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Target height, the genetic potential in stature, is commonly estimated by the corrected midparental height (CMH) method. A new model for estimating target height has recently been introduced based on a large, Swedish, population-based study. The aim of this study was to compare the validity of the two methods for estimating target height in Hong Kong Chinese children. The Hong Kong Chinese were more than 10 cm shorter than the Swedes in stature. The secular increase in height over the two generations, however, was 4.2-4.8 cm for the Hong Kong Chinese, much larger than that of the Swedes (0.7-1.0 cm). The two populations are thus at different stages in the secular trend. The new model derived from Swedish population for estimating target height was shown to be applicable to Hong Kong Chinese children; the mean of residual final height values was close to zero (-0.15 cm, p = 0.74). However, the mean of residual final height was significantly above the expected value of zero (4.5 cm, p < 0.0001) when the CMH method was applied to the data, which implies an underestimation bias of 4.5 cm. Consequently, if the CMH method is used to estimate target height and evaluate growth hormone treatment responses in short children, it may inflate the treatment response by 4.5 cm. In conclusion, the recently proposed model for target height estimation offers a better alternative for estimating target height in Hong Kong Chinese children and for assessing growth-promoting treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interpregnancy interval (IPI), marital status, and neighborhood are independently associated with birth outcomes. The joint contribution of these exposures has not been evaluated. We tested for effect modification between IPI and marriage, controlling for neighborhood.Methods: We analyzed a cohort of 98,330 live births in Montréal, Canada from 1997-2001 to assess IPI and marital status in relation to small for gestational age (SGA) birth. Births were categorized as subsequent-born with short (<12 months), intermediate (12-35 months), or long (36+ months) IPI, or as firstborn. The data had a 2-level hierarchical structure, with births nested in 49 neighborhoods. We used multilevel logistic regression to obtain adjusted effect estimates.Results: Marital status modified the association between IPI and SGA birth. Being unmarried relative to married was associated with SGA birth for all IPI categories, particularly for subsequent births with short (odds ratio [OR] 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31-1.95) and intermediate (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.26-1.74) IPIs. Subsequent births had a lower likelihood of SGA birth than firstborns. Intermediate IPIs were more protective for married (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.47-0.54) than unmarried mothers (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.56-0.76).Conclusion: Being unmarried increases the likelihood of SGA birth as the IPI shortens, and the protective effect of intermediate IPIs is reduced in unmarried mothers. Marital status should be considered in recommending particular IPIs as an intervention to improve birth outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental phenols are a group of typical endocrine disruptors, and widely detectable in human breast milk and infant formulas. However, exposures data are scarce in early infancy, a particularly sensitive period to environmental pollutants exposures. We aimed to prospectively assess urinary concentrations of eighteen environmental phenols in infants from birth to 6 months of age and their associations with feeding patterns (breastfeeding, formula and mixed-feeding). This study included 197 mother-infant pairs. Urinary concentrations of six parabens (PBs), seven bisphenols, four benzophenones (BPs) and triclosan were measured in infants at the ages of 3 days, 42 days, 3 and 6 months by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Multivariable linear regression models were applied to evaluate the associations between infant feeding types and urinary phenol concentrations in log 10 -transformed scale. The detection rates of bisphenol A and S, methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (MeP), ethyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (EtP), and propyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (PrP) were persistently high (ranged 48.7%-100.0%) across all ages (3 days, 42 days, 3 and 6 months). The detection rates of bisphenol P, B and AP were high (ranged 76.9%-95.9%) at age 3 days, and lower (14.4%-88.0%) at later ages. Compared to exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding was associated with 0.32 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.62, p < 0.05) higher log (BPA) (μg/g creatinine) at 42 days, 0.69 (0.03, 1.35) higher log (TCS) (μg/g creatinine) at 3 months, 0.54 (0.08, 1.00) higher log (EtP) (μg/g creatinine) at 6 months; formula feeding was associated with 1.30 (0.59, 2.00) and 0.91 (0.22, 1.60) higher log (BPB) (μg/g creatinine) at the age of 42 days and 3 months respectively, 1.19 (0.003-2.37) higher log (BPP) and 0.95 (0.27-1.64) higher log (BPS) (μg/g creatinine) at 3 months. In conclusion, exposures to BPA and its analogs, and parabens (MeP, EtP, and PrP) were extensive in early postnatal life of infants. Breastfeeding might be a safer form of feeding for infants against exposure to some phenols., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Recently, the dissipative soliton (DS) generation in the positive fourth-order-dispersion (FOD) fiber laser has been theoretically predicted, namely dissipative pure-quartic soliton (DPQS), featuring a higher energy-scaling ability compared to conventional DS dominated by positive group velocity dispersion. Here, we discover that the formation of spectral sidebands is always accompanying by the stabilized DPQS in the fiber laser, which is different from the conventional DS. Due to the combination of positive FOD and self-phase modulation, low- and high-frequency components are distributed at the leading and trailing edges of the pulse, forming the pedestals that propagate with it. In the frequency domain, these high- and low-frequency components of the spectrum provide the conditions necessary for the interference between dispersive waves and DPQS. Furthermore, the unique U-shaped phase curve of FOD results in densely distributed phase-matching frequencies, i.e., densely distributed sidebands. The characteristics of spectral sidebands are also numerically studied, which are well consistent with the experimental results. These findings enable a deeper understanding of DPQS and further optimize the performance of fiber lasers.

We report on a multi-watt, high-repetition-rate picosecond 1.7 µm Tm-doped fiber (TDF) laser amplification system. The seed oscillator is a figure-9 passively mode-locked TDF laser, which delivers a pulse train with a center wavelength of 1738nm and a fundamental repetition rate of ∼85 MHz. After a pre-amplifier and two stages of TDF amplifiers, the output power can be amplified to 5.2 W at a pump power of 10 W, corresponding to a slope efficiency of 52.1%. The output pulse duration is 33.87 ps and the pulse energy is 61 nJ. These results demonstrated that it is an effective method for achieving high-power ultrafast fiber laser source at 1.7 µm waveband, which would be a promising candidate for diverse applications such as polymer welding, bioimaging, mid-infrared laser generation and medical applications.

Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common pregnancy complication with potential short- and long-term adverse consequences for both mothers and fetuses. It is unclear whether GDM affects linear growth in the offspring; research data are limited and inconsistent., Methods: In a prospective birth cohort in Shanghai (n=2055 children; 369 born to mothers with GDM). We sought to evaluate the impact of GDM on longitudinal linear growth in early childhood. Length/height was measured in children at birth, 6 weeks, 6 months, 1, 2 and 4 years of age. Multivariate linear regression and generalized estimating equation models were employed to assess the impact of GDM on length/height for age Z score (LAZ/HAZ)., Results: Average birth length was similar in infants of GDM vs . euglycemic mothers. Adjusting for maternal and child characteristics, the children of mothers with GDM had consistently lower LAZ/HAZ compared to children of mothers without diabetes at ages 6 weeks, 6 months, 1, 2 and 4 years. GDM was associated with a 0.12 (95% confidence intervals 0.04-0.21) deficit in LAZ/HAZ in the growth trajectory from birth to age 4 years after adjusting for maternal and child characteristics., Discussion: GDM was associated with impaired longitudinal linear growth in early childhood. Further studies are warranted to understand the long-term impact on stature and health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Chen, Liu, Tao, Yang, He, Fang, Wu, Ouyang, Zhang, Li and Luo.)

Background: It remains unclear which early gestational biomarkers can be used in predicting later development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We sought to identify the optimal combination of early gestational biomarkers in predicting GDM in machine learning (ML) models., Methods: This was a nested case-control study including 100 pairs of GDM and euglycemic (control) pregnancies in the Early Life Plan cohort in Shanghai, China. High sensitivity C reactive protein, sex hormone binding globulin, insulin-like growth factor I, IGF binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2), total and high molecular weight adiponectin and glycosylated fibronectin concentrations were measured in serum samples at 11-14 weeks of gestation. Routine first-trimester blood test biomarkers included fasting plasma glucose (FPG), serum lipids and thyroid hormones. Five ML models [stepwise logistic regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), random forest, support vector machine and k-nearest neighbor] were employed to predict GDM. The study subjects were randomly split into two sets for model development (training set, n = 70 GDM/control pairs) and validation (testing set: n = 30 GDM/control pairs). Model performance was evaluated by the area under the curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristics., Results: FPG and IGFBP-2 were consistently selected as predictors of GDM in all ML models. The random forest model including FPG and IGFBP-2 performed the best (AUC 0.80, accuracy 0.72, sensitivity 0.87, specificity 0.57). Adding more predictors did not improve the discriminant power., Conclusion: The combination of FPG and IGFBP-2 at early gestation (11-14 weeks) could predict later development of GDM with moderate discriminant power. Further validation studies are warranted to assess the utility of this simple combination model in other independent cohorts., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Context/objective: Fetuin-B is a hepatokine/adipokine implicated in glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism. We sought to assess whether cord blood fetuin-B levels are altered in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and the association with fetal growth factors and lipids., Study Design, Population, and Outcomes: In a nested case-control study of 153 pairs of neonates of mothers with GDM and euglycemic pregnancies in the Shanghai Birth Cohort, we assessed cord blood fetuin-B in relation to fetal growth factors and lipids [high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterols (TC) and triglycerides (TG)]., Results: Cord blood fetuin-B concentrations were higher in the newborns of GDM vs. euglycemic mothers (mean ± SD: 2.35±0.96 vs 2.05±0.73 mg/L, P=0.012), and were positively correlated with LDL (r=0.239, P<0.0001), TC (r=0.230, P=0.0001), insulin-like growth factor-Ⅰ [IGF-Ⅰ (r=0.137, P=0.023)] and IGF-Ⅱ (r=0.148, P=0.014) concentrations. Similar associations were observed adjusting for maternal and neonatal characteristics., Conclusions: The study is the first to demonstrate that fetuin-B levels are elevated in fetal life in GDM, and that fetuin-B affects lipid metabolic health during fetal life in humans. The secretion of fetuin-B appears to be related to the secretion of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-Ⅰ and IGF-Ⅱ)., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com. See the journal About page for additional terms.)

Phase noise characteristics of ultrafast fiber lasers are critical to practical applications, such as high-resolution photonics sampling. Herein, we investigated the impact of pump power and linear phase shift difference of counter-propagating light in the nonlinear amplifying loop mirror on phase noise suppression in a figure-9 fiber laser. Based on these results, we proposed a method for intelligent suppression of phase noise through real-time feedback control. By adaptively controlling the linear phase shift difference and pump power, the phase noise can be effectively suppressed in the high offset frequency region even in variable environments. In particular, a reduction of ∼21.40% of integrated timing jitter in the offset frequency region from 10 kHz to 1 MHz was achieved. Our approach was proved to be effective and automatic to obtain ultrafast lasers with low phase noise and may also facilitate the related applications.

Controlling the coherence of chaotic soliton bunch holds the promise to explore novel light-matter interactions and manipulate dynamic events such as rogue waves. However, the coherence control of chaotic soliton bunch remains challenging, as there is a lack of dynamic equilibrium mechanism for stochastic soliton interactions. Here, we develop a strategy to effectively control the coherence of chaotic soliton bunch in a laser. We show that by introducing a lumped fourth-order-dispersion (FOD), the soliton oscillating tails can be formed and generate the potential barriers among the chaotic solitons. The repulsive force between neighboring solitons enabled by the potential barriers gives rise to an alleviation of the soliton fusion/annihilation from stochastic interactions, endowing the capability to control the coherence in chaotic soliton bunch. We envision that this result provides a promising test-bed for a variety of dynamical complexity science and brings new insights into the nonlinear behavior of chaotic laser sources., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Maternal blood glucose regulation adaptation to pregnancy aims to support fetal growth but may also lead to the development of gestational diabetes mellitus, the most common pregnancy complication. MiRNAs are small RNA molecules secreted and stable in the blood, where they could have paracrine hormone-like functions (ribo-hormone) and regulate metabolic processes including fetal growth and glucose metabolism. The objective of this study was to identify plasmatic microRNA (miRNAs) measured during the first trimester of pregnancy that were associated with glucose levels during a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at ~26 weeks of pregnancy. miRNAs were quantified using next-generation sequencing in 444 pregnant women and replicated in an independent cohort of 106 pregnant women. MiRNAs associated with glucose levels were identified with the DESeq2 package. We identified 24 miRNAs associated with fasting glycemia, of which 18 were common to both cohorts (q-value < 0.1). However, no association was found between miRNAs and 1 h or 2 h post OGTT glycemia. To conclude, we identified 18 miRNAs early in pregnancy that were associated with fasting blood glucose measured 3 months later. Our findings offer new insights into the mechanisms involved in fasting glucose homeostasis regulation in pregnancy, which is critical to understanding how gestational diabetes develops.

