Relationship between early‐life nutrition and ages at menarche and first pregnancy,and childbirth rates of young adults: Evidence from APCAPS in India

India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) provides daily supplementary nutrition and other public health services to women and children. We estimated associations between exposure to early‐childhood ICDS nutrition and adult reproductive outcomes. During 1987–1990, a balanced protein–calorie supplement called “upma”—made from locally available corn–soya ingredients—was rolled out by subdistricts near Hyderabad and offered to pregnant women and children under age 6 years. In a controlled trial, 15 villages received the supplement and 14 did not. We used data from a 2010–2012 resurvey of adults born during the trial (n = 715 in intervention and n = 645 in control arms). We used propensity score matching methods to estimate the associations between birth in an intervention village and menarcheal age, age at first pregnancy, and fertility of adults. We found that women born in the intervention group during the trial, as compared with the control group, had menarche 0.45 (95% confidence interval [CI: 0.22, 0.68]; p < .001) years later and first pregnancy 0.53 (95% CI [0.04, 1.02]; p < .05) years later. Married women from the intervention group had menarche 0.36 (95% CI [0.09, 0.64]; p < .01) years later, first cohabitation with partner 0.8 (95% CI [0.27, 1.33]; p < .01) years later, and first pregnancy 0.53 (95% CI [0.04, 1.02]; p < .05) years later than married women in the control group. There was no significant difference between intervention and control group women regarding whether they had at least one childbirth or the total number of children born. The findings were similar when we employed inverse propensity score weighted regression models.     

The association between birth order and childhood leukemia may be modified by paternal age and birth weight. Pooled results from the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C)

The “delayed infection hypothesis” states that a paucity of infections in early childhood may lead to higher risks of childhood leukemia (CL), especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Using prospectively collected data from six population-based birth cohorts we studied the association between birth order (a proxy for pathogen exposure) and CL. We explored whether other birth or parental characteristics modify this association. With 2.2 × 10⁶ person-years of follow-up, 185 CL and 136 ALL cases were ascertained. In Cox proportional hazards models, increasing birth order (continuous) was inversely associated with CL and ALL; hazard ratios (HR) = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.77–0.99) and 0.85: (0.73–0.99), respectively. Being later-born was associated with similarly reduced hazards of CL and ALL compared to being first-born; HRs = 0.78: 95% CI: 0.58–1.05 and 0.73: 0.52–1.03, respectively. Successive birth orders were associated with decreased CL and ALL risks (P for trend 0.047 and 0.055, respectively). Multivariable adjustment somewhat attenuated the associations. We found statistically significant and borderline interactions between birth weight (p = 0.024) and paternal age (p = 0.067), respectively, in associations between being later-born and CL, with the lowest risk observed for children born at <3 kg with fathers aged 35+ (HR = 0.18, 95% CI: 0.06–0.50). Our study strengthens the theory that increasing birth order confers protection against CL and ALL risks, but suggests that this association may be modified among subsets of children with different characteristics, notably advanced paternal age and lower birth weight. It is unclear whether these findings can be explained solely by infectious exposures.     

A case-control study of paternal and maternal age as risk factors in mood disorders

Objective: Advanced parental age might constitute a risk factor for various disorders. We tested whether this concerns also mood disorder patients.

Methods: The study included 314 subjects (42 bipolar-BD patients; 21 manics and 21 depressives, 68 unipolar-UD, and 204 normal controls-NC). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and the calculation of the Relative Risk (RR) and the Odds Ratio (OR) were used for the analysis.

Results: Paternal age differed between NC and UD patients (29.42?±?6.07 vs. 32.12?±?5.54; p?=?.01) and manics (29.42?±?6.07 vs. 35.00?±?5.75; p?=?.001) and maternal age between NC and manics (25.46?±?4.52 vs. 31.43?±?4.75; p?<?.001) and manic and UD (31.43?±?4.75 vs. 26.75?±?6.03; p?=?.002). The RR and OR values suggested that advanced parental age constitutes a risk factor for the development of mood disorders.

Conclusions: In a non-dose dependent and gender-independent, advanced parental age constitutes a risk factor for the development of BD with index episode of mania (probably manic predominant polarity); only advanced paternal age constitutes a risk factor for the development of UD and BD with index episode of depression (probably depressive predominant polarity). This is the first study suggesting differential effect of advanced parental age depending on predominant polarity of BD.     

Trade-offs between acquired and innate immune defenses in humans

Immune defenses provide resistance against infectious disease that is critical to survival. But immune defenses are costly, and limited resources allocated to immunity are not available for other physiological or developmental processes. We propose a framework for explaining variation in patterns of investment in two important subsystems of anti-pathogen defense: innate (non-specific) and acquired (specific) immunity. The developmental costs of acquired immunity are high, but the costs of maintenance and activation are relatively low. Innate immunity imposes lower upfront developmental costs, but higher operating costs. Innate defenses are mobilized quickly and are effective against novel pathogens. Acquired responses are less effective against novel exposures, but more effective against secondary exposures due to immunological memory. Based on their distinct profiles of costs and effectiveness, we propose that the balance of investment in innate versus acquired immunity is variable, and that this balance is optimized in response to local ecological conditions early in development. Nutritional abundance, high pathogen exposure and low signals of extrinsic mortality risk during sensitive periods of immune development should all favor relatively higher levels of investment in acquired immunity. Undernutrition, low pathogen exposure, and high mortality risk should favor innate immune defenses. The hypothesis provides a framework for organizing prior empirical research on the impact of developmental environments on innate and acquired immunity, and suggests promising directions for future research in human ecological immunology.     

