The estrogenicity of o-, m-, and p-dichlorobenzene (DCB) was evaluated with a yeast estrogen screen (YES) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) vitellogenin (VTG) assays. With the YES, p-DCB and m-DCB were found to be estrogenic in a concentration-responsive manner. The relative potency measured with the YES (relative to 17beta-estradiol) was 2.2 ...

Hemophilia is a X chromosome-linked disease characterized by an increased tendency to hemorrhage. Because of recurrent hemarthrosis, specific changes occur in synovium and cartilage. This process is called hemophilic arthropathy. The pathogenetic mechanisms involved are not precisely known. Current concepts, which are based on experimental in vitro studies and clinical ...

A long term field study was initiated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1992 to elucidate patterns of common loon (Gavia immer) mercury (Hg) exposure. Analysis of loon blood and feather samples collected from recaptured adult loons in Wisconsin 1992-2000 found evidence of a decline in overall body ...

We report a case of nitrazepam poisoning in which the distribution of nitrazepam and 7-aminonitrazepam was determined in body fluids and tissues. A 52-year-old woman was found dead in a shallow ditch (approximately 5 cm in depth), in the winter. Ambient temperature was 2-8 degrees C. The postmortem interval was ...

The manual workers of the gas-and-oil extraction industry are exposed to hostile environmental and occupational conditions, resulting in elevated mortality and disability, due to chronic neurological and cardiovascular diseases. We evaluated the degree of oxidative stress, often associated with these pathological features, in the blood of manual and office employees ...

Protein C (PC) deficiency can lead to abnormal thrombus formation in blood vessels, obstructing oxygen and nutrient transport to various organs or tissues. Quantifying PC amount in blood plasma usually takes long time, is difficult and expensive due to its low concentration and other homologous proteins in it. A fiber-optic ...

OBJECTIVE: Lead poisoning can, in some cases, be traced to a specific route or source of exposure on the basis of the individual's blood lead isotope ratio. To assess the major source of lead exposure among women residing in Mexico City, we compared blood, ceramic, and gasoline lead isotope ratios. ...

Despite the enormous number of reports on polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) toxicology, both the causal interpretation of epidemiological studies and the risk assessment of human exposures have been hampered by the lack of information on the pharmacokinetics of various PCB isomers and congeners. Thus, the assessment of exposure by means of ...

The effectiveness of glutaraldehyde (GTA), a very common biocide for controlling biofilms formed by Pseudomonas fluorescens on stainless steel slides, in laminar and turbulent flow, was investigated. Tests were performed using a concentration of biocide of 200 mg L(-1) and a range of exposure times. The GTA action was assessed ...

The association of lead toxicity with delta -aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) and vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms was examined in 216 workers occupationally exposed to lead. Urinary N-acetyl- beta-glucosaminidase (UNAG) activity and albumin concentration, adjusted by creatinine, were measured as biomarkers of nephrotoxicity. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction ...

To explore the mechanisms underlying the phase lag between oscillations in arterial blood pressure (ABP) and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), ABP and CBFV signals were recorded noninvasively from normal volunteers who lay quietly in a supine position. Mean ABP (MAP) and CBFV (MFV) were calculated beat-to-beat by means of ...

Blood samples were collected from 113 subjects (56 males and 57 females) living in the district of Alfenas, in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil, to establish reference values for delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase activity (ALA-D, EC 4.2.1.24). The state of health of the population was confirmed by hematological and biochemical parameters ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate background exposure levels and determinants of the individual variations in the exposure to dioxins in Japan. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed on 131 men and 122 women (aged 20-76 years), who resided in five prefectures of Japan and had no occupational exposure to dioxins. Seven polychlorinated ...

Lead is an important toxic metal agent found in many industrial processes in the present day. Lead exposure must be of particular concern because of ongoing exposure to thousands of workers in the industrial plants and recent research indicating that asymptomatic lead exposure can result in chronic toxicity manifestations. Therefore, ...

The breakthrough performance of stacks of dye-cellulosic fabric in affinity chromatography of lysozyme was investigated in batch and flow experiments. Breakthrough curves were significantly affected by flow rate and were not dependent on the feed solution concentration. System dispersion curves could not explain the flow-rate dependence. Breakthrough curves were analyzed ...

Passive scalar mixing in fully chaotic flows is usually explained in terms of Lyapunov exponents, i.e., rates of particle pair separations. We present a unified review of this approach (which encapsulates also other nonchaotic flows) and investigate its limitations. During the final stage of mixing, when the scalar variance decays ...

