Reproductive toxicity of seafood contaminants: Prospective comparisons of Swedish east and west coast fishermen's families

Cohorts comprising fishermen's families on the east coast of Sweden have been found to have a high consumption of contaminated fish as well as high body burdens of persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs). Their west coast correspondents are socio-economically similar, but with considerably lower POP exposure since the fish caught on the west coast is far less contaminated. The rationale for this was that the cohorts residing on the east coast of Sweden have been found to have a high consumption of contaminated fish as well as high body burdens of POPs, whereas their west coast correspondents are socio-economically similar, but with considerably lower POP exposure since the fish caught on the west coast is far less contaminated. Among the reproductive outcomes investigated are included both male and female parameters, as well as couple fertility and effects on the fetus. A range of exposure measures, including both questionnaire assessments of fish consumption and biomarkers, have been used

A Flight Research Overview of WSPR, a Pilot Project for Sonic Boom Community Response

In support of NASAs ongoing effort to bring supersonic commercial travel to the public, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with other industry organizations, conducted a flight research experiment to identify the methods, tools, and best practices for a large-scale quiet (or low) sonic boom community human response test. The name of the effort was Waveforms and Sonic boom Perception and Response. Such tests will go towards building a dataset that governing agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization will use to establish regulations for acceptable sound levels of overland sonic booms. Until WSPR, there had never been an effort that studied the response of people in their own homes and performing daily activities to non-traditional, low sonic booms.WSPR was a NASA collaborative effort with several industry partners, in response to a NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Research Opportunities in Aeronautics. The primary contractor was Wyle. Other partners included Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, Pennsylvania State University, Tetra Tech, and Fidell Associates, Inc.A major objective of the effort included exposing a community with the sonic boom magnitudes and occurrences expected in high-air traffic regions with a network of supersonic commercial aircraft in place. Low-level sonic booms designed to simulate those produced by the next generation of commercial supersonic aircraft were generated over a small residential community. The sonic boom footprint was recorded with an autonomous wireless microphone array that spanned the entire community. Human response data was collected using multiple survey methods. The research focused on essential elements of community response testing including subject recruitment, survey methods, instrumentation systems, flight planning and operations, and data analysis methods.This paper focuses on NASAs role in the efforts logistics and operations including human response subject recruitment, the operational processes involved in implementing the surveys throughout the community, instrumentation systems, logistics, flight planning, and flight operations. Findings discussed in this paper include critical lessons learned in all of those areas. The paper also discusses flight operations results. Analysis of the accuracy and repeatability of planning and executing the unique aircraft maneuver used to generate low sonic booms concluded that the sonic booms had overpressures within 0.15 pounds-per-square-feet of the planned values for 76 of t he attempts. Similarly, 90 of the attempts to generate low sonic booms within the community were successful

Exposure to p,p′-DDE: A Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes

BACKGROUND: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as PCBs, DDT and dioxins have in several cross-sectional studies shown strong associations with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Reversed causality can however not be excluded. The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate whether POPs concentration is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A case-control study was performed within a well-defined cohort of women, age 50-59 years, from the Southern part of Sweden. Biomarkers for POP exposure, 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)-ethylene (p,p'-DDE) were analyzed in stored serum samples, which were collected at the baseline examination when the cohort was established. For 107 out of the 371 cases, serum samples were stored at least three years before their type 2 diabetes was diagnosed. In this data set, CB-153 and p,p'-DDE were not associated with an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes. However, when only the cases (n = 39) that were diagnosed more than six years after the baseline examination and their controls were studied, the women in the highest exposed quartile showed an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes (OR of 1.6 [95% 0.61, 4.0] for CB-153 and 5.5 [95% CI 1.2, 25] for p,p'-DDE). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results from the present case-control study, including a follow-up design, confirms that p,p'-DDE exposure can be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes

Risk of Birth Abnormalities in the Offspring of Men With a History of Cancer: A Cohort Study Using Danish and Swedish National Registries

