BACKGROUND Persistent pollutants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), affect endocrine function. Human exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are similar in structure to PCBs, has increased recently, but health effects have not been well studied. OBJECTIVES Our goal in this study was to determine whether PBDE body burdens are related to thyroid and steroid hormone lev...

saltwater fish. In some lakes, rivers, and coastal waters in California, methylmercury has been found in some types of fish at concentrations that may be harmful to human health. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has issued health advisories to fishers and their families giving recommendations on how much of the affected fish in these areas can be safely eaten. In the...

Abstract. The player of squash has a choice between two options when his/her opponent changes the score from 8:7 to 8:8. The player to receive has to decide whether to play until 9th or until 10th point. We observe in this paper that the score of the squash game can be modelled as a Markov chain. Thus using standard techniques of Markov processes, we can derive the optimal strategy for the squa...

Sport supplements formulas are driven to a sector of consumers which a restrictive diet. Tryptophan is essential amino acid and its bioavailability should be assessed from these commercial products. A robust and fast HPLC procedure is applied to determine total tryptophan content from dairy-ingredients, mostly whey-based ingredients, and commercial dried-sport supplements, mostly whey-enriched ...

The purpose of this study was to develop a psychological commitment to team (PCT) scale to be used in segmenting sport consumers based on loyalty. Previous research on the loyalty construct suggested the importance of using both behavioral and attitudinal measures when attempting to assess the loyalty of consumers (Backman & Crompton, 1991a; Day, 1969). Although measures of behavioral loyalty a...