Term Health Effects Research Articles

Characterizing profiles of polysubstance use among high school students in Baltimore, Maryland: A latent class analysis

BackgroundAdolescent drug use has long term health consequences, like substance use disorders and psychiatric illnesses. Proximal health risks, especially for overdose, are amplified when multiple substances are combined. Existing literature on polysubstance use among adolescents has largely focused on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, but has largely excluded other drugs like opioids. Understanding how adolescents combine illicit drugs is essential for intervening to prevent poor health outcomes. MethodsWe aimed to explore patterns of lifetime polysubstance use among adolescents in Baltimore City. We used data on 9th-12th graders recruited to participate in the 2017 local Baltimore Youth Risk Behavior Survey who reported any lifetime drug use (n = 387; 60 % female, 77 % non-Hispanic Black). We then conducted a latent class analysis using 10 indicators of lifetime drug and alcohol use. After selecting the class model, we tested for associations between the class profiles and race, sex, school grade, and lifetime injection drug use. ResultsWe identified three profiles of lifetime polysubstance use in our sample: alcohol and marijuana (68.6 % of sample), polysubstance (22.0 %), and alcohol/pain medication/inhalant use (9.4 %). Members of the polysubstance use class were more likely to be male and to report injection drug use. ConclusionsUnderstanding broader patterns of drug use beyond alcohol, tobacco and marijuana among adolescents is a crucial step towards preventing adverse drug and health-related outcomes later in life. More research is needed to characterize the full health impact of youth polysubstance use patterns and related risk behaviors like injection drug use.

Dietary patterns and their associations with gestational weight gain in the United Arab Emirates: results from the MISC cohort

BackgroundSuboptimum weight gain during pregnancy may carry long term health consequences for the infant or mother. Nutritional imbalances are well recognized as a determinant of gestational weight gain. Few studies examined the effect of dietary patterns on gestational weight gain, especially in countries undergoing nutrition transition, such as the United Arab Emirates.ObjectivesTo characterize dietary patterns among pregnant women living in the UAE and examine their associations with gestational weight gain and gestational weight rate.MethodologyData were drawn from the Mother-Infant Study Cohort, a two-year prospective cohort study of pregnant women living in the United Arab Emirates, recruited during their third trimester (n = 242). Weight gain during pregnancy was calculated using data from medical records. The Institute of Medicine’s recommendations were used to categorize gestational weight gain and gestational weight gain rate into insufficient, adequate, and excessive. During face-to-face interviews, dietary intake was assessed using an 89-item culture-specific semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire that referred to usual intake during pregnancy. Dietary patterns were derived by principal component analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations of derived dietary patterns with gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate.ResultsTwo dietary patterns were derived, a “Diverse” and a “Western” pattern. The “Diverse” pattern was characterized by higher intake of fruits, vegetables, mixed dishes while the “Western” pattern consisted of sweets and fast food. The “Western” pattern was associated with excessive gestational weight gain (OR:4.04,95% CI:1.07–15.24) and gestational weight gain rate (OR: 4.38, 95% CI:1.28–15.03) while the “Diverse” pattern decreased the risk of inadequate gestational weight gain (OR:0.24, 95% CI:0.06–0.97) and gestational weight gain rate (OR:0.28, 95% CI:0.09–0.90).ConclusionThe findings of this study showed that adherence to a “Diverse” pattern reduced the risk of insufficient gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate, while higher consumption of the “Western” pattern increased the risk of excessive gestational weight gain/gestational weight gain rate. In view of the established consequences of gestational weight gain on the health of the mother and child, there is a critical need for health policies and interventions to promote a healthy lifestyle eating through a life course approach.

Cost and health effects of case management compared with outpatient clinic follow-up in a Dutch heart failure cohort.

