Predictors of serum dioxin levels among adolescent boys in Chapaevsk, Russia: A cross-sectional pilot study

BACKGROUND: Toxicological studies and limited human studies have demonstrated associations between exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and adverse developmental and reproductive health effects. Given that children may be particularly susceptible to reproductive and developmental effects of organochlorines, and the paucity of information available regarding childhood exposures to dioxins in particular, we undertook a pilot study to describe the distribution of, and identify potential predictors of exposure to, dioxin-like compounds and dioxins among adolescent boys in Chapaevsk, Russia. The pilot study was also designed to guide the development of a large prospective cohort study on the relationship of exposure to PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs with growth and pubertal development in peri-pubertal Chapaevsk boys. METHODS: 221 boys age 14 to 17 participated in the pilot study. Each of the boys, with his mother, was asked to complete a nurse-administered detailed questionnaire on medical history, diet, and lifestyle. The diet questions were used to measure the current and lifetime consumption of locally grown or raised foods. Blood samples from 30 of these boys were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for analysis of dioxins, furans and PCBs. RESULTS: The median (25(th), 75(th )percentile) concentrations for total PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs were 95.8 pg/g lipids (40.9, 144), 33.9 pg/g lipids (20.4, 61.8), and 120 pg/g lipids (77.6, 157), respectively. For WHO-TEQs, the median (25(th), 75(th )percentile) for total PCDDs, PCDFs, and coplanar PCBs were 0.29 (0.1, 9.14), 7.98 (5.27, 12.3), and 7.39 (4.51, 11.9), respectively. Although TCDD was largely non-detectable, two boys had high TCDD levels (17.9 and 21.7 pg/g lipid). Higher serum levels of sum of dioxin-like compounds and sum of dioxin TEQs were positively associated with increased age, consumption of fish, local meats other than chicken, PCB 118, and inversely with weeks of gestation. CONCLUSION: The total TEQs among Chapaevsk adolescents were higher than most values previously reported in non-occupationally exposed populations of comparable or even older ages. Dietary consumption of local foods, as well as age and weeks of gestation, predicted dioxin exposure in this population

Temporal trends in serum concentrations of polychlorinated dioxins, furans, and PCBs among adult women living in Chapaevsk, Russia: a longitudinal study from 2000 to 2009

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The present study assessed the temporal trend in serum concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-<it>p</it>-dioxins, dibenzofurans, and biphenyls (PCBs) among residents of a Russian town where levels of these chemicals are elevated due to prior industrial activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two serum samples were collected from eight adult women (in 2000 and 2009), and analyzed with gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The average total toxic equivalency (TEQ) decreased by 30% (from 36 to 25 pg/g lipid), and the average sum of PCB congeners decreased by 19% (from 291 to 211 ng/g lipid). Total TEQs decreased for seven of the eight women, and the sum of PCBs decreased for six of eight women. During this nine year period, larger decreases in serum TEQs and PCBs were found in women with greater increases in body mass index.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides suggestive evidence that average serum concentrations of dioxins, furans, and PCBs are decreasing over time among residents of this town.</p

Treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease with L-4F, an apo-A1 mimetic, did not improve select biomarkers of HDL function[S]

L-4F, an apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptide (also known as APL180), was administered daily by either intravenous (IV) infusion for 7 days or by subcutaneous (SC) injection for 28 days in patients with coronary heart disease in two distinct clinical studies. L-4F was well tolerated at all doses tested. Despite achieving plasma levels (mean maximal plasma concentration of 2,907 ng/ml and 395 ng/ml, following IV infusion and SC injection, respectively), that were effective in previously published animal models, treatment with L-4F, as assessed by biomarkers of HDL function such as HDL-inflammatory index (HII), and paraoxonase activity, did not improve. Paradoxically, there was a 49% increase in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels after seven IV infusions of 30 mg L-4F (P < 0.05; compared with placebo) and a trend for hs-CRP increase in subjects receiving 30 mg SC injection for 28 days. In a subsequent, ex vivo study, addition of L-4F at concentrations of 150, 375, or 1,000 ng/ml to plasma from subjects prior to L-4F treatment resulted in significant dose-dependent HII improvement. In conclusion, in vivo L-4F treatment, delivered by either SC injection or IV infusion, did not improve HDL functional biomarkers despite achieving plasma levels that improved identical biomarkers ex vivo and in animal models