Children's exposures to environmental antibiotics are a major public health concern. However, limited data are available on the effects of environmental antibiotic exposures on childhood obesity. Our study aimed to explore this relationship. We conducted a cross-sectional case-control study nested in a population-based survey of primary school students, including 1855 obese and 1875 random selected control children. A total of 10 antibiotics in urine samples were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Multivariable survey logistic regression was used to assess the associations between environmental antibiotics exposures and childhood obesity. After adjusting for potential confounders, increased odds of obesity were observed in children exposed to tetracycline (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.09-1.57) and sulfamonomethoxine (OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1-2.05). Comparing none (

Background: Large-for-gestational age (LGA), a marker of fetal overgrowth, has been linked to obesity in adulthood. Little is known about how infancy growth trajectories affect adiposity in early childhood in LGA., Methods: In the Shanghai Birth Cohort, we followed up 259 LGA (birth weight >90th percentile) and 1673 appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA, 10th-90th percentiles) children on body composition (by InBody 770) at age 4 years. Adiposity outcomes include body fat mass (BFM), percent body fat (PBF), body mass index (BMI), overweight/obesity, and high adiposity (PBF >85th percentile)., Results: Three weight growth trajectories (low, mid, and high) during infancy (0-2 years) were identified in AGA and LGA subjects separately. BFM, PBF and BMI were progressively higher from low- to mid-to high-growth trajectories in both AGA and LGA children. Compared to the mid-growth trajectory, the high-growth trajectory was associated with greater increases in BFM and the odds of overweight/obesity or high adiposity in LGA than in AGA children (tests for interactions, all P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Weight trajectories during infancy affect adiposity in early childhood regardless of LGA or not. The study is the first to demonstrate that high-growth weight trajectory during infancy has a greater impact on adiposity in early childhood in LGA than in AGA subjects., Impact: Large-for-gestational age (LGA), a marker of fetal overgrowth, has been linked to obesity in adulthood, but little is known about how weight trajectories during infancy affect adiposity during early childhood in LGA subjects. The study is the first to demonstrate a greater impact of high-growth weight trajectory during infancy (0-2 years) on adiposity in early childhood (at age 4 years) in subjects with fetal overgrowth (LGA) than in those with normal birth size (appropriate-for-gestational age). Weight trajectory monitoring may be a valuable tool in identifying high-risk LGA children for close follow-ups and interventions to decrease the risk of obesity., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

Spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena. In this work, spatiotemporal dual-periodic soliton pulsation (SDSP) is firstly observed in an STML fiber laser. It is found that in the SDSP, the long-period pulsations (LPPs) of different transverse modes are synchronous, while the short-period pulsations (SPPs) exhibit asynchronous modulations. The numerical simulation confirms the experimental results and further reveals that the proportion of transverse mode components can manipulate the periods of the LPP and SPP but does not affect the synchronous and asynchronous pulsations of different transverse modes. The obtained results bring the study of spatiotemporal dissipative soliton pulsation into the multi-period modulation stage, which helps to understand the complex spatiotemporal dynamics in STML fiber lasers and discover new dynamics in high-dimensional nonlinear systems.

Dissipative solitons (DSs), due to the complex interplay among dispersion, nonlinear, gain and loss, illustrate abundant nonlinear dynamics behaviors. Especially, dispersion plays an important role in the research of DS dynamics in ultrafast fiber lasers. Previous studies have mainly focused on the effect of even-order dispersion, i.e., group velocity dispersion (GVD) and fourth-order dispersion. In fact, odd-order dispersions, such as third-order dispersion (TOD), also significantly influences the dynamics of DSs. However, due to the lack of dispersion engineering tools, few experimental researches in this domain have been reported. In this work, by employing a pulse shaper in ultrafast fiber laser, an in-depth exploration of the DS dynamics influenced by TOD was conducted. With the increase of TOD value, the stable single DS undergoes a splitting into two solitons and then enters explosion state, and ultimately evolves into a chaotic state. The laser operation state is correlated to dispersion profile, which could be controlled by TOD. Here, the positive dispersion at long-wavelength side will be gradually shifted to negative dispersion by increasing the TOD, where soliton effect will drive the transitions. These findings offer valuable insights into the nonlinear dynamics of ultrafast lasers and may also foster applications involving higher-order dispersion.

Multimode fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena since the report on spatiotemporal mode-locking. In this work, the multimode soliton pulsation with a tunable period is achieved in a spatiotemporal mode-locked fiber laser. It demonstrates that the pulsation period drops while increasing the pump power. Moreover, it is found that different transverse modes have the same pulsation period, asynchronous pulsation evolution and different dynamical characteristics through the spatial sampling technique and the dispersive Fourier transform technique. To further verify the experimental results, we numerically investigate the influences of the gain and the loss on the pulsation properties. It is found that within a certain parameter range, the pulsation period drops and rises linearly with the increase of the gain and the loss, respectively. The obtained results contribute to understanding the formation and regulating of soliton pulsations in fiber lasers.

