Background: Accidental falls are the most common cause of injury in children. These falls not only result in pain and injury to children but also can pose a significant financial burden to their families and society. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for falls in children.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature describing falls in children aged 0–18 years. Studies of falls from a height of 1 m or more were excluded from the analysis. We analyzed the included studies to identify risk factors for falls.

Results: A total of 1496 articles were initially retrieved, leading to an included set of nine articles, which were published from 1995 to 2021. Risk factors related to fall injury in children aged 0–18 years included age, sex, extroversion, rural areas, history of falls, family factors, caregiver factors, medication use, intravenous therapy, tests requiring movement, disease factors and long hospital stay.

Background: The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyze all available data from studies investigating associations between polymorphisms in genes responsible for innate immunity and neonatal sepsis development.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search, reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-S guidelines, was performed with no language restriction. Studies derived using the PICO (population, intervention, comparison and outcomes) strategy, with data on the genotype distribution for innate immunity gene polymorphisms in newborns with and without sepsis. Data were analyzed using Review Manager. The Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test was used to calculate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Heterogeneity was tested using the I² index.

Results: From a total of 9428 possibly relevant articles, 33 qualified for inclusion in this systematic review. According to the STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies, 23 studies were found to be of moderate quality, while 10 were of low quality. The results showed an association of the mannose-binding lectin (MBL) exon 1 genetic polymorphism with the risk of culture-proven sepsis. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4 rs4986791 genotype distribution suggests its association with the increased risk of culture-proven sepsis. The certainty of evidence per GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) varied from very low to low. Publication bias was not detected.

Background: The real-world exposure levels of non-therapeutic antibiotics and neonicotinoids in type 1 diabetes (T1D) children and their associations as environmental triggers through gut microbiota shifts remained unknown. We thus investigated the antibiotics and neonicotinoids’ exposure levels and their associations with gut microbiota in pediatric T1D.

Methods: Fifty-one newly onset T1D children along with 67 age-matched healthy controls were recruited. Urine concentrations of 28 antibiotics and 12 neonicotinoids were measured by mass spectrometry. Children were grouped according to the kinds of antibiotics’ and neonicotinoids’ exposures, respectively. The 16S rRNA of fecal gut microbiota was sequenced, and the correlation with urine antibiotics and neonicotinoids’ concentrations was analyzed.

Results: The overall detection rates of antibiotics were 72.5% and 61.2% among T1D and healthy children, whereas the neonicotinoids detection rates were 70.6% and 52.2% (P = 0.044). Children exposed to one kind of antibiotic or two or more kinds of neonicotinoids had higher risk of T1D, with the odd ratios of 2.579 and 3.911. Furthermore, co-exposure to antibiotics and neonicotinoids was associated with T1D, with the odd ratio of 4.924. Antibiotics or neonicotinoids exposure did not affect overall richness and diversity of gut microbiota. However, children who were exposed to neither antibiotics nor neonicotinoids had higher abundance of Lachnospiraceae than children who were exposed to antibiotics and neonicotinoids alone or together.

Background: Few studies have evaluated the specific age period in childhood when the association of body mass index with adult hyperuricemia begins to be operative. This study aimed to examine the associations between body mass index in different childhood age periods and the risk of adult hyperuricemia in China.

Methods: The study cohort from the China Health and Nutrition Survey included 676 participants who were aged ≥ 18 years and had data on uric acid in 2009 with at least one measurement of body mass index in childhood surveys before 2009. There were 357, 365, 358, 427, and 432 observations in childhood age groups of ≤ 5 years, 6–9 years, 10–12 years, 13–15 years, and 16–18 years, respectively. Body mass index Z score was calculated based on 2000 Center for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts for the United States.

Results: Childhood body mass index Z scores measured at age ≤ 5 years, 6–9 years, 10–12 years, and 13–15 years had no statistical association with adult uric acid. In comparison, childhood body mass index Z scores measured at age 16–18 years were significantly associated with adult uric acid (β = 11.539, P = 0.007), and the strength of association was stronger in girls (β = 18.565, P = 0.002) than in boys (β = 9.209, P = 0.087). In addition, childhood body mass index Z scores measured at age 16–18 years were significantly associated with an increased risk of adult hyperuricemia (odds ratio = 1.323, 95% confidence interval = 1.003–1.746, P = 0.048), but not for other age groups.

Background: During next generation sequencing (NGS) data interpretation in critically ill newborns, there is a potential for recognizing and reporting secondary findings (SFs). Early awareness of SFs may provide clues for disease prevention. In this study, we assessed the frequency of SFs in the China Neonatal Genomes Project (CNGP) participants.

Methods: A total of 2020 clinical exome sequencing (CES) datasets were screened for variants from a list of 59 genes recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) for secondary findings reporting v2.0 (ACMG SF v2.0). Identified variants were classified according to the evidence-based guidelines reached by a joint consensus of the ACMG and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP).

Results: Among the 2020 CES datasets, we identified 23 ACMG-reportable genes in 61 individuals, resulting in an overall frequency of SFs at 3.02%. A total of 53 unique variants were identified, including 35 pathogenic and 18 likely pathogenic variants. The common disease categories of SFs associated were cardiovascular and cancer disease. The SF results affected the medical management and follow-up strategy in 49 (80.3%) patients.