AimsHeart failure reduces quality of life and life expectancy; hospital admissions are frequent and create a burden on public resources. This study aims to quantify the benefits in terms of health effects [quality‐adjusted life years (QALYs)] and costs when heart failure patients receive case management at home compared with outpatient cardiology clinic follow‐up.Methods and resultsA health state transition (Markov) model was written, and transition probabilities were derived from a cohort of 1114 patients and available literature. QALYs in different health states of heart failure patients were retrieved from the literature, and costs were estimated with data from the financial department of the Noordwest Ziekenhuisgroep and public cost sources. Monthly simulation cycles were repeated 60 times to generate 5 years of virtual follow‐up data. Baseline willingness to pay is assumed €50 000 per QALY. Sensitivity analyses were performed in a one‐way deterministic and a multiway probabilistic approach; the probabilistic approach used uniform and more plausible distributions of the model parameters.Case management reduced costs by €382 and increased QALYs by 0.261 for the baseline simulation; this results in a net monetary benefit of €13 428. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis based on uniform and most plausible distributions of parameters resulted in 96.2% and 83.3% of the simulations, favouring a treatment strategy of case management.ConclusionsCase management is cost effective in 83.3% of the probabilistic simulations and has a tendency towards reducing costs and increasing QALYs when considering a real‐world cohort of heart failure patients in the Netherlands.

Health consequences of thick forest fire smoke to healthy residents in Riau, Indonesia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Indonesia forest fire in 2015 emitted a huge amount of pollutants into the air. This study was aimed to assess the health consequences of forest fire smoke in healthy residents in Riau during forest fire disaster in 2015.
 METHODS This cross-sectional study was performed in healthy residents who lived in Pekanbaru, Riau Province, Sumatera, for at least 6 months during forest fire disaster in 2015, and data were taken in October 2015. Questionnaires consisting of respiratory and non-respiratory symptoms were collected. Lung function was assessed by spirometry (MIR II Spirolab™ spirometer, Medical International Research, Italy) and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) was assessed using piCO+ Smokerlyzer®. Heart rate at rest and oxygen saturation in the room air were measured using Onyx 9591 Pulse Oximeter®.
 RESULTS A total of 89 subjects were mostly female (75.3%), housewife (37.7%), nonsmoker (86.5%) with mean age of 38.9 years old. The non-respiratory and respiratory symptoms were reported in 84.7% and 71.4% subjects, respectively. Lung function was impaired in 72.6% subjects, mostly with mild obstruction and mild restriction. Exhaled CO was highly detected over normal values (mean [standard deviation] = 32.6 [9.97] ppm) with predicted carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) of 5.74 (1.56).
 CONCLUSIONS Forest fire smoke exposure increased the respiratory and nonrespiratory symptoms among healthy individuals, which showed impairment in lung function, exhaled CO, and predicted COHb. Long term health effects on healthy individuals exposed to forest fire smoke warrant further evaluation.

Parent Satisfaction With Care and Treatment Relates to Missed Nursing Care in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.

Background: The satisfaction of parents of infants in neonatal intensive care is important to parent-infant bonding and parents' ability to care for their baby, including after discharge. Given the principal caregiver role of nurses in this setting, parent satisfaction is influenced by high quality nursing care. Nursing care that is required but missed, such as counseling and support, might influence parent satisfaction. How missed nursing care relates to parent satisfaction is unknown.Objective: To describe the satisfaction of parents of infants in neonatal intensive care and to determine how satisfaction relates to missed nursing care in a sample of USA nursing units.Methods: The design was cross-sectional and correlational. Thirty neonatal intensive care units that participate in the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators were recruited. To maximize sample variation in missed care, the highest and lowest quartile hospitals on missed nursing care, measured by nurse survey, were eligible. Ten parents of infants who were to be discharged were recruited from each site to complete a survey. Parent satisfaction was measured by the EMPATHIC-38 instrument, comprising five subscales: information, care and treatment, organization, parental participation, and professional attitude, and a total satisfaction score. Multivariate regression models were estimated.Results: Parent satisfaction was high (5.70 out of 6.00). The prevalence of missed care was 25 and 51% for low and high missed care units, respectively, and 40% for all units. On average, nurses missed 1.06 care activities; in the low and high missed care units the averages were 0.46 and 1.32. Over 10% of nurses missed activities that involved the parent, e.g., teaching, helping breastfeeding mothers, and preparing families for discharge. One standard deviation decrease in missed care activities at the unit level was associated with a 0.08-point increase in parent satisfaction with care and treatment (p = 0.01).Conclusion: Parents in USA neonatal intensive care units are highly satisfied. Neonatal intensive care nurses routinely miss care. Parent satisfaction with care and treatment is related to missed nursing care. Nursing care that is missed relates primarily to the care of the baby by the parents, which could have long term health and developmental consequences.

Bushfire smoke: urgent need for a national health protection strategy.

