Levels and health risk assessment of twenty-one current-use pesticides in urban and riverside waters of the Brazilian Amazon Basin.

In Brazil, the favorable weather conditions and abundant land contribute to the thriving agricultural production. Brazilian crops extensively employ pesticides due to their high efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and permissive regulatory framework. However, pesticide use also endangers water resources, animal organisms, and human health. Due to the lack of data on pesticide use in the Amazonas forest-based Brazil, the present study aimed to assess the levels of twenty-one current-use pesticides (CUPs) from five different classes in river waters collected from urban and riverside areas in this region. Moreover, the non-carcinogenic risks associated with water consumption were also characterized. Thirteen CUPs were detected in concentrations above the limit of detection (LOD) in at least one of the water samples, and most pesticides were detected in riverside areas. In contrast, only 18% of the analyzed samples were considered "clean," with only one compound detected. Fenitrothion showed the highest concentration, with a mean value of 4.86 ng/mL (0.30-14.3 ng/mL). Up to 33% of the samples showed levels of fipronil above the LOD, an issue of environmental and human health concern, mainly because of the adverse effects observed in honeybees. Despite this, the human health risk assessment showed a target hazard quotient below one (HQ < 1) in adults for all substances, suggesting that pesticide exposure through water consumption should not mean risk for the riverside populations. Taking into account the large extension of Brazil, as well as its different agricultural practices throughout the country, it would be of great importance to conduct extensive research in other areas. It would help to gain knowledge in this field and to promote eco-friendly alternatives to mitigate pesticide use and, consequently, to reduce their potential adverse effects on human health and the ecosystems.

Light Cannabis Use and the Adolescent Brain: An 8-years Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health, Cognition, and Reward Processing.

RATIONALE: For decades, cannabis has been the most widely used illicit substance in the world, particularly among youth. Research suggests that mental health problems associated with cannabis use may result from its effect on reward brain circuit, emotional processes, and cognition. However, findings are mostly derived from correlational studies and inconsistent, particularly in adolescents. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: Using data from the IMAGEN study, participants (non-users, persistent users, abstinent users) were classified according to their cannabis use at 19 and 22 years-old. All participants were cannabis-naïve at baseline (14 years-old). Psychopathological symptoms, cognitive performance, and brain activity while performing a Monetary Incentive Delay task were used as predictors of substance use and to analyze group differences over time. RESULTS: Higher scores on conduct problems and lower on peer problems at 14 years-old (n = 318) predicted a greater likelihood of transitioning to cannabis use within 5 years. At 19 years of age, individuals who consistently engaged in low-frequency (i.e., light) cannabis use (n = 57) exhibited greater conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention symptoms compared to non-users (n = 52) but did not differ in emotional symptoms, cognitive functioning, or brain activity during the MID task. At 22 years, those who used cannabis at both 19 and 22 years-old n = 17), but not individuals that had been abstinent for ≥ 1 month (n = 19), reported higher conduct problems than non-users (n = 17). CONCLUSIONS: Impairments in reward-related brain activity and cognitive functioning do not appear to precede or succeed cannabis use (i.e., weekly, or monthly use). Cannabis-naïve adolescents with conduct problems and more socially engaged with their peers may be at a greater risk for lighter yet persistent cannabis use in the future.

Occurrence of trace elements in print paper products: Non-carcinogenic risk assessment through dermal exposure.

Over time, the risk assessment of dermal exposure to pollutants in print paper products has received considerable attention. Most studies have focused on organic pollutants, especially bisphenol A (BPA). However, little is known about the levels of trace elements in print paper products, despite the knowledge that these elements are components of printing inks and toners. This study was aimed at determining the concentrations of trace elements in 5 types of paper products, namely bulletins, magazines, special events program booklets, handbills, and newspapers. The average daily intake (ADI) of each element was subsequently estimated through dermal exposure to the papers. The detection frequency of the elements of interest was high (nearly 100%) in most paper products, with the exception of chromium, whose detection was low. In contrast, Ag was not detected in any sample. The levels of the elements in the paper products were low and comparable to those found in other personal and consumer products with the potential for skin contact. The range values of estimated ADIs were 1.70-3.90E-08, 2.30-18.2E-10, 2.60-16.4E-09, 3.65-5.75E-08, 1.29-4.38E-08, 6.23-15.6E-10, 1.51-2.80E-10, 1.43-9.16E-09, 0.00-9.47E-09, and 4.68-220E-08 mg/kg bw/day for Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, Cr and Fe respectively. These values were well below the dermal standard reference doses (RfD) for each element. The present results indicate that dermal exposure to trace elements from print paper products was low and does not pose significant risks for toxic (non-carcinogenic) effects on humans.