We develop an all polarization-maintaining (PM) 920 nm Nd-doped fiber amplifier delivering a train of pulses with ∼0.53 W average power and sub-50 fs duration. The sub-50 fs pulse benefits from the pre-chirping management method that allows for over 60 nm broadening spectrum without pulse breaking in the amplification stage. By virtue of the short pulse duration, the pulse peak power can reach to ∼0.31 MW in spite of the moderate average power. These results represent a key step in developing high-peak-power pulse Nd-doped fiber laser systems at 920 nm, which will find important applications in fields such as biomedical imaging, ultrafast optical spectroscopy, and excitation of quantum-dot single photon sources.

Due to its unique geometric structure, the bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser is an excellent light source for dual-comb applications. However, sharing the same gain between the counter-propagating solitons also gives rise to complex dynamics. Herein, we report the anti-phase pulsation of counter-propagating dissipative solitons in a bidirectional fiber laser. The in-phase and anti-phase soliton pulsation can be manipulated by adjusting the intracavity birefringence. The periodic modulation of polarization-dependent gain (PDG) caused by polarization hole burning (PHB) in the gain fiber can be responsible for anti-phase pulsation of bidirectional dissipative solitons. These findings offer new, to the best of our knowledge, insights into the complex dynamics of solitons in dissipative optical systems and performance improvement of bidirectional ultrafast fiber lasers.

Objectives: Diabetes in pregnancy, whether pre-gestational (chronic) or gestational (de novo hyperglycaemia), increases the risk of adverse birth outcomes. It is unclear whether gestational diabetes increases the risk of postnatal morbidity in infants. Cree First Nations in Quebec are at high risk for diabetes in pregnancy. We assessed whether pre-gestational or gestational diabetes may increase infant hospitalisation (an infant morbidity indicator) incidence, and whether this may be related to more frequent infant hospitalisations in Cree and other First Nations in Quebec., Design: Population-based birth cohort study through administrative health data linkage., Setting and Participants: Singleton infants (≤1 year) born to mothers in Cree (n=5070), other First Nations (9910) and non-Indigenous (48 200) communities in rural Quebec., Results: Both diabetes in pregnancy and infant hospitalisation rates were much higher comparing Cree (23.7% and 29.0%) and other First Nations (12.4% and 34.1%) to non-Indigenous (5.9% and 15.5%) communities. Compared with non-diabetes, pre-gestational diabetes was associated with an increased risk of any infant hospitalisation to a greater extent in Cree and other First Nations (relative risk (RR) 1.56 (95% CI 1.28 to 1.91)) than non-Indigenous (RR 1.26 (1.15 to 1.39)) communities. Pre-gestational diabetes was associated with increased risks of infant hospitalisation due to diseases of multiple systems in all communities. There were no significant associations between gestational diabetes and risks of infant hospitalisation in all communities. The population attributable risk fraction of infant hospitalisations (overall) for pre-gestational diabetes was 6.2% in Cree, 1.6% in other First Nations and 0.3% in non-Indigenous communities., Conclusions: The study is the first to demonstrate that pre-gestational diabetes increases the risk of infant hospitalisation overall and due to diseases of multiple systems, but gestational diabetes does not. High prevalence of pre-gestational diabetes may partly account for the excess infant hospitalisations in Cree and other First Nations communities in Quebec., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Multi-soliton operation in fiber lasers is a promising platform for the investigation of soliton interaction dynamics and high repetition-rate pulse. However, owing to the complex interaction process, precisely manipulating the temporal spacing of multiple solitons in a fiber laser is still challenging. Herein, we propose an automatic way to control the temporal spacing of multi-soliton operation in an ultrafast fiber laser by a hybrid genetic algorithm-particle swarm optimization (GA-PSO) algorithm. Relying on the intelligent adjustment of the electronic polarization controller (EPC), the on-demand temporal spacing of the double solitons can be effectively achieved. In particular, the harmonic mode locking with equal temporal spacing of double solitons is also obtained. Our approach provides a promising way to explore nonlinear soliton dynamics in optical systems and optimize the performance of ultrafast fiber lasers.

The Mamyshev oscillator (MO) is a promising platform to generate high-peak-power pulse with environmentally stable operation. However, rare efforts have been dedicated to unveil the dynamics from seed signal to oscillator pulse, particularly for the multi-pulse operation. Herein, we investigate the buildup dynamics of the oscillator pulse from the seed signal in a fiber MO. It is revealed that the gain competition among the successively injected seed pulses leads to higher pump power that is required to ignite the MO, hence resulting in the higher optical gain that supports buildup of multiple oscillator pulses. The multiple oscillator pulses are identified to be evolved from the multiple seed pulses. Moreover, the dispersive Fourier transform (DFT) technique is used to reveals the real-time spectral dynamics during the starting process. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a highly intensity-modulated pulse bunch was employed as the seed signal to reduce the gain competition effect and avoid the multi-pulse starting operation. The experimental results are verified by numerical simulations. These findings would give new insights into the pulse dynamics in MO, which will be meaningful to the communities interested in ultrafast laser technologies and nonlinear optics.

