Exploring the risk of hypospadias in children born from mothers living close to a vineyard.

Hypospadias (H) is a common birth defect affecting the male urinary tract. It has been suggested that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals might increase the risk of H by altering urethral development. However, whether H risk is increased in places heavily exposed to agricultural pesticides, such as vineyards, remains debated and difficult to ascertain.

Serum antimüllerian hormone is associated with the number of oocytes matured in vitro and with primordial follicle density in candidates for fertility preservation.

Objective: To assess whether serum antimüllerian hormone (AMH) levels and antral follicle count (AFC) can predict primordial follicle density within ovarian cortex and the number of oocytes cryopreserved after in vitro maturation (IVM).

Design: Retrospective analysis of a case series of patients.

Setting: University hospital.

Using spatio-temporal surveillance data to test the infectious environment of children before type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

The "hygiene hypothesis" postulates that reduced exposure to infections favours the development of autoimmunity and childhood type 1 diabetes (T1D). But on the other side, viruses, notably enteroviruses, are suspected to trigger T1D. The assessment of the possible relationships between infections and T1D still defies the classical tools of epidemiology.

Age distribution of cases and deaths during the 1889 influenza pandemic.

Using historical data taken from archival records from five European countries and the United States, we evaluate the age distributions of influenza cases and deaths during the 1889 influenza pandemic. We found that the clinical attack rate in 1889 was relatively high and constant between the ages of 1 and 60 years, but was lower outside of the extremes of this age range. By contrast, age-specific influenza-related mortality rates were J-shaped and increased with age beyond 20 years.

Transmissibility and geographic spread of the 1889 influenza pandemic.

Until now, mortality and spreading mechanisms of influenza pandemics have been studied only for the 1918, 1957, and 1968 pandemics; none have concerned the 19th century. Herein, we examined the 1889 "Russian" pandemic. Clinical attack rates were retrieved for 408 geographic entities in 14 European countries and in the United States.