Assessment of Endocrine Disruptor Exposure in Hospital Professionals Using Hair and Urine Analyses: An Awareness Campaign.

BACKGROUND: In 2021, French public authorities initiated the fourth National Environmental Health Plan to prevent environment-related health risks. This plan primarily focuses on the sensitization of health professionals and health care institutions. Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are environmental factors associated with several adverse health effects, such as reproductive disorders, obesity, and cancer. This study aimed to conduct an awareness campaign among professionals at a general hospital center on the risks related to EDs. METHODS: Hospital professionals were directly involved in this study, and urine and hair samples were collected to determine bisphenol and paraben exposure levels. Analyses were performed using validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry methods, enabling the simultaneous determination of bisphenols and parabens. A questionnaire on lifestyle habits was distributed to assess its relationship with the exposure profiles. Nineteen professionals were recruited for the study. RESULTS: Bisphenol A was detected in 95% of the urine samples, and the chlorinated derivatives of bisphenol A were between 16% and 63%. parabens showed detection frequencies between 37% and 100%, and methylparaben was quantified at an average concentration of 0.45 ± 0.46 ng/mL. In hair samples, bisphenols A, F, and S were detected at 95%-100%, chlorinated derivatives of bisphenol A were detected at 37%-68%, and parabens were detected at 100%. CONCLUSIONS: This awareness campaign may encourage health care institutions to adopt a policy of reducing endocrine disruptor exposure among their patients and professionals, who could be educated regarding the risks associated with EDs. Conducting a multicenter study to refine the results herein and establish a dynamic to prevent endocrine disruptor and environmental risks in health care systems would be valuable.

Analytical method for the biomonitoring of bisphenols and parabens by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry in human hair.

Bisphenols and parabens are endocrine disruptors families widely used in daily life. They are known to be linked to numerous pathologies such as reproductive disorders, obesity, breast cancer, hypertension and asthma. Biomonitoring is an essential tool for assessing population exposure to environmental pollutants. Blood and urine are the main matrices used in human biomonitoring. However, they are not suitable to evaluate long-term exposure to endocrine disruptors with a short elimination half-life such as parabens or phenols. Hair appears to be an interesting alternative matrix allowing a wide window of exposure due to an accumulation of xenobiotics during hair growth. This study presents the development and validation of a high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous determination of bisphenol A, its chlorinated derivatives, bisphenol F, bisphenol S and parabens in human hair. An optimised sample preparation based on acidic hydrolysis followed by liquid-liquid extraction was performed, before an analysis by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring mode. To validate the method, recognized bioanalytical guidelines were used and calibration and quality control samples were prepared in human hair samples. Linearities were over 0.996 in the whole range of concentrations. Trueness and precision were demonstrated for each target analyte with intra-day and inter-day bias values ranging from 86 % to 118 % and relative standard deviation values ranging from 0 % to 19 %. At the same time, limits of quantification were set at 0.25 ng/g for bisphenol A and parabens, 0.05 ng/g for bisphenols F and S and 0.00625 ng/g for the chlorinated derivatives of bisphenol A. This reliable method was applied to hair samples taken from hospital professionals and allowed the quantification of these endocrine disruptors in this population. Chlorinated derivatives of bisphenol A were quantified here in hair for the first time.

Impact of perinatal environmental health education intervention on exposure to endocrine disruptors during pregnancy-PREVED study: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The suspected or actual effects on health of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC) and their ubiquitous presence in everyday life justify the implementation of health promotion interventions. These interventions should ideally be applied during critical windows like pregnancy. Perinatal environmental health education interventions may help to reduce EDC exposure during pregnancy. METHODS/DESIGN: PREVED (Pregnancy, PreVention, Endocrine Disruptors) is an open-label randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of environmental health education intervention on EDC exposure during pregnancy. Inclusion, consent, and randomization take place during the first trimester. The participants are randomly allocated into three groups: (i) control group (information leaflet on EDCs), (ii) intervention group in neutral location (information leaflet and workshops in a meeting room), and (iii) intervention group in contextualized location (information leaflet and workshops in a real apartment). Workshops are organized between the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Main outcome is the percentage of participants who reported consuming manufactured/industrial food. Secondary outcomes are as follows: (i) psycho-social dimensions, (ii) EDC concentrations in urine, (iii) EDC concentration in colostrum, and (iv) percentage of participants who reported consuming paraben-free personal care products. DISCUSSION: PREVED is a ground-breaking intervention research project dedicated to perinatal environmental health education that aims to identify pollutant sources in daily life and to offer accessible and realistic alternative solutions, by promoting the sharing of know-how and experience in a positive and non-alarmist approach. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov : NCT03233984 (current status: ongoing). Retrospectively registered on 31 July 2017 ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03233984 ) because when the first participant was enrolled in this non-drug intervention, ClinicalTrials.gov was centered in therapeutic trials. The World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set is in Additional file 1.

