Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and metals in primiparous women: a comparison from Canada and Mexico.

Under the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and its Sound Management of Chemicals (SMOC) program, a tri-national human contaminant monitoring initiative was completed to provide baseline exposure information for several environmental contaminants in Canada, Mexico and the United States (U.S). Blood samples were collected from primiparous women in Canada and Mexico, and were analysed for a suite of environmental contaminants including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene(p,p'-DDE),beta-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), mercury and lead.

Changes in the concentrations of biochemical indicators of diet and nutritional status of pregnant women across pregnancy trimesters in Trujillo, Peru, 2004-2005.

Background: In developing countries, deficiencies in essential micronutrients are common, particularly in pregnant women. Although, biochemical indicators of diet and nutrition are useful to assess nutritional status, few studies have examined such indicators throughout pregnancy in women in developing countries.

Methods: The primary objective of this study was to assess the nutritional status of 78 Peruvian women throughout pregnancy for 16 different nutritional indicators including fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids, iron-status indicators, and selenium.

Concentrations of select persistent organic pollutants across pregnancy trimesters in maternal and in cord serum in Trujillo, Peru.

Although the production and use of some persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been banned or highly restricted, human exposure remains a subject of investigation due to their environmental persistence. Physiological changes during pregnancy may affect the disposition of POPs in the mother's body, and thus fetal exposure. Changes in serum concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) across pregnancy trimesters, and trans-placental transfer to the fetus were investigated.

Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure in pregnant women in Trujillo, Peru--comparison of different fuel types used for cooking.

Women and children in developing countries are often exposed to high levels of air pollution including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which may negatively impact their health, due to household combustion of biomass fuel for cooking and heating. We compared creatinine adjusted hydroxy-PAH (OH-PAH) concentrations in pregnant women in Trujillo, Peru who cook with wood to levels measured in those who cook with kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas or a combination of fuels. Seventy-nine women were recruited for the study between May and July 2004 in the first trimester of their pregnancy.

Personal exposure to PM(2.5) and urinary hydroxy-PAH levels in bus drivers exposed to traffic exhaust, in Trujillo, Peru.

Public transport vehicle drivers, especially in highly polluted or trafficked areas, are exposed to high levels of air pollutants. In this study, we assessed the influence of traffic on levels of hydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OH-PAHs) in commercial bus drivers in Trujillo, Peru, by measuring the within-shift changes in the urinary whole weight and creatinine-corrected concentrations of the PAH metabolites. We measured personal PM(2.

Persistent organic pollutant concentrations in first birth mothers across Mexico.

This project was initiated by the North America Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Its main purpose was to obtain an initial profile on pregnant woman's exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in North America (Canada, the United States and Mexico). Persistent organic pollutants are transferred to the fetus via the placenta during the pregnancy or to the infant via maternal milk; therefore, the pregnant woman's body burden is important because of the higher exposures and potential health effects in the fetus and infant.

Urinary concentrations of dialkylphosphate metabolites of organophosphorus pesticides: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004.

Organophosphorus (OP) insecticides were among the first pesticides that EPA reevaluated as part of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. Our goal was to assess exposure to OP insecticides in the U.S.

Dioxin exposure and cancer risk in the Seveso Women's Health Study.

Background: 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD), a widespread environmental contaminant, disrupts multiple endocrine pathways. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified TCDD as a known human carcinogen, based on predominantly male occupational studies of increased mortality from all cancers combined.

Objectives: After a chemical explosion on 10 July 1976 in Seveso, Italy, residents experienced some of the highest levels of TCDD exposure in a human population.

Phthalate exposure associated with self-reported diabetes among Mexican women.

Background: Phthalates are ubiquitous industrial chemicals used as plasticizers in plastics made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to confer flexibility and durability. They are also present in products used for personal-care, industry and in medical devices. Phthalates have been associated with several adverse health effects, and recently it has been proposed that exposure to phthalates, could have an effect on metabolic homeostasis.

Biomarker measurements of concurrent exposure to multiple environmental chemicals and chemical classes in children.

Concern is mounting that children from disadvantaged, low-income neighborhoods are likely to be both more exposed to chemical hazards and more susceptible to related adverse health effects. This article reports measurements of >75 individual biomarkers spanning 7 chemical/pollutant classes in blood and urine from more than 100 children living in a socioeconomically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse area of south Minneapolis, MN. Results indicate that a significant proportion of children in the study were at the high end of the exposure distribution compared to national reference ranges for a variety of environmental chemicals and/or their metabolites, including phthalates, organochlorine pesticides, organophosphate pesticides, metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, and volatile organic compounds.

Impact of the improved patsari biomass stove on urinary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biomarkers and carbon monoxide exposures in rural Mexican women.

Background: Cooking with biomass fuels on open fires results in exposure to health-damaging pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and particulate matter.

Objective: We compared CO exposures and urinary PAH biomarkers pre- and postintervention with an improved biomass stove, the Patsari stove.

Methods: In a subsample of 63 women participating in a randomized controlled trial in central Mexico, we measured personal CO exposure for 8 hr during the day using continuous monitors and passive samplers.

Dioxin exposure and age of pubertal onset among Russian boys.

Background: Animal data demonstrate associations of dioxin, furan, and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposures with altered male gonadal maturation. It is unclear whether these associations apply to human populations.

