Correction: Prenatal and Postnatal Exposure to DDT by Breast Milk Analysis in Canary Islands.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Different exposure of infants and adults to ultrafine particles in the urban area of Barcelona.

Air pollutants have been linked with a number of adverse health effects. Children are especially sensitive, particularly when they get close to the exhaust emissions of the vehicles on the street. The objective of this study was to measure the different exposure of infants and adults to ultrafine particles (UFP) as a surrogate marker of air pollution and of risk of deleterious health effects.

Transient exposure to ethanol during zebrafish embryogenesis results in defects in neuronal differentiation: an alternative model system to study FASD.

Background: The exposure of the human embryo to ethanol results in a spectrum of disorders involving multiple organ systems, including the impairment of the development of the central nervous system (CNS). In spite of the importance for human health, the molecular basis of prenatal ethanol exposure remains poorly understood, mainly to the difficulty of sample collection. Zebrafish is now emerging as a powerful organism for the modeling and the study of human diseases.

Advances in the development of novel antioxidant therapies as an approach for fetal alcohol syndrome prevention.

Ethanol is the most common human teratogen, and its consumption during pregnancy can produce a wide range of abnormalities in infants known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The major characteristics of FASD can be divided into: (i) growth retardation, (ii) craniofacial abnormalities, and (iii) central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction. FASD is the most common cause of nongenetic mental retardation in Western countries.

Prenatal and postnatal exposure to DDT by breast milk analysis in Canary Islands.

Introduction: The use of p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has been banned since the late 1970s due to its toxicity. However, its long half-life makes it persistent in the environment and, consequently, almost everyone has DDT residues in the body. Human milk constitutes an ideal non-conventional matrix to investigate environmental chronic exposure to organochlorine compounds (OCs) residues.

Body mass index trajectory classes and incident asthma in childhood: results from 8 European Birth Cohorts--a Global Allergy and Asthma European Network initiative.

Background: The causal link between body mass index (BMI) or obesity and asthma in children is still being debated. Analyses of large longitudinal studies with a sufficient number of incident cases and in which the time-dependent processes of both excess weight and asthma development can be validly analyzed are lacking.

Objective: We sought to investigate whether the course of BMI predicts incident asthma in childhood.

Assessment of prenatal exposure to arsenic in Tenerife Island.

Introduction: Increasing awareness of the potential chronic health effects of arsenic (As) at low exposure levels has motivated efforts to better understand impaired child development during pregnancy by biomarkers of exposure. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prenatal exposure to As by analysis of an alternative matrix (meconium), to examine its effects on neonatal outcomes and investigate the association with maternal lifestyle and dietary habits during pregnancy.

Methods: A transversal descriptive study was conducted in Tenerife (Spain).

Assessment of prenatal exposure to tobacco smoke by cotinine in cord blood for the evaluation of smoking control policies in Spain.

Background: Over the last few years a decreasing trend in smoking has occurred not only in the general population but also during pregnancy. Several countries have implemented laws requiring all enclosed workplace and public places to be free of second hand smoke (SHS). In Spain, legislation to reduce SHS was implemented in 2005.

Assessment of exposure to drugs of abuse during pregnancy by hair analysis in a Mediterranean island.

Aims:   This study aims to estimate the prevalence of drug use by pregnant women living in Ibiza, using structured interviews and biomarkers in maternal hair. In addition, the potentially detrimental effects of maternal drug abuse on their newborns were investigated. Ibiza has a large international night-life resort associated with clubs, music and use of recreational drugs.

Cocaine use during pregnancy assessed by hair analysis in a Canary Islands cohort.

Background: Drug use during pregnancy is difficult to ascertain, and maternal reports are likely to be inaccurate. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of illicit drug use among pregnant women by using maternal hair analysis.

Methods: A toxicological analysis of hair was used to detect chronic recreational drug use during pregnancy.

Hair analysis following chronic smoked-drugs-of-abuse exposure in adults and their toddler: a case report.

Introduction: Over the past two decades, the study of chronic cocaine and crack cocaine exposure in the pediatric population has been focused on the potential adverse effects, especially in the prenatal period and early childhood. Non-invasive biological matrices have become an essential tool for the assessment of a long-term history of drug of abuse exposure.

Case Report: We analyze the significance of different biomarker values in hair after chronic crack exposure in a two-year-old Caucasian girl and her parents, who are self-reported crack smokers.

Acute heroin intoxication in a baby chronically exposed to cocaine and heroin: a case report.

Introduction: Acute intoxication with drugs of abuse in children is often only the tip of the iceberg, actually hiding chronic exposure. Analysis using non-conventional matrices such as hair can provide long-term information about exposure to recreational drugs.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a one-month-old Caucasian boy admitted to our pediatric emergency unit with respiratory distress and neurological abnormalities.

[Relationship between lower respiratory tract infections in the first year of life and the development of asthma and wheezing in children].

Introduction: There is limited knowledge on the relationship between lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and asthma and wheezing during infancy, as there are few studies with prospective design, birth cohort and in non selected population. The objectives of the present study were to determine the prevalence of asthma and recurrent wheezing in childhood and to analyse the relationship between LTRI during the first year of life and the development of asthma and/or wheezing in childhood.