Comparison of the Effect on Fetal Growth of a Mixture of Atrazine and Nitrates in Drinking Water and of Active Tobacco Exposure during Pregnancy.

Active tobacco exposure during pregnancy is a known determinant of fetal growth. Nitrates and atrazine metabolites in drinking water may affect fetal growth as a mixture of endocrine disruptors (ED). We aimed to determine whether EDC have an additional effect on fetal growth compared to active tobacco exposure. A historic cohort study was carried out with a sample stratified with regard to the maternity unit, drinking water exposure, and year of birth. The women included were living in Deux-Sèvres, had given birth between 2005 and 2010 in three selected maternity units, and ultrasound data were available in their obstetrical records. Mixed linear models were used to analyze fetal weight evolution from the second trimester to the time of birth according to drinking water exposure to EDC mixture and active tobacco exposure. We included 558 mother-neonate couples, of whom 9% were exposed to high doses of the mixture and 21% to active tobacco smoking. There was no difference in fetal weight evolution according to drinking water mixture exposure (0.97 g; 95% CI [-3.01; 4.94]). We could not show a supplementary effect of mixture exposure in drinking-water on fetal growth as compared to active tobacco exposure. Further research is needed, using more precise methods to estimate EDC exposure.

Perinatal Environmental Health Education Intervention to Reduce Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors: The PREVED Project.

Environmental health promotion interventions may reduce endocrine disruptor (ED) exposure. The PREVED (PREgnancy, preVention, Endocrine Disruptors) project was developed to improve knowledge, to enhance risk perception, and to change exposure behavior. Our objective was to present the phases of the PREVED project using the RE-AIM method. PREVED intervention consisted of three workshops during pregnancy. Reach, adoption, and implementation phases were assessed with qualitative studies. Efficacy study consisted of a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) on 268 pregnant women: (i) control group (leaflet), (ii) intervention group in neutral location, (iii) intervention group in contextualized location. The main outcome was the percentage evolution of participants who reported consuming canned food. Secondary outcomes were evolution of psycho-social scores, evolution of ED presence in urine, and ED presence in colostrum. The intervention adoption was centered on upper-privileged women, but implementation assessment showed that key features (highly practical intervention) seemed to be carried out and had initiated some behavior changes. A total of 268 pregnant women participated in the intervention and 230 in a randomized controlled trial (control group: 86 and intervention groups: 172). We found no significant differences in consumption of canned food and in percentage of women having a decrease of bisphenol A or parabens in urine, but we found a significant increase in the evolution of risk perception score and overall psychosocial score in intervention groups (respectively: +15.73 control versus +21.03 intervention, p = 0.003 and +12.39 versus +16.20, p = 0.02). We found a significant difference in percentage of women with butylparaben detection between control group and intervention groups (13% versus 3%, p = 0.03). PREVED intervention is the first intervention research dedicated to perinatal environmental health education in France. By sharing know-how/experience in a positive non-alarmist approach, it improved risk perception, which is key to behavior change, aiming to reduce perinatal ED exposure. Including women in precarious situations remains a major issue.

Fiber Orientation and Concentration in an Injection-Molded Ethylene-Propylene Copolymer Reinforced by Hemp.

