BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The available data on low-dose oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use and stroke risk in US women are limited by small numbers. We sought more precise estimates by conducting a pooled analysis of data from 2 US population-based case-control studies. METHODS We analyzed interview data from 175 ischemic stroke cases, 198 hemorrhagic stroke cases, and 1191 control subjects 18 t...

BACKGROUND Although Methanobacteriales in the gut has recently been linked to obesity, no study has examined the hypothesis that waist circumference, a marker of visceral obesity, are positively associated with Methanobacteriales in the general population. Since Methanobacteriales increase in a petroleum-contaminated environment to biodegrade petroleum as one way of autopurification, we also hy...

The Arctic has been contaminated by legacy organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and currently used pesticides (CUPs) through atmospheric transport and oceanic currents. Here we report the time trends and air-water exchange of OCPs and CUPs from research expeditions conducted between 1993 and 2013. Compounds determined in both air and water were trans- and cis-chlordanes (TC, CC), trans- and cis-non...

Five species of macroalgae, namely Sargassum wightii, Padina tetrastromatica, Ulva lactuca, Caulerpa racemosa and Gracilaria edulis collected from three sampling sites, viz. Harbour Beach (site 1), Tharuvaikkulam 2) Hare Island 3), situated along the Thoothukudi region Gulf Mannar were analysed for 17 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to assess the...

Endogenous and exogenous female hormones regulate sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) in animal models, but their impact in humans is controversial. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the ovarian cycle and oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) on SNA. We hypothesized that the effects of endogenous hormones were baroreflex (BR)-mediated and that these cyclical changes in BR contro...

BACKGROUND Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are neurodevelopmental toxicants, but few studies have examined associations with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine whether prenatal exposure to PCBs and OCPs influences offspring risk of ASD and intellectual disability without autism (ID). METHODS We conducted a population-based ...

Nowadays, more than 800 different kinds of pesticides are used for the control of insects, rodents, fungi and unwanted plants in the process of agricultural production. Although most of them leave the products or degrade in soil, water and atmosphere, some trace amounts of pesticide residues can be transferred to humans via the food chain, being poten‐ tially harmful to human health. [1] Pest c...

There are substantial variations of relative risks (RR) in smoking-related mortality by country and time. We hypothesized the RRs in smoking-related mortality might differ depending on serum concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). We evaluated the associations of cigarette smoking with total mortality in 610 elderly (aged ≥ 70 yr) (702 elderly for organochlorine pesticides [OCPs...

Sediments and benthic deposit feeding holothurians were collected near the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research grid during the austral winter of 2008. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were measured in Western Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf sediments, porewater, and benthic biota. Concentrations and fluxes in sediments decreased sharply away from the ...

Oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) are a popular contraception method. Currently, lower-dose ethinyl estradiol formulations are most commonly prescribed, although they have been linked to increased arterial vascular risk. The aim of this study was to investigate endothelial function in healthy young women using lower-dose ethinyl estradiol OCPs. We examined flow-mediated, endothelium-dependent and...