Levels of six PCB congeners and seven organochlorine pesticides were investigated and compared in ambient air and in pine needle samples. The applied methods are suitable for the analysis of PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in environmental samples and for their detection in recent intakes. DDE, HCB, lindane, PCB-28, PCB-52, PCB-101, PCB-138 and PCB-153 were found in all pine needle and air s...

Selected PCB congeners (PCB 52, 77, and 153) singly and in mixtures were spiked and aged in soil microcosms and subsequently planted with switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) or poplar (Populus deltoids x nigra DN34). The planted reactors showed significantly greater reductions in PCB parent compounds when compared to unplanted systems after 32 weeks, both in single congener exposures and when all th...

Several studies have reported that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exhibit estrogenic activity; however, it is not clear if these responses are associated with the polychlorinated hydrocarbon or its hydroxylated metabolite. In order to further test this hypothesis, a battery of in vitro and in vivo assays were used to investigate the estrogenic and antiestrogenic activities of 2,4,6,2',6'-pent...

The State of Michigan has a long history of research into human exposure to environmental contaminants through consumption of recreationally caught fish. A large cohort of Lake Michigan residents who eat fish (fish-eaters) and those who do not eat fish (nonfish-eaters) established in 1980 served as the basis for the congener-specific polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure evaluation reported h...

Correlations of blood polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) levels or PCB patterns and blood pressures were studied in 59 patients with yusho (PCB poisoning) above 40 years old. In spite of the passage of 13 years from the onset, 52.5% of these patients still have PCB levels higher than the range found in the general population. The frequency of hypertension in the patients was 16.9%, a value similar ...

We studied the relationships between polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and thyroid hormones (THs) and retinol within two groups of female polar bears (Ursus maritimus), females with cubs of the year (FWCOY) and females without cubs of the year (FWOCOY), and within a group of males. Concentrations of five of the six quantified PCB congeners, i.e., PCB-99, PCB-153, PCB-156, PCB-180, PCB-194 (sigma...

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-degradative genes, under the control of a constitutive promoter, were cloned into a broad-host-range plasmid and a transposon. These constructs were inserted into a surfactant-utilizing strain, Pseudomonas putida IPL5, to create a field application vector (FAV) in which a surfactant-degrading organism cometabolizes PCB. By utilizing a surfactant not readily availa...

Oxidation of oxymyoglobin [MbO2(Fe2+)] by isoplastocyanins a (PCa) and b (PCb) was experimentally investigated and the corresponding redox reaction was modeled using the physicochemical parameters of the isoforms to study the effect of the dimorphism. The kinetic curve of oxidation of MbO2 (Fe2+) by oxidized PCa [PCa(Cu2+)] and PCb [PCb(Cu2+)] and the pH-dependence of the rate constant kI were ...

BACKGROUND Previously, we reported an association between higher maternal polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations and smaller thymus volume in newborns in a birth cohort residing in eastern Slovakia. OBJECTIVE In the present report we address whether thymus volume at later ages is influenced by prenatal and early postnatal PCB exposure. METHODS At the time of delivery, 1,134 mother-in...