OBJECTIVETo explore the concentration of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in umbilical cord serum and analyze the influence of exposure to PBDEs during fetal stage on newborn birth outcomes in Shanghai.

METHODSFifty delivery women in a Shanghai hospital were surveyed by questionnaire, and the umbilical cord serum were collected from September 2006 to April 2007. All the delivery women were singleton pregnancies, excluding high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV infection and adverse medical history. Seven congeners (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154 and BDE-183) were measured by gas chromatography-negative chemical ionization-mass spectrometry and the influencing factors were analyzed.

RESULTSNewborns' length, weight, chest circumference, head circumference and body mass index (BMI) were (50.15 ± 0.75) cm, (3.49 ± 0.42) kg, (34.76 ± 1.51) cm, (35.03 ± 1.40) cm, (13.76 ± 1.36) kg/m(2), respectively. The median of Σ(7PBDEs) concentration in umbilical cord serum was 14.06 (1.03 - 379.73) ng/g lipid weight (lw). The detection rate of BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154 and BDE-183 were 22% (11/50), 22% (11/50), 98% (49/50), 72% (36/50), 76% (38/50), 90% (45/50) and 14% (7/50), respectively. The median (range) of PBDEs (BDE-28, BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153, BDE-154, BDE-183) congeners were < LOD (< LOD-137.20 ng/g lw), < LOD (< LOD-33.17 ng/g lw), 7.54 ng/g lw (< LOD-94.01 ng/g lw), 1.57 ng/g lw (< LOD-46.95 ng/g lw), 0.63 ng/g lw (< LOD-79.08 ng/g lw), 0.63 ng/g lw (< LOD-22.30 ng/g lw) and < LOD (< LOD-21.63 ng/g lw), respectively. The newborns' BMI showed a negative correlation with BDE-99 (r = -0.347, P < 0.05) and BDE-154 (r = -0.292, P < 0.05). BDE-99 in low-length group (≤ 50 cm, 10.59 ng/g lw) was significantly higher (t = 2.32, P = 0.03) than that in high-length group (> 50 cm, 3.60 ng/g lw).

CONCLUSIONPBDEs were commonly detected in newborns' umbilical cord serum in this study. Our findings indicated that exposure to PBDEs adversely affected the development of the newborns.

China ; Female ; Fetal Blood ; chemistry ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Maternal Exposure ; Polybrominated Biphenyls ; blood ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of rat maternal exposure to fenvalerate during lactation on behaviors development in rat pubertal female offspring.

METHODSTwelve ICR maternal mice were randomly divided into 7.5 and 30.0 mg/kg fenvalerate exposure groups and control group (four dams each group, ten pups each dam, half male half female, twenty female pups each group). The exposure groups were orally exposed to fenvalerate at the doses of 7.5 and 30 mg/kg a day from postnatal day 1 (PND1) to PND21. The control group was exposed to corn oil. The effects of maternal fenvalerate exposure during lactation on motor and species-typical behaviors in female offspring were observed on the PND 35.

RESULTSThe peripheral time and standing frequency of 30.0 mg/kg exposure group were (263.4 ± 54.8) s and (47.3 ± 16.2) times, which were significantly higher than those [(203.4 ± 53.0) s and (30.9 ± 17.3) times] of control group (P < 0.05). The scores in 7.5 mg/kg and 30.0 mg/kg exposure groups were 56.50 ± 50.79 and 54.73 ± 53.91, respectively, which were significantly lower than that (114.53 ± 53.87) in control group (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in beam walking scores, food hoarding quantity, food digging quantity, and nest construction scores between two exposure groups were found (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe rat maternal exposure to fenvalerate during lactation could decrease the ability of exploration and motor condition and increase the anxiety but not affect life habit in rat pubertal female offspring.

Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; Female ; Male ; Maternal Exposure ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Nitriles ; toxicity ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects ; Pyrethrins ; toxicity

The weights at birth of 4767 children born in the Tari area between 1979 and 1986 were analyzed after the children had been allocated to seven environmental zones. The environments differ in the quality of land from which the staple food, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), is produced. Mean birthweight varies significantly by environment. Women do much of the day-to-day agricultural work. It is argued that women living in the poorer quality environments produce less food, suffer chronic malnourishment and have lighter babies as a result. From time to time, however, El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events can result in sharp and severe shortages in food in both favoured and poorer environments. The cause is complex and involves rainfall and women's work rates. These food shortages cause decreases in mean birthweight of up to 285 g for one or more years and an increase in the rate of low-weight births, even in the best environments. The implications for the long-term improvement of health are raised.
Birth Weight ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects ; Infant Mortality ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects ; Rural Population ; Papua New Guinea

Atopic dermatitis(AD)is a chronic, recurrent, inflammatory skin disease in children. The disease is characterized by dryness, chronic eczema-like lesions and obvious itching, seriously affecting the quality of life of children and their families. The pathogenesis of AD is not yet to be clear, and it might be the interaction of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure to induce skin barrier impairment and immune system dysfunction. In recent years, the role of maternal factors or intrauterine environment exposure on childhood allergic diseases has been attracted attention, and the hypothesis that allergic diseases originate from the fetal period has been postulated. Maternal exposures called "early life exposure", such as nutritional factors during pregnancy (folate, vitamin D, vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acid) and tobacco exposure, home environmental exposure may be related with childhood atopic dermatitis. This article would focus on the recent research about maternal nutritional factors and family environmental exposure during pregnancy on offspring's atopic dermatitis.
Child ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Humans ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Quality of Life ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects* ; Family

