An investigation of the effect of paternal occupation group at conception on birth weight and gestational age. ALSPAC Study Team of Pregnancy and Childhood

Socioeconomic position during pregnancy and DNA methylation signatures at three stages across early life: epigenome-wide association studies in the ALSPAC birth cohort

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomic experiences are recognized determinants of health, and recent work has shown that social disadvantages in early life may induce sustained biological changes at molecular level that are detectable later in life. However, the dynamics and persistence of biological embedding of socioeconomic position (SEP) remains vastly unexplored.

METHODS

Using the data from the ALSPAC birth cohort, we performed epigenome-wide association studies of DNA methylation changes at three life stages (birth, n = 914; childhood at mean age 7.5 years, n = 973; and adolescence at mean age 15.5 years, n = 974), measured using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 Beadchip, in relation to pregnancy SEP indicators (maternal and paternal education and occupation).

RESULTS

Across the four early life SEP metrics investigated, only maternal education was associated with methylation levels at birth, and four CpGs mapped to SULF1, GLB1L2 and RPUSD1 genes were identified [false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected P-value <0.05]. No epigenetic signature was found associated with maternal education in child samples, but methylation levels at 20 CpG loci were found significantly associated with maternal education in adolescence. Although no overlap was found between the differentially methylated CpG sites at different ages, we identified two CpG sites at birth and during adolescence which are 219 bp apart in the SULF1 gene that encodes an heparan sulphatase involved in modulation of signalling pathways. Using data from an independent birth cohort, the ENVIRONAGE cohort, we were not able to replicate these findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our results suggest that parental SEP, and particularly maternal education, may influence the offspring's methylome at birth and adolescence.

Improving metabolic health in obese male mice via diet and exercise restores embryo development and fetal growth

Paternal obesity is now clearly associated with or causal of impaired embryo and fetal development and reduced pregnancy rates in humans and rodents. This appears to be a result of reduced blastocyst potential. Whether these adverse embryo and fetal outcomes can be ameliorated by interventions to reduce paternal obesity has not been established. Here, male mice fed a high fat diet (HFD) to induce obesity were used, to determine if early embryo and fetal development is improved by interventions of diet (CD) and/or exercise to reduce adiposity and improve metabolism. Exercise and to a lesser extent CD in obese males improved embryo development rates, with increased cell to cell contacts in the compacting embryo measured by E-cadherin in exercise interventions and subsequently, increased blastocyst trophectoderm (TE), inner cell mass (ICM) and epiblast cell numbers. Implantation rates and fetal development from resulting blastocysts were also improved by exercise in obese males. Additionally, all interventions to obese males increased fetal weight, with CD alone and exercise alone, also increasing fetal crown-rump length. Measures of embryo and fetal development correlated with paternal measures of glycaemia, insulin action and serum lipids regardless of paternal adiposity or intervention, suggesting a link between paternal metabolic health and subsequent embryo and fetal development. This is the first study to show that improvements to metabolic health of obese males through diet and exercise can improve embryo and fetal development, suggesting such interventions are likely to improve offspring health.

Men's influences on women's reproductive health: medical anthropological perspectives

Reproductive health has emerged as an organizational framework that incorporates men into maternal and child health (MCH) programs. For several decades, medical anthropologists have conducted reproductive health research that explores male partners' effects on women's health and the health of children. This article summarizes exemplary research in this area, showing how ethnographic studies by medical anthropologists contribute new insights to the growing public health and demographic literature on men and reproductive health. The first half of the article begins by exploring reproductive rights, examining the concept from an anthropological perspective. As part of this discussion, the question of equality versus equity is addressed, introducing anthropological perspectives on ways to incorporate men fairly into reproductive health programs and policies. The second half of the article then turns to a number of salient examples of men's relevance in the areas of contraception, abortion, pregnancy and childbirth, infertility, and fetal harm. Medical anthropological research--as well as prominent gaps in that research--is highlighted. The article concludes with thoughts on future areas of anthropological research that may improve understandings of men's influences on women's reproductive health.

Parental exposure to organic solvents and reduced birth weight

The authors investigated the association of birth weight with maternal and paternal exposure to organic solvents in 1,222 couples employed in a large petrochemical corporation in Beijing, China, during the period between 1994 and 1998. A trained interviewer assessed parental exposures to organic solvents. The authors used generalized additive models to examine the association between birth weight and parental exposure to organic solvents. After the authors adjusted for potential confounders, maternal exposure to solvents was significantly associated with reduced birth weight (-81.7 gm, 95% confidence interval = -106.3, -3.1), and reduced birth weights of female babies and of younger mothers' babies were statistically significant. Maternal exposure to organic solvents was associated with reduced birth weight in this population, but paternal exposure to organic solvents was not similarly associated.