Acculturation and 4-Year Caries Increment Among Children of Foreign-Born Mothers in Sweden: A Register-Based Cohort Study

Background: To study the association of maternal age upon arrival and length of residence in Sweden with the 4-year caries increment in their children between ages 3 and 7 years in relation to the human development index (HDI) of the maternal country of origin. Method: This registry-based cohort study included all children born in 2000–2003 who resided in Stockholm County, Sweden, at age 3 years and who were followed up at age 7 (n = 65 259). Negative binomial regressions were used to analyze different models adjusted for sociodemographic factors.Results: Children of foreign-born mothers, regardless of the HDI of the maternal country of origin, had a higher risk of caries increment between ages 3 and 7 years than children of Swedish-born mothers. The children of mothers who had arrived in Sweden from a low or medium HDI country, however, had a lower caries increment than the children of mothers arriving after age 7. Nearly half (44%) of the children whose mothers arrived in Sweden at age ≥ 20 years from a low HDI country had a caries increment compared to 22% of the children whose mothers had arrived in Sweden before 7 years of age. Furthermore, children whose mothers were born in a low HDI country and had resided in Sweden ≤ 19 years had approximately 1.5 times higher risk of caries increment compared to children of mothers who had resided in Sweden for more than 20 years. Conclusions: Caries increment in the children of foreign-born mothers was associated with the age of their mother when she arrived in Sweden and was lower when the mother had arrived before age 7 years. This indicates an intergenerational effect that carries over to the children and is greater the longer the mother has participated in Swedish dental healthcare.

Perspective Commentary: The Implementation of Welfare Policies Are Not Held to the Same Ethical Standards as Research: Raising Intergenerational Health Inequality Concerns

Over the last 12 years the United Kingdom (UK) has seen the introduction of an austerity programme—a fiscal policy—with the primary goal to reduce the government's budget deficit and the role of the welfare system. Between 2010 and 2015 there was an estimated reduction of £14.5 billion in spending, attributable to decreasing the value of benefits and restricting entitlement to benefit claimants. By 2020, there had been an estimated unprecedented £27 billion less spent on welfare compared with spending in 2010. Whilst fiscally-successful at reducing spending, some implemented welfare policies have had direct consequences for people's health, increasing inequalities which have been heavily criticized. Moreover, there is growing concern that this has an intergenerational effect. In this paper, we describe the ethical principles in human research, how these have been considered in public health policy, and the existing evidence of the direct and intergenerational health and welfare consequences of some recent, nationally-implemented welfare policies. We argue that ethical principles, specifically the ethical principle of safety that is applied in all research, should be applied to all public welfare policies to stop the rising inequalities in health we are seeing across generations. We highlight that initial changes implemented to welfare policies as a response to COVID-19 demonstrate that there can be a political and societal perceived value in going further to support individuals and their families during times of adversity, and consider the ethical implications of this.

Exposure to carbon black nanoparticles during pregnancy aggravates lipopolysaccharide-induced lung injury in offspring: an intergenerational effect

Carbon black nanoparticles (CBNPs) are one of the most frequently used nanoparticles. Exposure to CBNPs during pregnancy (PrE to CBNPs) can directly induce inflammation, lung injury and genotoxicity in dams, and results in abnormalities in offspring. However, whether exposure to CBNPs during pregnancy enhances the susceptibility of offspring to environmental stimuli remains unknown. To address this issue, in this study, we intranasally treated pregnant mice with mock or CBNPs from gestational day (GD) 9 to GD18, and F1 and F2 offspring were normally obtained. By intratracheal instillation of mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to trigger a classic animal model for acute lung injury, we intriguingly found that after LPS treatment, F1 and F2 offspring after exposure during pregnancy to CBNPs both exhibited more pronounced lung injury symptoms, including more degenerative histopathological changes, vascular leakage, elevated MPO activity and activation of inflammation-related signaling transduction, compared to F1 and F2 offspring in the mock treatment group, suggesting PrE to CBNPs would aggravate LPS-induced lung injury in offspring, and this effect is intergenerational. We also observed that PrE to CBNPs upregulated the mRNA expression of DNA methyltransferases (Dnmt) 1/3a/3b and DNA hypermethylation in both F1 and F2 offspring, which might partially account for the intergenerational effect. Together, our study demonstrates for the first time that PrE to CBNPs can enhance sensitivity to LPS in both F1 and F2 offspring, and this intergenerational effect may be related to DNA hypermethylation caused by CBNPs.

Association of grandmaternal smoking during pregnancy with DNA methylation of grandchildren: the Isle of Wight study

Background: To investigate the intergenerational effects of grandmaternal smoking during pregnancy (GMSDP) on the DNA methylation of grandchildren. Methods: Data from the Isle of Wight birth cohort with information regarding GMSDP and DNA methylation profiling at the birth of grandchildren (n = 161) were used. Differentially methylated CpG sites related to GMSDP were identified using testing–training screening, analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance. The association between identified CpG sites and expression levels of neighboring genes was tested by linear regression. Results: Twenty-three CpG sites were differentially methylated in grandchildren because of GMSDP, and eight of these were associated with expression levels of 13 neighboring genes. Conclusion: GMSDP has an intergenerational effect on the DNA methylation profile of grandchildren independent of maternal smoking during pregnancy.

Chromosomal Microarray Analysis on Intergenerational Effects of Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins Against Bisphenol-A Induced Brain Deformities

Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC) is a type of polyphenolic compound which have been demonstrated to have anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-mutagenic properties that may have the potential to reduce intergenerational effect of BPA towards DNA. This study was conducted to determine the effect of OPC on the DNA damage of BPA-induced rats using microarray CGH Chromosome Karyotyping. Adult Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into six groups which are Normal, BPA, OPC10, OPC20, BPA+OPC10 and BPA+OPC20. The administration of BPA and/or OPC were conducted for 21 days using oral gavage before being mated with female rats of the same age at 1:1 mating ratio. Once the female rats were confirmed pregnant, the male rats were decapitated and their blood were collected for chromosome microarray analysis. The male offspring (F1 generation) were allowed to grow until 10 weeks old and their blood were also collected for chromosome microarray analysis. BPA group had a deletion of Vomeronasal receptor genes in which the deletion magnitude increased from P to F1 generation may affect the ability of the rats to detect chemosensory cues during neurobehavioral test. The amplification of Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I gene in BPA+OPC20 group may aid in a better performance during hippocampal-dependent memory tests. These results suggested that OPC could be a potential agent in reducing the intergenerational effect of BPA. Current finding may enrich our understanding particularly in the possible mechanism of OPC on BPA-induced memory impairment Keywords: Bisphenol-A, Brain, microarray CGH Chromosome Karyotyping, Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins, Intergenerational