Higher fish consumption in pregnancy may confer protection against the harmful effect of prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter.

Background/aim: The objective of this study was to assess a hypothesized beneficial effect of fish consumption during the last trimester of pregnancy on adverse birth outcomes resulting from prenatal exposure to fine air particulate matter.

Methods: The cohort consisted of 481 nonsmoking women with singleton pregnancies, of 18-35 years of age, who gave birth at term. All recruited women were asked about their usual diet over the period of pregnancy.

Transcriptional biomarkers of steroidogenesis and trophoblast differentiation in the placenta in relation to prenatal phthalate exposure.

Background: Phthalates can alter steroidogenesis and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma)mediated transcription in rodent tissues. The placenta offers a rich source of biomarkers to study these relationships in humans.

Objective: We evaluated whether gestational phthalate exposures in humans were associated with altered human placental steroidogenesis and trophoblast differentiation as measured by markers of mRNA transcription.

Prenatal exposure to PBDEs and neurodevelopment.

Background: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used flame retardant compounds that are persistent and bioaccumulative and therefore have become ubiquitous environment contaminants. Animal studies suggest that prenatal PBDE exposure may result in adverse neurodevelopmental effects.

Objective: In a longitudinal cohort initiated after 11 September 2001, including 329 mothers who delivered in one of three hospitals in lower Manhattan, New York, we examined prenatal PBDE exposure and neurodevelopment when their children were 12-48 and 72 months of age.

Neonatology and the Environment: Impact of Early Exposure to Airborne Environmental Toxicants on Infant and Child Neurodevelopment.

Environmental contaminants pose a threat to infant neurodevelopment. In this current paper, we discuss evidence for the potentially harmful impact of fetal and early childhood exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and organophosphorus (OP) insecticides. We focus on effects resulting from chronic and low-level exposure during the prenatal period and early childhood, when the brain is still undergoing rapid developmental changes.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolite levels and pediatric allergy and asthma in an inner-city cohort.

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) has been associated with allergic sensitization and asthma. We hypothesized that increased urinary PAH metabolites are associated with allergy or asthma among children age 5 yrs in an inner-city birth cohort. As part of an ongoing prospective birth cohort under the auspices of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH), urine was collected from 5-yr-old children (n = 222) of Dominican American and African American mothers in Northern Manhattan and South Bronx of New York City.

Prenatal di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate exposure and length of gestation among an inner-city cohort.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the relationship between di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) exposure during pregnancy and gestational age at delivery among 311 African American or Dominican women from New York City.

Methods: Forty-eight-hour personal air and/or spot urine samples were collected during the third trimester. DEHP levels were measured in air samples and 4 DEHP metabolite levels were measured in urine.

Effect of gene-environment Interactions on mental development in African American, Dominican, and Caucasian mothers and newborns.

The health impact of environmental toxins has gained increasing recognition over the years. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) are known to affect nervous system development in children, but no studies have investigated how polymorphisms in PAH metabolic genes affect child cognitive development following PAH exposure during pregnancy. In two parallel prospective cohort studies of non-smoking African American and Dominican mothers and children in New York City and of Caucasian mothers and children in Krakow, Poland, we explored the effect of gene-PAH interaction on child mental development index (MDI).

Prenatal acetaminophen exposure and risk of wheeze at age 5 years in an urban low-income cohort.

Background: Acetaminophen has been associated with asthma and is in part metabolised via the glutathione pathway. Inner-city minority children have high asthma morbidity and a relatively high frequency of a minor allele variant in the glutathione S transferase Pi gene (GSTP1). We hypothesised that prenatal acetaminophen exposure would predict wheeze at age 5 years in an inner-city minority cohort and examined whether this association was modified by common polymorphisms in genes related to the glutathione pathway.

Ambient metals, elemental carbon, and wheeze and cough in New York City children through 24 months of age.

Rationale: The effects of exposure to specific components of ambient fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)), including metals and elemental carbon (EC), have not been fully characterized in young children.

