Sustained bloodstream release of persistent organic pollutants induced by extensive weight loss after bariatric surgery: Implications for women of childbearing age.

Background: Lipophilic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are stored in adipose tissues and released in case of weight loss.

Objectives: To analyze the kinetics and characteristics of this release during drastic weight loss after bariatric surgery and compare the results in case of women of childbearing age (WCBA) with critical blood concentration thresholds.

Methods: 100 morbidly obese patients (73 women including 53 of childbearing age and 27 men) were screened before and 3, 6 and 12 months after bariatric surgery for serum concentrations of 67 congeners or metabolites of banned or not yet banned organohalogenated persistent pollutants, including highly lipophilic polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and less lipophilic perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFASs).

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Interfere With Leydig Cell Hormone Pathways During Testicular Descent in Idiopathic Cryptorchidism.

Cryptorchidism, a frequent genital malformation in male newborn, remains in most cases idiopathic. On the basis of experimental, epidemiological, and clinical data, it has been included in the testicular dysgenesis syndrome and believed to be influenced, together with genetic and anatomic factors, by maternal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Here, we analyze how EDCs may interfere with the control of testicular descent, which is regulated by two Leydig cell hormones, testosterone, and insulin like peptide 3 (INSL3).

Breeding success of a marine central place forager in the context of climate change: A modeling approach.

In response to climate warming, a southward shift in productive frontal systems serving as the main foraging sites for many top predator species is likely to occur in Subantarctic areas. Central place foragers, such as seabirds and pinnipeds, are thus likely to cope with an increase in the distance between foraging locations and their land-based breeding colonies. Understanding how central place foragers should modify their foraging behavior in response to changes in prey accessibility appears crucial.

A negative correlation between insulin-like peptide 3 and bisphenol A in human cord blood suggests an effect of endocrine disruptors on testicular descent during fetal development.

Study Question: Does a relationship exist between insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) and selected environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs) in human cord blood (cb)?

Summary Answer: In the whole population (cryptorchid and control boys) cbINSL3 correlated negatively with cb free bisphenol A (BPA) providing indirect evidence for an impact of EEDs on fetal Leydig cell INSL3 production.

What Is Known Already: INSL3 is a major regulator of testicular descent. This hormone has been shown to be decreased in cord blood from boys with idiopathic cryptorchidism, the most frequent male malformation.

Cord blood insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) but not testosterone is reduced in idiopathic cryptorchidism.

Background: Cryptorchidism, the most frequent congenital malformation in full-term male newborns, increases the risk of hypofertility and testicular cancer. Most cases remain idiopathic but epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested a role of both genetic and environmental factors. Physiological testicular descent is regulated by two major Leydig hormones: insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) and testosterone.

Optimal resource allocation to survival and reproduction in parasitic wasps foraging in fragmented habitats.

Expansion and intensification of human land use represents the major cause of habitat fragmentation. Such fragmentation can have dramatic consequences on species richness and trophic interactions within food webs. Although the associated ecological consequences have been studied by several authors, the evolutionary effects on interacting species have received little research attention.

A root-knot nematode-secreted protein is injected into giant cells and targeted to the nuclei.

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are obligate endoparasites that maintain a biotrophic relationship with their hosts over a period of several weeks and induce the differentiation of root cells into specialized feeding cells. Nematode effectors synthesized in the oesophageal glands and injected into the plant tissue through the syringe-like stylet certainly play a central role in these processes. In a search for nematode effectors, we used comparative genomics on expressed sequence tag (EST) datasets to identify Meloidogyne incognita genes encoding proteins potentially secreted upon the early steps of infection.