Characterization of potential endocrine-related health effects at low-dose levels of exposure to PCBs.

This article addresses issues related to the characterization of endocrine-related health effects resulting from low-level exposures to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). It is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the literature but reflects workshop discussions. "The Characterizing the Effects of Endocrine Disruptors on Human Health at Environmental Exposure Levels," workshop provided a forum to discuss the methods and data needed to improve risk assessments of endocrine disruptors. This article contains an overview of endocrine-related (estrogen and thyroid system) interactions and other low-dose effects of PCBs. The data set on endocrine effects includes results obtained from mechanistic methods/ and models (receptor based, metabolism based, and transport protein based), as well as from (italic)in vivo(/italic) models, including studies with experimental animals and wildlife species. Other low-dose effects induced by PCBs, such as neurodevelopmental and reproductive effects and endocrine-sensitive tumors, have been evaluated with respect to a possible causative linkage with PCB-induced alterations in endocrine systems. In addition, studies of low-dose exposure and effects in human populations are presented and critically evaluated. A list of conclusions and recommendations is included

When eye meets ear : an investigation of audiovisual speech and non-speech perception in younger and older adults

This dissertation addressed important questions regarding audiovisual (AV) perception. Study 1 revealed that AV speech perception modulated auditory processes, whereas AV non-speech perception affected visual processes. Interestingly, stimulus identification improved, yet fewer neural resources, as reflected in smaller event-related potentials, were recruited, indicating that AV perception led to multisensory efficiency. Also, AV interaction effects were observed of early and late stages, demonstrating that multisensory integration involved a neural network. Study 1 showed that multisensory efficiency is a common principle in AV speech and non-speech stimulus recognition, yet it is reflected in different modalities, possibly due to sensory dominance of a given task. Study 2 extended our understanding of multisensory interaction by investigating electrophysiological processes of AV speech perception in noise and whether those differ between younger and older adults. Both groups revealed multisensory efficiency. Behavioural performance improved while the auditory N1 amplitude was reduced during AV relative to unisensory speech perception. This amplitude reduction could be due to visual speech cues providing complementary information, therefore reducing processing demands for the auditory system. AV speech stimuli also led to an N1 latency shift, suggesting that auditory processing was faster during AV than during unisensory trials. This shift was more pronounced in older than in younger adults, indicating that older adults made more effective use of visual speech. Finally, auditory functioning predicted the degree of the N1 latency shift, which is consistent with the inverse effectiveness hypothesis which argues that the less effective the unisensory perception was, the larger was the benefit derived from AV speech cues. These results suggest that older adults were better "lip/speech" integrators than younger adults, possibly to compensate for age-related sensory deficiencies. Multisensory efficiency was evident in younger and older adults but it might be particularly relevant for older adults. If visual speech cues could alleviate sensory perceptual loads, the remaining neural resources could be allocated to higher level cognitive functions. This dissertation adds further support to the notion of multisensory interaction modulating sensory-specific processes and it introduces the concept of multisensory efficiency as potential principle underlying AV speech and non-speech perceptio

ANALISIS KECENDERUNGAN PENYAKIT MENULAR DI KABUPATEN MAGETAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE BIPLOT

Penyakit menular adalah penyakit yang dapat berpindah atau ditularkan baik secara langsung maupun melalui perantara. Beberapa jenis penyakit menular diantaranya adalah Tuberkulosis (TBC), Pneumonia, Kusta, Diare, dan Demam Berdarah Dengue (DBD). Kasus penyakit menular masih sering terjadi di Kabupaten Magetan. Diantaranya adalah penyakit menular pernapasan, yaitu Tuberkulosis dimana pada tahun 2014 terjadi sebanyak 1154 kasus dan penyakit Pneumonia yang pada tahun 2014 ditemukan sebanyak 1420 kasus. Selain itu pada tahun 2014 juga terjadi kasus penyakit Diare sebanyak 288 kasus, penyakit Kusta sebanyak 33 kasus, dan penyakit Demam Berdarah Dengue sebanyak 33 kasus. Berdasarkan informasi tersebut perlu dilakukan analisis untuk melihat kecenderungan penyakit menular di setiap kecamatan di Kabupaten Magetan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis biplot. Data yang akan digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah data sekunder yang diperoleh dari Dinas Kesehatan Kabupaten Magetan berupa prevalensi penyakit menular pada masing-maing kecamatan di Kabupaten Magetan. Maka dapat diketahui bahwa penyakit Tuberkulosis dan Kusta memiliki korelasi positif dan cenderung terjadi pada Kecamatan Karas, Kecamatan Lembeyan, Kecamatan Barat, dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo. Penyakit Pneumonia dan Diare juga memiliki korelasi positif dan cenderung terjadi di Kecamatan Karangrejo dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo. Penyakit Demam Berdarah Dengue cenderung terjadi di Kecamatan Karangrejo dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo

