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Significant Exposure (significant + exposure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%
Life Sciences	25%

Selected Abstracts

Exposure to antibacterial agents with QT liability in 14 European countries: trends over an 8-year period

BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
Emanuel Raschi
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT , Several noncardiovascular drugs with QT liability are currently on the market. , Previous epidemiological studies have shown significant exposure of the general population to drugs with QT liability with similar consumption in many European countries. , Several regulatory measures have concerned medicinal products carrying a pro-arrhythmic risk in humans. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS , The list of antibacterial agents with documented QT liability has grown over the last few years. , Notwithstanding stringent regulatory measures, population exposure to antibiotics with QT liability is still significant in several countries. , The magnitude of the problem is clearly heterogeneous, with remarkable diversity between Northern and Southern countries (lower and higher exposure, respectively). AIMS (i) To classify antibacterial agents with QT liability on the basis of the available evidence, and (ii) to assess trends in their consumption over an 8-year period (1998,2005) in 14 European countries. METHODS Current published evidence on QT liability of antibiotics was retrieved through MEDLINE search and joined to official warnings from regulatory agencies. Each drug was classified according to an already proposed algorithm based on the strength of evidence: from group A (any evidence) to group E (clinical reports of torsades de pointes and warnings on QT liability). Consumption data were provided by the European Surveillance of Antibacterial Consumption (ESAC) project and were expressed as defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID). RESULTS Among 21 detected compounds, nine [six fluoroquinolones (FQs) and three macrolides (MACs)] belonged to group E. Use of group E drugs ranged from 1.3 (Sweden) to 4.1 DID (Italy) in 1998 and from 1.2 (Sweden) to 6.5 DID (Italy) in 2005. Significant exposure was observed in Italy and Spain (6.5 and 3.8 DID, respectively, in 2005). Only Denmark, Sweden and UK showed a slight decrease in use. Exposure to clarithromycin increased in 10 out of 14 countries, with a marked increment in Italy (3 DID in 2005). CONCLUSIONS Notwithstanding regulatory measures, in 2005 there was still significant exposure to antibacterials with strong evidence of QT liability and, in most countries, it was even increased. This warrants further investigation of appropriateness of use and suggests closer monitoring of group E drugs. Physicians should be aware when prescribing them to susceptible patients. [source]

Widespread capacity to metabolize polychlorinated biphenyls by diverse microbial communities in soils with no significant exposure to PCB contamination

ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 8 2007
Alexandre J. Macedo
Summary The purpose of this work was to determine the extent of microbial metabolic potential for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soils that have had no previous exposure to this class of xenobiotic pollutants. Soil and sediment samples of distinct characteristics from six sites in Germany were used to inoculate PCB oil (Aroclor 1242) microdroplets. All samples yielded multispecies biofilms, as revealed by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analyses of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of 16S rRNA genes, and sequence analysis of the main amplicons. Microbes representing 20 different operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified in the biofilms, but only a few were common to all biofilms, namely those closely related to Aquabacterium sp., Caulobacter sp., Imtechium assamiensis, Nevskia ramosa, Parvibaculum lavamentivorans and Burkholderia sp. The PCB biofilm communities were always distinct from control biofilms developing from the same samples in the absence of PCB. All PCB droplet-grown biofilms degraded multiple PCB congeners but differed in the congener spectra they degraded. These findings reveal that microbial potential to degrade PCBs is widespread in soils that have not been subjected to PCB contamination, and that this potential is characteristic of consortia of very diverse phylogenetic composition. [source]

Overcoming the Effects of Variation in Infant Speech Segmentation: Influences of Word Familiarity

INFANCY, Issue 1 2008
Leher Singh
Previous studies have shown that 7.5-month-olds can track and encode words in fluent speech, but they fail to equate instances of a word that contrast in talker gender, vocal affect, and fundamental frequency. By 10.5 months, they succeed at generalizing across such variability, marking a clear transition period during which infants' word recognition skills become qualitatively more mature. Here we explore the role of word familiarity in this critical transition and, in particular, whether words that occur frequently in a child's listening environment (i.e., "Mommy" and "Daddy") are more easily recognized when they differ in surface characteristics than those that infants have not previously encountered (termed nonwords). Results demonstrate that words are segmented from continuous speech in a more linguistically mature fashion than nonwords at 7.5 months, but at 10.5 months, both words and nonwords are segmented in a relatively mature fashion. These findings suggest that early word recognition is facilitated in cases where infants have had significant exposure to items, but at later stages, infants are able to segment items regardless of their presumed familiarity. [source]

Human exposure to phthalates via consumer products

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ANDROLOGY, Issue 1 2006
TED SCHETTLER
Summary Phthalate exposures in the general population and in subpopulations are ubiquitous and widely variable. Many consumer products contain specific members of this family of chemicals, including building materials, household furnishings, clothing, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, medical devices, dentures, children's toys, glow sticks, modelling clay, food packaging, automobiles, lubricants, waxes, cleaning materials and insecticides. Consumer products containing phthalates can result in human exposures through direct contact and use, indirectly through leaching into other products, or general environmental contamination. Historically, the diet has been considered the major source of phthalate exposure in the general population, but all sources, pathways, and their relative contributions to human exposures are not well understood. Medical devices containing di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate are a source of significant exposure in a susceptible subpopulation of individuals. Cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, herbal remedies and insecticides, may result in significant but poorly quantified human exposures to dibutyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, or dimethyl phthalate. Oven baking of polymer clays may cause short-term, high-level inhalation exposures to higher molecular weight phthalates. [source]

