Associations of maternal urinary nitrophenol concentrations with adverse birth outcomes and neurodevelopment delay at 4 years of age: The Japan environment and children's study.

Maternal urinary nitrophenol concentrations are reportedly associated with preterm birth and foetal/offspring development delay, but the evidence is still inconclusive. We investigated the association between maternal urinary concentrations of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) and 3-methyl-4-nitrophenol (3M4NP) and adverse birth outcomes, as well as offspring neurodevelopment delay, defined using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires at 4 years of age, stratified by offspring sex. A total of 3650 non-hypertensive mothers with singleton births were enrolled from the Japan Environment and Children's Study.

Urinary concentrations of environmental phenol among pregnant women in the Japan Environment and Children's Study.

Humans are exposed to various bisphenols, alkylphenols and nitrophenols through dietary intake, food packaging and container materials, indoor and outdoor air/dust. This study aimed to evaluate exposure of Japanese pregnant women to environmental phenols by measuring target compounds in urine samples. From a cohort of the Japan Environment and Children's Study, 4577 pregnant women were selected.

Urinary concentrations and elimination half-lives of parabens, benzophenones, bisphenol and triclosan in Japanese young adults.

Environmental phenols are widely distributed in the environment and human samples, suggesting potential exposure to these chemicals. We designed an intervention trial with 30 participants over 6 days to assess the urinary concentrations and half-lives of environmental phenols in Japanese young people. The target environmental phenols include three parabens (methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, and propyl paraben), two benzophenones (benzophenone 1 and 3), two bisphenols (bisphenol F and bisphenol S), and triclosan.

Optimal method for determining the intraclass correlation coefficients of urinary biomarkers such as dialkylphosphates from imputed data.

Urinary biomarkers are commonly used in epidemiological studies as surrogates or indicators of exposure to chemical substances. Evaluating the reliability of a biomarker is highly important because use of an unreliable marker may lead to misclassification and attenuation bias, resulting in flawed interpretations and conclusions. Although intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) is regarded as a typical index of test reliability, methods for determining the ICCs of urinary biomarkers have not been standardised, and different methods have been used.

Association between blood manganese level during pregnancy and birth size: The Japan environment and children's study (JECS).

Background: Manganese (Mn) is both an essential element and a potential toxicant. Although a few studies have suggested a nonlinear relationship between the maternal whole blood Mn level at delivery and infant birth weight, little is known about the effects of Mn levels during pregnancy on fetal growth, particularly with regard to sex-specific differences.

Methods: In this nationwide birth cohort study, we examined the association of maternal blood Mn level during pregnancy with infant birth weight, length, and head circumference in 16,473 mother-infant pairs.

Occurrence of benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers (BUVSs) in human breast milk from three Asian countries.

The environmental contamination by benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers (BUVSs) has received consider attention due to their long-term and widespread usage in various consumer and industrial products in accordance with solar UV radiation increase. The present study shows the baseline data of BUVSs in human breast milk from several areas in Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Total concentrations of the 8 BUVSs in breast milk ranged from View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Levels of TBT and other selected organotin compounds in duplicate diet samples.

Organotin compounds (OTs) are ubiquitous contaminants with a broad range of applications ranging from biocides and pesticides to catalysts for the production of polyurethane foams and silicones. The deleterious effects of some OTs (particularly tributyltin - TBT) upon wildlife and experimental animals are well documented and include endocrine disruption, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, genotoxicity and metabolic dysfunction in which obesity is included. However, virtually no data on the current human exposure levels is available.

Lead in duplicate diet samples from an academic community.

Lead is a naturally occurring element that with the advent of the industrial era became a serious environmental and public health issue. Leaded gasoline, lead based paints, use of lead in plumbing and water pipes, ceramics with lead-containing glazes and tobacco smoke are potential sources of lead exposure for humans. Despite these multiple sources, food is still considered the most important one for the general non-smoking population.

Brominated, chlorinated and phosphate organic contaminants in house dust from Portugal.

House dust is an important matrix to evaluate the human exposure to a large number of contaminants including organochlorine compounds and flame retardants. In this study, we measured the levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDDs), 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy) ethane (BTBPE), decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and several organophosphorus flames retardants (PFRs) in 28 house dust samples collected between 2010 and 2011 in two Portuguese cities, Aveiro and Coimbra. Among the measured compounds, PFRs, particularly tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP), triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) and tris(methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP), were the dominant group (median: 3200ngg(-1)).