Faculty Bibliography

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of self-reported polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) among Emiratis and examine bi-directional associations of PCOS with self-reported chronic diseases, namely: diabetes, asthma, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) data collected from February 2016 to April 2022 involving 1040 Emirati women aged 25"“67 years from recruitment centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The bi-directional associations between self-reported PCOS and self-reported chronic diseases were evaluated by establishing temporality based on reported age-at-diagnoses. Firstly, the associations between PCOS (diagnosed at ≥25 years) and chronic diseases (diagnosed at <25 years) were examined, followed by PCOS (diagnosed at <25 years) and chronic diseases (diagnosed at ≥25 years). Finally, a Poisson regression under unadjusted and age-and-body mass index (BMI) adjusted models was performed to obtain the risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The prevalence of PCOS in this study was 25.9%. Those with asthma and high cholesterol diagnosed at <25 years had increased risks of PCOS diagnosed at ≥25 years (RR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.17"“2.76 for asthma; and RR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.01"“2.59 for high cholesterol), compared to those respective healthier counterparts, after adjusting for age and BMI. No significant association was observed between PCOS diagnosed at <25 years and respective chronic diseases diagnosed at ≥25 years. Conclusion: PCOS prevalence among Emirati women was high. Asthma and high cholesterol in earlier life were associated with PCOS in later life. Understanding how chronic disease conditions and PCOS are associated in bi-directional ways may improve the surveillance of chronic disease conditions among women with PCOS and may also contribute to more targeted PCOS prevention strategies.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:E-cigarette use among youth and young adults remains of public health concern. Pod-based e-cigarettes, including JUUL, significantly changed the e-cigarette landscape in the US. Using an online survey, we explored the socio-behavioral correlates, predisposing factors, and addictive behaviors, among young adult pod-mod users within a University in Maryland, USA. METHODS:In total, 112 eligible college students aged 18-24 years, recruited from a University in Maryland, who reported using pod-mods were included in this study. Participants were categorized into current/non-current users based on past-30-day use. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants' responses. RESULTS:The mean age of the survey participants was 20.5 ± 1.2 years, 56.3% were female, 48.2% White, and 40.2% reported past-30-day (current) use of pod-mods. The mean age of first experimentation with pod-mods was 17.8 ± 1.4 years, while the mean age of regular use was 18.5 ± 1.4 years, with the majority (67.9%) citing social influence as the reason for initiation. Of the current users, 62.2% owned their own devices, and 82.2% predominantly used JUUL and menthol flavor (37.8%). A significant proportion of current users (73.3%) reported buying pods in person, 45.5% of whom were aged <21 years. Among all participants, 67% had had a past serious quit attempt. Among them, 89.3% neither used nicotine replacement therapy nor prescription medications. Finally, current use (adjusted odds ratio, AOR=4.52; 95% CI: 1.76-11.64), JUUL use (AOR=2.56; 95% CI: 1.08-6.03), and menthol flavor (AOR=6.52; 95% CI: 1.38-30.89) were associated with reduced nicotine autonomy, a measure of addiction. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings provide specific data to inform the development of public health interventions targeted at college youth, including the need for more robust cessation support for pod-mod users.

This invited article ad memoriam of Bruce McEwen discusses emerging epigenetic mechanisms underlying the long and winding road from adverse childhood experiences to adult physiology and brain functions. The conceptual framework that we pursue suggest multidimensional biological pathways for the rapid regulation of neuroplasticity that utilize rapid non-genomic mechanisms of epigenetic programming of gene expression and modulation of metabolic function via mitochondrial metabolism. The current article also highlights how applying computational tools can foster the translation of basic neuroscience discoveries for the development of novel treatment models for mental illnesses, such as depression to slow the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease. Citing an expression that many of us heard from Bruce, while "It is not possible to roll back the clock," deeper understanding of the biological pathways and mechanisms through which stress produces a lifelong vulnerability to altered mitochondrial metabolism can provide a path for compensatory neuroplasticity. The newest findings emerging from this mechanistic framework are among the latest topics we had the good fortune to discuss with Bruce the day before his sudden illness when walking to a restaurant in a surprisingly warm evening that preluded the snowstorm on December 18th, 2019. With this article, we wish to celebrate Bruce's untouched love for Neuroscience.

