Smoking, physical exercise, BMI and late foetal death: a study within the Danish National Birth Cohort.

The aim of this paper was to estimate the effect of maternal and paternal smoking on foetal death (miscarriage and stillbirth) and to estimate potential interactions with physical exercise and pre-pregnancy body mass index. We selected 87,930 pregnancies from the population-based Danish National Birth Cohort. Information about lifestyle, occupational, medical and obstetric factors was obtained from a telephone interview and data on pregnancy outcomes came from the Danish population based registries.

Vitamin D Status in Pregnancy and Determinants in a Southern European Cohort Study.

Background: Population-based data on vitamin D status in pregnancy in southern European countries are scarce. We assessed the prevalence and determinants of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in pregnancy in Spain.

Methods: Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentration was measured at the first trimester of gestation in 2,036 pregnant women from several geographical areas of Spain (latitude 39-42°N).

Characteristics and Outcomes of Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis (Wegener) and Microscopic Polyangiitis Requiring Renal Replacement Therapy: Results From the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association Registry.

Background: This study describes the incidence and outcomes of European patients requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) for kidney failure due to antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV).

Study Design: Cohort study.

Setting & Participants: 12 renal registries providing individual RRT patient data to the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry in 1993-2012 participated.

Postnatal weight growth and trihalomethane exposure during pregnancy.

Background: Impaired postnatal growth after chloroform exposure in utero has been observed in rodents without an effect on birth weight. We aimed to study the relationship between exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) during pregnancy and postnatal weight growth during infancy.

Methods: We analysed 2216 mother-child pairs recruited in Gipuzkoa, Sabadell, Valencia (Spain, INMA Project, enrollment: 2003-2008) and Crete (Greece, RHEA Study, enrollment: 2007-2008).

Prenatal exposure to PCB-153, p,p'-DDE and birth outcomes in 9000 mother-child pairs: exposure-response relationship and effect modifiers.

Low-level exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl-153 (PCB-153) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p-p'-DDE) can impair fetal growth; however, the exposure-response relationship and effect modifiers of such association are not well established. This study is an extension of an earlier European meta-analysis. Our aim was to explore exposure-response relationship between PCB-153 and p-p'-DDE and birth outcomes; to evaluate whether any no exposure-effect level and susceptible subgroups exist; and to assess the role of maternal gestational weight gain (GWG).

Deficit of vitamin D in pregnancy and growth and overweight in the offspring.

Background: Maternal vitamin D status during fetal development may influence offspring growth and risk of obesity; however, evidence in humans is limited.

Objective: To investigate whether maternal circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentration in pregnancy is associated with offspring prenatal and postnatal growth and overweight.

Methods: Plasma 25(OH)D3 concentration was measured in pregnant women (median weeks of gestation 14.

In utero exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens and child neuropsychological development.

Background: To date, no epidemiological studies have explored the impact and persistence of in utero exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens on the developing brain. We aimed to assess whether the cumulative effect of xenoestrogens in the placenta is associated with altered infant neuropsychological functioning at two and at four years of age, and if associations differ among boys and girls.

Methods: Cumulative prenatal exposure to xenoestrogens was quantified in the placenta using the biomarker Total Effective Xenoestrogen Burden (TEXB-alpha) in 489 participants from the INMA (Childhood and the Environment) Project.

Prenatal exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens and repetitive element DNA methylation changes in human placenta.

Background: Prenatal exposure to endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) has previously shown to alter epigenetic marks.

Objectives: In this work we explore whether prenatal exposure to mixtures of xenoestrogens has the potential to alter the placenta epigenome, by studying DNA methylation in retrotransposons as a surrogate of global DNA methylation.

Methods: The biomarker total effective xenoestrogen burden (TEXB) was measured in 192 placentas from participants in the longitudinal INMA Project.

Probabilistic risk assessment of the exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers via fish and seafood consumption in the Region of Valencia (Spain).

The study was carried out to estimate the dietary intake of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in the Region of Valencia (Spain) in order to evaluate the resultant risk. The PBDE levels in fish and seafood (a total of 206 samples) were determined. Dietary intake was estimated using results of PBDE analyses in fish and seafood marketed in the Region of Valencia over the period 2007-2012 and data of the first Valencian Food Consumption Survey, conducted in 2010.

A systematic review of neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal and postnatal organophosphate pesticide exposure.

Agricultural and residential use of organophosphate (OP) pesticides has increased in recent decades after banning some persistent pesticides. Although there is evidence of the effects of OPs on neurodevelopment and behaviour in adults, limited information is available about their effects in children, who might be more vulnerable to neurotoxic compounds. This paper was aimed at analysing the scientific evidence published to date on potential neurodevelopmental and behavioural effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure to OPs.

Out-of-Africa migration and Neolithic coexpansion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with modern humans.

Tuberculosis caused 20% of all human deaths in the Western world between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries and remains a cause of high mortality in developing countries. In analogy to other crowd diseases, the origin of human tuberculosis has been associated with the Neolithic Demographic Transition, but recent studies point to a much earlier origin. We analyzed the whole genomes of 259 M.

Prenatal and postnatal insecticide use and infant neuropsychological development in a multicenter birth cohort study.

There is little evidence about exposure to currently used insecticides during early life periods and adverse effects on child neuropsychological development. The aim of this study is to examine the association between residential insecticide use during pregnancy and infancy, and the development of children. Study subjects were participants in the INMA (Environment and Childhood) Project, a Spanish multicenter birth cohort study.

Gender differences in the neurotoxicity of metals in children.

Gender-related differences in susceptibility to chemical exposure to neurotoxicants have not received sufficient attention. Although a significant number of epidemiological studies on the neurodevelopmental effects of metal exposure has been published in the last twenty years, not many of them have considered the possible gender-specific effects of such exposure. This review is focused on studies where the gender differences in pre- and/or postnatal exposure/s to five metals (mercury, lead, manganese, cadmium, and arsenic) and neurodevelopment were evaluated.