Atopic dermatitis(AD)is a chronic, recurrent, inflammatory skin disease in children. The disease is characterized by dryness, chronic eczema-like lesions and obvious itching, seriously affecting the quality of life of children and their families. The pathogenesis of AD is not yet to be clear, and it might be the interaction of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure to induce skin barrier impairment and immune system dysfunction. In recent years, the role of maternal factors or intrauterine environment exposure on childhood allergic diseases has been attracted attention, and the hypothesis that allergic diseases originate from the fetal period has been postulated. Maternal exposures called "early life exposure", such as nutritional factors during pregnancy (folate, vitamin D, vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acid) and tobacco exposure, home environmental exposure may be related with childhood atopic dermatitis. This article would focus on the recent research about maternal nutritional factors and family environmental exposure during pregnancy on offspring's atopic dermatitis.
Child ; Female ; Pregnancy ; Humans ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Quality of Life ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects* ; Family

Clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCAC) is a rare cancer that comprises less than 9% of the cervical adenocarcinoma cases. We experienced a case of fertility-sparing radical abdominal trachelectomy for cervical clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCAC). Thus, reported it. A 27 year old female was diagnosed with clinical stage Ib cervical CCAC. She had no history of maternal exposure to diethylstilbestrol and had negative PAP cytology and HPV tests. She was treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical abdominal trachelectomy. After 2 cycles of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, the lesion disappeared completely in an imaging study, and potential fertility was preserved. Radical abdominal trachelectomy with chemotherapy may be a valuable approach for treating stage Ib cervical CCAC in women that wish to preserve potential fertility.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenocarcinoma, Clear Cell ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Diethylstilbestrol ; Female ; Fertility ; Humans ; Maternal Exposure ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

OBJECTIVETo explore the health status and related influencing factors for 3-year-old children in rural area of Anhui province.

METHODSClustered random sampling method was used to investigate the general situation of the children and their families as well as to measure height, weight and some other indexes of the children. Health status and its influencing factors were then evaluated.

RESULTSA total number of 418 children were investigated and incidence rates of growth retardation, underweight, overweight, emaciation and obesity appeared to be 4.3%, 1.9%, 0.7%, 0.5% and 14.9% respectively. Z value of development index was high among children with the following situations: heavy birth weight, father was tall, being boys, and having habits as washing hands before meals. However, Z value was low among kids with following characteristics: being the youngest among all the siblings, family income was high, mothers were illiterate as well as taking tocolytic agent and exposure to X-rays during pregnancy, delivered at home, major care taker was mother, mixed feeding in the early 4-month-old, age of supplementary food was less than 3 months, being picky on foods and taking snacks frequently etc.

CONCLUSIONHealth status of the 3-year-old children in rural area of Anhui province was fine in general, however, more attentionn needs to be paid to pregnant women and child health care takers in the rural areas.

Adult ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Male ; Maternal Exposure ; Pregnancy ; Rural Health

OBJECTIVETo analyze the relationship between pesticide exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes in famers.

METHODSA search was conducted to collect the articles about the relationship between pesticide exposure and adverse pregnancy outcomes published worldwide from 1990 to February 2012. Meta-analysis was performed on the collected articles using RevMan 4.2 software.

RESULTSTwelve articles were collected. Compared with the controls, the pesticide-exposed famers showed a combined odds ratio (OR) for spontaneous abortion of 1.52 (95%CI: 1.04 ∼ 2.21; P = 0.03), a combined OR for premature birth of 1.33 (95%CI: 1.09 ∼ 1.61; P = 0.005), a combined OR for dead fetus of 1.22 (95%CI: 1.16 ∼ 1.29; P < 0.01), a combined OR for stillbirth of 1.90 (95%CI: 0.58 ∼ 6.28; P = 0.29), a combined OR for birth defect of 2.02 (95%CI: 0.84 - 4.69; P = 0.12), a combined OR for low birth weight of 1.62 (95%CI: 0.60 ∼ 4.39; P = 0.34), a combined OR for neonatal death of 2.18 (95%CI: 0.54 ∼ 8.88; P = 0.28), and a combined OR for delayed conception of 1.43 (95%CI: 0.93 ∼ 2.18; P = 0.1). Pesticide exposure increased the risks for spontaneous abortion, premature birth, and dead fetus, but was not significantly associated with stillbirth, birth defect, low birth weight, neonatal death, and delayed conception.

CONCLUSIONPesticide exposure can cause adverse pregnancy outcomes in farmers, increasing the risks of spontaneous abortion, premature birth, and dead fetus.

Agriculture ; Female ; Humans ; Maternal Exposure ; Pesticides ; adverse effects ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Rural Population

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are a group of toxic pollutants existing in the environment widely, and can be taken into the body through various ways containing the digestive tract, respiratory tract and so on. Pregnant women and newborn infants are important and susceptive populations. Relevant study evidences indicate that exposure to PAH during pregnancy may be a important risk factor of preterm delivery, but the special mechanism isn't very clear and may be related with DNA damage, oxidative stress, systemic inflammation, endocrine disruption and so on. This paper reviewed related contents including the influences and evaluation methods of exposure to PAH during pregnancy, increasing risk and potential mechanism for preterm delivery of exposure to PAH during pregnancy.
Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Maternal Exposure ; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ; Pregnancy ; Premature Birth

Animals ; Electromagnetic Fields ; adverse effects ; Female ; Gravidity ; radiation effects ; Humans ; Maternal Exposure ; adverse effects ; Pregnancy