Plasticenta: Microplastics in Human Placenta

Summary paragraphMicroplastics are particles smaller than five millimetres obtained from the degradation of plastic objects abandoned in the environment. Microplastics can move from the environment to living organisms and, in fact, they have been found in fishes and mammals.Six human placentas, prospectively collected from consenting women with uneventful pregnancies, were analyzed by Raman Microspectroscopy to evaluate the presence of microparticles. Detected microparticles were characterized in terms of morphology and chemical composition.12 microparticles, ranging from 5 to 10 μm in size, were found in 4 out of 6 placentas: 5 in the foetal side, 4 in the maternal side and 3 in the chorioamniotic membranes. All the analyzed microparticles were pigmented: three of them were identified as stained polypropylene, while for the other nine it was possible to identify only the pigments, which are all used for man-made coatings, paints and dyes.Here we show, for the first time, the presence of microparticles and microplastics in human placenta. This sheds new light on the impact of plastic on human health. Microparticles and microplastics in the placenta, together with the endocrine disruptors transported by them, could have long-term effects on human health.

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New tariff regulation for natural monopolies: what should it be?

Strategic decisions and risk management ◽

10.17747/2078-8886-2017-4-5-30-37 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 30-37

Author(s):

I. A. Dolmatov ◽

I. YU. Zolotova ◽

I. V. Maskaev

Keyword(s):

Basic Research ◽

Data Envelopment ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Short Term ◽

Electric Networks ◽

Macroeconomic Indicators ◽

To Come ◽

The Impact ◽

First Time

For the last several years, the Russian Federation has been artificially restraining the growth of tariffs for the services of natural monopolies. A simple decision, which is taken hastily a few years ago as a short-term anti-crisis measure, has every chance of becoming a "solution" for many years to come. The authors attempt to analyze the short-term and long-term effects of the tariff regulation and present the results obtained in the framework of the basic research program of the Higher School of Economics on the impact of tariffs in the energy sector on the main macroeconomic indicators, most often used as arguments in favor of tariff restraint. It is shown that tariffs, including the ones for electricity networks, should cover all efficient costs of regulated companies in full which enables reliable and safe power supply for sustainable and efficient development of industries and wellbeing of the population. The authors present for the first time the results of the estimations of the efficiency of the operational costs of electric networks in Russia obtained on the models developed by the Institute of Pricing and Regulation of Natural Monopolies. The models are based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique, one of the most advanced and most common methods in contemporary tariff setting.

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An updated overview of e-cigarette impact on human health

Respiratory Research ◽

10.1186/s12931-021-01737-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Patrice Marques ◽

Laura Piqueras ◽

Maria-Jesus Sanz

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Tobacco Consumption ◽

Heating Process ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Safe Alternative ◽

The Impact ◽

Harmful Effects

AbstractThe electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), for many considered as a safe alternative to conventional cigarettes, has revolutionised the tobacco industry in the last decades. In e-cigarettes, tobacco combustion is replaced by e-liquid heating, leading some manufacturers to propose that e-cigarettes have less harmful respiratory effects than tobacco consumption. Other innovative features such as the adjustment of nicotine content and the choice of pleasant flavours have won over many users. Nevertheless, the safety of e-cigarette consumption and its potential as a smoking cessation method remain controversial due to limited evidence. Moreover, it has been reported that the heating process itself can lead to the formation of new decomposition compounds of questionable toxicity. Numerous in vivo and in vitro studies have been performed to better understand the impact of these new inhalable compounds on human health. Results of toxicological analyses suggest that e-cigarettes can be safer than conventional cigarettes, although harmful effects from short-term e-cigarette use have been described. Worryingly, the potential long-term effects of e-cigarette consumption have been scarcely investigated. In this review, we take stock of the main findings in this field and their consequences for human health including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

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The short-term and long-term effects of industrial pollution on human health in China

Health and Environment ◽

10.25082/he.2021.01.002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 68-83