Intrauterine exposure to heavy metals may adversely affect the developing fetus and health later in life, while certain trace elements may be protective. There is limited data on their dynamic fluctuation in circulating concentration of women from preconception to pregnancy and the degree of transplacental passage to fetus. Such information is critically needed for an optimal design of research studies and intervention strategies. In the present study, we profiled the longitudinal patterns and trajectories of metal(loid)s and trace elements from preconception to late pregnancy and in newborns. We measured whole blood metal(loid)s in women at preconception, 16, 24 and 32 weeks of gestation and in cord blood in 100 mother-newborn pairs. Our data showed that the mean concentrations of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), rubidium (Rb), manganese (Mn), and iron (Fe) were lower during early-, mid-, and late-pregnancy than at preconception. Copper (Cu), and calcium (Ca) concentrations increased after pregnancy (Cu 798 versus 1353, 1488, and 1464 μg/L). Concentrations at preconception were correlated with those during pregnancy for all examined metal(loid)s. Maternal Hg, Pb, and Se concentrations at late-pregnancy were correlated with those in newborn cord blood in various degrees (correlation coefficients: Hg 0.66, Pb 0.29, Se 0.39). The estimated placental transfer ratio for toxic metal(loid)s ranging from 1.68 (Hg) to 0.18 (Cd). Two trajectory groups were identified for Hg, Pb, Cd, Se concentrations. Hg concentrations may be correlated with maternal education levels. The study is the first to present longitudinal circulating concentration trajectories of toxic metal(loid)s and trace elements from preconception to pregnancy stages. A high degree of transplacental passage was observed in toxic metals Pb and Hg which may pose hazards to the developing fetus., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The impact of maternal exposure to Bisphenol A on child cognitive development as well as its sex dimorphism remains uncertain. This study used data of 215 mothers and their children from a birth cohort in Shanghai. Urinary BPA were measured in spot urine samples of mothers at late pregnancy and children at age 2 years. Cognitive development was evaluated by Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3) at age 2 years. Urinary BPA was detectable in 98.9% of mothers (geometric mean, GM: 2.6 μg/g. creatinine) and 99.8% children (GM: 3.4 μg/g. creatinine). Relative to the low and medium BPA tertiles, high tertile of maternal urinary BPA concentrations were associated with 4.8 points lower (95% CI: -8.3, -1.2) in gross motor and 3.7 points lower (95% CI: -7.4, -0.1) in problem-solving domain in girls only, with adjustment for maternal age, maternal education, pre-pregnancy BMI, passive smoking during pregnancy, parity, delivery mode, birth-weight for gestational age, child age at ASQ-3 test. This negative association remained with additional adjustment for child urinary BPA concentrations at age 2 years. No association was observed in boys. These results suggested the sex-dimorphism on the associations of maternal BPA exposure with gross motor and problem-solving domains in children at age 2 years. This study also indicated that optimal early child development should start with a healthy BPA-free "in utero" environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To assess whether small-for-gestational-age (SGA) - an indicator of poor fetal growth, may affect metabolic health biomarkers in infancy and explore the predictors., Methods: This was a nested matched (1:2) prospective observational study of 65 SGA (birth weight < 10th percentile) and 130 optimal-for-gestational-age (OGA, birth weight 25th-75th percentiles, control) infants in the 3D birth cohort with subjects recruited in Canada from 1 May 2010 to 31 August 2012. The outcomes included homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and beta-cell function (HOMA-β), circulating leptin and adiponectin concentrations at age 2 years., Results: HOMA-IR, HOMA-β, leptin and adiponectin concentrations were similar in SGA versus OGA infants. Female sex and accelerated growth in length during mid-infancy (3-12 months) were associated with higher HOMA-IR. Caucasian ethnicity and decelerated growth in weight during late infancy (12-24 months) were associated with lower HOMA-IR. Current BMI was positively associated with circulating adiponectin in SGA infants only (+13.4% [4.0%-23.7%] per BMI z score increment)., Conclusion: Insulin resistance and secretion, circulating leptin and adiponectin levels were normal in SGA subjects in infancy at age 2 years. The novel observation in SGA-specific positive association between current BMI and circulating adiponectin suggests dysfunctional adiposity-adiponectin negative feedback loop development during infancy in SGA subjects., (© 2023 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Early growth has long-lasting associations with adult metabolic health. However, the association of adiposity with cardiometabolic risk factors in toddlers remains poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the association of maternal prenatal factors and child adiposity with child cardiometabolic risk factors among boys and girls aged 2 years. This was a birth cohort study of 549 term-born children in Shanghai, China, with follow-up data at the age of 2-years. Child anthropometric and adiposity measurements included weight, length, and skinfold thickness (triceps, subscapular, and abdominal). Child cardiometabolic risk factors included random morning plasma glucose, serum insulin, lipids, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP). At 2 years, overweight/obesity (weight-for-length z score, ZWFL > 2) was associated with 12.6 (95%CI 7.7, 17.4) mmHg higher SBP, and 7.9 (4.1, 11.8) mmHg higher DBP in boys, with similar results observed in girls. Maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were associated with 3.0 (0.1, 5.8) higher SBP, 3.17 (0.90, 5.44) mmHg higher DBP, 0.24 (0.01,0.47) mmol/L higher plasma glucose, and 0.26 (0.01,0.51) mmol/L higher serum triglycerides after adjustment for child age, sex, and ZWFL. Maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and child overweight/obesity were associated with higher SBP and DBP at the age of 2 years.

