Prenatal mercury concentration is associated with changes in DNA methylation at TCEANC2 in newborns.

Background: Human exposure to the widespread environmental contaminant mercury is a known risk factor for common diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders through poorly characterized mechanisms. Evidence suggests mercury exposure may alter DNA methylation levels, but to date, the effects in early life on a genome-wide scale have not been investigated.

Methods: A study sample of 141 newborns was recruited in Baltimore, MD, USA and total mercury and methylmercury were measured in cord blood samples.

The National Children's Study: an opportunity for medical toxicology.

The National Children's Study (NCS) is a national longitudinal study that will prospectively investigate the influence of biological, environmental, genetic, and social factors on the health and development of US children. The NCS was mandated by the Children's Health Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-310) and is being implemented by the National Institutes of Health with input from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal departments and agencies. The NCS is a data-driven, evidence-based, community- and participant-informed study.

Smoking status and urine cadmium above levels associated with subclinical renal effects in U.S. adults without chronic kidney disease.

Tobacco smoke is a major source of adult exposure to cadmium (Cd). Urine Cd levels (CdU) above 1.0, 0.

A review of events that expose children to elemental mercury in the United States.

Concern for children exposed to elemental mercury prompted the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the sources of elemental mercury exposures in children, describe the location and proportion of children affected, and make recommendations on how to prevent these exposures. In this review, we excluded mercury exposures from coal-burning facilities, dental amalgams, fish consumption, medical waste incinerators, or thimerosal-containing vaccines. We reviewed federal, state, and regional programs with data on mercury releases along with published reports of children exposed to elemental mercury in the United States.

A review of events that expose children to elemental mercury in the United States.

Objective: Concern for children exposed to elemental mercury prompted the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the sources of elemental mercury exposures in children, describe the location and proportion of children affected, and make recommendations on how to prevent these exposures. In this review, we excluded mercury exposures from coal-burning facilities, dental amalgams, fish consumption, medical waste incinerators, or thimerosal-containing vaccines.

Data Sources: We reviewed federal, state, and regional programs with information on mercury releases along with published reports of children exposed to elemental mercury in the United States.

Efficacy and safety of high-dose pravastatin in hypercholesterolemic patients with well-compensated chronic liver disease: Results of a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial.

Unlabelled: The hepatotoxic potential of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors in patients with underlying chronic liver disease remains controversial. We performed a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial that compared pravastatin (80 mg) to a placebo administered once daily to hypercholesterolemic subjects greater than 18 years of age with at least a 6-month history of compensated chronic liver disease and with a low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level greater than or equal to 100 mg/dL and a triglyceride (TG) level lower than 400 mg/dL. The efficacy was determined by the percentage change in LDL-C [along with the total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and TG] from the baseline to week 12.