Patients And Methods: Prospective birth cohort study conducted in the Hospital del Mar (Barcelona).

A comprehensive review of assay methods to determine drugs in breast milk and the safety of breastfeeding when taking drugs.

Most of the licit and illicit drugs consumed by the breastfeeding woman pass into the milk and can modify the production, volume and composition of the milk, as well as hypothetically have short- and long-term harmful effects on the infant. There is much confusion in the scientific community regarding this issue: should a woman breastfeed her baby while continuing to use prescription drugs and/or drugs of abuse? There are many case reports of clinically significant toxicity in breast-fed infants from some substances used by mothers (such as irritability, vomiting, sedation, respiratory depression, shock), but there are too few data on studies conducted in breastfeeding women and their infants to make a realistic risk assessment. The objective measurement of a drug and/or metabolites in maternal milk is the first step when investigating the amount of drug excreted in milk and subsequently calculating the daily dose administered to the breast-fed infant.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry assay for the simultaneous quantification of drugs of abuse in human placenta at 12th week of gestation.

We describe the development and validation of a method for the quantification of drugs of abuse, using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS), in human placenta. Concentration ranges covered were 5-500 ng/g for amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, methadone, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, morphine, 11-nor-9-carboxy-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, nicotine, and cotinine. Intra-assay and inter-assay imprecisions were less than 15.

[Perinatal exposure to tobacco and respiratory and allergy symptoms in first years of life].

Background And Objectives: To analyse the relationship between prenatal and postnatal tobacco exposure and the development of respiratory and allergy symptoms during the first 4 years of life.

Patients And Methods: Prospective and multicentred cohort study that included the subjects belonging to AMICS (Asthma Multicentred Infant Cohort Study) located in Ashford (England), Barcelona and Minorca (Spain). We recruited 1611 children, followed from the pregnancy to the 4th year of life, whose parents annually answered a questionnaire on their tobacco consumption and their children's respiratory and allergy health.

Ethylglucuronide and ethylsulfate in meconium to assess gestational ethanol exposure: preliminary results in two Mediterranean cohorts.

Background: In recent years, fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium emerged as reliable, direct biological markers for establishing gestational ethanol exposure. Among the minor nonoxidative products of ethanol metabolism, there are ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS).

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyse meconium specimens from two different Mediterranean cohorts to check for the presence of EtG and EtS, and to investigate the eventual correlation between meconium FAEEs and these two metabolites and their possible application as direct biomarkers of gestational ethanol exposure.

Biological matrices for the evaluation of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during prenatal life and childhood.

The measurement of nicotine and its major metabolites cotinine and trans-3 -hydroxicotinine together with other minor metabolites (e.g., cotinine N-oxide, cotinine, and trans-3 -hydroxicotinine glucuronides) in conventional and nonconventional biological matrices has been used as a biomarker to assess the exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during childhood.

Pharmacokinetics and therapeutic drug monitoring of psychotropic drugs in pediatrics.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in pediatrics (0-14 years) is especially important because the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs and drug pharmacokinetic profiles can be different from that of the adult population. In this context, several parameters like half-life of drug elimination from the body (t(1/2)), peak plasma concentration (Cmax), area under the curve, clearance (CL), Tmax, and dose/concentration relationship in children may differ from adults. Hence, the knowledge of pharmacokinetic parameters and therapeutic and toxic ranges of drug concentrations may help the clinicians to optimize drug treatment regimens in the pediatric population.

Unsuspected exposure to cocaine in preschool children from a Mediterranean city detected by hair analysis.

We used hair testing to investigate the prevalence of unsuspected exposure to cocaine in a group of preschool children presenting to an urban pediatric emergency department without signs or symptoms suggestive of exposure. Hair samples were obtained from 90 children between 18 months and 5 years of age attending the emergency room of Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. In 85 cases, hair samples from the accompanying parent were also provided.

Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry determination of methylphenidate and ritalinic acid in conventional and non-conventional biological matrices.

A procedure based on liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is described for determination of methylphenidate (MPH) and its principal metabolite ritalinic acid (RA) in plasma, urine, oral fluid and sweat using 3,4-methylendioxypropylamphetamine (MDPA) as internal standard. Aliquots of 100microL biological fluids and sweat patch were initially treated with acetonitrile, centrifuged, and clear supernatants evaporated and redissolved in 10mM ammonium acetate. Chromatography was performed on a reversed-phase column using a gradient of 10mM ammonium acetate and acetonitrile as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1mL/min.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium: assessment of prenatal exposure to alcohol in two European cohorts.

Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium emerged as a reliable, direct biological marker for establishing fetal exposure to ethanol. We developed an LC-MS/MS method for ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl palmitoleate, ethyl stearate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate, ethyl linolenate, and ethyl arachidonate using ethyl heptadecanoate as the internal standard. The analytes were extracted from meconium with hexane, followed by solid-phase extraction with aminopropyl-silica columns.