Over the last few decades, there have been numerous reports of adverse effects on the reproductive health of wildlife and laboratory animals caused by exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The increasing trends in human male reproductive disorders and the mounting evidence for causative environmental factors have therefore sparked growing interest in the health threat posed to huma...

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is still one of the main causes of death in the world, despite significant advances in clinical treatments. Stem cell transplantation methods have the potential to improve cardiac function and patients' outcome following heart attack, but optimal cell types, cell preparation methods and cell delivery routes are yet to be developed. Mammalian hearts contain a small f...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous chemicals that may occur naturally (e.g., phytoestrogens), while others are industrial substances and plasticizers commonly utilized worldwide to which human exposure, particularly at low-doses, is omnipresent, persistent and occurs in complex mixtures. EDCs can interfere with/or mimic estrogenic hormones and, consequently, can simultaneously ...

In order to minimize time & cost for E-Discovery, many vendors have developed and released competitively their own service systems or software applied state-of-the-art technologies. Among them, Cloud Computing is one of the most exclusive skills as a computing infrastructure for E-Discovery service. However, these products actually do not cover all E-Discovery works that have to be done and hav...

BACKGROUND Reported rises in the prevalence of hypospadias and other abnormalities of the male reproductive system may be a result of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. AIMS To analyse the relation between risk of hypospadias and maternal occupation, particularly with regard to exposure to potential endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). METHODS Data (1980-96) from the National Con...

For over 70 years, scientists have reported that certain synthetic and natural compounds could mimic natural hormones in the endocrine systems of animals. These substances are now collectively known as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), and have been linked to a variety of adverse effects in both humans and wildlife. More recently, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have bee...

Recent research supports a role for exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the global obesity epidemic. Obesogenic EDCs have the potential to inappropriately stimulate adipogenesis and fat storage, influence metabolism and energy balance and increase susceptibility to obesity. Developmental exposure to obesogenic EDCs is proposed to interfere with epigenetic programming of gene re...

Birds have been used as model species in ecotoxicological research for decades but have only recently been included in toxicity testing schemes. However, the avian fauna is very diverse. Given this diversity, the ecology, behavior, and reproduction should be considered when selecting the appropriate bird model in ecotoxicological studies. This article focusses on choosing the right bird model s...

Many environmental contaminants disrupt the vertebrate endocrine system. Although they may be no more sensitive to endocrine-disrupting contaminants (EDCs) than other vertebrates, reptiles are good sentinels of exposure to EDCs due to the lability in their sex determination. This is exemplified by a study of alligators at Lake Apopka, Florida, showing that EDCs have altered the balance of repro...