Antibiotic exposure even in low-dose could have potential adverse health effects, especially during early life. There is a lack of data on antibiotic burdens in early infancy. We aim to assess antibiotic exposure in infants from birth to 6 months of age, their related affecting factors and the association between antibiotic exposure and infancy growth. Urine samples were collected at ages of 3 days, 42 days, 3 months and 6 months from 197 term-born Chinese infants. A total of 33 representative antibiotics were measured by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Urinary antibiotics were detectable in 69.4%, 63.2%, 75.0% and 84.3% of infants at ages of 3 days, 42 days, 3 and 6 months, respectively. The dominant antibiotic categories detected were: Preferred as Veterinary Antibiotics (PVAs), Human Antibiotics (HAs), and Veterinary Antibiotics (VAs). The detectable rates were 30.6%, 45.8%, 58.9%, and 81.4% for PVAs, 34.1%, 20.8%, 28.6%, and 45.1% for HAs, and 36.5%, 12.5%, 6.3%, and 5.9% for VAs, at age 3 days, 42 days, 3 and 6 months, respectively. Urinary concentrations of HAs and preferred as human antibiotics (PHAs) in newborns at age 3 days were not associated with maternal intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis. Similarly, no associations were observed between urinary antibiotics concentration and antibiotics use in infants at age 42 days or 6 months. The numbers and concentrations of urine detectable antibiotics were similar between infants with exclusive breastfeeding and infants fed with formula or mixed-feeding at all ages of 42 days, 3 and 6 months. At age of 42 days, infants in the low tertile of total antibiotics concentration or with one antibiotic detected had higher weight-for-length Z score and greater head circumference, compared to infants with no antibiotics detected. No associations were found between urinary antibiotics and any of the infant anthropometric measures at age 6 months. In conclusion, urinary antibiotics were detectable in most infants during the first 6 months of life, and PVAs, HAs and VAs were the most commonly detected antibiotics. This suggested the possibility of a foods-originated antibiotics exposure in children. No strong nor consistent associations were found between urinary antibiotic concentration and infant growth at the first six months of life. Still, attention is needed on the adverse health effect of early life exposure to antibiotics in future studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) has a heterogeneous etiology. Our study aimed to examine the childhood health outcomes of etiology-distinct term SGA subgroups., Methods: Data from the Collaborative Perinatal Project were used. The etiological factors of SGA were categorized into five groups: maternal, fetal, placental, environmental and physiological factors. Primary child outcomes included low IQ and growth restriction. A total of 8417 term infants were eligible., Results: Compared with AGA, SGA children due to fetal factors had the highest risk of low IQ (aOR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.45-2.59). SGA infants due to physiological factors had the highest risk of growth restriction (aOR = 6.04, 95% CI: 3.93-9.27). SGA children had a higher risk of growth restriction with the aOR ranging from 3.05 (95% CI: 2.36-3.96) to 5.77 (95% CI: 4.29-7.75) for the number of risk factors that the SGA infants had from 1 to 5. SGA children with any risk factor were associated with a higher risk of lower IQ with the aOR ranging from 1.59 (95% CI: 1.31-1.94) to 1.96 (95% CI: 1.50-2.55). SGA without the five types of etiologies was not associated with adverse child outcomes except for growth restriction (aOR = 3.82, 95% CI: 2.62-5.55)., Conclusion: Term SGA of different etiologies may lead to different child health outcomes., Impact: Our study found that SGA of different etiologies may lead to different child health outcomes. Compared with AGA, SGA children due to fetal factors had the highest risk of low IQ. SGA infants due to physiological factors had the highest risk of growth restriction. SGA babies should not be treated the same. In the era of precision medicine, our findings may help pediatricians and parents better manage SGA babies according to different etiologies and the number of risk factors., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

We report, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) multimode fiber laser based on nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM), generating dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) pulses. Due to the complex filtering characteristics caused by the inherent multimode interference filtering structure and NALM in the cavity, the STML DSR pulse has wavelength tunable function. What's more, kinds of DSR pulses are also achieved, including multiple DSR pulses, and the period doubling bifurcations of single DSR pulse and multiple DSR pulses. These results contribute to further understand the nonlinear properties of STML lasers and may shed some light on improving the performance of the multimode fiber lasers.

Focusing light inside scattering media is a long-sought goal in optics. Time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) focusing, which combines the advantages of biological transparency of the ultrasound and the high efficiency of digital optical phase conjugation (DOPC) based wavefront shaping, has been proposed to tackle this problem. By invoking repeated acousto-optic interactions, iterative TRUE (iTRUE) focusing can further break the resolution barrier imposed by the acoustic diffraction limit, showing great potential for deep-tissue biomedical applications. However, stringent requirements on system alignment prohibit the practical use of iTRUE focusing, especially for biomedical applications at the near-infrared spectral window. In this work, we fill this blank by developing an alignment protocol that is suitable for iTRUE focusing with a near-infrared light source. This protocol mainly contains three steps, including rough alignment with manual adjustment, fine-tuning with a high-precision motorized stage, and digital compensation through Zernike polynomials. Using this protocol, an optical focus with a peak-to-background ratio (PBR) of up to 70% of the theoretical value can be achieved. By using a 5-MHz ultrasonic transducer, we demonstrated the first iTRUE focusing using near-infrared light at 1053 nm, enabling the formation of an optical focus inside a scattering medium composed of stacked scattering films and a mirror. Quantitatively, the size of the focus decreased from roughly 1 mm to 160 µm within a few consecutive iterations and a PBR up to 70 was finally achieved. We anticipate that the capability of focusing near-infrared light inside scattering media, along with the reported alignment protocol, can be beneficial to a variety of applications in biomedical optics.

Aim: Adverse (poor or excessive) fetal growth "programs" an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes. Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) has been implicated in regulating insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism relevant to fetal growth. We sought to determine whether FABP4 is associated with poor or excessive fetal growth and fetal lipids., Methods: In a nested case-control study in the Shanghai Birth Cohort including 60 trios of small-for-gestational-age (SGA, an indicator of poor fetal growth), large-for-gestational-age (LGA, an indicator of excessive fetal growth) and optimal-for-gestational-age (OGA, control) infants, we measured cord blood concentrations of FABP4 and lipids [high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterols, triglycerides (TG)]., Results: Adjusting for maternal and neonatal characteristics, higher cord blood FABP4 concentrations were associated with a lower odds of SGA [OR = 0.29 (0.11-0.77) per log unit increment in FABP4, P  = 0.01], but were not associated with LGA ( P  = 0.46). Cord blood FABP4 was positively correlated with both LDL ( r  = 0.29, P  = 0.025) and HDL ( r  = 0.33, P  = 0.01) in LGA infants only., Conclusion: FABP4 was inversely associated with the risk of SGA. The study is the first to demonstrate LGA-specific positive correlations of cord blood FABP4 with HDL and LDL cholesterols, suggesting a role of FABP4 in fetal lipid metabolism in subjects with excessive fetal growth., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Liu, Zheng, Tao, Huang, Zhang, Yang, Xu, Wang, He, Fang, Dong, Fan, Zhang, Ouyang, Li and Luo.)