This paper characterizes and analyzes the microstructures of injection-molded polypropylene parts reinforced with 20 wt% of hemp fibers in order to understand the process induced variations in thermomechanical properties. In-thickness fiber orientation and fiber content were determined by X-ray tomography along the flow. The fiber content along the flow path was also determined by direct fiber content measurements after matrix dissolution, showing an increase of 2%/100 mm for a 2.2 mm-thick plate due to fiber migration during the filling stage. A typical shell/core structure for fiber orientation in injection molding was observed, but with a very clear transition between the layer solidified under high shear rates and the core in which the fiber content was reduced by more than 50%. The orientation of hemp fibers is lower than the one of glass fibers, especially in thickness direction. However, the overall fiber orientation in the injection direction induces significant anisotropic thermomechanical properties, which cannot be explained by simple micromechanical models that consider isotropic mechanical properties for hemp fibers. These phenomena must be taken into account in process simulation codes for injection molding to better predict thermomechanical properties as well as part shrinkage and warpage to design molds.

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of bisphenol A and its chlorinated derivatives in adipose tissue.

Bisphenol A (BPA) and its chlorinated derivatives (Clx-BPA) are environmental pollutants exhibiting endocrine-disrupting (ED) properties suspected to be involved in the pathogenesis of hormone-dependent cancers, such as breast and prostate cancers. Due to their lipophilic properties, they may accumulate in adipose tissue which could therefore be a suitable matrix to assess long-term exposure to these compounds and relationships with the tumorigenesis of these cancers. An LC-MS/MS assay for the determination of BPA and Clx-BPA in adipose tissue samples was developed and fully validated according to current bioanalytical validation guidelines. Ionization was achieved using an electrospray source operating in the negative mode and quantification of target analytes was obtained in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Both standard and quality control (QC) samples were prepared in blank adipose tissue samples. Linearity was demonstrated over the ranges 0.125 to 8.000 and 0.0125-0.8000 ng/mL for BPA and Clx-BPA, respectively. Accuracy and precision were demonstrated over the whole concentration range: intra and inter-day bias values were in the 85-114% range and imprecision of the method did not exceed 14%. Lower limits of quantification were validated using QCs at 0.1250 and 0.0125 ng/mL for BPA and Clx-BPA, respectively. Internal standard-corrected matrix effects were comparable in breast and prostate adipose tissues, demonstrating that this method could be used to reliably assay BPA and Clx-BPA in both tissues. The method was sensitive enough to determine BPA and Clx-BPA in breast adipose tissue obtained from women undergoing breast surgery, enabling identification of different patterns of exposure to these ED chemicals. The method enables the reliable quantification of BPA and Clx-BPA in adipose tissue and could be used to assess long-term exposure to these compounds and potential associations with hormone-dependent cancers.

Estimating drinking-water ingestion and dermal contact with water in a French population of pregnant women: the EDDS cohort study.

The aim of the present study, a part of the Endocrine Disruptor Deux-Sèvres (EDDS) cohort study, was to estimate water-use habits of pregnant French women. The study population consisted of 132 pregnant women living in Deux-Sèvres (France) in 2012-2013, in areas where drinking water is exclusively produced by surface water. Drinking-water data included ingested water (tap, bottled and filtered) and ingestion place (home, work and elsewhere). Dermal contact with water included showering, bathing, swimming, spa use, hand-washing and other water activities. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews at second and third trimesters of pregnancy with a 1-day-recall questionnaire. Intertrimestral differences in water-use habits were assessed. Predictors of water ingestion and duration of dermal contact with water were assessed with multiple linear regressions. At the second trimester of pregnancy, the mean total drinking-water ingestion was 1.8±0.6 l per day (mean and SD), 71% of which was tap water. Total drinking-water ingestion was not different between both trimesters but ingestion place differed. Dermal contact with water estimate was 188±118 and 173±92 min/week at second and third trimesters, respectively. Smoking increased water ingestion 777 ml/day 95% CI (171-1384). Duration of dermal contact in spring was 30 min/week 95% CI (13-48) higher than in winter. Obese women spend 26 min/week 95% CI (2-50) more showering than women with recommended weight. Our estimates of pregnant French women's exposure to water will help researchers to better assess water pollutant risks.