Consumption of vegetables, fruit, and antioxidants during pregnancy and wheeze and eczema in infants

ALLERGY, Issue 6 2010
Y. Miyake
To cite this article: Miyake Y, Sasaki S, Tanaka K, Hirota Y. Consumption of vegetables, fruit, and antioxidants during pregnancy and wheeze and eczema in infants. Allergy 2010; 65: 758,765. Abstract Background:, Two previous cohort studies showed inverse relationships between maternal vitamin E and zinc intake during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and/or asthma in the offspring. We investigated the association between maternal intake of vegetables, fruit, and selected antioxidants during pregnancy and the risk of wheeze and eczema in the offspring aged 16,24 months. Methods:, Subjects were 763 Japanese mother,child pairs. Data on maternal intake during pregnancy were assessed with a diet history questionnaire. Data on symptoms of wheeze and eczema were based on criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood. Results:, Higher maternal intake of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruit, and ,-carotene during pregnancy was significantly associated with a reduced risk of eczema, but not wheeze, in the offspring {adjusted odds ratios (ORs) between extreme quartiles [95% confidence intervals (CIs)] = 0.41 (0.24,0.71), 0.53 (0.30,0.93), and 0.52 (0.30,0.89), respectively}. Maternal vitamin E consumption during pregnancy was significantly inversely related to the risk of infantile wheeze, but not eczema [adjusted OR (95% CI) = 0.54 (0.32,0.90)]. No statistically significant exposure,response associations were observed between maternal intake of total vegetables, vegetables other than green and yellow vegetables, total fruit, apples, ,-carotene, vitamin C, or zinc and the risk of wheeze or eczema in the children. Conclusions:, Higher maternal consumption of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruit, and ,-carotene during pregnancy may be protective against the development of eczema in the offspring. Higher maternal vitamin E intake during pregnancy may reduce the risk of infantile wheeze. [source]

Brief communication: Mass spectroscopic characterization of tetracycline in the skeletal remains of an ancient population from Sudanese Nubia 350,550 CE

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
Mark L. Nelson
Abstract Histological evidence of tetracycline use has been reported in an ancient X-Group population (350,550 CE) from Sudanese Nubia (Bassett et al., 1980). When bone samples were examined by fluorescent microscopy under UV light at 490 Å yellow,green fluorophore deposition bands, similar to those produced by tetracycline, were observed, suggesting significant exposure of the population to the antibiotic. These reports were met skeptically with claims that the fluorescence was the result of postmortem taphonomic infiltration of bacteria and fungi. Herein, we report the acid extraction and mass spectroscopic characterization of the antibiotic tetracycline from these samples. The bone samples were demineralized in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride which dissolved the bone-complexed tetracycline, followed by isolation by solid phase extraction on reverse-phase media. Chemical characterization by high pressure liquid chromatography mass-spectroscopic procedures showed that the retention times and mass spectra of the bone extract were identical to tetracycline when treated similarly. These results indicate that a natural product tetracycline was detectable within the sampled bone and was converted to the acid-stable form, anhydrotetracycline, with a mass + H of 427.1 amu. Our findings show that the bone sampled is labeled by the antibiotic tetracycline, and that the NAX population ingested and were exposed to tetracycline-containing materials in their dietary regime. Am J Phys Anthropol 143:151,154, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Surgical training in gastrointestinal procedures within a UK gynaecological oncology subspecialty programme

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
R Naik
Objective, An analysis of surgical experience in gastrointestinal procedures within a UK-based gynaecological oncology centre to which subspecialty fellows within the subject are exposed. Design, Retrospective study. Setting, Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre, Gateshead, UK. Population, All women undergoing bowel surgery over a six-year period, 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005. Methods, Cases were analysed by specialty and grade of surgeon performing the procedure. Main outcome measure, Proportion of cases to which subspecialty fellows were exposed. Results, Two hundred and sixty-two women (11.5%) underwent bowel surgery out of 2280 women undergoing major surgery for gynaecological cancer. This included ovarian/primary peritoneal cancer in 186 women (71%). Of these 262 cases, 238 operations (91%) were performed by a gynaecological oncologist, 20 (7.5%) were performed jointly with the gastrointestinal surgeons and four (1.5%) were performed solely by the gastrointestinal surgeons. A gynaecological oncology subspecialty fellow performed 21 (8%) and assisted in an additional 204 operations (78%). Perioperative morbidity and mortality statistics in addition to overall survival outcomes were comparable to the published literature. Conclusions, A significant proportion of major surgical operations performed within a gynaecological oncology centre require gastrointestinal procedures. The majority of these procedures can be performed by gynaecological oncologists with an acceptable perioperative morbidity and mortality rate. Subspecialty training has the potential to allow trainees significant exposure to these procedures. An accredited post-Fellowship Training Programme can provide the opportunity for hands-on experience to allow gynaecological oncologists the confidence and credibility to perform these procedures independently. [source]