This research was undertaken with support from the Australian National University College of Health and Medicine, and the assistance of resources from the Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR). We used the CAR Data and Analysis Technology platform (https://cardat.github.io) to analyse data

An Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) with Different Health Outcomes Based on the Air Pollution Concentrations in Stockholm during the Period of 2015–2017

The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a tool that has been developed in order to address the health effects caused by simultaneous exposure to several different air pollutants. Short-term health effects in terms of mortality or morbidity are used in order to construct an index. In this study, different indexes for different health outcomes, based on the concentrations of NO2, O3, and PM10 at an urban background measuring station in Stockholm during the period of 2015–2017, are calculated by using different risk-coefficients obtained from a meta-analysis. An AQHI based on local risk-coefficients for asthma emergency department visits (AEDV) in Stockholm is also included in the analysis. Correlation coefficients between different pairs of AQHIs, where the additive effects associated with exposure to NO2, O3, and PM10 during 2015–2017 are used, exhibit R-values as in 12 out of 15 cases exceed 0.80. However, the average risk increase for different AQHIs are very different, where indexes based on hospital admissions for asthma are larger than those based on mortality outcomes. An overall conclusion is that different AQHIs for different population groups are not needed, but the index may need to be weighted differently for different population groups.

Complexity of chromosomal aberrations and gene expression changes in human blood lymphocytes after exposure to alpha particle radiation

Background: Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) is emerging as an effective treatment modality of cancer especially for micrometastasis, lymphoproliferative malignancies, and palliative approaches of bone cancer. Human blood lymphocytes may encounter alpha (a) exposure while traversal of targeted a particle emitting radio isotopes to the tumor site, due to their nonspecificity and release of radio isotopes from the legends used for targeting. Such radiation effects to lymphocytes may be implicated in short and long term health effects during TAT. Aims and Objectives: To see the effects of a-particle in blood lymphocytes and to compare their complexity of aberration with both and X-rays. Materials and Methods: Chromosomal aberrations such as dicentric chromosome, micronuclei, nucleoplasmic bridge (NPB) in the peripheral blood lymphocytes were scored for both a alpha particle and X rays. Then, the chromosome aberrations (CA) frequency was correlated with the gene expression (FDXR, CDKN1A and GADD45A) to both the type of radiations. Results: CA induced by a radiation was complex and highly dispersed when compared to low LET radiation. Moreover, magnitude of NPB was significantly higher in case of a radiation than radiation. A dose dependent increase in gene expression (FDXR, CDKN1A and GADD45) was observed after a radiation, which however, was higher in case of a radiation than X rays. Conclusion: These results provide better understanding about effects of a radiation on human lymphocytes, which may be significant implications in developing better TAT strategies for cancer.

Vitamin E Acetate as a Plausible Cause of Acute Vaping-related Illness.

The United States Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been working with state investigators on reported cases of lung illnesses linked to e-cigarette or vaping products. Symptoms of difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chest pains, gastrointestinal sickness leading to serious lung damage and death has been linked to the risk behavior of using vaping products bought on the streets in healthy young people. CDC has detected vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern among people with the lung injury. Vitamin E acetate is a condensing agent in vaping products, and all injured lung fluid samples appear to harbor this agent. The mysterious outbreak is identified in individuals vaping within the 90 days, ranging over a few days to developing over several weeks. There is growing evidence that vaping is hazardous to your health including immediate health dangers such as death from respiratory causes, long term health effects, cardiovascular events, depression which increases the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide. This review article summarizes the growing knowledge of acute respiratory complications associated with vaping.

Inner Engineering Yoga Program on Short and Long Term Health Effects (ISHA-Impact): A Longitudinal Study

Inner Engineering Yoga Program on Short and Long Term Health Effects (ISHA-Impact): A Longitudinal Study