Background The potential mutagenic effects of cancer therapies and the growing number of young male cancer survivors have given rise to concern about the health of their offspring. Methods We identified all singleton children born alive in Denmark between 1994 and 2004 and in Sweden between 1994 and 2005 (n = 1 777 765). Of the 8670 children with a paternal history of cancer, 8162 were conceived naturally and 508 were conceived using assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) (in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmatic sperm injection). Of the 1 769 0795 children without a paternal history of cancer, 25 926 were conceived using ARTs. Associations between paternal history of cancer and risk of adverse birth outcomes of children conceived naturally or by ARTs were investigated using log-linear binomial models, yielding risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All statistical tests were two-sided. Results The offspring of male cancer survivors were more likely to have major congenital abnormalities than the offspring of fathers with no history of cancer (RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.05 to 1.31, P = .0043, 3.7% vs 3.2%). However, the mode of conception (natural conception or ARTs) did not modify the association between paternal history of cancer and risk of congenital abnormalities (natural conception, RR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.31; ARTs, RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 0.80 to 1.87, P(interaction) = .84). Conclusion We observed a statistically significant but modest increase in the risk of major congenital abnormalities among offspring of males with a history of cancer, independent of the mode of conception

Fetal loss and maternal serum levels of 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorbiphenyl (CB-153) and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDE) exposure: a cohort study in Greenland and two European populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the present study, the aim is to examine the risk of fetal loss related to environmental 2,2',4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) or 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(<it>p</it>-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDE) exposure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We related LC/MS/MS measurements of CB-153 and p,p'-DDE in serum samples to interview-data on previous fetal loss in populations of pregnant women from Poland, Ukraine and Greenland.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 1710 women were interviewed, and 678 of these had at least one previous pregnancy. The risk of ever experiencing a fetal loss increased at higher levels of CB-153 and p,p'-DDE exposure, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.4; confidence interval (CI) (1.1-5.5) for CB-153>200 ng/g lipid compared to 0-25 ng CB-153/g lipid and OR of 2.5 CI (0.9-6.6) for p,p'-DDE>1500 ng/g lipid compared to 0-250 ng DDE/g lipid. However, no clear dose response associations were observed. The results further suggest that high level of organochlorine serum concentrations may be related to repeated loss.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The risk of fetal loss may increase at higher levels of CB-153 and p,p'-DDE exposure, although lack of dose response and inconsistencies between countries did not allow for firm conclusions.</p

HPV type-specific risks of high-grade CIN during 4 years of follow-up: A population-based prospective study

We followed a population-based cohort of 5696 women, 32–38 years of age, by registry linkage with cytology and pathology registries during a mean follow-up time of 4.1 years to assess the importance for CIN2+ development of type-specific HPV DNA positivity at baseline. HPV 16, 31 and 33 conveyed the highest risks and were responsible for 33.1, 18.3 and 7.7% of CIN2+ cases, respectively. Women infected with HPV 18, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59 and 66 had significantly lower risks of CIN2+ than women infected with HPV 16. After adjustment for infection with other HPV types, HPV types 35, 45, 59 and 66 had no detectable association with CIN2+. In summary, the different HPV types found in cervical cancer show distinctly different CIN2+ risks, with high risks being restricted to HPV 16 and its close relatives HPV 31 and HPV 33

Anthropometric and reproductive factors and risk of esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort

Obesity has been associated with upper gastrointestinal cancers; however, there are limited prospective data on associations by subtype/subsite. Obesity can impact hormonal factors, which have been hypothesized to play a role in these cancers. We investigated anthropometric and reproductive factors in relation to esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite for 476,160 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox models. During a mean follow‐up of 14 years, 220 esophageal adenocarcinomas (EA), 195 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, 243 gastric cardia (GC) and 373 gastric noncardia (GNC) cancers were diagnosed. Body mass index (BMI) was associated with EA in men (BMI ≥30 vs. 18.5–25 kg/m2: HR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.25–3.03) and women (HR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.15–6.19); however, adjustment for waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR) attenuated these associations. After mutual adjustment for BMI and HC, respectively, WHR and waist circumference (WC) were associated with EA in men (HR = 3.47, 95% CI: 1.99–6.06 for WHR >0.96 vs. 98 vs. 0.82 vs. 84 vs. 2 vs. 0) and age at first pregnancy and GNC (HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.32–0.91; >26 vs. <22 years); whereas bilateral ovariectomy was positively associated with GNC (HR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.04–3.36). These findings support a role for hormonal pathways in upper gastrointestinal cancers