Assessment of urinary aromatic amines in Brazilian pregnant women and association with DNA damage: Influence of genetic diversity, lifestyle, and environmental and socioeconomic factors.

Aromatic amines (AAs) are polar organic chemicals with a wide environmental distribution originating from various sources, such as tobacco smoke, diesel exhaust, and dermal absorption from textile products with azo dyes. The toxicity profile of AAs is directly related to the amino group's metabolic activation and the generation of the reactive intermediate, forming DNA adducts and potential carcinogenicity. Urinary levels of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG) are an important biomarker of DNA damage. Since AAs have been shown to cross the placental barrier, being a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, prenatal exposure is a great public health concern. The present study aimed to measure the urinary levels of 58 AAs in Brazilian pregnant women (n = 300) and investigated the impact of this exposure on DNA damage by quantifying 8OHdG levels. The influence of tobacco smoke exposure and dermal absorption of AAs by clothes on urinary levels was also assessed. The results showed a 100% detection rate for eight AAs, two of them regulated by the European Union (2,6-dimethylaniline and 2,4-diaminotolune). Hundreds of AAs may be derived from aniline, which here showed a median of 1.38 ng/mL. Aniline also correlated positively with 2,6-dimethylaniline, p-aminophenol, and other AAs, suggesting exposure to multiple sources. The present findings suggest that both tobacco smoke and dermal contact with clothes containing azo dyes are potential sources that might strongly influence urinary levels of AAs in Brazilian pregnant women. A multiple regression linear model (R2 = 0.772) suggested that some regulated AAs (i.e., 2-naphthylamine and 4-aminobiphenyl), nicotine, smoke habit, age, and Brazilian region could induce DNA damage occurrence, increasing the levels of 8OHdG. Given the limited available data on human exposure to carcinogenic AAs, as well as the lack of toxicological information on those non-regulated, further studies focused on measuring their levels in human fluids and the potential exposure sources are clearly essential.

Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Brazilian pregnant women: Urinary levels and health risk assessment.

Over the years, humans have been continuously exposed to several compounds directly generated by industrial processes and/or present in consumed products. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are legacy pollutants ubiquitous in the environment and represent the main chemical pollutants in urban areas. Worldwide, studies that aim to understand the impacts of exposure to these chemicals have gained increasing prominence due to their potential toxicity profile, mainly concerning genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Human biomonitoring (HB) is an analytical approach to monitoring population exposure to chemicals; however, these studies are still limited in Brazil. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate the exposure of Brazilian pregnant women to PAHs through HB studies. Besides, the risk characterization of this exposure was performed. For this purpose, urine samples from 358 Brazilian pregnant women were used to evaluate 11 hydroxylated metabolites of PAHs employing gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The 1OH-naphthol and 2OH-naphthol were detected in 100% of the samples and showed high levels, corresponding to 16.99 and 3.62 µg/g of creatinine, respectively. 2OH-fluorene (8.12 µg/g of creatinine) and 9OH-fluorene (1.26 µg/g of creatinine) were detected in 91% and 66% of the samples, respectively. Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) metabolites were detected in more than 50% of the samples (0.58-1.26 µg/g of creatinine). A hazard index of 1.4 and a carcinogenic risk above 10-4 were found for BaP metabolites in the risk characterization. Therefore, our findings may indicate that exposure to PAHs poses a potential risk to pregnant women's health and a high probability of carcinogenic risk due to their exposure to BaP. Finally, this work shows the need for more in-depth studies to determine the sources of exposure and the implementation of health protection measures regarding the exposure of the Brazilian population to PAHs.

Non-regulated aromatic amines in clothing purchased in Spain and Brazil: Screening-level exposure and health impact assessment.

