LIFECODES pregnancy cohort

在今年的研究过程中，弗格森博士扩大了她之前在这一研究人群中的工作，以检查氧化应激和炎症作为调节环境化学物质暴露和不良妊娠结局之间的潜在机制。具体地说，她检查了在怀孕的多个时间点测量的氧化应激和炎症生物标记物与先兆子痫和胎儿生长的关系。她还检查了一些新的化学暴露生物标记物(多环芳香烃和酚类化合物)与这些中间生物标记物和不良妊娠结局的关系。此外，她进行了一项试点研究，收集了482名女性的尿金属数据，这些数据来自一项病例对照研究，研究对象是LIFECODES中嵌套的早产，并与代谢组学特征相结合。后一个项目的数据尚待公布。最后，她拜访了波士顿的McElrath博士，并为两个试点项目制定了计划：1)检查胎儿生长受限的表型，2)扩大LIFECODES现有的样本和数据收集，以更全面地捕捉环境暴露，并获得对胎盘和胎儿发育的更多洞察。

Over the course of this year Dr. Ferguson expanded her previous work in this study population to examine oxidative stress and inflammation as potential mechanisms mediating associations between environmental chemical exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Specifically, she examined oxidative stress and inflammation biomarkers measured at multiple time points in pregnancy in relation to preeclampsia and fetal growth. She also examined some new chemical exposure biomarkers (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds) in relation to these intermediate biomarkers and in relation to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Additionally, she performed a pilot study to collect urinary metals data on 482 women from a case-control study of preterm birth nested within LIFECODES in tandem with metabolomics profiles. Data is pending for the latter project. Finally, she visited with Dr. McElrath in Boston and developed plans for two pilot projects for 1) examining phenotypes of fetal growth restriction, and 2) expanding the existing sample and data collection in LIFECODES to more completely capture environmental exposures and to gain additional insight on placental and fetal development.