Plant based dietary supplement increases urinary pH

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Research has demonstrated that the net acid load of the typical Western diet has the potential to influence many aspects of human health, including osteoporosis risk/progression; obesity; cardiovascular disease risk/progression; and overall well-being. As urinary pH provides a reliable surrogate measure for dietary acid load, this study examined whether a plant-based dietary supplement, one marketed to increase alkalinity, impacts urinary pH as advertised.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using pH test strips, the urinary pH of 34 healthy men and women (33.9 +/- 1.57 y, 79.3 +/- 3.1 kg) was measured for seven days to establish a baseline urinary pH without supplementation. After this initial baseline period, urinary pH was measured for an additional 14 days while participants ingested the plant-based nutritional supplement. At the end of the investigation, pH values at baseline and during the treatment period were compared to determine the efficacy of the supplement.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean urinary pH statistically increased (p = 0.03) with the plant-based dietary supplement. Mean urinary pH was 6.07 +/- 0.04 during the baseline period and increased to 6.21 +/- 0.03 during the first week of treatment and to 6.27 +/- 0.06 during the second week of treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Supplementation with a plant-based dietary product for at least seven days increases urinary pH, potentially increasing the alkalinity of the body.</p

Anthropometric and reproductive factors and risk of esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort

Obesity has been associated with upper gastrointestinal cancers; however, there are limited prospective data on associations by subtype/subsite. Obesity can impact hormonal factors, which have been hypothesized to play a role in these cancers. We investigated anthropometric and reproductive factors in relation to esophageal and gastric cancer by subtype and subsite for 476,160 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and 95%-confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox models. During a mean follow-up of 14 years, 220 esophageal adenocarcinomas (EA), 195 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, 243 gastric cardia (GC) and 373 gastric non-cardia (GNC) cancers were diagnosed. Body mass index (BMI) was associated with EA in men (BMI≥30 vs 18.5-25kg/m2: HR=1.94, 95%-CI: 1.25-3.03) and women (HR=2.66, 95%-CI: 1.15-6.19); however, adjustment for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) attenuated these associations. WHR and waist circumference (WC) were associated with EA in men (HR=3.47, 95%-CI: 1.99-6.06 for WHR >0.96 vs 98 vs 0.82 vs 83 vs 2 vs 0) and age at first pregnancy and GNC (HR=0.54, 95%-CI: 0.32-0.91; >26 vsPeer reviewe

Possible pro-carcinogenic association of endotoxin on lung cancer among Shanghai women textile workers

Background: Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide) is a widespread contaminant in many environmental settings. Since the 1970s, there has been generally consistent evidence indicating reduced risks for lung cancer associated with occupational endotoxin exposure. Methods: We updated a case–cohort study nested within a cohort of 267 400 female textile workers in Shanghai, China. We compared exposure histories of 1456 incident lung cancers cases diagnosed during 1989–2006 with those of a reference subcohort of 3022 workers who were free of lung cancer at the end of follow-up. We applied Cox proportional hazards modelling to estimate exposure–response trends, adjusted for age and smoking, for cumulative exposures lagged by 0, 10, and 20 years, and separately for time windows of ⩽15 and \u3e15 years since first exposure. Results: We observed no associations between cumulative exposure and lung cancer, irrespective of lag interval. In contrast, analyses by exposure time windows revealed modestly elevated, but not statistically significant relative risks (∼1.27) at the highest three exposure quintiles for exposures that occurred \u3e15 years since first exposure. Conclusions: The findings do not support a protective effect of endotoxin, but are suggestive of possible lung cancer promotion with increasing time since first exposure