In vitro Dermal Absorption of Hydroquinone: Protocol Validation and Applicability on Illegal Skin-Whitening Cosmetics.

In Europe, hydroquinone is a forbidden cosmetic ingredient. It is, however, still abundantly used because of its effective skin-whitening properties. The question arises as to whether the quantities of hydroquinone used become systemically available and may cause damage to human health.

Overview of skin whitening agents with an insight into the illegal cosmetic market in Europe.

Lightening skin tone is an ancient and well-documented practice, and remains common practice among many cultures. Whitening agents such as corticosteroids, tretinoin and hydroquinone are medically applied to effectively lighten the skin tone of hyperpigmented lesions. However, when these agents are used cosmetically, they are associated with a variety of side-effect.

Linking existing in vitro dermal absorption data to physicochemical properties: Contribution to the design of a weight-of-evidence approach for the safety evaluation of cosmetic ingredients with low dermal bioavailability.

To characterize the risk of cosmetic ingredients when threshold toxicity is assumed, often the "margin of safety" (MoS) is calculated. This uncertainty factor is based on the systemic no observable (adverse) effect level (NO(A)EL) which can be derived from in vivo repeated dose toxicity studies. As in vivo studies for the purpose of the cosmetic legislation are no longer allowed in Europe and a validated in vitro alternative is not yet available, it is no longer possible to derive a NO(A)EL value for a new cosmetic ingredient.

Development of the European Health Interview Survey - Physical Activity Questionnaire (EHIS-PAQ) to monitor physical activity in the European Union.

Background: A domain-specific physical activity questionnaire (EHIS-PAQ) was developed in the framework of the second wave of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). This article presents the EHIS-PAQ and describes its development and evaluation processes.

Methods: Research institutes from Belgium, Estonia and Germany participated in the Improvement of the EHIS (ImpEHIS) Grant project issued by Eurostat.

How well do physical activity questions perform? A European cognitive testing study.

Background: Only few studies have focused on the cognitive processes of the respondents that are involved when answering physical activity questionnaires (PAQs). This study aimed at examining whether two PAQs work as intended with different segments of the survey population in different cultural settings in Europe.

Methods: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and the US National Health Interview Survey - Adult Core Physical Activity Questionnaire (NHIS-PAQ) were tested in Belgium, Estonia, Germany and the UK using a standardized cognitive interviewing procedure.

Public Health Triangulation to inform decision-making in Belgium.

We assessed the impact of a nation-wide ambulatory care complex intervention (the "care trajectory program") on quality of care in Belgium. We used the three-step public health triangulation method described in this paper and data from four different data sources: a national reimbursement database, an electronic patient record-based general practitioner network, the Belgian general practitioner sentinel network, and a new national registry for care trajectory patients. By applying our method and using the available evidence, we identified key findings that have been accepted by experts and stakeholders.

In vitro Dermal Absorption: Sample Application and Seal Quality in a Franz Diffusion Cell System.

One of the known drawbacks of in vitro dermal absorption methods is their high interlaboratory variation. Although often attributed to biological skin differences, it has been shown that validation of other parameters such as temperature and stirring speed can reduce the high variability observed. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and, at the EU level, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) have published guidance documents of how to perform these in vitro tests.

HS-GC-MS method for the analysis of fragrance allergens in complex cosmetic matrices.

Potential allergenic fragrances are part of the Cosmetic Regulation with labelling and concentration restrictions. This means that they have to be declared on the ingredients list, when their concentration exceeds the labelling limit of 10 ppm or 100 ppm for leave-on or rinse-off cosmetics, respectively. Labelling is important regarding consumer safety.

EPR-based, quality-related process parameters: a nationwide assessment.

The aim of the study was to determine whether or not primary care EPR-based data can be used to measure specific process parameters that can then, in turn, be used to assess the quality of care provided to chronic patients. We analysed data from a large research network that collects data from all Belgian GP practices through both manual and automatic extraction procedures. We built a number of quality-related process parameters and observed the concordance of our results with two external databases: a nationwide reimbursement database and a regional EPR-based network.

Belgian primary care EPR: assessment of nationwide routine data extraction.

Starting in 2009, the first ever Belgian nationwide data collection network using routine data extracted from primary care EPR (upload method) has been built from scratch. The network also uses a manual web-based data collection method. This paper compares these two methods by analysing missing and most recent values for certain parameters.

Characterization of suspected illegal skin whitening cosmetics.

An important group of suspected illegal cosmetics consists of skin bleaching products, which are usually applied to the skin of the face, hands and décolleté for local depigmentation of hyper pigmented regions or more importantly, for a generalized reduction of the skin tone. These cosmetic products are suspected to contain illegal active substances that may provoke as well local as systemic toxic effects, being the reason for their banning from the EU market. In that respect, illegal and restricted substances in cosmetics, known to have bleaching properties, are in particular hydroquinone, tretinoin and corticosteroids.

