OBJECTIVE Our purpose was to evaluate whether effects of exposure to environmental levels of PCBs and dioxins on development in the Dutch cohort persist until school age. STUDY DESIGN In the Dutch PCB/dioxin study, cognitive and motor abilities were assessed with the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities in children at school age. During infancy, half of this population was fully breast-fed...

Maternal exposure to dioxins and related compounds before conception may affect the health of the fetus. To identify factors affecting dioxin body load in Hong Kong, in 2002, total dioxin-like activity was estimated in 250 individual milk samples at 2-6 weeks postpartum, from a representative group of primiparous mothers, aged 18-42 years (mean 29 +/- 5 years), by a chemically activated lucifer...

The accumulation of persistent lipophilic organic pollutants like dioxins and PCBs in human body is of great concern since many of these compounds may elicit adverse health effects on humans. To reduce dioxins and PCBs with long half-lives that are absorbed into the human body, we need to work actively to minimize accumulation of dioxins and PCBs taken. Lot of manner has been tested such as foo...

BACKGROUND Deficits in cognitive functioning have been reported in humans exposed to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds. Evidence suggests that dioxins induce cholinergic dysfunction mediated by hypothyroidism. However, little is known about direct effects of dioxins on the cholinergic system. OBJECTIVES We investigated the action of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) on acetylcholines...

Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria is considered to be contaminated with toxic chemicals emanating from anthropogenic activities, especially near large industrial towns such as Kisumu. This has recently caused concerns about its water quality and impact on aquatic organisms and human beings. This study was justified by the need to generate baseline concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (...

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contribute to dioxin toxicity in humans and wildlife after bioaccumulation through the food chain from the environment. The authors examined human and rat cytochrome P450 (CYP)-dependent metabolism of PCDDs and PCBs. A number of human CYP isoforms belonging to the CYP1 and CYP2 families showed remarkable act...

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) mediates dioxin toxicities. Several studies have suggested that two amino acid residues corresponding to the 324(th) and 380(th) positions in the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the chicken AHR1 (Ile_Ser as high sensitivity, Ile_Ala as moderate sensitivity, and Val_Ala as low sensitivity), could be an important factor determining dioxin sensitivity in avian sp...

More than 100 studies have examined whether environmental or occupational exposures of parents affect the sex ratio of their offspring at birth. For this review, we searched Medline and Web of Science using the terms 'sex ratio at birth' and 'sex ratio and exposure' for all dates, and reviewed bibliographies of relevant studies to find additional articles. This review focuses on exposures that ...

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and related halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g., PCDFs), often called "dioxins", are ubiquitously present environmental contaminants. Some of them, notably 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), are among the most toxic synthetic compounds known. The biological effects of dioxins are mediated via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Mutations i...

OBJECTIVE In this systematic review we evaluated the evidence on the association between dioxin exposure and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in humans. DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION We conducted a PubMed search in December 2007 and considered all English-language epidemiologic studies and their citations regarding dioxin exposure and CVD mortality. To focus on dioxins, we excluded cohort...