Objectives: To compare temporal associations among PM(2.

Modulation of the effect of prenatal PAH exposure on PAH-DNA adducts in cord blood by plasma antioxidants.

The fetus is more susceptible than the adult to the effects of certain carcinogens, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Nutritional factors, including antioxidants, have been shown to have a protective effect on carcinogen-DNA adducts and cancer risk in adults. We investigated whether the effect of prenatal airborne PAH exposure, measured by personal air monitoring during pregnancy, on the level of PAH-DNA adducts in a baby's cord blood is modified by the concentration of micronutrients in maternal and cord blood.

Prenatal airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and child IQ at age 5 years.

Objective: This study evaluated the relationship between prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and child intelligence.

Methods: Children of nonsmoking black or Dominican-American women residing in New York City were monitored from in utero to 5 years of age, with determination of prenatal PAH exposure through personal air monitoring for the mothers during pregnancy. At 5 years of age, intelligence was assessed for 249 children by using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised.

Methods for detecting interactions between genetic polymorphisms and prenatal environment exposure with a mother-child design.

Prenatal exposures such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and early postnatal environmental exposures are of particular concern because of the heightened susceptibility of the fetus and infant to diverse environmental pollutants. Marked inter-individual variation in response to the same level of exposure was observed in both mothers and their newborns, indicating that susceptibility might be due to genetic factors. With the mother-child pair design, existing methods developed for parent-child trio data or random sample data are either not applicable or not designed to optimally use the information.

Early wheezing phenotypes and cognitive development of 3-yr-olds. Community-recruited birth cohort study.

The main purpose of the study was to answer the question whether young children without clinical diagnosis of asthma but experiencing early wheezing disorders and therefore being at high risk of developing asthma may have cognitive deficits. In the ongoing birth cohort study wheezing symptoms were recorded postpartum over two first years of age and subsequently cognitive status of children at the age of 3 yr was assessed with the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI). In the statistical analysis a wide range of modifying and confounding factors (maternal education, gender of children, prenatal exposure to lead and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) were considered to assess the independent effect of early wheezing phenotypes on cognitive development of children.

Gender specific differences in neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to very low-lead levels: the prospective cohort study in three-year olds.

Unlabelled: The primary purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between very low-level of prenatal lead exposure measured in the cord blood (<5 microg/dL) and possible gender-specific cognitive deficits in the course of the first three years of life. The accumulated lead dose in infants over the pregnancy period was measured by the cord blood lead level (BLL) and cognitive deficits were assessed by the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI). The study sample consisted of 457 children born to non-smoking women living in the inner city and the outlying residential areas of Krakow.

A biomarker validation study of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure within an inner-city cohort during pregnancy.

Background: We previously documented significant decreases in chlorpyrifos concentrations in maternal personal and indoor air samples among pregnant African-American and Dominican women from New York City after the 2000-2001 restrictions on its residential use.

Objective: We undertook a biomarker validation study within the same cohort to evaluate trends over time in multiple biomarkers of prenatal chlorpyrifos exposure.

Methods: Subjects were enrolled between February 2001 and May 2004 (n = 102).

Early wheezing phenotypes and severity of respiratory illness in very early childhood: study on intrauterine exposure to fine particle matter.

The main goal of the paper was to assess the pattern of risk factors having an impact on the onset of early wheezing phenotypes in the birth cohort of 468 two-year olds and to investigate the severity of respiratory illness in the two-year olds in relation to both wheezing phenotypes, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and personal PM(2.5) exposure over pregnancy period (fine particulate matter). The secondary goal of the paper was to assess possible association of early persistent wheezing with the length of the baby at birth.

Effect of interval to definitive breast surgery on clinical presentation and survival in early-stage invasive breast cancer.

Purpose: To examine the effect of clinical presentation and interval to breast surgery on local recurrence and survival in early-stage breast cancer.

