Dietary diversity and its determinants among women of reproductive age residing in the urban area of Nouakchott, Mauritania.

Background: The intake of nutrient-rich foods from diverse diets ensures adequate nutrition for women. This study aims to determine dietary diversity among women of reproductive age (WRA) using the MDD-W indicator and how it relates to their socio-economic characteristics in the city of Nouakchott, Mauritania.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 240 women of reproductive age, aged 15-49 years.

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

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

Arsenic levels in immigrant children from countries at risk of consuming arsenic polluted water compared to children from Barcelona.

Arsenic is a highly toxic element that pollutes groundwater, being a major environmental problem worldwide, especially in the Bengal Basin. About 40% of patients in our outpatient clinics come from those countries, and there is no published data about their arsenic exposure. This study compares arsenic exposure between immigrant and native children.

Prenatal ethanol exposure and placental hCG and IGF2 expression.

Introduction: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the main cause of preventable non-genetic mental retardation. Diagnosis of prenatal exposure to ethanol (PEE) is based on questionnaires and biomarkers in perinatal matrices. Early diagnosis of FASD is important to mitigate secondary disabilities that will arise later in life.

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.

Ethanol cytotoxic effect on trophoblast cells.

Prenatal ethanol exposure may cause both, altered fetal neurodevelopment and impaired placental function. These disturbances can lead to growth retardation, which is one of the most prevalent features in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). It is not known whether there is a specific pattern of cytotoxicity caused by ethanol that can be extrapolated to other cell types.

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).

Feto-placental morphological effects of prenatal exposure to drugs of abuse.

The aim of the study was to find morphological changes in the feto-placental unit due to prenatal exposure to drugs of abuse. A blind histomorphometric study was performed using 225 placentas. Based on meconium testing, the fetuses were classified as exposed or unexposed to opiates, cocaine, cannabis or alcohol.

[Alternative biological materials to detect prenatal exposure to drugs of abuse in the third trimester of pregnancy].

Introduction: Detection of prenatal drug abuse exposure is essential to ensure an appropriate monitoring of affected children. A maternal questionnaire is not an efficient screening tool. The usefulness of maternal hair and meconium as biological materials to assess this exposure has been described in last few years.

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.

Determination of maternal-fetal biomarkers of prenatal exposure to ethanol: a review.

The deleterious effects exerted by prenatal ethanol exposure include physical, mental, behavioural and/or learning disabilities that are included in the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Objective assessment of exposure to ethanol at both prenatal and postnatal stages is essential for early prevention and intervention. Since pregnant women tend to underreport alcohol drinking by questionnaires, a number of biological markers have been proposed and evaluated for their capability to highlight gestational drinking behaviour.

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.

[Validity of a maternal alcohol consumption questionnaire in detecting prenatal exposure].

Introduction: Ethanol consumption by pregnant women can produce severe effects in the foetus and the newborn, mainly in neurological and weight-height development, and are included in the term FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder). Questionnaires are the most used screening method to detect prenatal exposure, but a previous population study questioned its reliability. The objective of this study was to compare alcohol prenatal exposure detection by questionnaire compared with biomarkers in meconium.

Maternal hair testing for the assessment of fetal exposure to drug of abuse during early pregnancy: Comparison with testing in placental and fetal remains.

Unlabelled: Drug use by pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy and subsequent fetal exposure during early gestation can be assessed only by repetitive/systematic maternal blood/urine analysis or segmental hair analysis. No evidence of any relationship between maternal/fetal exposure during this specific period of gestation has been demonstrated to date in a human model.

Methods: To clarify drugs toxicokinetics and transplacental passage during early pregnancy, the presence of the most widely used recreational drugs of abuse and metabolites was investigated in the proximal 4cm hair segments of women undergoing voluntary termination of pregnancy (n=280) during the 12th week of gestation and the results were compared to those from placenta and fetal tissue samples in order to verify whether maternal hair testing can reflect fetal exposure and, if so, to what extent.

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.

[Drugs of abuse acute intoxication in paediatric emergencies].

Documented cases show that acute drugs of abuse intoxication in children usually is the Fritz clinical evidence of a chronic exposure. Published clinical reports of drugs of abuse acute poisonings in children are reviewed, above all those with an underlying chronic exposure to the same or another substance. Biological matrices and exposure biomarkers useful in toxicology analysis in Paediatrics are reviewed.

[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).