Male diabetic individuals present a marked impairment in fertility; however, knowledge regarding the pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic strategies is unsatisfactory. The new hypoglycemic drug dapagliflozin has shown certain benefits, such as decreasing the risk of cardiovascular and renal events in patients with diabetes. Even so, until now, the effects and underlying mechanisms of dapagliflozin on diabetic male infertility have awaited clarification. Here, we found that dapagliflozin lowered blood glucose levels, alleviated seminiferous tubule destruction, and increased sperm concentrations and motility in leptin receptor-deficient diabetic db/db mice. Moreover, the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) antagonist exendin (9-39) had no effect on glucose levels but reversed the protective effects of dapagliflozin on testicular structure and sperm quality in db/db mice. We also found that dapagliflozin inhibited the testicular apoptotic process by upregulating the expression of the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and inhibiting oxidative stress by enhancing the antioxidant status, including total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, as well as decreasing the level of 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). Exendin (9-39) administration partially reversed these effects. Furthermore, dapagliflozin upregulated the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) level in plasma and GLP-1R expression by promoting AKT8 virus oncogene cellular homolog (Akt) phosphorylation in testicular tissue. Exendin (9-39) partially inhibited Akt phosphorylation. These results suggest that dapagliflozin protects against diabetes-induced spermatogenic dysfunction via activation of the GLP-1R/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. Our results indicate the potential effects of dapagliflozin against diabetes-induced spermatogenic dysfunction., Competing Interests: None

Background and Objective: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) "programs" an elevated risk of metabolic dysfunctional disorders in the offspring, and has been associated with elevated leptin and decreased adiponectin levels in cord blood. We sought to assess whether docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation in GDM affects neonatal metabolic health biomarkers especially leptin and adiponectin., Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, singleton pregnant women with de novo diagnosis of GDM at 24-28  weeks of gestation were randomized to dietary supplementation of 500 mg DHA per day (intervention, n  = 30) until delivery or standard care (control, n  = 38). The primary outcomes were cord blood leptin and total adiponectin concentrations. Secondary outcomes included high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations in cord blood, maternal glycemic control post-intervention and birth weight ( z score). In parallel, 38 euglycemic pregnant women were recruited for comparisons of cord blood biomarkers., Results: There were no significant differences in cord serum leptin, total and HMW adiponectin and IGF-1 concentrations between DHA supplementation and control groups (all p  > 0.05). Maternal fasting and 2-h postprandial blood glucose levels at 12-16 weeks post-intervention were similar between the two groups. The newborns in the DHA group had higher birth weight z scores ( p  = 0.02). Cord blood total and HMW adiponectin concentrations were significantly lower in GDM vs. euglycemic pregnancies., Conclusion: Docosahexaenoic acid supplementation at 500  mg/day in GDM women did not affect neonatal metabolic biomarkers including leptin, adiponectin and IGF-1. The results are reassuring in light of the absence of influence on neonatal adipokines (leptin and adiponectin), and potential benefits to fetal growth and development., Clinical Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03569501., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Xu, Wang, Zhang, Yang, Zhang, He, Dong, Ouyang, Gao, Zhang, Zheng and Luo.)

Introduction: Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor β superfamily, and is mainly secreted from skeletal muscle. Animal studies have demonstrated that deficiency in myostatin promotes muscle growth and protects against insulin resistance. In humans, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects fetal insulin sensitivity. Females are more insulin resistant and weigh less than males at birth. We sought to assess whether cord blood myostatin concentrations vary by GDM and fetal sex, and the associations with fetal growth factors., Methods: In a study of 44 GDM and 66 euglycemic mother-newborn dyads, myostatin, insulin, proinsulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, IGF-2 and testosterone were measured in cord blood samples., Results: Cord blood myostatin concentrations were similar in GDM vs . euglycemic pregnancies (mean ± SD: 5.5 ± 1.4 vs . 5.8 ± 1.4 ng/mL, P=0.28), and were higher in males vs . females (6.1 ± 1.6 vs . 5.3 ± 1.0 ng/mL, P=0.006). Adjusting for gestational age, myostatin was negatively correlated with IGF-2 (r=-0.23, P=0.02), but not correlated with IGF-1 (P=0.60) or birth weight (P=0.23). Myostatin was strongly correlated with testosterone in males (r=0.56, P<0.001), but not in females (r=-0.08, P=0.58) (test for difference in r, P<0.001). Testosterone concentrations were higher in males vs . females (9.5 ± 6.4 vs . 7.1 ± 4.0 nmol/L, P=0.017), and could explain 30.0% (P=0.039) of sex differences in myostatin concentrations., Discussion: The study is the first to demonstrate that GDM does not impact cord blood myostatin concentration, but fetal sex does. The higher myostatin concentrations in males appear to be partly mediated by higher testosterone concentrations. These findings shed novel insight on developmental sex differences in insulin sensitivity regulation relevant molecules., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Huang, Kibschull, Briollais, Pausova, Murphy, Kingdom, Lye and Luo.)

Due to the fascinating features, pulsating solitons attract much attention in the field of nonlinear soliton dynamics and ultrafast lasers. So far, most of the investigations on pulsating soliton are conducted in Er-doped fiber lasers. In this work, we reported the periodic transition between two evolving pulsating soliton states in an Yb-doped fiber laser. By using the real-time measurement techniques, the spectral and temporal characteristics of this transition state were investigated. Two evolving soliton pulsation states have similar evolution process, i.e., from pulsating towards quasi-stable mode-locked states. However, the details of the two processes are different, such as the pulse energy levels, pulsating modulation depths, duration of quasi-stable mode-locked states. The transition between two evolving soliton pulsation states could be attributed to the interaction of the polarizer and the varying polarization states of the pulse inside the laser cavity. The experimental results will contribute to the further understanding of soliton pulsating dynamics in dissipative optical systems.

Multimode fibers (MMFs) are emerging as promising transmission media for delivering images. However, strong mode coupling inherent in MMFs induces difficulties in directly projecting two-dimensional images through MMFs. By training two subnetworks named Actor-net and Model-net synergetically, [Nature Machine Intelligence2, 403 (2020)10.1038/s42256-020-0199-9] alleviated this issue and demonstrated projecting images through MMFs with high fidelity. In this work, we make a step further by improving the generalization ability to greyscale images. The modified projector network contains three subnetworks, namely forward-net, backward-net, and holography-net, accounting for forward propagation, backward propagation, and the phase-retrieval process. As a proof of concept, we experimentally trained the projector network using randomly generated phase maps and their corresponding resultant speckle images output from a 1-meter-long MMF. With the network being trained, we successfully demonstrated projecting binary images from MNIST and EMNIST and greyscale images from Fashion-MNIST, exhibiting averaged Pearson's correlation coefficients of 0.91, 0.92, and 0.87, respectively. Since all these projected images have never been seen by the projector network before, a strong generalization ability in projecting greyscale images is confirmed.