Objectives: We investigated the association of dioxins, furans, PCBs, and corresponding toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentrations with pubertal onset among boys in a dioxin-contaminated region.

Personal care product use and urinary levels of phthalate metabolites in Mexican women.

Sources of phthalates other than Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) related products are scarcely documented in Mexico. The objective of our study was to explore the association between urinary levels of nine phthalate metabolites and the use of personal care products. Subjects included 108 women who participated as controls in an ongoing population-based case-control study of environmental factors and genetic susceptibility to breast cancer in northern Mexico.

Low dose organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls predict obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance among people free of diabetes.

Background: There is emerging evidence that background exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are important in the development of conditions predisposing to diabetes as well as of type 2 diabetes itself. We recently reported that low dose POPs predicted incident type 2 diabetes in a nested case-control study. The current study examined if low dose POPs predicted future adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance among controls without diabetes in that study.

Perinatal exposure to low doses of dioxin can permanently impair human semen quality.

Background: In recent decades, young men in some industrialized areas have reportedly experienced a decrease in semen quality.

Objective: We examined effects of perinatal dioxin exposure on sperm quality and reproductive hormones.

Methods: We investigated sperm quality and hormone concentrations in 39 sons (mean age, 22.

Serum dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls are associated with growth among Russian boys.

Objective: We evaluated the associations of serum dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) with longitudinally assessed growth measurements among peripubertal Russian boys.

Methods: A total of 499 boys from Chapaevsk, Russia, aged 8 to 9 years were enrolled in the study from 2003 to 2005 and were followed prospectively for 3 years. Blood samples were collected and physical examinations were conducted at entry and repeated at annual study visits.

Partition of environmental chemicals between maternal and fetal blood and tissues.

Passage of environmental chemicals across the placenta has important toxicological consequences, as well as for choosing samples for analysis and for interpreting the results. To obtain systematic data, we collected in 2000 maternal and cord blood, cord tissue, placenta, and milk in connection with births in the Faroe Islands, where exposures to marine contaminants is increased. In 15 sample sets, we measured a total of 87 environmental chemicals, almost all of which were detected both in maternal and fetal tissues.

Improved selectivity for the analysis of maternal serum and cord serum for polyfluoroalkyl chemicals.

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid, two of the most widely studied polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs), can cross the placenta. Therefore, data on the exposure to PFCs of the very young are needed to evaluate the potential health effects associated with such exposure. Human serum, especially serum collected from pregnant women and cord serum, may contain endogenous components that can interfere in the separation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) of PFOS and another PFC of interest, perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), from other serum biomolecules.

In-vitro oxidation of bisphenol A: Is bisphenol A catechol a suitable biomarker for human exposure to bisphenol A?

The extensive use of bisphenol A (BPA) in the manufacture of consumer products results in widespread human exposure to the chemical. In the body, BPA undergoes first-pass metabolism to form BPA glucuronide, considered to be a major BPA byproduct. Concentrations of total (free plus conjugated) urinary species of BPA are used to assess human exposure to BPA.

Prenatal environmental tobacco smoke exposure and early childhood body mass index.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of childhood overweight body mass index (BMI). Less is known about the association between prenatal secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure and childhood BMI. We followed 292 mother-child dyads from early pregnancy to 3 years of age.

Pesticide exposure among pregnant women in Jerusalem, Israel: results of a pilot study.

Background: Pesticides have been shown to disrupt neurodevelopment in laboratory animals and in human populations. To date, there have been no studies on exposure to pesticides in pregnant women in Israel, despite reports of widespread exposure in other populations of pregnant women and the importance of evaluating exposure in this susceptible sub-population.

Methods: We measured urinary concentrations of organophosphorus (OP) insecticide metabolites and plasma concentrations of OP and other pesticides in 20 pregnant women, recruited in Jerusalem, Israel in 2006, and collected questionnaire data on demographic factors and consumer habits from these women.

Urinary and serum metabolites of di-n-pentyl phthalate in rats.

Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPP) is used mainly as a plasticizer in nitrocellulose. At high doses, DPP acts as a potent testicular toxicant in rats. We administered a single oral dose of 500 mg kg(-1)bw of DPP to adult female Sprague-Dawley rats (N=9) and collected 24-h urine samples 1d before and 24- and 48-h after DPP was administered to tentatively identify DPP metabolites that could be used as exposure biomarkers.

High-throughput sample preparation for the quantitation of acephate, methamidophos, omethoate, dimethoate, ethylenethiourea, and propylenethiourea in human urine using 96-well-plate automated extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Acephate, methamidophos, o-methoate, and dimethoate are organophosphorus pesticides, and ethylenethiouria and propylenethiourea are two metabolites from the bisdithiocarbamate fungicide family. They are some of the most widely used pesticides and fungicides in agriculture both domestically and abroad. The existing high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method for the measurement of these compounds in human urine was improved by using a 96-well plate format sample preparation; the use of HPLC-MS/MS was comparable with a concentration range of 0.

Selecting adequate exposure biomarkers of diisononyl and diisodecyl phthalates: data from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Background: High-molecular-weight phthalates, such as diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), are used primarily as polyvinyl chloride plasticizers.

Objectives: We assessed exposure to DINP and DIDP in a representative sample of persons ≥ 6 years of age in the U.S.