ANALISIS KECENDERUNGAN PENYAKIT MENULAR DI KABUPATEN MAGETAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE BIPLOT

Penyakit menular adalah penyakit yang dapat berpindah atau ditularkan baik secara langsung maupun melalui perantara. Beberapa jenis penyakit menular diantaranya adalah Tuberkulosis (TBC), Pneumonia, Kusta, Diare, dan Demam Berdarah Dengue (DBD). Kasus penyakit menular masih sering terjadi di Kabupaten Magetan. Diantaranya adalah penyakit menular pernapasan, yaitu Tuberkulosis dimana pada tahun 2014 terjadi sebanyak 1154 kasus dan penyakit Pneumonia yang pada tahun 2014 ditemukan sebanyak 1420 kasus. Selain itu pada tahun 2014 juga terjadi kasus penyakit Diare sebanyak 288 kasus, penyakit Kusta sebanyak 33 kasus, dan penyakit Demam Berdarah Dengue sebanyak 33 kasus. Berdasarkan informasi tersebut perlu dilakukan analisis untuk melihat kecenderungan penyakit menular di setiap kecamatan di Kabupaten Magetan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis biplot. Data yang akan digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah data sekunder yang diperoleh dari Dinas Kesehatan Kabupaten Magetan berupa prevalensi penyakit menular pada masing-maing kecamatan di Kabupaten Magetan. Maka dapat diketahui bahwa penyakit Tuberkulosis dan Kusta memiliki korelasi positif dan cenderung terjadi pada Kecamatan Karas, Kecamatan Lembeyan, Kecamatan Barat, dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo. Penyakit Pneumonia dan Diare juga memiliki korelasi positif dan cenderung terjadi di Kecamatan Karangrejo dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo. Penyakit Demam Berdarah Dengue cenderung terjadi di Kecamatan Karangrejo dan Kecamatan Kartoharjo

Intelligibility and Listening Effort of Spanish Oesophageal Speech

Communication is a huge challenge for oesophageal speakers, be it for interactions with fellow humans or with digital voice assistants. We aim to quantify these communication challenges (both human-human and human-machine interactions) by measuring intelligibility and Listening Effort (LE) of Oesophageal Speech (OS) in comparison to Healthy Laryngeal Speech (HS). We conducted two listening tests (one web-based, the other in laboratory settings) to collect these measurements. Participants performed a sentence recognition and LE rating task in each test. Intelligibility, calculated as Word Error Rate, showed significant correlation with self-reported LE ratings. Speaker type (healthy or oesophageal) had a major effect on intelligibility and effort. More LE was reported for OS compared to HS even when OS intelligibility was close to HS. Listeners familiar with OS reported less effort when listening to OS compared to nonfamiliar listeners. However, such advantage of familiarity was not observed for intelligibility. Automatic speech recognition scores were higher for OS compared to HS.This project was supported by funding from the EUs H2020 research and innovation programme under the MSCA GA 67532*4 (the ENRICH network: www.enrich-etn.eu), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with FEDER support (RESTORE project, TEC2015-67163-C2-1-R) and the Basque Government (DL4NLP KK-2019/00045, PIBA_2018_1_0035 and IT355-19)

Social Media Use, Social Media Stress, and Sleep

There are concerns that social media (SM) use and SM stress may disrupt sleep. However, evidence on both the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships is limited. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to address this gap in the literature by examining the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between SM use, SM stress, and sleep (i.e., sleep latency and daytime sleepiness) in adolescents. In total, 1,441 adolescents 11–15 years, 51% boys) filled out a survey in at least one of three waves that were three to four months apart (NWave1 = 1,241; NWave2 = 1,216; NWave3 = 1,103). Cross-sectionally, we found that SM use and SM stress were positively related to sleep latency and daytime sleepiness. However, when examined together, SM use was not a significant predictor of sleep latency and daytime sleepiness above the effects of SM stress. The longitudinal findings showed that SM stress was positively related to subsequent sleep latency and daytime sleepiness, but only among girls. Our findings stress that it is important to focus on how adolescents perceive and cope with their SM use, instead of focusing on the mere frequency of SM use