Tempo-Spatial Behavior of Surface Urban Heat Island of Isfahan Metropolitan Area

The population of Isfahan City has been increased by ten times during the last six decades. This increase has had extensive environmental consequences. In this period, drying up of Zayandehrood River, increase in temperature and variability of precipitation has exacerbated the environmental conditions. Formation of the heat island is only one of the consequences of environmental changes in the last decades. The heat island also has many consequences in terms of health and water and energy consumptions. In this research, the land surface temperature (LST) data corresponding to daytime and nighttime using MODIS Aqua/LST from 2000 to 2016 are utilized. Using these data, the background climate of Isfahan metropolis was detected by the distance–azimuth diagram method. Then, the representative pixel within the city and the representative pixel of the background climate were identified. Based on time series of LST over these two pixels, SUHI index of Isfahan metropolis was calculated. Investigations showed that Isfahan metropolis area is colder than suburbs during the day but at night is about 2 K warmer than its surroundings. The intensity of the SUHI is maximal in January and turns weaker in summer. Regarding the temporal and spatial behavior of Isfahan metropolis SUHI, it seems that changes created by the urban concerning the moisture, albedo and composition of the atmosphere have a great role in the formation of the SUHI. Zayandehrood River has a major role in mitigation of temperature at the land surface, and its drying up has environmental consequences.

Health benefits through prevention: there is still a lot to be gained

Abstract Introduction In November 2018, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports presented the National Prevention Agreement (NPA). Within this NPA, interventions targeting smoking, being overweight and problematic alcohol use were proposed to induce lifestyle changes. In addition to measures aimed at these three themes, there is also a range of interventions that are promising, either because they could be cost saving or cost-effective, or because they have a positive impact on burden of disease. We explored which preventive interventions are promising in the Dutch context and systematically quantified costs, savings and health effects. Methods In a literature search via the website kosteneffectviteitvanpreventie.nl we selected interventions that: a) have not yet been introduced in the Netherlands; and b) were promising with respect to effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. All interventions, including health protection and environmental measures, were eligible. We estimated the number of people who are eligible and compliant, costs and possible savings related to the interventions and health effects in terms of DALYs avoided. Interventions were ranked with regard to possible savings and DALYs avoided. Results Our exploration shows a number of preventive interventions that are cost saving or cost-effective. These interventions are aimed at anxiety and depression, heart disease, skin cancer, fractures, air quality and road safety. Examples of cost-saving or cost-effective interventions are a food tax on food and drinks with high fat/sugar content, screening an aneurysm of the aorta and fully subsidized sound insulation of homes. Conclusions Our study shows that there are much more preventive opportunities than those presented in the NPA. The substantiation of the interventions is often based on foreign research and findings therefore cannot be simply translated to the Netherlands. However, the interventions identified in this study are promising and deserve further consideration. Key messages Health gain by environmental measures. Many interventions are not systematically implemented.

Estimation of the dietary exposure to chemical compounds in the French E3N prospective cohort: a study protocol

ABSTRACTDiet is an important source of exposure to chemical compounds and estimating individual exposure is challenging and essential to study the association with long term health effects. This project aims to estimate the dietary exposure to more than 400 chemical compounds in the E3N cohort (Etude Epidémiologique après de femmes de la Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale). In order to do so we developed a new database obtained by merging measures of chemical levels in commonly consumed food, from the second French Total Diet Study (TDS2), with the consumption data for food items of the E3N participants. E3N is a prospective cohort enrolled from 1990 with nearly 100,000 women aged between 40 to 65 years at inclusion. Participants complete a follow-up questionnaire every 2–3 years and dietary data were collected in 1993 and in 2005 using validated semi-quantitative food questionnaires developed according to the French meal pattern, collecting consumption information for 238 food items. The TDS2 analysed 445 different chemical substances in 186 core foods prepared as consumed. We attributed an occurrence value for each substance measured in the TDS2 study to all foods items included in the E3N food questionnaires. We identified 146 food items with a direct correspondence between the two databases. Alternatively, we attributed the weighted average of single foods using an a posteriori partition for 19 E3N food items. For 37 E3N food items not considered in the TDS2 we attributed the value of the most similar food measured in the TDS2. Overall 36 food items were excluded from the E3N-TDS2 database because no similar food was available. This study will allow estimating the dietary exposures to more than 400 chemical substances, either individually or as mixtures, in the E3N cohort, and therefore investigating their effect on the risk of chronic diseases, including cancers, diabetes, thyroid abnormalities, or ageing.