Development and validation of a fast chromatographic method for screening and quantification of legal and illegal skin whitening agents.

During the last years, the EU market is flooded by illegal cosmetics via the Internet and a so-called "black market". Among these, skin-bleaching products represent an important group. They contain, according to the current European cosmetic legislation (Directive 76/768/EEC), a number of illegal active substances including hydroquinone, tretinoin and corticosteroids.

A validated Ultra High Pressure Liquid Chromatographic method for the characterisation of confiscated illegal slimming products containing anorexics.

A fully validated UHPLC-DAD method for the identification and quantification of pharmaceutical preparations, containing molecules frequently found in illegal slimming products (sibutramine, modafinil, ephedrine, nor-ephedrine, metformin, theophyllin, caffeine, diethylpropion and orlistat) was developed. The proposed method uses a Vision HT C18-B column (2 mm × 100 mm, 1.5 μm) with a gradient using an ammonium acetate buffer pH 5.

Classification trees based on infrared spectroscopic data to discriminate between genuine and counterfeit medicines.

Classification trees built with the Classification And Regression Tree algorithm were evaluated for modelling infrared spectroscopic data in order to discriminate between genuine and counterfeit drug samples and to classify counterfeit samples in different classes following the RIVM classification system. Models were built for two data sets consisting of the Fourier Transformed Infrared spectra, the near infrared spectra and the Raman spectra for genuine and counterfeit samples of respectively Viagra(®) and Cialis(®). Easy interpretable models were obtained for both models.

Tea brewed in traditional metallic teapots as a significant source of lead, nickel and other chemical elements.

An environmental inquiry conducted by the Brussels Inter-communal Laboratory of Chemistry and Bacteriology (BILCB) has revealed that in 2000a traditional metallic teapot caused in Brussels lead intoxication among a family of Morocco origin. Following this case study of lead poisoning and subsequent preliminary results carried out by the BILCB, which confirmed the dangerousness of this kind of item, samples of traditional metallic teapots were collected from North African groceries in Brussels by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) in collaboration with the BILCB and the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). Aluminium, copper, iron, nickel, lead and zinc were analysed to identify metals with a potential to migrate into tea solutions.

A fast ultra high pressure liquid chromatographic method for qualification and quantification of pharmaceutical combination preparations containing paracetamol, acetyl salicylic acid and/or antihistaminics.

A fully validated UHPLC method for the identification and quantification of pharmaceutical preparations, containing paracetamol and/or acetyl salicylic acid, combined with anti-histaminics (phenylephrine, pheniramine maleate, diphenhydramine, promethazine) and/or other additives as quinine sulphate, caffeine or codeine phosphate, was developed. The proposed method uses a Waters Acquity BEH C18 column (2 mm × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) with a gradient using an ammonium acetate buffer pH 4.

Human biomonitoring on heavy metals in Ath: methodological aspects.

The municipality of Ath is characterised by the presence, in its center, of two non-ferrous metal industries whose emissions make local residents concerned for their health. Therefore, authorities of the Walloon Region and the municipality of Ath undertook biomonitoring to assess the impact of those industrial emissions on heavy metal body burden in humans.This paper describes the study design and methodology used to carry out this human biomonitoring.

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of DNA vaccines encoding MAP0586c and MAP4308c of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis secretome.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), the etiological agent of chronic enteritis of the small intestine in domestic and wild ruminants, causes substantial losses to livestock industry. Control of this disease is seriously hampered by the lack of adequate diagnostic tools, vaccines and therapies.

Trichophyton mentagrophytes of rabbit origin causing family incidence of kerion: an environmental study.

Our laboratory was contacted by a family living directly above a rabbit farm. Both their children had developed a kerion, in consequence of a misdiagnosed superficial mycosis. This study was designed to demonstrate a link between the two kerion cases and the environmental contamination.

Quality of care assessment using GPs' electronic patient records: do we need data from home visits?

The paper tackles the topic of collecting data from home visits using the electronic patient record (EPR) of general practitioners (GPs), in a context with a high proportion of home visits in primary care. Since data from home visits, representing about 40% of GPs' consultations in Belgium, are rather scarcely recorded in the EPR, we wanted to study the impact of not taking into account home visits for quality assessment in primary care. Five quality indicators, which measured the accordance of the delivered care with guidelines on the management of osteoarthritis, were compared between a pooled database (consultations and home visits) and a restricted database (after removal of home visits).

Analysis of foodborne disease in Belgium in 1997.

Foodborne disease represents a major problem for public health in industrialized countries, albeit with a low lethality. Foodborne diseases are defined as a group of viral, bacterial or parasitic gastrointestinal infections transmitted by means of food. Proper food-hygiene practices and surveillance of individual diseases and in particular outbreaks are the first steps in targeting their prevention.