Intelligibility and Listening Effort of Spanish Oesophageal Speech

Communication is a huge challenge for oesophageal speakers, be it for interactions with fellow humans or with digital voice assistants. We aim to quantify these communication challenges (both human-human and human-machine interactions) by measuring intelligibility and Listening Effort (LE) of Oesophageal Speech (OS) in comparison to Healthy Laryngeal Speech (HS). We conducted two listening tests (one web-based, the other in laboratory settings) to collect these measurements. Participants performed a sentence recognition and LE rating task in each test. Intelligibility, calculated as Word Error Rate, showed significant correlation with self-reported LE ratings. Speaker type (healthy or oesophageal) had a major effect on intelligibility and effort. More LE was reported for OS compared to HS even when OS intelligibility was close to HS. Listeners familiar with OS reported less effort when listening to OS compared to nonfamiliar listeners. However, such advantage of familiarity was not observed for intelligibility. Automatic speech recognition scores were higher for OS compared to HS.This project was supported by funding from the EUs H2020 research and innovation programme under the MSCA GA 67532*4 (the ENRICH network: www.enrich-etn.eu), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness with FEDER support (RESTORE project, TEC2015-67163-C2-1-R) and the Basque Government (DL4NLP KK-2019/00045, PIBA_2018_1_0035 and IT355-19)

Sexual maturation in relation to polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons: Sharpe and Skakkebaek's hypothesis revisited.

Polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons (PCAHs) have been described as endocrine disruptors in animals and in accidentally or occupationally exposed humans. In the present study we examined the effect of moderate exposure to PCAHs on sexual maturation. Two hundred adolescents (mean age, 17.4 years) who resided in two polluted suburbs and a rural control area in Flanders (Belgium) participated. We measured the serum concentration of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners 138, 153, and 180 and dioxin-like compounds [chemically activated luciferase expression (CALUX) assay] as biomarkers of exposure. School physicians assessed the pubertal development of boys and girls and measured testicular volume. In one suburb near two waste incinerators, compared with the other suburb and the control area, fewer boys (p < 0.001) had reached the adult stages of genital development (62% vs. 92% and 100%, respectively) and pubic hair growth (48% vs. 77% and 100%). Also, in the same suburb, fewer girls (p = 0.04) had reached the adult stage of breast development (67% vs. 90% and 79%). In individual boys, a doubling of the serum concentration of PCB congener 138 increased the odds of not having matured into the adult stage of genital development by 3.5 (p = 0.04); similarly for PCB congener 153 in relation to male pubic hair growth, the odds ratio was 3.5 (p = 0.04). In girls, a doubling of the serum dioxin concentration increased the odds of not having reached the adult stage of breast development by 2.3 (p = 0.02). Left plus right testicular volume was lower in both polluted areas than in the control area (42.4 mL vs. 47.3 mL, p = 0.005) but was not related to the current exposure of the adolescents to PCAHs. Through endocrine disruption, environmental exposure to PCAHs may interfere with sexual maturation and in the long-run adversely affect human reproduction

Residual cognitive deficits 50 years after lead poisoning during childhood

The long term neurobehavioural consequences of childhood lead poisoning are not known. In this study adult subjects with a documented history of lead poisoning before age 4 and matched controls were examined with an abbreviated battery of neuropsychological tests including measures of attention, reasoning, memory, motor speed, and current mood. The subjects exposed to lead were inferior to controls on almost all of the cognitive tasks. This pattern of widespread deficits resembles that found in children evaluated at the time of acute exposure to lead rather than the more circumscribed pattern typically seen in adults exposed to lead. Despite having completed as many years of schooling as controls, the subjects exposed to lead were lower in lifetime occupational status. Within the exposed group, performance on the neuropsychological battery and occupational status were related, consistent with the presumed impact of limitations in neuropsychological functioning on everyday life. The results suggest that many subjects exposed to lead suffered acute encephalopathy in childhood which resolved into a chronic subclinical encephalopathy with associated cognitive dysfunction still evident in adulthood. These findings lend support to efforts to limit exposure to lead in childhood