Context: Thyroid hormones are essential for fetal brain development. The potential effects of maternal gestational thyroid dysfunction on offspring neuropsychological development remain inconclusive., Objective: This work aimed to estimate effects of maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy on offspring neuropsychological development in the first 2 years., Methods: We prospectively examined 1903 mothers and their children from the Shanghai Birth Cohort. Thyroid hormones were assessed at about 12 gestational weeks. Maternal thyroid function was classified into 7 categories: euthyroid, overt/subclinical hyperthyroidism, overt/subclinical hypothyroidism, hyperthyroxinemia, and hypothyroxinemia. Neuropsychological development was assessed by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at age 6 months, and Bayley Scales at age 24 months., Results: Compared with children of euthyroid mothers, maternal overt hypothyroidism was associated with 7.0 points (95% CI, 1.7-12.4) lower scores in personal-social domain in girls aged 6 months, 7.3 points (95% CI, 2.0-12.6) lower in motor domain, and 7.7 points (95% CI, 1.1-14.2) lower social-emotional scores in boys at age 24 months; maternal subclinical hypothyroidism was associated with 6.5 points (95% CI, 1.0-12.1) poorer social-emotional domain in boys at age 6 months, and 7.4 points (95% CI, 0.1-14.8) poorer adaptive behavior domain in boys at age 24 months; maternal hypothyroxinemia was associated with 9.3 points (95% CI, 3.5-15.1) lower motor scores in boys at age 24 months; and maternal subclinical hyperthyroidism was associated with 6.9 points (95% CI, 0.1-13.7) lower language scores in girls at age 24 months., Conclusion: Maternal overt hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism, and hypothyroxinemia during early pregnancy were associated with weakened neuropsychological development in infancy, and some effects may be sex specific., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The self-starting performance of a figure-9 fiber laser is critically dependent on the phase shift difference between the counter-propagating beams. Herein, we propose an effective approach to dynamically control the phase shift difference in a figure-9 fiber laser by utilizing the thermal nonlinearity of graphene-decorated microfiber device. With the adjustment of the control laser power injected into the graphene-decorated microfiber, the self-starting mode-locked threshold of the figure-9 fiber laser can be attained in a flexible pump power range, i.e., from 300 mW to 390 mW. These findings demonstrated that the graphene-decorated microfiber could act as a dynamical control device of phase shift difference for improving the performance of figure-9 fiber lasers, and might also open up new possibilities for applications of microfiber photonic devices in the field of ultrafast optics.

Objective: To examine the effects of prenatal maternal depression, anxiety and stress, and postnatal depression on infant early neurodevelopment, and the sex dimorphism., Study Design: We used data from 3379 mother-infant pairs from the Shanghai Birth Cohort. Maternal mental health was assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Perceived Stress Scale at mid-pregnancy, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at postpartum. Infant neurodevelopment was evaluated using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires and Bayley Scales at ages 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. Linear mixed models and linear regression models were used., Results: Among 3379 mothers, 11.07 %, 5.42 %, and 34.85 % of women experienced depression, anxiety, and elevated stress, separately. As maternal prenatal mental scores increased per 1SD, infant social-emotional scores decreased -2.82 (-3.86, -1.79) vs -2.86 (-3.94, -1.79) for depression, -2.34 (-3.38, -1.31) vs -2.72 (-3.81, -1.64) for anxiety, and -2.55 (-3.60, -1.50) vs -3.41 (-4.48, -2.35) for stress among boys and girls at age 24 months, respectively. Associations were also observed on social-emotional and communication scores in boys and girls, and fine motor in girls at age 6 and 12 months. These associations were not observed for postpartum depression., Limitation: Generalizability of the results to other population remains to be determined., Conclusions: Prenatal maternal depression, anxiety, and stress were negatively associated with infant early neurodevelopment, which were not observed for postpartum depression. We underscore the importance of maternal prenatal mental health in optimizing infant neuropsychiatric development., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Fetal overgrowth "programs" an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Epigenetic alterations may be a mechanism in programming the vulnerability. We sought to characterize genome-wide alterations in placental gene methylations in fetal overgrowth and the associations with metabolic health biomarkers including leptin, adiponectin and fetal growth factors., Results: Comparing genome-wide placental gene DNA methylations in large-for-gestational-age (LGA, an indicator of fetal overgrowth, n = 30) versus optimal-for-gestational-age (OGA, control, n = 30) infants using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation-EPIC BeadChip, we identified 543 differential methylation positions (DMPs; 397 hypermethylated, 146 hypomethylated) at false discovery rate < 5% and absolute methylation difference > 0.05 after adjusting for placental cell-type heterogeneity, maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI and HbA1c levels during pregnancy. Twenty-five DMPs annotated to 20 genes (QSOX1, FCHSD2, LOC101928162, ADGRB3, GCNT1, TAP1, MYO16, NAV1, ATP8A2, LBXCOR1, EN2, INCA1, CAMTA2, SORCS2, SLC4A4, RPA3, UMAD1,USP53, OR2L13 and NR3C2) could explain 80% of the birth weight variations. Pathway analyses did not detect any statistically significant pathways after correcting for multiple tests. We validated a newly discovered differentially (hyper-)methylated gene-visual system homeobox 1 (VSX1) in an independent pyrosequencing study sample (LGA 47, OGA 47). Our data confirmed a hypermethylated gene-cadherin 13 (CDH13) reported in a previous epigenome-wide association study. Adiponectin in cord blood was correlated with its gene methylation in the placenta, while leptin and fetal growth factors (insulin, IGF-1, IGF-2) were not., Conclusions: Fetal overgrowth may be associated with a large number of altered placental gene methylations. Placental VSX1 and CDH13 genes are hypermethylated in fetal overgrowth. Placental ADIPOQ gene methylations and fetal circulating adiponectin levels were correlated, suggesting the contribution of placenta-originated adiponectin to cord blood adiponectin., (© 2022. The Author(s).)