Methods And Materials: The data from 397 patients with Stage T1-T2N0 breast carcinoma treated with conservative surgery and breast radiotherapy between 1985 and 1992 were reviewed at the London Regional Cancer Program. The clinical presentation consisted of a mammogram finding or a palpable lump.

Gender differences in fetal growth of newborns exposed prenatally to airborne fine particulate matter.

Our primary purpose was to assess sex-specific fetal growth reduction in newborns exposed prenatally to fine particulate matter. Only women 18-35 years of age, who claimed to be non-smokers, with singleton pregnancies, without illicit drug use and HIV infection, free from chronic diseases were eligible for the study. A total of 481 enrolled pregnant women who gave birth between 37 and 43 weeks of gestation were included in the study.

Very low prenatal exposure to lead and mental development of children in infancy and early childhood: Krakow prospective cohort study.

Background: The primary purpose of the study was to establish a possible association between very low levels of prenatal exposure to lead and mental development of children at 12, 24 and 36 months of age.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 444 children born to mothers who attended ambulatory prenatal clinics in Krakow inner city in the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. We assessed exposure to lead by the cord blood lead measurements, and mental development in infancy and early childhood using the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI).

Relation of DNA methylation of 5'-CpG island of ACSL3 to transplacental exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and childhood asthma.

In a longitudinal cohort of approximately 700 children in New York City, the prevalence of asthma (>25%) is among the highest in the US. This high risk may in part be caused by transplacental exposure to traffic-related polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) but biomarkers informative of PAH-asthma relationships is lacking. We here hypothesized that epigenetic marks associated with transplacental PAH exposure and/or childhood asthma risk could be identified in fetal tissues.

Alterations in hormone levels after adjuvant chemoradiation in male rectal cancer patients.

Purpose: To evaluate follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone levels after postoperative chemoradiation in men with rectal cancer.

Methods And Materials: Forty-three men with rectal cancer had baseline and postchemoradiation FSH, LH, and testosterone measured. Adjuvant chemoradiation consisted of two 5-day cycles of bolus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) every 4 weeks at a dose of 500 mg/m(2)/d followed by concurrent chemoradiation followed by two additional 5-day cycles of 5-FU at a dose of 450 mg/m(2)/d.

Changes in pest infestation levels, self-reported pesticide use, and permethrin exposure during pregnancy after the 2000-2001 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restriction of organophosphates.

Background: Widespread residential pesticide use throughout the United States has resulted in ubiquitous, low-level pesticide exposure. The mix of active pesticide ingredients is changing in response to 2000-2001 regulations restricting use of the organophosphorus insecticides chlorpyrifos and diazinon.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the impact of U.

Estimating individual-level exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons throughout the gestational period based on personal, indoor, and outdoor monitoring.

Objectives: Current understanding on health effects of long-term polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure is limited by lack of data on time-varying nature of the pollutants at an individual level. In a cohort of pregnant women in Krakow, Poland, we examined the contribution of temporal, spatial, and behavioral factors to prenatal exposure to airborne PAHs within each trimester and developed a predictive model of PAH exposure over the entire gestational period.

Methods: We monitored nonsmoking pregnant women (n = 341) for their personal exposure to pyrene and eight carcinogenic PAHs-benz[a]anthracene, chrysene/isochrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene [B(a)P], indeno[1,2,3-c,d]pyrene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, and benzo[g,h,i]perylene-during their second trimester for a consecutive 48-hr period.

Anti-cockroach and anti-mouse IgE are associated with early wheeze and atopy in an inner-city birth cohort.

Background: The relationships between cockroach and mouse allergen exposure, anti-cockroach and anti-mouse IgE, and wheeze, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis in children as young as age 3 years are of public health importance but have not been thoroughly evaluated.

Objective: We hypothesized that inner-city children might have anti-cockroach and anti-mouse IgE by age 3 years, and their presence would be associated with respiratory and atopic symptoms.

Methods: Children were followed prospectively from birth through age 3 years (n = 404).