Heterogeneous Fenton process coupled with microfiltration for the treatment of water with higher arsenic content

Arsenic is well known by its effect as human carcinogen along with its acute toxicity; recently long term health effects of arsenic traces have been studied. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the efficiency of iron-loaded activated carbon (Fe-AC) as a heterogeneous catalyst in the Fenton process for the removal of arsenic from water. The effects of catalyst dosage, initial pH, H2O2 dosage, arsenic concentration, and aeration on arsenic removal rate were studied to find out the optimum conditions. Heterogeneous Fenton process carried out with iron loaded activated carbon (Fe-AC) catalyst resulted in 90.7% arsenic removal for a catalyst dosage of 2500 mg/L, pH 5, arsenic concentration of 1.5 mg/L, 0.014 M H2O2 with aeration. The study conducted with H2O2 alone and catalyst alone (adsorption) yielded less removal of arsenic than the combined process (adsorption + oxidation). After a subsequent microfiltration step, the residual arsenic content reduced to 0.105 mg/L. This indicates that heterogeneous Fenton coupled with microfiltration is efficient for elimination of arsenic from water medium.

Application of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing for Pesticide Exposure and Health Risk Assessment in Thailand

In Thailand, pesticide use has increased exponentially over the past 15 years causing critical public health concern. We used a geographic information system and applied a remote sensing method in an integrated manner on land use data to model the spatial patterns of pesticide exposure. We also used toxicological data to quantify the health effects in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributed to pesticide use in Thailand. We found that 56%of the total population (35,144,284 persons) had potential pesticide drift at their residences. Pesticide exposure was mostly due to glyphosate and paraquat applied to rice farms and atrazine applied to sugarcane farms, which were more widespread in the central and northeastern regions of the country. The total burden caused by pesticide use equated to 10,045 DALYs, of which more than half (52%) was due to use of paraquat. Regarding policy implications, all relevant sectors should work on reducing paraquat use in crop fields. Reduction of pesticide exposure should be placed as the top priority for making health-related pesticide management policies.

Mortality pattern in a tertiary care teaching hospital in North Karnataka, India

Background: India is undergoing rapid epidemiological transition due to economic and social change. The pattern of mortality is a key indicator of the long term health effects. Mortality data indicates the health of the population under study. Hence this study was done to know the socio demographic profile and mortality pattern of all deaths in a tertiary care teaching hospital in North Karnataka, India.Methods: A one year retrospective study of all deaths in Hangal Sri Kumareshwar Hospital and Research Center, Navanagar, Bagalkot, Karnataka State, India was done of the year 2017, after ethical clearance and Institutional Review Board. The case records of all deaths from Medical Record Department were analyzed for socio demographic profile and mortality pattern. The deaths had been classified according to International Classification of Diseases-10th revision. Data was analyzed using percentages and chi-square test.Results: Out of 357 deaths in the year 2017, 214 (59.94%) were males and 143 (40.06%) were females. Maximum deaths were between 15 to 60 years of age contributing to 43.14% of the total followed by deaths in more than 60 years of age (35.29%). Non-communicable diseases contributed to 70.03% of the total deaths.Conclusions: Non communicable diseases are on the rise in the urban and rural communities of the study area. Preventive care is the need of the hour and it can be achieved through health education and screening of the high risk population.

Assessment of natural radionuclides and their radiological hazards in commercial granite produced in Xinjiang, China

ABSTRACTThe specific activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K of 26 samples of granite produced in Xinjiang of China were measured by a high-purity germanium detector, and their radiological hazards of radium equivalent, external hazard index, internal hazard index, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, gamma index and alpha index were evaluated. The results indicate that the overall average specific activities of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K obtained in the investigated samples are below the world’s average granite values. The average radium equivalent is within the recommended limit of 370 Bq kg−1. The results obtained further show that the mean values of external hazard index, internal hazard index, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, gamma index and alpha index are 0.65, 0.77, 111.7 nGy h−1, 0.55 mSv y−1, 0.89 and 0.23, respectively. These mean values established that radiological hazards are also found to be below the international recommended values. The results are compared with granite samples from other countries or China-Taiwan province. It can be noticed that the specific activity values of granite samples produced in China are lower or similar to that of other countries or China-Taiwan province, however there are higher specific activity values for 226Ra and 232Th in individual samples, which need to provide proper radiation monitoring before use considering the long term health effect.

