BACKGROUND Previous animal studies have shown that perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have adverse impacts on birth outcomes, but the results have been inconclusive in humans. We investigated associations between prenatal exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUA) and birth outcomes. METHODS In to...

BACKGROUND In animal studies, perfluorinated alkyl substances affect growth and neuro-behavioural outcomes. Human epidemiological studies are sparse. The aim was to investigate the association between pregnancy serum concentrations of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and offspring behaviour and motor development at 5-9 years of age. METHODS Maternal sera from the...

In a previous study (Saito et al. submitted for publication 2002), we showed that PFOS contamination in surface waters has occurred all over Japan: concentrations were found to be in the range of 0.2-157 ng/L with a geometric mean (geometric standard deviation) of 2.37 (4.13) (n=126), These levels were much lower than those found in the Tennessee River (Hansen et al 2002). However, we found tha...

A method for the analysis of 10 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in whole fish homogenate is presented and applied to 60 fish samples collected from the Ohio, Missouri, and upper Mississippi Rivers in 2005. Method accuracy ranged between 86 and 125% with limits of quantitation between 0.2 and 10 ng/g wet weight. Intra- and inter-batch precision was generally +/-20%. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PF...

This study investigated the influence of solution salinity, pH and the sediment characteristics on the sorption and desorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). The results showed that the sorption of PFOS onto sediment increased by a factor of 3 as the CaCl(2) concentration increased from 0.005 to 0.5 mol L(-1) at pH 7.0, and nearly 6 at pH 8.0. Desorption hysteresis occurred over all salin...

133 Serum samples collected from Henan donors aged from 0 to 88years were analyzed for 12 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) accounted for 69.19% of the total PFCs in serum samples, with a median concentration of 1.43 and 1.47ngmL(-)(1), respectively. Other PFCs were detected at much lower concentrations, with median concentration...

Due to the extremely high stability of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), effective defluorination is difficult. Previous studies indicated that PFOS can be decomposed under catalysis vitamin B12 (VB12) with strong artificial reductants such as Ti(III)-citrate and nZn0. In this study, we explored if naturally occurring reductant like sulfide (S2−) could initiate reaction. S2−/VB12 system, branch...

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is a persistent and ubiquitous environmental contaminant that has been detected in organisms worldwide. Here, we evaluate whether long-term (1 and 4 months) exposure to PFOS contamination affects the behavioural performance of freshwater larvae of the damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum (Insecta: Odonata). Our results show reduced behavioural performance with in...

Polychlorinated and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs) were measured in serum of twelve firefighters sampled after a fire event in San Francisco, California, along with polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), p,p'-DDE, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), bisphenol-A (BPA) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBB...

There are numerous types of junctions in the seminiferous epithelium which are integrated with, and critically dependent on the Sertoli cell cytoskeleton. These include the basal tight junctions between Sertoli cells that form the main component of the blood-testis barrier, the basal ectoplasmic specializations (basal ES) and basal tubulobulbar complexes (basal TBC) between Sertoli cells; as we...