藏族药“杂赤”的品种 基原与标准整理

藏族药（以下简称藏药）“杂赤”又称“杂赤确”“杂赤巴帽卡”等，产于四川、西藏等地，是一种治疗肝胆疾病的常用藏药。通过梳理查阅有关文献与标准发现，“杂赤”可以按正品、副品（替代品）和类同品分类，也可以按黑、白品种分类。其基原包含菊科12属约30种植物，涉及风毛菊属、苦荬菜属、小苦荬属及岩参属植物，各属植物功能主治基本相同。“杂赤”的品种整理、质量比较、药用历史和现状总结能够为“杂赤”的合理使用提供参考。     

Late Pleistocene age and archaeological context for the hominin calvaria from GvJm-22 (Lukenya Hill,Kenya)

Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) is a Homo sapiens partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, associated with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological deposits. KNM-LH 1 is securely dated to the Late Pleistocene, and samples a time and region important for understanding the origins of modern human diversity. A revised chronology based on 26 accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates on ostrich eggshells indicates an age range of 23,576–22,887 y B.P. for KNM-LH 1, confirming prior attribution to the Last Glacial Maximum. Additional dates extend the maximum age for archaeological deposits at GvJm-22 to >46,000 y B.P. (>46 kya). These dates are consistent with new analyses identifying both Middle Stone Age and LSA lithic technologies at the site, making GvJm-22 a rare eastern African record of major human behavioral shifts during the Late Pleistocene. Comparative morphometric analyses of the KNM-LH 1 cranium document the temporal and spatial complexity of early modern human morphological variability. Features of cranial shape distinguish KNM-LH 1 and other Middle and Late Pleistocene African fossils from crania of recent Africans and samples from Holocene LSA and European Upper Paleolithic sites.For Late Pleistocene African populations of modern humans, the constellation of behavioral changes encapsulated in the transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) ∼70–20 kya represents a series of some of the most pronounced changes in the archaeological record before the adoption of domesticated animals and plants and the use of ceramics for cooking and storage. It is among LSA sites that the strongest parallels with ethnographic and historic foragers are observed. Typical archaeological signatures include lithic technologies focused on the production of microliths (small flakes, blades, and bladelets with one edge blunted or “backed”) from bipolar, single-, and opposed-platform cores; an increased use of ground-stone tools; and implements made of wood and bone. These new technologies occur with the appearance of material correlates of social identity and networks of long-distance exchange, including ostrich eggshell (OES) beads, ochre, and nonlocal stone raw material, as well as increased dietary breadth, all consistent with larger, more dense, or more interconnected populations (1–9).This same interval of ∼70–20 kya witnessed a number of human dispersals across Africa, with eastern Africa host to one or more candidate populations for the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa (10–15). However, the eastern African hominin fossil record for this interval is extremely sparse and poorly dated, and it consists largely of isolated teeth or highly fragmentary crania and postcrania (16–18). Here, we reassess the age and context of the Kenya National Museums Lukenya Hill Hominid 1 (KNM-LH 1) partial calvaria from site GvJm-22 at Lukenya Hill, Kenya, the only eastern African fossil hominin from a Last Glacial Maximum [LGM; 19–26.4 kya (19)] LSA archaeological context. We construct a revised accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon chronology built on 26 new dates on OES fragments. The revised chronology confirms the LGM age of KNM-LH 1 and expands the maximum age of the site to beyond the limits of the radiocarbon method. Increased radiometric age is consistent with new technological analyses that demonstrate previously unrecognized MSA elements that indicate assemblages spanning the MSA/LSA transition from deposits underlying KNM-LH 1. Morphometric analyses using a robust comparative dataset demonstrate the variability among African Late Pleistocene hominins, including candidate populations for out-of-Africa dispersals. They indicate that KNM-LH 1 is distinct from (i) modern Africans, (ii) H. sapiens from Holocene LSA sites, and (iii) European Upper Paleolithic modern humans, suggesting that it may sample a now extinct lineage.     

不同品种进口蜈蚣的微性状鉴别

目的:通过对不同品种进口蜈蚣的微性状鉴别研究,探究近年来市场上大量出现的不同品种进口蜈蚣的区别。方法:查阅相关资料,对不同品种的进口蜈蚣进行市场调查,运用中药微性状鉴定法对5个品种16批样品蜈蚣不同部位运用电子目镜进行拍照,并采用Photoshop CS6软件程序合成高清晰度微性状特征图片来对其进行鉴别研究。结果:不同品种进口蜈蚣具有不同的微性状特征,在头壳和蜈蚣足的爪,爪刺,跗刺等方面均有较明显的区别。结论:利用中药微性状鉴定法可以对不同品种的进口蜈蚣进行鉴别。