Association of deep learning-derived histologic features of placental chorionic villi with maternal and infant characteristics in the New Hampshire birth cohort study.

Introduction: Quantification of placental histopathological structures is challenging due to a limited number of perinatal pathologists, constrained resources, and subjective assessments prone to variability. Objective standardization of placental structure is crucial for easing the burden on pathologists, gaining deeper insights into placental growth and adaptation, and ultimately improving maternal and fetal health outcomes.

Methods: Leveraging advancements in deep-learning segmentation, we developed an automated approach to detect over 9 million placenta chorionic villi from 1531 term placental whole slide images from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Using a neural network to derive early childhood neurodevelopmental profiles in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Child-centred approaches represent a conceptual framework that emphasises the holistic characterisation of individual developmental patterns across cognitive, behavioural and social domains. As a complementary analytic tool, self-organising maps (SOMs), an artificial neural network, offer flexible, data-driven clustering capabilities that are well-suited to modeling complex, multidimensional and longitudinal developmental data. Despite their potential, few studies have applied such methods to profile early neurodevelopment, especially in rural populations.

Arsenic Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes in Children: A Scoping Review.

A child's exposure to arsenic (As) can begin in utero through placental transfer to the fetus. There is a growing body of epidemiologic evidence suggesting an association between As exposure and neuropsychological development. Therefore, our objective was to describe the consequences of maternal and/or childhood As exposure on children's neuropsychological development.

Maternal Diet Quality in Pregnancy and Human Milk Extracellular Vesicle and Particle microRNA.

Extracellular vesicle and particle microRNAs (EVP miRNA) in milk have the capacity to facilitate maternal-infant communication in the postpartum period and are hypothesized to play important roles in child development. Maternal diet quality has been linked to milk macronutrient composition, microbiota profiles, as well as various child health outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the association between maternal diet quality and milk EVP miRNA.

Prenatal opioid exposure and the early life epigenome: results from ECHO.

Background: Prenatal opioid exposure has been associated with adverse child health outcomes. Changes to the epigenome provide a plausible mechanism through which effects may be elicited. We investigated whether prenatal opioid exposure was associated with locus-specific changes in umbilical cord blood DNA methylation (DNAm) and gestational epigenetic age.

Residing in a low-income-low-food-access neighbourhood and asthma in early and middle childhood in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program: a multisite cohort study.

Importance: Access to healthy and affordable foods may play a role in reducing inflammation and in healthy pulmonary immune system development.

Objective: To investigate the association between residing in a low-income and low-food-access (LILA) neighbourhood and risk of childhood asthma. A positive association was hypothesised.

Lifetime water arsenic, genetic susceptibility, and bladder cancer in the New England Bladder Cancer Study.

Background: Exposure to arsenic in drinking water may interact with common genetic variants in urinary bladder cancer risk.

Methods: We conducted a gene-environment interaction analysis among 1091 bladder cancer cases and 928 controls from the New England Bladder Cancer Study. Genetic variants tested as effect modifiers included those associated with bladder cancer and arsenic metabolism.

Public Water Arsenic and Birth Outcomes in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort.

Importance: Inorganic arsenic is associated with adverse birth outcomes, but evidence is limited for public water concentrations (modifiable by federal regulatory action) in US populations.

Objective: To evaluate the association between prenatal public water arsenic exposure below the federal regulatory standard of 10 μg/L and birth outcomes in the US.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study analyzed observational pregnancy cohort data from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort for birthing parent-infant dyads from 35 pregnancy cohort sites.

Disparities in the association of ambient air pollution with childhood asthma incidence in the ECHO consortium: A US-wide multi-cohort study.

Background: Characterization of US sociodemographic disparities in air pollution respiratory effects has often been limited by lack of participant diversity, geography, exposure characterization, and small sample size.

Methods: We included 34 sites comprising 23,234 children (born 1981-2021) from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program with data on asthma diagnosis until age 10 (182,008 person-years). Predicted annual exposure to fine particulate matter (1988-2021), nitrogen dioxide (2000-2016), and ground ozone (2000-2016) were assigned based on residential histories.

Exposure to organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers during pregnancy and autism-related outcomes in the ECHO Cohort.

Background: Organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers (OPEs) have myriad uses in industry and consumer products. Increasing human exposure to OPEs has raised concerns about their potential effects on child neurodevelopment during pregnancy.

Objective: We investigated whether OPE urinary concentrations during pregnancy were associated with child autism-related outcomes.

Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the ECHO Consortium.

Background: The relationship between prenatal exposure to low-level air pollution and child autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unclear.

Objective: To examine associations of prenatal air pollution exposure with autism.

Methods: We analyzed data from 8,035 mother-child pairs from 44 United States cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Cohort.

Time-varying exposure to element mixtures and children's cognition at 5 years of age: findings from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Background: Exposure to metals and metalloids (hereafter referred to as 'metals') during gestation and early childhood may affect children's neurodevelopment. However, few studies have simultaneously evaluated the impact of exposure to both essential and non-essential metals across specific windows of exposure on children's neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Objective: To investigate whether levels of metals during gestation and the early postnatal period, individually and as a mixture, are related to child cognition at 5 years of age among participants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (NHBCS).

Early-Life Factors and Body Mass Index Trajectories Among Children in the ECHO Cohort.

Importance: Identifying atypical body mass index (BMI) trajectories in children and understanding associated, modifiable early-life factors may help prevent childhood obesity.

