Publications by authors named "M G Narotsky"

Background: Epidemiological studies report associations of drinking water disinfection byproducts (DBPs) with adverse health outcomes, including birth defects. Here, we used a rat model susceptible to pregnancy loss (full-litter resorption; FLR) and eye malformations (anophthalmia, microphthalmia) to test 11 DBPs, including trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids (HAAs), and nitrogen-containing DBPs (N-DBPs).

Methods: Timed-pregnant F344 rats received gavage doses of chloroform, chlorodibromomethane, iodoform, chloroacetic acid, bromoacetic acid, dibromoacetic acid (DBA), diiodoacetic acid (DIA), trichloroacetic acid (TCA), dibromonitromethane, and iodoacetonitrile on gestation days (GD) 6-10.

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Background: Some disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are teratogens based on toxicological evidence. Conventional use of predominant DBPs as proxies for complex mixtures may result in decreased ability to detect associations in epidemiological studies.

Objective: We assessed risks of obstructive genitourinary birth defects (OGDs) in relation to 12 DBP mixtures and 13 individual component DBPs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Developmental and reproductive toxicity studies analyze data from litters rather than individual fetuses, as littermates are not completely independent.
  • Researchers performed power calculations to compare different methods of analyzing litter-based proportional data, including nonparametric and various transformations.
  • Results showed that logit transformation provided the most powerful analysis for skewed litter data, especially when response proportions approached the extremes of the range.
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Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that exposure to water disinfection by-products (DBPs) may increase the risk of certain birth defects. However, evidence for musculoskeletal defects (MSDs) is limited. Previous MSD studies have not examined DBPs beyond trihalomethanes (THMs) and have not separately examined limb or diaphragm defects which may have distinct developmental etiologies.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to examine associations between craniofacial birth defects (CFDs) and disinfection by-product (DBP) exposures, including the sum of four trihalomethanes (THM4) and five haloacetic acids (HAA5) (ie, DBP9).

Methods: We calculated first trimester adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for different DBPs in a matched case-control study of 366 CFD cases in Massachusetts towns with complete 1999 to 2004 THM and HAA data.

Results: We detected elevated aORs for cleft palate with DBP9 (highest quintile aOR = 3.

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