Effect of Prenatal Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls on Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infections in Preschool Inuit Children

OBJECTIVE: We set out to assess whether environmental prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is associated with incidence of acute respiratory infections in preschool Inuit children. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the medical charts of 343 children from 0 to 5 years of age and evaluated the associations between PCB-153 concentration in umbilical cord plasma and the incidence rates of acute otitis media (AOM) and of upper and lower respiratory tract infections (URTIs and LRTIs, respectively). RESULTS: The incidence rates of AOM and LRTIs were positively associated with prenatal exposure to PCBs. Compared with children in the first quartile of exposure (least exposed), children in fourth quartile (most exposed) had rate ratios of 1.25 (p < 0.001) and 1.40 (p < 0.001) for AOM and LRTIs, respectively. There was no association between prenatal PCB exposure and incidence rate of URTIs or hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Prenatal exposure to PCBs could be responsible for a significant portion of respiratory infections in children of this population

Estimation of sensitivity and specificty of culture and Danish-mix ELISA for detection of Salmonella in swine using Bayesian methods

Both bacterial culture and serological assays, such as the Danish-mix ELISA for the detection of antibodies, are commonly used as tools for detecting and monitoring Salmonella in swine. The comparison and ultimate interpretation of results are made more difficult due to the absence of a gold standard

Acute Infections and Environmental Exposure to Organochlorines in Inuit Infants from Nunavik

The Inuit population of Nunavik (Canada) is exposed to immunotoxic organochlorines (OCs) mainly through the consumption of fish and marine mammal fat. We investigated the effect of perinatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) on the incidence of acute infections in Inuit infants. We reviewed the medical charts of a cohort of 199 Inuit infants during the first 12 months of life and evaluated the incidence rates of upper and lower respiratory tract infections (URTI and LRTIs, respectively), otitis media, and gastrointestinal (GI) infections. Maternal plasma during delivery and infant plasma at 7 months of age were sampled and assayed for PCBs and DDE. Compared to rates for infants in the first quartile of exposure to PCBs (least exposed), adjusted rate ratios for infants in higher quartiles ranged between 1.09 and 1.32 for URTIs, 0.99 and 1.39 for otitis, 1.52 and 1.89 for GI infections, and 1.16 and 1.68 for LRTIs during the first 6 months of follow-up. For all infections combined, the rate ratios ranged from 1.17 to 1.27. The effect size was similar for DDE exposure but was lower for the full 12-month follow-up. Globally, most rate ratios were > 1.0, but few were statistically significant (p < 0.05). No association was found when postnatal exposure was considered. These results show a possible association between prenatal exposure to OCs and acute infections early in life in this Inuit population

A longitudinal study ofthe Salmonella status on Ontario swine farms within the time period 2001-2006

In order to describe the fann-level of Salmonella status, I 13 Ontario swine fanns were tested annually for Salmonella I to 5 times within the time period 2001-2006. During 422 visits, 6844 fecal samples were collected and cultured for Salmonella. Salmonella was recovered from 437 (6.4%) of the fecal samples and 69 (61%) of the fanns had at least one positive sample over the entire period of the study. Salmonella was not recovered on II fanns of the 54 fanns visited five times, nor from 7 of the 17 fanns visited four times. On 7 fanns Salmonella was not recovered over the frrst 4 visits but were cultured on the fifth visit. The isolates belonged to 30 different serovars and serogroup B and C I were the most common serogroups

Distribution of Salmonella serovars in various pig production categories and risk factors for shedding in ten farrow-to-finish swine farms in western Canada.

In this study, Salmonella prevalence, serovar distribution and risk factors for shedding were investigated in breeding, nursery, and grow-finish pigs on 10 farms in western Canada, purposely selected based on their anticipated Salmonella-status. Overall, 40711143 (36%) of samples were Salmonella positive; within-farm prevalence ranged from 1% to 79%. Sows, nursery and grow-finish pigs accounted for 43%, 29% and 28% of positive samples, respectively. More Salmonella were detected in pooled pen than individual pig samples (P\u3c0.001). The most common serovars were S. Derby, S. Typhimurium, var. Copenhagen, S. Pullen, S. Infantis, and S. Mbandaka. Sows shed more Salmonella than nursery or grow-finisher pigs (OR 2.9, P\u3c0.001). Pelleted feed (OR 8.2, P\u3c0.001) and nose-to-nose pig contact through pens (OR 2.2, P=0.005) were associated with increased Salmonella prevalence. Significant differences in serovar distribution were detected among production phases

Response Inhibition and Error Monitoring during a Visual Go/No-Go Task in Inuit Children Exposed to Lead, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, and Methylmercury

Background: Lead (Pb) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are neurotoxic contaminants that have been related to impairment in response inhibition

Comparison of bacterial culture, PCR and a mix-ELISA for the detection of Salmonella status in nursery and grow-to-finish pigs in Western Canada using a Bayesian approach

Bayesian and traditional statistical methods were used to estimate accuracy of bacterial culture, broth-enriched real-time-PCR for feces and a mix-ELISA (Svanovir®) for serum to detect Salmonella in nursery and grow-finish pigs on 10 fanns in western Canada. In nursery pigs, one pooled pen fecal sample and one blood sample were taken from each of 30 randomly selected pens. In grow-finish pigs, samples were similarly collected; an individual fecal sample was also taken from each pig bled. Only 8/247 ELISA-positive nursery pigs were detected; 80/247 pens were culture positive. Since there was no agreement between pen culture and ELISA results in the nursery pigs, further evaluation of test accuracy was not possible at this level. Among grow-to-finish pigs, agreement between culture and ELISA was fair (K=0.26-0.38). Agreement between culture and the RT-PCR was nearly perfect ( K=0.92-0.97)