Here we review epidemiologic studies dealing with the dietary intake and the body burden of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs)/polychlorinated dibenzo-furans (PCDFs)/ polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the general population, and potential adverse health effects of these substances, especially on the risk of diabetes mellitus and endometriosis, and on thyroid function and the neurodevel...

Several of the major incidents resulting in potential human exposures to polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and/or polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and related compounds which have occurred in the U.S. in recent periods have resulted from improper disposal of hazardous chemical wastes. Prominent examples of such environmental contamination episodes are...

Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) applying three extraction cycles, temperature and pressure, improved the efficiency of solvent extraction when compared with the classical Soxhlet extraction. Polychlorinated-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dioxin-like PCBs (coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (Co-PCBs)) in two Certified Reference Materials [DX-1 (sediment) and BCR...

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread, low-level environmental pollutants associated with adverse health effects such as immune suppression and teratogenicity. There is increasing evidence that some PCB compounds are capable of disrupting reproductive and endocrine function in fish, birds, and mammals, including humans, particularly during development. Research on the mechanism throug...

BACKGROUND Endometriosis is a common gynecologic disease characterized by the ectopic growth of endometrial tissue. In industrialized countries, it affects approximately 10% of women of reproductive age. Its etiology is unclear, but a multifactorial origin is considered to be most plausible. Environmental organochlorinated persistent pollutants, in particular dioxins and polychlorinated bipheny...

Many international efforts have been spent to eliminate and/or reduce the emissions and discharges of a wide range of pollutants that have persisted in the environment as well as living organisms [1]. These pollutants are known as a persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Contamination from POPs is a pervasive global problem that urgently demands a global solution [2]. These chemicals include org...

Anaerobic microbial dechlorination is an important step in the detoxification and elimination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), but a microorganism capable of coupling its growth to PCB dechlorination has not been isolated. Here we describe the isolation from sediment of an ultramicrobacterium, strain DF-1, which is capable of dechlorinating PCBs containing double-flanked chlorines added as ...

Sex ratios in the offspring of those affected by dioxins or dioxin-like compounds have been reported from Seveso, Italy and Yucheng, Taiwan. The sex ratio of live births in Yusho, Japan after a similar accidental massive exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in 1968 are reviewed. Data on all births among parents exposed to the compounds from 1968...

background: polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) are synthetic aromatic compounds containing two benzene rings with one to ten chlorine atoms. there are concerns about the health risks of these compounds in the environment due to their toxicity, persistence, and biological accumulation. pcbs wastes must be treated before being discharged to the environment because they will pollute the water, soil,...

In this study, five surface water and sediment samples were collected from different points along the course of Udu River, Niger Delta, Nigeria, which near human population. Water liquid-liquid extracted with dichloromethane in a separatory funnel, while Soxhlet using mixture acetone, dichloromethane, n-hexane. Quantification polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) extracts was done gas chromatography...