The staggering amount of chemicals in clothes and their harmful effects on human health and the environment have attracted the attention of regulatory agencies and the scientific community worldwide. Azo dyes are synthetic dyestuffs with widespread use in textile industries, currently classified as emerging pollutants of great health concern to consumers. These compounds may release one or more aromatic amines (AAs) after reductive cleavage of their azo bounds. Twenty-two AAs have already been regulated due to their carcinogenic effects. However, since information on their potential toxicity is not currently available, several AAs have not been still regulated by the European Union. Considering this gap, the present study aimed to assess the levels of forty non-regulated AAs in 240 clothing items from Spain and Brazil. The potential impact on the health of vulnerable population groups after dermal exposure to those garments was also evaluated. In Brazil, at least one AA was detected in the clothes, while in samples obtained in Spain, only two of them showed values below the limit of detection for AAs. In 75 clothes, at least one of the measured AAs was higher than the hazardous threshold (30 mg/kg), which can mean risks to human health since these compounds are suspected to be mutagenic. Aniline, the most common AA, showed a high detection rate (82%) in clothes, with significantly higher concentrations in items commercialized in Brazil (0.35 vs. 0.17 mg/kg; p = 0.032). Moreover, o-aminobenzenesulfonic and p-phenylenediamine, suspected mutagenic, were found at relevant concentrations in several clothes, mainly made of synthetic fibers. In this study, the hazard index associated with exposure to AAs through clothing was low (0.006-0.13) for all the population groups of both countries in the medium-bound scenario. However, its value was close to 1 for Brazilian pregnant women (0.998) when the maximum concentration value was considered under an upper-bound scenario. The risk of exposure to non-regulated AAs may be underestimated since only dermal exposure was considered for risk assessment. Moreover, the co-occurrence of other carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic substances present in skin-contact clothes should mean an additional source of potential risk.

Ecological validity in neurocognitive assessment: Systematized review, content analysis, and proposal of an instrument.

OBJECTIVES: The main objectives of this study are to identify the dimensions of Ecological Validity (EV) within the definitions of this concept, understand how they are operationalized in neurocognitive tests, and propose a checklist for EV attributes in neurocognitive tests. METHOD: A systematized review was combined with content analysis of the selected papers, using the inductive method. We analyzed 82 studies on the EV of neurocognitive tests, 19 literature reviews and 63 empirical studies. Based on this review, we identified the relevant criteria for evaluating EV. RESULTS: EV is a multidimensional concept with two main dimensions: representativeness and generalization. Representativeness involves the subdimensions simplicity-complexity and artificial-natural and several criteria organized on a continuum from low EV to high EV. Generalization is dependent on representativeness and is influenced by different cognitive and non-cognitive factors. We propose six stages for operationalizing EV, from defining the objectives of the neurocognitive assessment to the methodology for scoring and interpreting the results. CONCLUSION: This systematized review helps to operationalize the concept of EV by providing a tool for evaluating and improving EV while developing new tests. Further studies with a longitudinal design can compare the predictive value of tests with higher versus lower EV-checklist scores.Key pointsQuestion: Understand the definition of EV, its dimensions and subdimensions, how EV is operationalized in neurocognitive tests and propose a checklist for the EV attributes of neurocognitive tests.Findings: The primary findings were that representativeness and generalization are the main dimensions of EV. Representativeness involves several subdimensions, whereas generalization is dependent on representativeness and is influenced by cognitive and non-cognitive factors. We provided an EV-checklist organized into six parts.Importance: The EV-checklist can be used to guide the development of ecologically valid neurocognitive tests and/or assess the EV of existing ones.Next steps: Examine the predictive value of tests that have higher EV-checklist scores.

Screening of regulated aromatic amines in clothing marketed in Brazil and Spain: Assessment of human health risks.

