Phthalates and perfluorinated alkylated substances in Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) specimens from Mediterranean Sea (Sardinia, Italy): Levels and risks for human consumption.

Atlantic blue fin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a species of great importance for Mediterranean Sea area, from both ecological and commercial points of view. The scientific literature reports few data on the contamination of this fish by emerging organic compounds such as perfluorinated alkylated substances(PFASs) and phthalates, being the latter never been studied in tuna. This study therefore investigated the presence of the PFASs perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and perfluoroctanoic acid (PFOA) and the phthalate di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), also monitored by its metabolite mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate(MEHP), to assess both the state of contamination of Atlantic bluefin tuna specimen and the risk due to the toxicity of these compounds for human consumption. While PFOA was never found, detectable levels of PFOS (0.4-1.88 ng/g), DEHP (9-14.62 ng/g) and MEHP (1.5-6.30 ng/g) were found. The results were elaborated relating the accumulation to the size and age of the individuals and showed a correlation between the levels of different pollutants investigated.

Chronic Migraine Preventive Treatment by Prefrontal-Occipital Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): A Proof-of-Concept Study on the Effect of Psychiatric Comorbidities.

Chronic migraine (CM) is often complicated by medication overuse headache (MOH) and psychiatric comorbidities that may influence the clinical outcome. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychiatric comorbidities and the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in patients with CM with or without MOH. We recruited 16 consecutive CM patients who had an unsatisfactory response to at least three pharmacological preventive therapies. They were treated with anodal right-prefrontal and cathodal occipital tDCS (intensity: 2 mA, time: 20 min) three times per week for 4 weeks. All patients underwent a psychopathological assessment before and after treatment, and five of them were diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). After treatment, all the patients showed a significant decrease of severe and overall headache days per month. Despite having a higher migraine burden at baseline, patients with CM and BD showed a significantly greater reduction of severe headaches and psychiatric symptoms. Overall, tDCS seems to be effective in the treatment of CM patients with a poor response to different classes of pharmacological therapies, whereas BD status positively influences the response of migraineurs to tDCS.

Common carp Cyprinus carpio responses to sub-chronic exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is an important and diffuse perfluorinated alkylated substance, but knowledge of the toxicological effects of this endocrine disrupter in fish is limited. Adult common carp Cyprinus carpio, L. were exposed to 200 ng/l (a concentration reported in impacted aquatic ecosystems) and 2 mg/l PFOA solutions in a flow-through system for 56 days to determine tissue accumulation and histological alterations of the primary target organs. PFOA was extracted from blood, gill, liver, muscle, kidney, gonad, and brain by an ion-pairing liquid extraction procedure and quantified using high performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.4 ng/g wet weight (ww). PFOA was not detectable in unexposed fish or in fish exposed to 200 ng/l, but was >LOD in most samples of carp exposed to 2 mg/l. Mean PFOA concentration ranged from 0.5 to 65 ng/g ww, depending on the tissue, with highest levels in the blood and liver. There were no significant differences in condition factor, hepato-somatic index, or gonado-somatic index among the fish of the three groups. Histological, histochemical, and immunohistochemical staining was performed on sections of liver and gonad. Occurrence of atretic oocytes and a paucity of spermatozoa were documented in carp treated with 2 mg/l PFOA. Exposed fish did not show gross hepatic anomalies, but there was enhancement of hepatocytes in proliferation (positive to anti-PCNA antibody) compared to controls.