We performed this meta-analysis to estimate the associations of maternal exposure to PM2.5 and its chemical constituents with birth weight and to explore the sources of heterogeneity in regard to the findings of these associations. A total of 32 studies were identified by searching the MEDLINE, PUBMED, Embase, China Biological Medicine and Wanfang electronic databases before April 2015. We estimated the statistically significant associations of reduced birth weight (β = -15.9 g, 95% CI: -26.8, -5.0) and LBW (OR = 1.090, 95% CI: 1.032, 1.150) with PM2.5 exposure (per 10 μg/m(3) increment) during the entire pregnancy. Trimester-specific analyses showed negative associations between birth weight and PM2.5 exposure during the second (β = -12.6 g) and third (β = -10.0 g) trimesters. Other subgroup analyses indicated significantly different pooled-effect estimates of PM2.5 exposure on birth weight in studies with different exposure assessment methods, study designs and study settings. We further observed large differences in the pooled effect estimates of the PM2.5 chemical constituents for birth weight decrease and LBW. We concluded that PM2.5 exposure during pregnancy was associated with lower birth weight, and late pregnancy might be the critical window. Some specific PM2.5 constituents may have larger toxic effects on fetal weight. Exposure assessment methods, study designs and study settings might be important sources of the heterogeneity among the included studies.

Background: Large spatial heterogeneity was observed in the dengue fever outbreak in Guangzhou in 2014, however, the underlying reasons remain unknown. We examined whether socio-ecological factors affected the spatial distribution and their interactive effects. Methods: Moran’s I was applied to first examine the spatial cluster of dengue fever in Guangzhou. Nine socio-ecological factors were chosen to represent the urbanization level, economy, accessibility, environment, and the weather of the 167 townships/streets in Guangzhou, and then the geographical detector was applied to analyze the individual and interactive effects of these factors on the dengue outbreak. Results: Four clusters of dengue fever were identified in Guangzhou in 2014, including one hot spot in the central area of Guangzhou and three cold spots in the suburban districts. For individual effects, the temperature (q = 0.33) was the dominant factor of dengue fever, followed by precipitation (q = 0.24), road density (q = 0.24), and water body area (q = 0.23). For the interactive effects, the combination of high precipitation, high temperature, and high road density might result in increased dengue fever incidence. Moreover, urban villages might be the dengue fever hot spots. Conclusions: Our study suggests that some socio-ecological factors might either separately or jointly influence the spatial distribution of dengue fever in Guangzhou.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients have poor prognosis due to the aggressive metastatic behaviors. Our study reveals that expression of estrogen related receptor α (ERRα) is significantly (p < 0.01) positively associated with high grade tumors and lymph node metastasis, while negatively correlated with overall survival (OS), in 138 TNBC patients. Targeted inhibition of ERRα by its inverse agonist XCT-790 or si-RNA obviously inhibits in vitro motility of TNBC cells. While over expression of ERRα triggers the invasion and migration of TNBC cells. Further, si-ERRα and XCT-790 inhibit the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of TNBC cells with increasing the expression of E-cadherin and decreasing fibronectin (FN) and vimentin. While XCT-790 has no effect on the expression of EMT related transcription factors such as Snail or Slug. Further, inhibitors of MAPK, PI3K/Akt, NF-κB signal molecules, which are activated by XCT-790, can not attenuate the suppression effects of XCT-790 on EMT. Alternatively, luciferase reporter gene assays and ChIP analysis indicate that ERRα can directly bind with FN promoter at ERR response element-3 (ERRE-1), ERRE-3, and ERRE-4, while XCT-790 reduces this bond. In vivo data show that ERRα expression is significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with FN in clinical TNBC patients. In MDA-MB-231 tumor xenograft models, XCT-790 decreases the expression of FN, inhibits the growth and lung metastasis, and suppresses the EMT. Our results demonstrate that ERRα functions as a metastasis stimulator and its targeted inhibition may be a new therapeutic strategy for TNBC treatment.

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What is already known about this topic? A considerable percentage of the population has received both primary and booster vaccinations, which could potentially provide protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron infections and related symptoms. What is added by this report? The self-reported infection rate, as determined from an online survey, reached its peak (15.5%) between December 19 and 21, 2022, with an estimated 82.4% of individuals in China being infected as of February 7, 2023. During the epidemic, the effectiveness of booster vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection was found to be 49.0% within three months of vaccination and 37.9% between 3 and 6 months following vaccination. Furthermore, the vaccine effectiveness of the booster vaccination in relation to symptom prevention varied from 48.7% to 83.2% within three months and from 25.9% to 69.0% between 3 and 6 months post-booster vaccination. What are the implications for public health practice? The development and production of efficacious vaccines, together with prompt vaccinations or emergency vaccinations, have the potential to mitigate the epidemic’s impact and safeguard public health.