Author(s):

Huali Xiang ◽

◽

Jun Yang ◽

Youye Zhang ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Oxygen Demand ◽

Industrial Wastes ◽

Central China ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Short Term ◽

Physician Visits ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

The Impact

The impact of environmental pollution on human health has become a consensus. Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2002 to 2017, this paper analyzes the impact of industrial wastes on human health. With respect to human health, average annual frequency of physician visits per capita (AAFPV) is used as a measure for the short-term human health; all-cause mortality is used to illustrate the long-term human health. The results show that in the short term, with the level of industrial smoke dust increasing every 1 percentage, AAFPV would increase by 0.24 percentage. This effect is significant in East China and West China. Central China is affected by industrial waste water, with a rate of increasing AAFPV by 0.12 percent for every 1 percent increase of chemical oxygen demand per unit area. In the long term, water pollution is the main influencing factor of all-cause mortality.

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Multiple sclerosis and bilingualism

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.18037.ave ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fraibet Aveledo ◽

Yolanda Higueras ◽

Theodoros Marinis ◽

Arpita Bose ◽

Christos Pliatsikas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Executive Control ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Preliminary Evidence ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Monitoring Cost ◽

The Impact ◽

First Time

Abstract It has been suggested that bilingualism is beneficial for executive control and could have positive long-term effects by delaying the onset of symptoms of degenerative diseases. This research investigates, for the first time, the impact of bilingualism on executive control (monitoring and inhibitory control) in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease which commonly causes deficiencies in the cognitive system. Bilingual and monolingual adults, with and without an MS diagnosis, performed a flanker task with two degrees of monitoring demands (high monitoring vs. low monitoring). Results showed that bilingual MS patients had inhibitory control and monitoring abilities that were similar to healthy bilingual controls. In contrast, monolingual MS patients showed similar inhibitory control but significantly worse monitoring abilities compared to monolingual healthy controls. We propose that the similar behaviour between bilingual groups suggests that bilingualism might counteract cognitive deficits related to MS, especially with respect to monitoring. The high monitoring cost observed in monolingual patients seems related to underlying deficits in monitoring and possibly switching, executive control abilities commonly impaired in MS patients from early stages. Our findings provide some preliminary evidence for the cognitive reserve hypothesis in bilingual MS patients.

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SUMBER-SUMBER RESILIENSI PADA REMAJA AKHIR YANG MENGALAMI KEKERASAN DARI ORANGTUA PADA MASA KANAK-KANAK

Psibernetika ◽

10.30813/psibernetika.v11i1.1161 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Devina Calista ◽

Garvin Garvin

Keyword(s):

Late Adolescents ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Short Term ◽

Parental Affection ◽

Resilience Factors ◽

Childhood Violence ◽

Past Experiences ◽

The Impact ◽

Depth Interviews

Child abuse by parents is common in households. The impact of violence on children will bring short-term effects and long-term effects that can be attributed to their various emotional, behavioral and social problems in the future; especially in late adolescence that will enter adulthood. Resilience factors increase the likelihood that adolescents who are victims of childhood violence recover from their past experiences, become more powerful individuals and have a better life. The purpose of this study was to determine the source of resilience in late adolescents who experienced violence from parents in their childhood. This research uses qualitative research methods with in-depth interviews as a method of data collection. The result shows that the three research participants have the aspects of "I Have", "I Am", and "I Can"; a participant has "I Can" aspects as a source of resilience, and one other subject has no source of resilience. The study concluded that parental affection and acceptance of the past experience have role to the three sources of resilience (I Have, I Am, and I Can) Keyword : Resilience, adolescence, violence, parents

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The Quantification of Structural Reforms in OECD Countries

10.1093/oso/9780198821878.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Balázs Égert ◽

Peter Gal

Keyword(s):

Product Market ◽

Physical Capital ◽

Oecd Countries ◽

Market Regulation ◽

Structural Reforms ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Per Capita ◽