Azo dyes used in textile products contain aromatic amines (AAs), which may be released into the environment after skin bacteria cleavage the azo bond. In Europe, 22 carcinogenic AAs are regulated. Unfortunately, no information is available in many non-European countries, including Brazil. This study aimed to determine the concentrations of 20 regulated AAs in clothes marketed in Brazil and Spain. Generally, higher levels of regulated AAs were found in samples sold in Brazil than in Spain, which is linked to the lack of regulation. Sixteen AAs showed concentrations above 5 mg/kg in samples commercialized in Brazil, while 11 exceeded that threshold in Spain. Regulated AAs with levels above 5 mg/kg were more found in synthetic clothes of pink color. Concentrations in clothing were also used to evaluate the dermal exposure to AAs in 3 vulnerable population groups. The highest exposure corresponded to 2,4-diaminoanisole for toddlers in Brazil and 4,4-oxydianiline for newborns in Spain. Non-cancer risks associated with exposure to 4,4-benzidine by Brazilian toddlers was 14.5 (above the threshold). On the other hand, 3,3-dichlorobenzidine was associated with potential cancer risks for newborns and toddlers in Brazil. Given this topic's importance, we recommend conducting continuous studies to determine the co-occurrence of carcinogenic substances.

Urinary levels of monohydroxylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Brazilian children and health risk assessment: a human biomonitoring-based study.

Monitoring human exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is a public health concern. Children are a vulnerable subgroup of the population with limited human biomonitoring data worldwide. Thus, this study aimed to measure the levels of seven PAH metabolites in urine from Brazilian children and provide risk assessment values for this exposure. Our data show naphthalene was the major contributor to children's exposure to PAHs, with a 100% detection rate. Children in urban regions presented higher exposure to PAHs, with higher concentrations of 2-naphthol in the southeast (1.09 ng/mL, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the highest concentration of 2-naphthol was found in older children (p = 0.02), suggesting a possible difference in dietary habits. Exposure to the carbaryl insecticide is suggested based on the high concentrations of 1-naphthol (1.29 ng/mL) and considering the ratio 1-naphthol/2-naphthol (1.78). Moreover, the positive correlation between the metabolites of fluorine and pyrene also suggests exposure to PAHs by petrol combustion. The risk assessment of the PAH exposure was evaluated using the estimated daily intake (EDI) for two naphthalene metabolites in the study with a 100% detection rate. The EDI was 14.47 ng/kg BW/day. The risk assessment to the PAH exposure revealed a non-carcinogenic risk profile, with a hazard quotient of 0.71. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to provide levels of PAHs in Brazilian children.

Economic decision-making in the continuum between healthy aging and Alzheimer's Disease: A systematic review of 20 years of research.

The effect of pathological aging on economic decision-making is a topic of major relevance as impairments in this domain place older adults at increased risk for financial abuse. This review aims to characterize decision-making across the continuum that goes from healthy aging to Alzheimer's Dementia. We included 42 studies comparing patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and healthy older adults, patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and healthy older adults, and patients with MCI and patients with AD. Substantial evidence emerged suggesting that both MCI as AD affect economic decision-making. However, a non-negligible number of behavioural tasks failed to find significant differences between patients and controls, and no differences were reported between patients with MCI and AD. On the contrary, measures of financial capacity reached more robust findings, showing that healthy older adults had better performance than patients, while MCI patients showed better performance than AD patients. This review presents the main conclusions that may be drawn from significant findings, as well as the hypotheses and recommendations for future research.

Narrative review of the multisensory integration tasks used with older adults: inclusion of multisensory integration tasks into neuropsychological assessment.

Introduction: Age-related changes in sensory functioning impact the activities of daily living and interact with cognitive decline. Given the interactions between sensory and cognitive functioning, combining multisensory integration (MI) assessment with the neuropsychological assessment of older adults seems promising. This review aims to examine the characteristics and utility of MI tasks in functional and cognitive assessment of older adults, with or without neurocognitive impairment.Areas covered: A literature search was conducted following the quality assessment of narrative review criteria. Results focused on tasks of detection, discrimination, sensory illusion, temporal judgment, and sensory conflict. Studies were not consensual regarding the enhancement of MI with age, but most studies showed that older adults had an expanded time window of integration. In older adults with mild cognitive impairment or major neurocognitive disorder it was a mediating role of the magnitude of visual-somatosensory integration between neurocognitive impairment and spatial aspects of gait.Expert opinion: Recently, some concerns have been raised about how to maximize the ecological validity of the neuropsychological assessment. Since most of our activities of daily living are multisensory and older adults benefit from multisensory information, MI assessment has the potential to improve the ecological validity of the neuropsychological assessment.