Lead poisoning is commonly diagnosed in cattle. In this study, 3 groups of cattle from different herds accidentally exposed to discarded lead batteries on pasture were intensively studied to determine the extent and severity of exposure. The losses from acute death due to lead toxicity were substantial in all the ...

Systematic experiments were conducted to evaluate and compare the analytical figures of merit of two reducing agents (SnCl2 and NaBH4) in a continuous flow cold vapor atomic fluorescence mercury analyzer. It was found that sodium tetrahydroborate can efficiently reduce Hg2+ in various environmental samples at a concentration as low as ...

The present study was designed to determine variations in blood lead levels during pregnancy and the influence of physiological anemia during this period on these findings. An exploratory study was made of a cohort of 38 pregnant women whose blood was tested for lead level and erythrocyte counts at different ...

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to lead at levels encountered by urban children impairs cognitive development. An observational study suggested improvement in IQ when blood lead level fell, but the only randomized trial of chelation showed no benefit in IQ. METHODS: We did a new analysis of the data from the clinical trial ...

A random sample of 68 males and 25 females who reside in Mansoura city, Egypt, was examined for concentrations of cadmium, lead, and mercury in blood, urine, hair, and nails. The effect of gender and smoking on such levels was studied. The influence of dental amalgam on the levels of ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare blood mercury concentrations of infertile couples with those of fertile couples in Hong Kong, and to examine the relationship between blood mercury concentrations and seafood consumption. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: In vitro fertilisation (IVF) Unit and Antenatal Unit of a university teaching hospital. Sample One hundred fifty-seven ...

There have been numerous reports of lead poisoning resulting from the ingestion of foreign bodies. A case involving the ingestion of spent air rifle pellets is described. No clinical symptoms were observed, despite the fact that the young child exhibited elevated blood lead levels as high as 2.7 micromol/L (56 ...

In this study, the authors related blood lead concentrations to Apgar scores, birth weight, gestational age, small-for-gestational age, and hypertension in pregnancy (HIP)/toxemia. Data and blood were collected 4 times during pregnancy from 705 women, aged 12-34 yr. Blood lead concentrations, measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, were related to reproductive ...

The influence of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an antioxidant, on the therapeutic efficacy of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), a hydrophilic, and its ester, monoisoamyl 2,3-dimercaptosuccinate (MiADMS), a lipophilic, both soft tissue lead mobilizers, was investigated in lead-preexposed rats. The subsequent treatment of lead-exposed animals with DMSA, MiADMS, or NAC reversed the lead-induced ...

Although requiring stringent experimental conditions to achieve good reproducibility, the G2 assay has potential as a sensitive marker for cancer susceptibility, and is particularly useful in population studies. Immediate culture of blood is preferable, but overnight storage of blood either at ambient temperature or at 4 degrees C does not ...

In 1993-1995, the authors evaluated risk factors for elevated blood and bone lead levels in 264 Boston, Massachusetts, area women previously selected for a case-control study of lead and hypertension. Bone lead was measured at the tibia and patella with K x-ray fluorescence. Blood lead was analyzed by graphite furnace ...

We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the highest ...

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to determine whether swine farmers continuously exposed to the farming environment react differently to acute exposure than previously unexposed nonfarmers. METHODS: Nine healthy nonfarmers, not previously exposed to a farming environment, and eight swine farmers were exposed in a swine confinement building for ...

We examined the relations among nesting success, egg viability, and blood and egg concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Hg, and Se in a threatened population of spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri) and a sympatric population of common eiders (S. mollissima) on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, USA, during 1995 and 1996. During ...

The tundra-taiga zone is considered not only as a natural ecotone, but as a unique fringe zone with socioeconomic peculiarities. This holistic approach enables us to analyze several significant types of human impacts (industrial impacts and those associated with renewable resources development, including traditional reindeer herding and human settlements) and ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to analyse the haemodynamic background of the hypertension-inducing effect of lead and the role of alcohol effect in hypertension caused by lead. METHODS: Daily lead acetate doses of 0 or 500 mg/kg were administered to Sprague-Dawley male rats. One half of each group ...

We have measured the concentration and isotopic composition of lead in blood over a 15-month period for a subject who undertook recreational shooting in outdoor and indoor firing ranges on an irregular basis. We have also measured the isotopic composition in cast lead, Cu-jacketed and Teflon-coated bullets, propellant and primer ...

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary cerebrovascular disease leading to cognitive decline and dementia. CADASIL usually begins with migraine in about one third of the patients. More severe manifestations, transient ischemic attacks or recurrent strokes, appear between 30 and 50 years of age. ...

