There is growing scientific evidence supports a link between increased childhood adiposity and early onset of puberty in girls worldwide in recent decades. However, the data from Chinese girls remain ambiguous. The aims of this study were to estimate the puberty milestones and examine attainment of puberty associated with obesity and central obesity in Chinese Han schoolgirls. The cross-sectional school-based study examined 2996 Han schoolgirls aged 9 to 19 years from 6 provinces in China. Trained clinicians assessed the girls for height, weight, waist circumference, Tanner stages of breast and pubic hair development, and menarcheal status. We classified girls as normal weight, overweight, or obese based on BMI, and as normal weight or central obese based on the waist-height ratio, then estimated and compared median age at a given Tanner stage or greater by weight class using Probit models. The median age at menarche was 12.36 years. The median ages at breast stages(B) 2 through 5 were 10.03, 11.38, 13.39, and 15.79 years, respectively, and at pubic hair stages(PH) 2 through 5 were 11.62, 12.70, 14.38, and 16.92 years, respectively. Girls from urban areas experienced menarche, B3 and B4 stages, and PH3 through PH5 stages earlier. Girls with central obesity and overweight/obesity reached puberty earlier at almost every Tanner stage of breast and pubic hair than normal girls. Girls with obesity developed PH2 and PH3 earlier than their overweight peers. However, we did not find any significant differences between girls with overweight and obesity at all stages of breast development. Childhood obesity, including both overweight/obesity and central obesity, is associated with earlier attainment of puberty in Chinese Han schoolgirls.

Implantation failure is not only a major cause of early pregnancy loss, but it is also an obstacle to assisted reproductive technologies. The identification of potential circulating biomarkers for recurrent miscarriage (RM) and/or recurrent implantation failure would contribute to the development of novel diagnosis and prediction techniques. MiR (miR-23a-3p, 27a-3p, 29a-3p, 100-5p, 127-3p and 486-5p) expression in the villi, decidual tissues and peripheral blood plasma and serum were validated by qPCR, and the localization of miRs in the villi and decidual tissues of RM and normal pregnancy (NP) women were detected by in situ hybridization. The invasiveness of HTR8/SVneo cells was determined using a Transwell assay. The predictive values of miRs for RM and the outcome of IVF-ET were respectively calculated by the receiver operating characteristic analysis. The signals of six miRs were observed in the villi and decidual tissues of RM and NP women. The villus miR-27a-3p, miR-29a-3p and miR-100-5p were significantly up-regulated, whereas miR-127-3p and miR-486-5p appeared to be down-regulated in RM women compared to NP women. The invasiveness of HTR8/SVneo cells transfected with miR-23a-3p mimics was evidently weakened, whereas that of cells transfected with miR-127-3p mimics was obviously enhanced. The peripheral blood plasma levels of miR-27a-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-100-5p and miR-127-3p were significantly increased, whereas that of miR-486-5p was remarkably decreased in RM compared to NP women. By contrast, serum miR-23a-3p and miR-127-3p were significantly decreased, whereas that of miR-486-5p was remarkably increased. The combination of six plasma miRs levels discriminated RM with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 83.3%, whereas that of six serum miRs levels showed a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 93.1%. In the IVF-ET cohort, the significantly decreased peripheral blood plasma levels of miR-23a-3p, miR-27a-3p, miR-100-5p and miR-127-3p, and the serum levels of miR-100-5p and miR-486-5p, in addition to the significantly increased serum level of miR-27a-3p, were found to be associated with the failure of ET. Moreover, the combination of plasma miR-23a-3p, miR-27a-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-100-5p, miR-127-3p and miR-486-5p levels discriminated the outcome of IVF-ET with a sensitivity of 68.1% and a specificity of 54.1%, whereas the combination of plasma miR-127-3p and miR-486-5p levels showed a sensitivity of 50.0% and a specificity of 75.3%. Circulating miR-23a-3p, miR-27a-3p, miR-29a-3p, miR-100-5p, miR-127-3p and miR-486-5 might be involved in RM pathogenesis and present potential diagnostic biomarkers for RM. Meanwhile, these miRs, in particular miR-127-3p and miR-486-5p, provide promising prediction indexes for the outcomes of IVF-ET.

Background: Maternal air pollutants exposure is associated with a number of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA). However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. The present study aimed to understand the mechanism of RSA and its relationship with air pollution exposure. We compared data of decidual tissue from individuals with induced abortions and those with RSA by bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS), and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were verified using RT-qPCR and pyrosequencing. A logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between air pollutants exposure and RSA. Results: We identified 98 DEGs with aberrant methylation by overlapping the RRBS and RNA-seq data. Nineteen immune cell subsets were identified. Compared with normal controls, NK cells and macrophages accounted for different proportions in the decidua of patients with RSA. We observed that the methylation and expression of IGF2BP1 were different between patients with RSA and controls. Furthermore, we observed significant positive associations between maternal air pollutants exposure during the year prior to pregnancy and in early pregnancy and the risk of RSA. Mediation analyses suggested that 24.5% of the effects of air pollution on the risk of RSA were mediated through IGF2BP1 methylation. Conclusion: These findings reveal a comprehensive cellular and molecular mechanism of RSA and suggest that air pollution might cause pregnancy loss by affecting the methylation level of the IGF2BP1 promoter.