While the impact of combustible cigarette smoking on cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well-established, the longitudinal association of non-traditional tobacco products with subclinical and clinical CVD has not been fully explored due to: 1) limited data availability; and 2) the lack of well-phenotyped prospective cohorts. Therefore, there is the need for sufficiently powered well-phenotyped datasets to fully elucidate the CVD risks associated with non-cigarette tobacco products. The Cross-Cohort Collaboration (CCC)-Tobacco is a harmonized dataset of 23 prospective cohort studies predominantly in the US. A priori defined variables collected from each cohort included baseline characteristics, details of traditional and non-traditional tobacco product use, inflammatory markers, and outcomes including subclinical and clinical CVD. The definitions of the variables in each cohort were systematically evaluated by a team of two physician-scientists and a biostatistician. Herein, we describe the method of data acquisition and harmonization and the baseline sociodemographic and risk profile of participants in the combined CCC-Tobacco dataset. The total number of participants in the pooled cohort is 322782 (mean age: 59.7 ± 11.8 years) of which 76% are women. White individuals make up the majority (73.1%), although there is good representation of other race and ethnicity groups including African American (15.6%) and Hispanic/Latino individuals (6.4%). The prevalence of participants who never smoked, formerly smoked, and currently smoke combustible cigarettes is 50%, 36%, and 14%, respectively. The prevalence of current and former cigar, pipe, and smokeless tobacco is 7.3%, 6.4%, and 8.6%, respectively. E-cigarette use was measured only in follow-up visits of select studies, totaling 1704 former and current users. CCC-Tobacco is a large, pooled cohort dataset that is uniquely designed with increased power to expand knowledge regarding the association of traditional and non-traditional tobacco use with subclinical and clinical CVD, with extension to understudied groups including women and individuals from underrepresented racial-ethnic groups.

INTRODUCTION/UNASSIGNED:Asthma and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are linked in several possible ways. To date, there has been no study evaluating whether pediatric asthma is an independent risk factor for adult PCOS. Our study aimed to examine the association between pediatric asthma (diagnosed at 0-19 years) and adult PCOS (diagnosed at ≥20 years). We further assessed whether the aforementioned association differed in two phenotypes of adult PCOS which were diagnosed at 20-25 years (young adult PCOS), and at >25 years (older adult PCOS). We also evaluated whether the age of asthma diagnosis (0-10 vs 11-19 years) modified the association between pediatric asthma and adult PCOS. MATERIAL AND METHODS/UNASSIGNED:This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis using the United Arab Emirates Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) collected from February 2016 to April 2022 involving 1334 Emirati females aged 18-49 years. We fitted a Poisson regression model to estimate the risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) to assess the association between pediatric asthma and adult PCOS adjusting for age, urbanicity at birth, and parental smoking at birth. RESULTS/UNASSIGNED:After adjusting for confounding factors and comparing to non-asthmatic counterparts, we found that females with pediatric asthma had a statistically significant association with adult PCOS diagnosed at ≥20 years (RR=1.56, 95% CI: 1.02-2.41), with a stronger magnitude of the association found in the older adult PCOS phenotype diagnosed at >25 years (RR=2.06, 95% CI: 1.16-3.65). Further, we also found females reported thinner childhood body size had a two-fold to three-fold increased risk of adult PCOS diagnosed at ≥20 years in main analysis and stratified analyses by age of asthma and PCOS diagnoses (RR=2.06, 95% CI: 1.08-3.93 in main analysis; RR=2.74, 95% CI: 1.22-6.15 among those diagnosed with PCOS > 25 years; and RR=3.50, 95% CI: 1.38-8.43 among those diagnosed with asthma at 11-19 years). CONCLUSIONS/UNASSIGNED:Pediatric asthma was found to be an independent risk factor for adult PCOS. More targeted surveillance for those at risk of adult PCOS among pediatric asthmatics may prevent or delay PCOS in this at-risk group. Future studies with robust longitudinal designs aimed to elucidate the exact mechanism between pediatric asthma and PCOS are warranted.