Product Market Regulation ◽

The Impact

This chapter describes and discusses a new supply-side framework that quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income in OECD countries. It presents the overall macroeconomic impacts of reforms by aggregating over the effects on physical capital, employment, and productivity through a production function. On the basis of reforms defined as observed changes in policies, the chapter finds that product market regulation has the largest overall single policy impact five years after the reforms. But the combined impact of all labour market policies is considerably larger than that of product market regulation. The paper also shows that policy impacts can differ at different horizons. The overall long-term effects on GDP per capita of policies transiting through capital deepening can be considerably larger than the five- to ten-year impacts. By contrast, the long-term impact of policies coming only via the employment rate channel materializes at a shorter horizon.

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Exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol during rat pregnancy leads to impaired cardiac dysfunction in postnatal life

Pediatric Research ◽

10.1038/s41390-021-01511-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kendrick Lee ◽

Steven R. Laviolette ◽

Daniel B. Hardy

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Cardiac Function ◽

Cardiac Dysfunction ◽

Cardiac Remodelling ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Catch Up ◽

First Time ◽

Impaired Cardiac Function ◽

In Pregnancy

Abstract Background Cannabis use in pregnancy leads to fetal growth restriction (FGR), but the long-term effects on cardiac function in the offspring are unknown, despite the fact that fetal growth deficits are associated with an increased risk of developing postnatal cardiovascular disease. We hypothesize that maternal exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) during pregnancy will impair fetal development, leading to cardiac dysfunction in the offspring. Methods Pregnant Wistar rats were randomly selected and administered 3 mg/kg of Δ9-THC or saline as a vehicle daily via intraperitoneal injection from gestational days 6 to 22, followed by echocardiogram analysis of cardiac function on offspring at postnatal days 1 and 21. Heart tissue was harvested from the offspring at 3 weeks for molecular analysis of cardiac remodelling. Results Exposure to Δ9-THC during pregnancy led to FGR with a significant decrease in heart-to-body weight ratios at birth. By 3 weeks, pups exhibited catch-up growth associated with significantly greater left ventricle anterior wall thickness with a decrease in cardiac output. Moreover, these Δ9-THC-exposed offsprings exhibited increased expression of collagen I and III, decreased matrix metallopeptidase-2 expression, and increased inactivation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β, all associated with cardiac remodelling. Conclusions Collectively, these data suggest that Δ9-THC-exposed FGR offspring undergo postnatal catch-up growth concomitant with cardiac remodelling and impaired cardiac function early in life. Impact To date, the long-term effects of perinatal Δ9-THC (the main psychoactive component) exposure on the cardiac function in the offspring remain unknown. We demonstrated, for the first time, that exposure to Δ9-THC alone during rat pregnancy results in significantly smaller hearts relative to body weight. These Δ9-THC-exposed offsprings exhibited postnatal catch-up growth concomitant with cardiac remodelling and impaired cardiac function. Given the increased popularity of cannabis use in pregnancy along with rising Δ9-THC concentrations, this study, for the first time, identifies the risk of perinatal Δ9-THC exposure on early postnatal cardiovascular health.

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Antibiotics at birth and later antibiotic courses: effects on gut microbiota

Pediatric Research ◽

10.1038/s41390-021-01494-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sofia Ainonen ◽