Repeated Exposure of Native African Adansonia Digitata (Baobab) and Moringa Oleifera (Moringa) Modifies Caco-2 Cell Differentiation but Not Carotenoid Absorption (P10-025-19)

ObjectivesThe inclusion of mineral rich African plants such as moringa (Moringa oleifera; MOR) and baobab (Adansonia Digitata; BB) into composite cereal porridges is a potentially sustainable strategy to providing key shortfall micronutrients including iron and zinc to at risk populations. However, only limited information is available on long term health effects of these materials including their potential to modify gut barrier function or their impact on absorption of other nutrients such as provitamin A carotenoids(pVAC). The present study investigated the impact of repeated exposure of MOR and BB to the human intestinal cell model (Caco-2) to assess changes in intestinal cell differentiation and subsequent pVAC uptake from model foods. MethodsTo study gut impacts from BB and MOR exposure at usage rate of 15% of a cereal porridge, Caco-2 cells were cultured and differentiated on 6 well plates for 10–14d with complete media containing digested BB (15%), moringa (15%) or saline (control) in a 1:8–12 ratio (v/v). Caco-2 cell differentiation was followed by 1H NMR and pVAC transporter by QRT-PCR and Western blotting. Cellular uptake of pVACs in differentiated monolayers was assessed for 4 h from a final acute dose of digested carrots (3590 mg/100 g total proVAC) estimated to deliver ∼30% of the RDA for VA. ResultsAlterations in select Caco-2 cell differentiation biomarkers were observed by NMR from repeated exposure to all treatments. Specifically, glycerophosphocholine and taurine were observed to significantly increase with repeated exposure to all treatments. Significant reduction (P < 0.05) in carotenoid uptake was observed following repeated exposure across all treatment groups. No significant differences between control and baobab or moringa treatment. Despite the reduction in carotenoid uptake, mRNA and protein levels of carotenoid transporters (CD-36, SR-B1 and FABP1) were not significantly altered by chronic exposure to BB or MOR suggesting reduced transport is a product of prolonged accumulation of background digesta matrix. ConclusionsOverall, at the levels explored in this study, mineral-rich BB or MOR do not appear to negatively impact differentiation of Caco-2 cells or their ability to accumulate pVAC carotenoids over prolonged exposure. Funding SourcesUSAID Food Processing & Post Harvest Innovation Lab. Sorghum & Millet Innovation Lab.

Growth pattern of infants with gastroschisis in the neonatal period

Early postnatal growth patterns may have significant long term health effects. Although preterm infants on parenteral nutrition (PN) exhibit poor growth, growth pattern of term or near-term infants requiring PN is not well reported. We aimed to investigate this in infants born with gastroschisis. Retrospective review of all infants with gastroschisis requiring PN treated at a single centre over a 4 year period. Growth and clinical data were retrieved, and weight SDS scores for corrected gestational age calculated. Weight SDS (mean±SD) were compared at clinically relevant timepoints and multi-level regression used to model growth trends over time. During the study period 61 infants with gastroschisis were treated; all were included. Infants were small for gestational age at birth for weight (SDS score-0.87±0.85). Weight SDS decreased significantly during the first 10 days of age (mean decrease 0.81±0.56; p<0.0001) and between birth and discharge (mean decrease 0.81±0.56; p<0.0001). Despite tolerating full enteral feeds, weight SDS velocity was negative around the time of transition from parenteral to enteral feed. There was evidence of 'catch up' growth between 3 and 6 months of age. Despite nutritional support with PN, infants with gastroschisis demonstrate significant growth failure during the newborn period. Further efforts are required to understand the underlying mechanisms, improve nutritional support and to evaluate the long term consequences of postnatal growth failure in this population.

Arsenic enrichment in sediments and beaches of Brazilian coastal waters: A review

High concentrations of total arsenic (As), even above the Brazilian legislative threshold for marine sediments of 70 mg kg−1, were found in beach sands and near-shore surface sediments. Two mechanisms (anthropogenic activities and sedimentary processes in the coastal waters) are responsible for this contamination. The anthropogenic impact includes releases from metallurgical plants, phosphate fertilizer plants and gold and iron mining. In the coastal area sedimentary processes redistributed the As from the sediment into the porous structure of calcareous marine algae. These enriched calcareous algae are transported over time to the beach by wave action. As in the Brazilian coastal environment, increased As levels were also observed in other coastal environments of South America such as Rio Loa (Chile), Barbacoas Bay (Colombia) and the Southern Pampa region (Argentina). Finally, arsenic levels in fish from Brazilian coastal waters and North Sea, which is also an As-contaminated area, were compared. In both areas, short term health effects from fish consumption are not expected, but a lifetime cancer risk cannot be excluded.