Social injustice in environmental health: A call for fortitude.

The objective of this short paper is to call upon the scientific community to channel its attention to the duty and heedfulness of social justice issues. While recognized for decades the impact of social injustice on public health and its disproportionate effects on poorer communities, little has been done to systematically address it. Here, we provide several examples pertinent to the health outcomes associated with social injustice and call upon the scientific community to attend to the issue and antagonize those who attempt to subvert science and its role in ensuring social justice in health.

Monte Carlo simulation of the effect of magnetic fields on brachytherapy dose distributions in lung tissue material.

The aim of this work was to use TOPAS Monte Carlo simulations to model the effect of magnetic fields on dose distributions in brachytherapy lung treatments, under ideal and clinical conditions. Idealistic studies were modeled consisting of either a monoenergetic electron source of 432 keV, or a polyenergetic electron source using the spectrum of secondary electrons produced by 192Ir gamma-ray irradiation. The electron source was positioned in the center of a homogeneous, lung tissue phantom (ρ = 0.26 g/cm3). Conversely, the clinical study was simulated using the VariSource VS2000 192Ir source in a patient with a lung tumor. Three contoured volumes were considered: the tumor, the planning tumor volume (PTV), and the lung. In all studies, dose distributions were calculated in the presence or absence of a constant magnetic field of 3T. Also, TG-43 parameters were calculated for the VariSource and compared with published data from EGS-brachy (EGSnrc) and PENELOPE. The magnetic field affected the dose distributions in the idealistic studies. For the monoenergetic and poly-energetic studies, the radial distance of the 10% iso-dose line was reduced in the presence of the magnetic field by 64.9% and 24.6%, respectively. For the clinical study, the magnetic field caused differences of 10% on average in the patient dose distributions. Nevertheless, differences in dose-volume histograms were below 2%. Finally, for TG-43 parameters, the dose-rate constant from TOPAS differed by 0.09% ± 0.33% and 0.18% ± 0.33% with respect to EGS-brachy and PENELOPE, respectively. The geometry and anisotropy functions differed within 1.2% ± 1.1%, and within 0.0% ± 0.3%, respectively. The Lorentz forces inside a 3T magnetic resonance machine during 192Ir brachytherapy treatment of the lung are not large enough to affect the tumor dose distributions significantly, as expected. Nevertheless, large local differences were found in the lung tissue. Applications of this effect are therefore limited by the fact that meaningful differences appeared only in regions containing air, which is not abundant inside the human.

A critical viewpoint on current issues, limitations, and future research needs on micro- and nanoplastic studies: From the detection to the toxicological assessment.

Increasing scientific attention on the presence of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) in the environments and their potential toxic effects on humans and the ecosystems is evident. Accordingly, the number of publications on this topic has increased substantially from only 5 in 2010 to more than 850 in 2019. Thus, this critical review aimed at providing state-of-the-art information on the existing methods for characterization and detection of MNPs in various matrices, as well as the reported toxic effects of MNPs in both in vivo and in vitro systems, anticipating challenges and providing future needs to improve the current scientific knowledge. We performed a systematic search of recent literature on available methodologies for the characterization/detection of MNPs in different samples, and the summary of such protocols is provided. Also, the existing procedures for in vitro and in vivo toxicity evaluation of MNPs were critically described. The results of our search revealed that quite a great deal of effort had been made to detect, characterize, and quantify the fate and effect of MNPs. However, we are still far from a complete understanding of behaviors of MNPs in the environments and biological systems. Thus, there is a need to advance the existing protocols to improve data accuracy. Besides, more studies that focus on uptake kinetics, accumulation, and biodistribution of MNPs in biological systems are required.

Using the inventory of problems - 29 (IOP-29) with the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) in symptom validity assessment: A study with a Portuguese sample of experimental feigners.