Objective: To characterize multiphase BMI trajectories in children and identify associated modifiable early-life factors.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study included longitudinal data obtained from January 1997 to June 2024, from the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) cohort, which included children aged 1 to 9 years with 4 or more weight and height assessments.

Early-life and concurrent predictors of the healthy adolescent microbiome in a cohort study.

Background: The microbiome of adolescents is poorly understood, as are factors influencing its composition. We aimed to describe the healthy adolescent microbiome and identify early-life and concurrent predictors of its composition.

Methods: We performed metagenomic sequencing of 247 fecal specimens from 167 adolescents aged 11-14 years participating in the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) Study, a longitudinal pregnancy and birth cohort (Cincinnati, OH).

Maternal Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Pregnancy and Offspring Blood Pressure at Age 2 to 18 Years.

Importance: Higher blood pressure in early life may signal cardiovascular disease over the life course, but determinants of blood pressure in early life are poorly understood.

Objective: To examine the association of maternal cardiometabolic risk factors during pregnancy with offspring blood pressure from age 2 to 18 years and explore whether the association is modified by offspring sex and race and ethnicity.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study analyzed data from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program between January 1, 1994, and March 31, 2023.

Association of Deep Learning-Derived Histologic Features of Placental Chorionic Villi with Maternal and Infant Characteristics in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Introduction: Quantification of placental histopathological structures is challenging due to a limited number of perinatal pathologists, constrained resources, and subjective assessments prone to variability. Objective standardization of placental structure is crucial for easing the burden on pathologists, gaining deeper insights into placental growth and adaptation, and ultimately improving maternal and fetal health outcomes.

Methods: Leveraging advancements in deep-learning segmentation, we developed an automated approach to detect over 9 million placenta chorionic villi from 1,531 term placental whole slide images from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance mixtures and weight for length from birth to 12 months: The New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Objective: To examine the joint associations of plasma concentrations of prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) mixtures with birth size and postnatal anthropometry measures.

Material And Methods: The current study included 641 mother-child dyads from the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. PFAS concentrations were quantified in maternal plasma samples collected during pregnancy (median: 28 weeks of gestation).

Optimizing Protocols for MicroRNA Profiling of Infant and Toddler Stool.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly being investigated as potential biomarkers for child development and disease. Although a growing number of studies are utilizing infant and toddler stool for transcriptomic analyses, no studies have compared protocols for preserving and extracting miRNAs from this specimen type, despite unique challenges, including abundant levels of RNAses and microbial RNA.

Methods: To address this, we first compared three commercially available kits and four preservation methods for their ability to yield high quality RNA from infant and toddler stool (Phase 1).

The Association between Tea Consumption and Bladder Cancer Risk Based on the Bladder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants (BLEND) International Consortium.

Objectives: Evidence regarding the association between tea consumption and bladder cancer (BC) risk is inconsistent. This study aimed to increase our knowledge of the association by using international data from the Bladder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinants Consortium.

Methods: Individual data on 2,347 cases and 6,871 controls from 15 case-control studies with information on black, green, herbal, or general tea was pooled.

Dietary Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, Sugar, and Fiber Intake in Association With Breast Cancer Risk: An Updated Meta-analysis.

Context: Several prospective cohort studies have investigated the association between glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), dietary sugar, and total dietary fiber intake, with female breast cancer (BC) risk and reported inconsistent results. In the last decade, several large epidemiological studies have investigated these associations, suggesting the need to revisit the current body of evidence.

Objective: The aim of this study was to update a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted by Schlesinger et al in 2017 using recent scientific evidence published since 2015.

The Association of Prenatal Dietary Factors with Child Autism Diagnosis and Autism-Related Traits Using a Mixtures Approach: Results from the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort.

Background: Previous research on the role of maternal diet in relation to autism has focused on examining individual nutrient associations. Few studies have examined associations with multiple nutrients using mixtures approaches, which may better reflect true exposure scenarios.

Objectives: This study aims to examine associations of nutrient mixtures with children's autism diagnosis and trait scores within a large, diverse population.

Prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and blood pressure trajectories in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been associated with increased risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, but whether PFAS influence blood pressure (BP) trajectories among normotensive pregnant women is unknown. We examined associations between PFAS mixtures and BP trajectories during pregnancy among normotensive women. PFAS concentrations, including perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), perfluorononanoate (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoate (PFDA), were measured in plasma collected at ∼28 gestational weeks among pregnant women enrolled in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study (2009-2018).

Exposure to a mixture of arsenic species and growth indicators in 6-12-year-old children from the cycles 2007-2020 NHANES.

Background: Exposure to arsenic (As) and its metabolites can affect normal growth in children, but the combine effects at simultaneous low-level exposures, remain uncertain. Hence, this study aims to analyze how the combined effects of As and its metabolites can impact growth indicators in 1,792 US children aged 6-12 years, from the NHANES.

Methods: Levels of arsenic species in urine were measured using HPLC coupled with ICP-DRC-MS during the 2007-2020 NHANES cycles.

Association Between Prenatal Antibiotic Exposure and Infant Wheeze Outcomes.

Aim: This study examined the association between antibiotic exposure during pregnancy and the development of wheezing and cough during infancy.

Methods: We analysed data from 12 cohorts in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort Consortium. Outcomes during the first 18 months after birth included the presence of wheeze or dry cough and treatment or intervention for these symptoms, including medications, emergency room visits, and hospitalisations.