high blood pressure were evaluated according to the reference range of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Working Group on High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents. RESULTS After adjustment for maternal and children’s characteristics, children born to mothers with GDM during pregnancy had higher mean values of systolic blood pressure Z score (0.09 vs. −0.17), and higher prevalence of hypertension (6.4% vs. 3.5%) and high blood pressure (15.6% vs. 9.3%) in comparison with their counterparts born to mothers without GDM during pregnancy (all P values CONCLUSIONS Maternal GDM was associated with an increased risk of hypertension in the offspring. Controlling maternal GDM may be important for preventing childhood hypertension in the affected offspring.

Previous studies found conflicting results about the associations between the exposure to hyperglycemiain uteroand the later risks of childhood overweight and obesity. The aim of the present study is to compare the children’s BMI growth between offspring exposed to maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and those not exposed and assess the associations between maternal GDM and their offspring’s overweight and obesity risk. We performed a large observational study in 1156 women and their offspring (578 GDM and 578 non-GDM mother–child pairs, matched by their offspring’s gender and age). Maternal GDM was diagnosed according to the World Health Organization criteria. Childhood height, weight, waist circumference, body fat and skinfold were measured using standardized methods. After adjustment for maternal and children’s characteristics, children born to mothers with GDM during pregnancy had higher mean values of Z scores for BMI-for-age, Z scores for weight-for-age, waist circumferences, body fat, subscapular skinfold and suprailiac skinfold, in comparison with their counterparts born to mothers with normal glucose during pregnancy (allPvalues

Background Some studies have found that branched amino acid (BCAA) is associated with the risk of obesity among general population, however, not all the results were consistent. The present study aimed to investigate the association of daily BCAA intakes with the risk of postpartum overweight and abdominal obesity among women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 1263 women with prior GDM at 1–5 years post-delivery. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of daily dietary intakes of BCAAs with the risk of overweight and abdominal obesity. Results The multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) across quartiles of daily BCAA intakes were 1.42 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02–1.97), 1.00 (reference), 1.21 (95% CI 0.88–1.68), and 1.31 (95% CI 0.95–1.81) for general overweight, and 1.38 (95% CI 0.99–1.90), 1.00, 1.19 (95% CI 0.86–1.64), and 1.43 (95% CI 1.04–1.98) for abdominal obesity, respectively. Only women with the lowest quartile of daily BCAA intakes significantly increased the risks of general overweight (OR 1.49; 95 %CI 1.06–2.09) and abdominal obesity (OR 1.50; 95 %CI 1.08–2.11) compared with women at quartile 2 of daily BCAA intakes after further adjustment of daily energy intake. Conclusions The present study indicated U-shaped associations between daily BCAA intakes and the risk of general overweight and abdominal obesity among women with prior GDM.

Considering the advantage of safety and cost, designing a Mg–air battery with high capacity has been highly sought in recent years. However, self-corrosion and passivation of Mg anode critically reduce discharge performance, hindering the large-scale application of Mg–air batteries. In this study, a series of as-cast and extruded Mg-3In-xCa alloys were successfully fabricated. Microstructures, chemical composition, and discharge performance were investigated to optimize the content of Ca (x). The selected Mg–air battery with Mg-3In-3Ca alloy as anode represented the best battery performance, including 0.738 V of discharge voltage, 1323.92 mAh g−1 of specific capacity, and 61.74% of anodic efficiency at discharge current density of 30 mA cm−2. All of its parameters were vastly superior to pure Mg–air battery. In addition, the synergistic effects of In and Ca on promoting electrode properties were evaluated in detail, using SEM and electrochemical analysis, which is expected to trigger follow-up research in designing high-performance Mg–air batteries.

IntroductionTo evaluate the single association of postpartum β-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance (IR), as well as different combinations of postpartum β-cell dysfunction, IR, obesity, and a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with postpartum type 2 diabetes risk.Research design and methodsThe study included 1263 women with prior GDM and 705 women without GDM. Homeostatic model assessment was used to estimate homeostatic model assessment of β-cell secretory function (HOMA-%β) and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).ResultsMultivariable-adjusted ORs of diabetes across quartiles of HOMA-%β and HOMA-IR were 1.00, 1.46, 2.15, and 6.25 (ptrend trend Conclusionsβ-cell dysfunction or IR was significantly associated with postpartum diabetes. IR and β-cell dysfunction, together with obesity and a history of GDM, had the highest ORs of postpartum diabetes risk.

Restrictions on human activities were implemented in China to cope with the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), providing an opportunity to investigate the impacts of anthropogenic emissions on air quality. Intensive real-time measurements were made to compare primary emissions and secondary aerosol formation in Xi'an, China before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Decreases in mass concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and its components were observed during the lockdown with reductions of 32-51%. The dominant contributor of PM was organic aerosol (OA), and results of a hybrid environmental receptor model indicated OA was composed of four primary OA (POA) factors (hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), cooking OA (COA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), and coal combustion OA (CCOA)) and two oxygenated OA (OOA) factors (less-oxidized OOA (LO-OOA) and more-oxidized OOA (MO-OOA)). The mass concentrations of OA factors decreased from before to during the lockdown over a range of 17% to 58%, and they were affected by control measures and secondary processes. Correlations of secondary aerosols/ΔCO with Ox (NO2 + O3) and aerosol liquid water content indicated that photochemical oxidation had a greater effect on the formation of nitrate and two OOAs than sulfate; however, aqueous-phase reaction presented a more complex effect on secondary aerosols formation at different relative humidity condition. The formation efficiencies of secondary aerosols were enhanced during the lockdown as the increase of atmospheric oxidation capacity. Analyses of pollution episodes highlighted the importance of OA, especially the LO-OOA, for air pollution during the lockdown.

Accurate understanding of sources and mixing state of black carbon (BC) aerosol is essential for assessing its impacts on air quality and climatic effect. Here, a winter campaign (December 2017–January 2018) was conducted in the North China Plain (NCP) to evaluate the sources, coating composition, and radiative effect of BC under the background of emission reduction since 2013. Results show that liquid fossil fuel source (i.e., traffic emission) and solid fuel source (i.e., biomass and coal burning) contributed 69 % and 31 % to the total BC mass, respectively, using a multiwavelength optical approach combined with the source-based aerosol absorption Ångström exponent values. The air quality model indicates that local emission was the dominant contributor to BC at the measurement site on average, however, emissions in the NCP exerted a critical role for high BC episode. Six classes of BC-containing particles were identified, including (1) BC coated by organic carbon and sulphate (52 % of total BC-containing particles), (2) BC coated by Na and K (24 %), (3) BC coated by K, sulphate, and nitrate (17 %), (4) BC associated with biomass burning (6 %), (5) Pure-BC (1 %), and (6) others (1 %). Different BC sources had distinct impacts on those BC-containing particles. A radiative transfer model estimated that the amount of BC detected can produce an atmospheric forcing of +18.0 W m−2 and a heating rate of 0.5 K day−1. Results presented herein highlight that further reduction of solid fuel combustion-related BC may be a more effective way to mitigate regional warming in the NCP, although larger BC contribution was from liquid fossil fuel source.