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND:Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a multiplex of risk factors that predispose people to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD), two of the major non-communicable diseases that contribute to mortality in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). MetS guidelines require the testing of fasting samples, but there are evidence-based suggestions that non-fasting samples are also reliable for CVD-related screening measures. In this study, we aimed to estimate MetS and its components in a sample of young Emiratis using HbA1c as another glycemic marker. We also aimed to estimate the associations of some known CVD risk factors with MetS in our population. METHODS:The study was based on a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data of 5161 participants from the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS). MetS was identified using the NCEP ATP III criteria, with the addition of HbA1c as another glycemic indicator. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and HbA1c were used either individually or combined to identify the glycemic component of MetS, based on the fasting status. Multivariate regression analysis was used to test for associations of selected social and behavioral factors with MetS. RESULTS:&gt; 0.05). Age, increased body mass index (BMI), and family history of any metabolic abnormality and/or heart disease were consistently strongly associated with MetS. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:MetS is highly prevalent in our sample of young Emirati adults. Our data showed that HbA1c may be an acceptable tool to test for the glycemic component of MetS in non-fasting samples. We found that the most relevant risk factors for predicting the prevalence of MetS were age, BMI, and family history.

Detailed description of the prevalence and sources of e-cigarettes among youth is needed to inform effective regulatory policies. We used the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data (2015-2019) to assess trends in current (past-30-day-use) and frequent (≥10 days in past-30-days) e-cigarette use among United States high schoolers before the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we assessed trends overall and then stratified by participants' sociodemographic characteristics, use of other tobacco products, and experiences of psychosocial stress. We also evaluated past year quit attempts and the changing sources of e-cigarettes. Our sample size was 41,021 (15,356-2015; 12,873-2017; 12,792-2019). The prevalence of current e-cigarette use increased from 24.0% (95%CI:21.9%-26.3%) in 2015 to 32.7% (30.4%-35.1%) in 2019. The proportion of current users who reported frequent use also increased significantly from 22.6% (20.4%-24.8%) to 45.4% (42.7%-48.2%). Thus, an increasing proportion of US high school students who use e-cigarettes reported frequent use, indicating greater nicotine dependence. The increase in current and frequent e-cigarette use was more pronounced in youth who reported other substance use and psychosocial stressors such as bullying. Between 2017 and 2019, there was a decline in the proportion of youth who bought e-cigarettes online (6.9% to 3.2%) or from convenience stores (22.0% to 16.6%). Conversely, there was an increase in the proportion who borrowed (34.5% to 40.1%) or purchased e-cigarettes through other people (10.7% to 18.0%), indicating that most youth are evading age-related restrictions by obtaining e-cigarettes from other people. Finally, a considerable proportion of youth tobacco users are making quit attempts; 47.6% (45.1%-50.1%) in 2019.

Despite the association between tobacco use and the harmful effects on general health as well as male fertility parameters, smoking remains globally prevalent. The main content of tobacco smoke is nicotine and its metabolite cotinine. These compounds can pass the blood-testis barrier, which subsequently causes harm of diverse degree to the germ cells. Although controversial, smoking has been shown to cause not only a decrease in sperm motility, sperm concentration, and an increase in abnormal sperm morphology, but also genetic and epigenetic aberrations in spermatozoa. Both animal and human studies have highlighted the occurrence of sperm DNA-strand breaks (fragmentation), genome instability, genetic mutations, and the presence of aneuploids in the germline of animals and men exposed to tobacco smoke. The question to be asked at this point is, if smoking has the potential to cause all these genetic aberrations, what is the extent of damage? Hence, this review aimed to provide evidence that smoking has a mutagenic effect on sperm and how this subsequently affects male fertility. Additionally, the role of tobacco smoke as an aneugen will be explored. We furthermore aim to incorporate the epidemiological aspects of the aforementioned and provide a holistic approach to the topic.

Limited studies have focused on maternal early-life risk factors and the later development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aimed to estimate the GDM prevalence and examine the associations of maternal early-life risk factors, namely: maternal birthweight, parental smoking at birth, childhood urbanicity, ever-breastfed, parental education attainment, parental history of diabetes, childhood overall health, childhood body size, and childhood height, with later GDM. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study using the UAE Healthy Future Study (UAEHFS) baseline data (February 2016 to April 2022) on 702 ever-married women aged 18 to 67 years. We fitted a Poisson regression to estimate the risk ratio (RR) for later GDM and its 95% confidence interval (CI). The GDM prevalence was 5.1%. In the fully adjusted model, females with low birthweight were four times more likely (RR 4.04, 95% CI 1.36-12.0) and females with a parental history of diabetes were nearly three times more likely (RR 2.86, 95% CI 1.10-7.43) to report later GDM. In conclusion, maternal birthweight and parental history of diabetes were significantly associated with later GDM. Close glucose monitoring during pregnancy among females with either a low birth weight and/or parental history of diabetes might help to prevent GDM among this high-risk group.