Mysore V Tejesvi ◽

Md. Rayhan Mahmud ◽

Niko Paalanne ◽

Tytti Pokka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Control Group ◽

List Type ◽

Antibiotic Exposure ◽

Microbiota Composition ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

The Impact ◽

Antibiotic Courses ◽

Gut Microbiota Composition

Abstract Background Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) is widely used, but the evidence of the long-term effects on the gut microbiota and subsequent health of children is limited. Here, we compared the impacts of perinatal antibiotic exposure and later courses of antibiotic courses on gut microbiota. Methods This was a prospective, controlled cohort study among 100 vaginally delivered infants with different perinatal antibiotic exposures: control (27), IAP (27), postnatal antibiotics (24), and IAP and postnatal antibiotics (22). At 1 year of age, we performed next-generation sequencing of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene of fecal samples. Results Exposure to the perinatal antibiotics had a clear impact on the gut microbiota. The abundance of the Bacteroidetes phylum was significantly higher in the control group, whereas the relative abundance of Escherichia coli was significantly lower in the control group. The impact of the perinatal antibiotics on the gut microbiota composition was greater than exposure to later courses of antibiotics (28% of participants). Conclusions Perinatal antibiotic exposure had a marked impact on the gut microbiota at the age of 1 year. The timing of the antibiotic exposure appears to be the critical factor for the changes observed in the gut microbiota. Impact Infants are commonly exposed to IAP and postnatal antibiotics, and later to courses of antibiotics during the first year of life. Perinatal antibiotics have been associated with an altered gut microbiota during the first months of life, whereas the evidence regarding the long-term impact is more limited. Perinatal antibiotic exposure had a marked impact on the infant’s gut microbiota at 1 year of age. Impact of the perinatal antibiotics on the gut microbiota composition was greater than that of the later courses of antibiotics at the age of 1 year.

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COVID-19 Shutdown: A Qualitative Study on Pearls and Pitfalls

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/proceedings2021074004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 4

Author(s):

Naciye Güliz Uğur

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Study ◽

Human Health ◽

Social Distance ◽

The Other ◽

Adoption Of Technology ◽

Family Ties ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

Modern Period ◽

Long Term Impact

The extraordinary and tragic conditions that humanity has not experienced before in the modern period have become ordinary, namely, a “new normal” with the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has had frightening consequences for human health and has caused one million deaths as of September 2020. On the other hand, it has set a new standard of good habits, approaches, and benefits. Due to its global and long-term impact, this unique virus has laid the groundwork for unprecedented helping and sharing behaviors between people and countries. In this study, findings are compiled from the open-ended responses of 626 individuals, all of whom live in Turkey. Within the study’s scope, individuals were asked about the unique advantages and disadvantages of the restrictions imposed under COVID-19. While the categories of economy, social distance, and health came to the fore among the harms, the strengthening of family ties, adoption of technology, and the spread of solidarity culture were mentioned among the advantages.

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Explosions and Human Health: The Long-Term Effects of Blast Injury

Prehospital and Disaster Medicine ◽

10.1017/s1049023x12000891 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 385-391 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sarah E. Finlay ◽

Michelle Earby ◽

David J. Baker ◽

Virginia S.G. Murray

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Blast Injury ◽

Mass Casualties ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

National Guidelines ◽

Emergency Responders ◽

Response Strategies

AbstractThe immediate patterns of injury from explosions are well documented, from both military and civil experience. However, few studies have focused on less immediately apparent health consequences and latent effects of explosions in survivors, emergency responders and the surrounding community. This review aimed to analyze the risks to health following an explosion in a civil setting.A comprehensive review of the open literature was conducted, and data on 10 relevant military, civilian and industrial events were collected. Events were selected according to availability of published studies and involvement of large numbers of people injured. In addition, structured interviews with experts in the field were conducted, and existing national guidelines reviewed.The review revealed significant and potentially long-term health implications affecting various body systems and psychological well-being following exposure to an explosion. An awareness of the short- and long-term health effects of explosions is essential in screening for blast injuries, and identifying latent pathologies that could otherwise be overlooked in stressful situations with other visually distracting injuries and, often, mass casualties. Such knowledge would guide responsible medical staff in implementing early appropriate interventions to reduce the burden of long-term sequelae. Effective planning and response strategies would ensure accessibility of appropriate health care resources and evidence-based information in the aftermath of an explosion.Finlay SE, Earby M, Baker DJ, Murray VSG. Explosions and human health: the long-term effects of blast injury. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012;27(4):1-7.

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