Although there is much literature on adolescent suicide, combined effects of depression and anorexia nervosa on suicide were rarely investigated. The aims of this study are to examine the association between anorexia nervosa and suicidal thoughts and explore the interaction between anorexia nervosa and depression. This is a cross-sectional study, in the study, a sample of 8,746 Chinese adolescents was selected by multistage stratified method in 2012/2013 from 20 middle schools in 7 provinces across China Mainland. Multilevel logistic model was introduced to explore association between anorexia nervosa and suicidal thoughts. And subgroup analyses were conducted on participants with or without depression. Multilevel logistic model revealed that demographic variables, including academic achievement, were not the predictive risk factors of suicidal thoughts. Those who suffered from worse severity of perceived anorexia nervosa were at increased risk of thinking about suicide. The interaction between depression and anorexia nervosa was significant, however, subgroup analyses showed that the associations were significant only among the adolescents without depression. Our results indicate that all levels of anorexia nervosa serve as predictable indicators of suicidal thoughts in Chinese adolescents, and the effects of anorexia nervosa are modified by depression status.

It is unclear whether periconceptional folic acid (FA) supplementation decreases the risk of spontaneous abortion (SA). The impact of supplementation initiation timing has not been ascertained. This cohort study aimed to investigate the association between maternal periconceptional FA supplementation and risk of SA, with due consideration of the supplementation initiation timing. Through the National Free Pre-conception Health Examination Project (NFPHEP), we identified 65,643 pregnancies on FA supplementation in Chongqing, China between 2010 and 2015. After adjusting for covariates, maternal periconceptional FA supplementation was associated with a lower risk of SA (adjusted risk ratio [aRR]: 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.48–0.56). Pregnant women with FA supplementation initiated at least 3 months before conception had a 10% lower risk of SA (aRR: 0.46; 95% CI: 0.42–0.50) than those with FA supplementation initiated 1–2 months before conception (aRR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.50–0.62) or after conception (aRR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.51–0.61). These associations might not thoroughly account for FA supplementation, and to some extent our findings confirm the role of the utilization of healthcare in preventing SAs. Women who initiated healthcare, including taking FA earlier during the periconceptional period, could have a lower risk of SA.

Intervention studies have shown that long-chain (LC) n-3 PUFA intake can prolong gestation but the dose−time−effect relations remain unresolved. We examined the effect on gestation duration of 2 doses of supplemental LC n-3 PUFAs. We undertook a 3-group parallel randomized controlled trial in areas of China with low (median: 2.1 g/d) and higher (14.3 g/d) fish intake. Unselected women (median: age, 26.2 y; BMI, 20. kg/m²) were randomly assigned at midgestation to take four 0.72-g identical gelatin capsules per day until the last day of the preterm period (<259 days of gestation), when they were asked to stop. Capsules contained fish oil [high fish oil (HFO) group (60% w/w LC n-3 PUFAs)], a 1:3 mixture of fish oil to olive oil [low fish oil (LFO) group (20%)], or olive oil [control (CON) group (0%)], providing 2.0, 0.5, and 0 g/d of LC n-3 PUFAs, respectively. Habitual fish intake was recorded at baseline. Hazard rate ratios (HRRs) for spontaneous delivery <259 days of gestation and <273 days of gestation across groups were estimated by Cox regression. Among 5531 women randomly assigned, 92.5% were included in analyses (1706/1825, 1695/1851, and 1717/1855, respectively). The groups were similar with respect to hazard rates <259 days of gestation [HRR: 1.04 (95% CI: 0.70, 1.53) for LFO compared with CON and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.60, 1.35) for HFO compared with CON], hazard rates <273 days of gestation [HRR: 1.00 (95% CI: 0.86, 1.18) and 0.91 (95% CI: 0.77, 1.07), respectively], and mean gestation durations [differences: 0.2 d (95% CI: −0.5, 0.8) and 0.6 d (95% CI: −0.06, 1.2), respectively]. Inspection of pregnancy survival curves suggested that LC n-3 PUFAs delayed delivery in low fish consumers by 5–10 d and that this effect ceased rapidly after stopping taking the capsules. This trial could not substantiate that fish oil prevents preterm birth in Chinese women, possibly because statistical power was too low. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02770456.