Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death amongst American women. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), especially bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, have adverse effects on human health. However, the association of BPA and phthalates with breast cancer remains conflicting. This study aims to investigate the association of BPA and phthalates with breast cancer. Methods: Correlative studies were identified by systematically searching three electronic databases, namely, PubMed, Web of Sciences, and Embase, up to November 2020. All data were analyzed using Stata 15.0. Results: A total of nine studies, consisting of 7820 breast cancer cases and controls, were included. The urinary phthalate metabolite mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono-2-isobutyl phthalate (MiBP) were negatively associated with breast cancer (OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.60–0.90; OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58–0.98, respectively). However, the overall ORs for BPA, mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), mono-(3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP), and mono-butyl phthalate (MBP) were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.69–1.05), 0.96 (95% CI: 0.62–1.48), 1.12 (95% CI: 0.88–1.42), 1.13 (95% CI: 0.74–1.73), 1.01 (95% CI: 0.74–1.40), 0.74 (95% CI: 0.48–1.14), and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.55–1.15), respectively, suggesting no significant association. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were relatively stable. Conclusion: Phthalate metabolites MBzP and MiBP were passively associated with breast cancer, whereas no associations were found between BPA, MEP, MEHHP, MEHP, MEOHP, MCPP, and MBP and breast cancer. More high-quality case-control studies or persuasive cohort studies are urgently needed to draw the best conclusions.

Objective: The association between phthalates and endometriosis risk is inconclusive. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the association between five different phthalate metabolites and endometriosis, based on current evidence. Methods: The literature included PubMed, WOS (web of science), and EMBASE, published until 3 March 2019. We selected the related literature and evaluated the relationship between phthalates exposure and endometriosis risk. All statistical analyses were conducted with STATA version 12.0. Results: Data from eight studies were used in this review. The results of this analysis showed that mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) exposure was potentially associated with endometriosis (OR = 1.246, 95% CI = 1.003–1.549). We have not found positive results in mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), monoethyl phthalate (MEP), monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) analyses (MEHP: OR = 1.089, 95% CI = 0.858–1.383; MEP: OR = 1.073, 95% CI = 0.899–1.282; MBzP: OR = 0.976, 95% CI = 0.810–1.176; MEOHP: OR = 1.282, 95% CI = 0.874–1.881). In subgroup analyses for regions, the associations were significant between MEHHP and endometriosis in Asia (OR = 1.786, 95% CI = 1.005–3.172, I² = 0%), but not in USA (OR = 1.170, 95% CI = 0.949–1.442, I² = 45.6%). Conclusions: Our findings suggested a potential statistical association between MEHHP exposure and endometriosis, particularly, the exposure of MEHHP might be a potential risk for women with endometriosis in Asia. However, positive associations between the other four Phthalate acid esters (PAEs) and endometriosis was not found. Given the weak strength of the results, well-designed cohort studies, with large sample sizes, should be performed in future.

We have investigated newly reported pneumoconiosis cases in the province of Hubei, China from 2008 to 2013, to identify the major problems and challenges, and explore possible solutions for its prevention and control. We analyzed the data on new cases of pneumoconiosis from annual reports, including case distributions, patient ages, exposure duration, disease stages, and enterprise types. A total of 3665 new pneumoconiosis cases were reported between 2008 and 2013 in Hubei Province. Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and silicosis, which accounted for 97.19% of the total, were the most common types. The duration of exposure of 33.32% cases was less than 10 years. Most of the new pneumoconiosis cases worked in industries that produced coal, nonferrous metal, or building materials. About 42.46% of pneumoconiosis cases were from small and medium-sized enterprises. The proportion of cases with combined pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis was 6.6%, and the incidence of tuberculosis was highest in workers with silicosis. The current situation of pneumoconiosis in China is serious. Lack of attention to occupational health, inefficient surveillance, and weak occupational health services may have contributed to the increased new pneumoconiosis cases.

Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rapidly increasing in China, but the secular trends in incidence and mortality remain unknown. This study aims to examine time trends from 1990 to 2017 and the net age, period, and cohort effects on diabetes incidence and mortality. Methods: Incidence and mortality rates of diabetes (1990–2017) were collected for each 5-year age group (from 5–9 to 80–84 age group) stratified by gender from the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study. The average annual percentage changes in incidence and mortality were analyzed by joinpoint regression analysis; the net age, period, and cohort effects on the incidence and mortality were estimated by age-period-cohort analysis. Results: The joinpoint regression analysis showed that age-standardized incidence significantly rose by 0.92% (95% CI: 0.6%, 1.3%) in men and 0.69% in women (95% CI: 0.3%, 1.0%) from 1990 to 2017; age-standardized mortality rates rose by 0.78% (95% CI: 0.6%, 1.0%) in men and decreased by 0.12% (95% CI: −0.4%, 0.1%) in women. For age-specific rates, incidence increased in most age groups, with exception of 30–34, 60–64, 65–69 and 70–74 age groups in men and 25–29, 30–34, 35–39 and 70–74 age groups in women; mortality in men decreased in the younger age groups (from 20–24 to 45–49 age group) while increased in the older age groups (from 50–54 to 80–84 age group), and mortality in women decreased for all age groups with exception of the age group 75–79 and 80–84. The age effect on incidence showed no obvious changes with advancing age while mortality significantly increased with advancing age; period effect showed that both incidence and mortality increased with advancing time period while the period trend on incidence began to decrease since 2007; cohort effect on incidence and mortality decreased from earlier birth cohorts to more recent birth cohorts while incidence showed no material changes from 1982–1986 to 2012–2016 birth cohort. Conclusions: Mortality decreased in younger age groups but increased in older age groups. Incidence increased in most age groups. The net age or period effect showed an unfavorable trend while the net cohort effect presented a favorable trend. Aging likely drives a continued increase in the mortality of diabetes. Timely population-level interventions aiming for obesity prevention, healthy diet and regular physical activity should be conducted, especially for men and earlier birth cohorts at high risk of diabetes.

To understand the heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils along the East River basin and assess the pollution related health effect to local residents, interviews and archived data were obtained to identify the study sites affected by polluted tailing. Soil samples were collected and tested for heavy metal content and the Comprehensive Pollution Index (CPI). The degree of pollution of agricultural soils in the area was assessed using GIS-based Spatial distribution map of heavy metals and the trend of soil heavy metal risk. Two villages (Matian and Zhudui) near the East River were included in this study for health effect assessment. A total of 193 residents aged 15 or above from each village were tested for the present status of chronic diseases. Convenient sampling method was used to collect blood samples from 78 residents for heavy metal concentration. The contents of Pb, Cd, As, Zn, and Cu in the agricultural soils were all over the standards with a moderate to severe CPI. Among these metals, Cd was the highest followed by Pb, and Cu was the lowest. The contents of Pb, Cd, As, and Zn tend to be higher in soils closer to the river. The prevalence of chronic diseases was over 30%, which is significantly higher than the report from the national central region (23.15%). The average blood lead level (BLL) among children under 14 years is 7.42 μg/dL. Although the adults in Matian village had a significantly higher BLL (χ² = 8.70, p = 0.03) as compared to Zhudui village, there was no significant difference for the prevalence of chronic diseases between the two villages (χ² = 3.23, p = 0.09). The mean BLL of children and the proportion of children with BLL ≥ 10 µg/dL in this study are equivalent to the national average. The higher BLL concentration and prevalence of chronic diseases in adults might be due to their long-term exposure to heavy metal contamination environment and higher background level of heavy metals. Findings from this study will form the baseline information for local government to the development of effective approaches to control the heavy metal contamination and reduce the pollution related adverse health effect on local residents.

Benzene is an occupational toxicant and an environmental pollutant that is able to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), causing oxidative stress and damages of the macromolecules in target cells, such as the hematopoietic stem cells. We had previously found that embryonic yolk sac hematopoietic stem cells (YS-HSCs) are more sensitive to benzene toxicity than the adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells, and that nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is the major regulator of cytoprotective responses to oxidative stress. In the present report, we investigated the effect of PKM2 and Nrf2-ARE pathway on the cellular antioxidant response to oxidative stress induced by benzene metabolite benzoquinone (BQ) in YS-HSC isolated from embryonic yolk sac and enriched by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS). Treatment of the YS-HSC with various concentrations of BQ for 6 hours induces ROS generation in a dose-dependent manner. Additional tests showed that BQ is also capable of inducing expression of NADPH oxidase1 (NOX1), and several other antioxidant enzymes or drug-metabolizing enzymes, including heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and NAD(P)H dehydrogenase quinone 1 (NQO1). Concomitantly, only the expression of PKM2 protein was decreased by the treatment of BQ but not the PKM2 mRNA, which suggested that BQ may induce PKM2 degradation. Pretreatment of the cells with antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) decreased ROS generation and prevented BQ-induced PKM2 degradation, suggesting involvement of ROS in the PKM2 protein degradation in cellular response to BQ. These findings suggest that BQ is a potent inducer of ROS generation and the subsequent antioxidant responses of the YS-HSC. The accumulated ROS may attenuate the expression of PKM2, a key regulator of the pyruvate metabolism and glycolysis.