BackgroundAutism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an unclear etiology. Pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) have been suggested to play a role in the etiology of autism. The current study explores the associations among maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG and the risk of autism in the Han Chinese population.MethodsDemographic information, a basic medical history and information regarding maternal pre-pregnancy and pregnancy conditions were collected from the parents of 705 Han Chinese children with autism and 2236 unrelated typically developing children. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for the relationship among pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG and the occurrence of autism. The interaction between pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG was analyzed by performing stratification analyses using a logistic model.ResultsAfter adjusting for the children’s gender, parental age and family annual income, excessive GWG was associated with autism risk in the entire sample (OR = 1.327, 95% CI: 1.021–1.725), whereas the relationship between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and autism was not significant. According to the stratification analyses, excessive GWG increased the risk of autism in overweight/obese mothers (OR = 2.468, 95% CI: 1.102–5.526) but not in underweight or normal weight mothers.ConclusionsThe maternal pre-pregnancy BMI might not be independently associated with autism risk. However, excessive GWG might increase the autism risk of offspring of overweight and obese mothers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-018-1593-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of miR-221 in depression. Methods: The molecules expressions were measured by qRT-PCR and western blot. The sucrose preference test (SPT), forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST) were used to detect depressive-like symptoms. MTT assay and flow cytometric was used to measure the proliferation and apoptosis of hippocampal neuronal. Results: MiR-221 expression in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum of major depressive disorder patients and the hippocampus of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) mice were increased, while the expression of Wnt2, p-CREB and BDNF were decreased. Additionally, silence of miR-221 increased sucrose preference of CUMS mice and shortened the immobility time of CUMS mice in SPT and FST. MiR-221 could targeted regulate Wnt2, and knockdown of Wnt2 reversed the effect of miR-221 inhibitor on the proliferation and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons and countered the promoting effect of miR-221 inhibitor on the expression of Wnt2, p-CREB and BDNF. Conclusion: MiR-221 could promote the development of depression by regulating Wnt2/CREB/ BDNF axis. ARTICLE HISTORY

Significantly altered FCS in the frontal-occipital network is observed in the UHR subjects. Furthermore, decreased FCS in the left middle frontal gyrus and increased FCS in the left calcarine have significant correlations with the cognitive measures of the UHR subjects and thus improve our understanding of the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of schizophrenia. Moreover, a combination of the FCS values in the 2 brain areas can serve as a potential image marker to distinguish UHR subjects from healthy controls.

Background: To compare the accuracy of intraocular lens power calculation formulae after laser refractive surgery in myopic eyes. Methods: We searched the databases on PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and the Cochrane library to select relevant studies published between Jan 1st, 2009 and Aug 11th, 2019. Primary outcomes were the percentages of refractive prediction error within ±0.5 D and ±1.0 D. Results: The final meta-analysis included 16 studies using seven common methods (ASCRS average, Barrett True-K no history, Double-K SRK/T, Haigis-L, OCT formula, Shammas-PL, and Wang-Koch-Maloney). ASCRS average yielded significantly higher percentage of refractive prediction error within ±0.5 D than Haigis-L, Shammas-PL and Wang-Koch-Maloney (P = 0.009, 0.01, 0.008, respectively). Barrett True-K no history also yielded significantly higher percentage of refractive prediction error within ±0.5 D than Shammas-PL and Wang-Koch-Maloney (P = 0.01, P < 0.0001, respectively), and a similar result was found when comparing OCT formula with Haigis-L and Shammas-PL (P = 0.03, P = 0.01, respectively). Conclusion: The ASCRS average or Barrett True-K no history should be used to calculate the intraocular lens power in eyes after myopic laser refractive surgery. The OCT formula if available, can also be a good alternative choice.