Tobacco was estimated to account over 4 million annual deaths in 1998 and deaths attributable to tobacco usage will rise to 8.4 million in 2020 (http://tobacco.who.int/en/advocacy/wntdzoola.html.) In Turkey, 74% of the males and 29% of the females are smoking, and each year, 150,000 deaths are associated with cigaret smoking. There ...

This study was conducted in January 2001, in Bursa, Turkey. Of the 99 traffic policemen who were included in the study, 21 were office workers. Blood lead levels were determined by using an electro-thermal atomic absorption spectrometer (ET-AAS). Average blood lead levels were 9.4 +/- 1.6 micrograms/l and 8.7 +/- ...

Long-term exposure to cadmium may cause kidney and bone damage. Urinary cadmium is commonly used as the dose estimate for the body burden of cadmium. However, elevated levels of cadmium in the urine may reflect not only high levels of cadmium dose but also renal dysfunction. In this study we ...

Plasma endothelin elevations have been associated with cerebrovascular pathology. Mechanisms of stimulation, however, are unknown. Therefore, in healthy subjects a marked physiological cerebrovascular response was experimentally provoked by hypercapnia, hypocapnia, and alternating capneic conditions. During these challenges plasma immunoreactive-endothelin-1 (ir-ET-1) concentrations were determined using a radioimmunassay. Physiological effects were continuously ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of the Council Directive of 29 March 1977 of the European Union was to measure non-occupational lead exposure levels in the general adult populations of European countries through biological monitoring. In France, such measurements were carried out during 1979 and 1982 in eight metropolitan areas (having more ...

OBJECTIVE: A dose-response relationship for hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), in terms of the proportion of patients achieving the Paulus 20% criteria for improvement, had previously been observed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving a 6-week loading regimen of 400, 800, or 1,200 mg HCQ daily. This present retrospective analysis was performed ...

Manganese (Mn) and lead (Pb) are two neurotoxic chemicals and experimental evidence suggests that they can cross the placental barrier. Tetraethyl lead was still in use as an antiknock agent in Paris during the sampling period of the study, while it has been replaced by methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) in ...

The German Environmental Survey was conducted for the third time in 1998 (GerES III). The probability sample of about 4800 subjects was selected to be representative for the German population with regard to region (East-/West-Germany), community size, age (18 to 69 years) and gender. Blood samples were taken from each ...

The influence of gender, age, residential area, and socioeconomic status on the blood and serum levels of 13 trace elements was studied in boys and girls living in two Swedish cities with different socioeconomic and environmental characters. The same groups of adolescents were sampled twice, at ages 15 (n=372) and ...

A 56-year-old Indian lady presented with one week history of abdominal pain, jaundice and chronic polyarthralgia. She had evidence of hemolytic anemia and hepatitis. Her blood lead level was high and a peripheral blood film showed dense basophilic stippling. It is believed that the lead toxicity was due to the ...

BACKGROUND: Use of the anticoagulant EDTA, in high-concentration liquid form, in blood collection tubes can lead to cross-contamination of routine biochemistry specimens. METHODS: In the present study, tests affected by EDTA in the sample were potassium, calcium, magnesium, unsaturated iron-binding capacity, bicarbonate, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, ...

OBJECTIVE: F2-isoprostanes are free radical-dependent arachidonic acid metabolites that are used as clinical markers of lipid peroxidation in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and other microvascular diseases. The objectives of this study were to determine whether the basal urinary levels of F2-isoprostane in SSc patients differ from those in patients with primary ...

Early clinical features of lead toxicity are non-specific and an occupational history is particularly valuable. Lead in the body comprises 2% in the blood (t1/2 35 days) and 95% in bone and dentine (t1/2 20-30 years). Blood lead may remain elevated for years after cessation from long exposure, due to ...

Although the toxic effects of lead on the central nervous system have been well described, the blood concentration at which lead begins to exert adverse effects remains the focus of debate. A meta-analysis of occupational studies was conducted evaluating the association between neurobehavioural testing results and moderate blood lead concentrations.

It has been argued that the release of mercury from amalgam fillings is of toxicological relevance. The aim of the study was to determine the internal mercury exposure of two groups differing in their attitude towards possible health hazards by mercury from amalgam fillings. It was to be examined if ...

Exposure of experimental animals or cultured cells to arsenic induces oxidative stress, but, to date, no examination of this phenomenon in humans has been reported. In this study we conducted a cross-sectional study in Wuyuan, Inner Mongolia, China, to explore the relationship between chronic arsenic exposure from drinking water and ...