This study tested whether combining the Inventory of Problems - 29 (IOP-29) with the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM) would increase sensitivity in the detection of experimentally feigned mental health problems, compared to using either test alone. Additionally, it also evaluated (a) the effects of administration order of these two tests and (b) the cultural and linguistic applicability of these tests to a European Portuguese population. The IOP-29 and TOMM were administered to a community sample of 100 nonclinical, adult volunteers from Portugal, with the instruction to feign mental health problems. Half were instructed to feign mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) symptoms, half were instructed to feign major depression. Administration order had no effects on the tests' scores, and both measures produced excellent sensitivity values, ranging from .82 to .98 for the TOMM, and from .88 to 1.00 for the IOP-29, when using standard a priori cutoff scores. More importantly, combining the results of TOMM with those of IOP-29 notably increased sensitivity compared to using either test alone. This study thus supports the use of the IOP-29 together with the TOMM in multimethod symptom validity assessments and provides initial evidence that both tests can be used also in Portugal.

Fostering advances to neuropsychological assessment based on the Research Domain Criteria: The bridge between cognitive functioning and physiology.

OBJECTIVES: The current review aimed to explore the advances in neuropsychological assessment in light of a recent research framework designed to improve our knowledge on mental health - the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). METHODS: RDoC proposals on neuropsychological tests were reviewed across the RDoC cognitive systems domain. The focus is on the physiological unit of analysis and the potential applications are illustrated given the functional relevance of RDoC constructs to psychopathological and neurological conditions. RESULTS: The advances in neuropsychology anchored in RDoC are not observable in terms of innovative paradigms, but rather in the neurobiological correlates that may be obtained from the classical neuropsychological tasks. The behavior unit of analysis may be integrated with physiological outcomes while mapping distinct cognitive constructs simultaneously. CONCLUSIONS: Under the aegis of RDoC, the integration of multiple levels of analysis allows to obtain a more detailed and complete neuropsychological characterization with high potential to be translated into better intervention strategies.

Advanced data mining approaches in the assessment of urinary concentrations of bisphenols, chlorophenols, parabens and benzophenones in Brazilian children and their association to DNA damage.

Human exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has received considerable attention over the last three decades. However, little is known about the influence of co-exposure to multiple EDCs on effect-biomarkers such as oxidative stress in Brazilian children. In this study, concentrations of 40 EDCs were determined in urine samples collected from 300 Brazilian children of ages 6-14 years and data were analyzed by advanced data mining techniques. Oxidative DNA damage was evaluated from the urinary concentrations of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8OHDG). Fourteen EDCs, including bisphenol A (BPA), methyl paraben (MeP), ethyl paraben (EtP), propyl paraben (PrP), 3,4-dihydroxy benzoic acid (3,4-DHB), methyl-protocatechuic acid (OH-MeP), ethyl-protocatechuic acid (OH-EtP), triclosan (TCS), triclocarban (TCC), 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (BP3), 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone (BP1), bisphenol A bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) glycidyl ether (BADGE·2H2O), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), and 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP) were found in >50% of the urine samples analyzed. The highest geometric mean concentrations were found for MeP (43.1 ng/mL), PrP (3.12 ng/mL), 3,4-DHB (42.2 ng/mL), TCS (8.26 ng/mL), BP3 (3.71 ng/mL), and BP1 (4.85 ng/mL), and exposures to most of which were associated with personal care product (PCP) use. Statistically significant associations were found between urinary concentrations of 8OHDG and BPA, MeP, 3,4-DHB, OH-MeP, OH-EtP, TCS, BP3, 2,4-DCP, and 2,5-DCP. After clustering the data on the basis of i) 14 EDCs (exposure levels), ii) demography (age, gender and geographic location), and iii) 8OHDG (effect), two distinct clusters of samples were identified. 8OHDG concentration was the most critical parameter that differentiated the two clusters, followed by OH-EtP. When 8OHDG was removed from the dataset, predictability of exposure variables increased in the order of: OH-EtP > OH-MeP > 3,4-DHB > BPA > 2,4-DCP > MeP > TCS > EtP > BP1 > 2,5-DCP. Our results showed that co-exposure to OH-EtP, OH-MeP, 3,4-DHB, BPA, 2,4-DCP, MeP, TCS, EtP, BP1, and 2,5-DCP was associated with DNA damage in children. This is the first study to report exposure of Brazilian children to a wide range of EDCs and the data mining approach further strengthened our findings of chemical co-exposures and biomarkers of effect.

Age differences in neural correlates of feedback processing after economic decisions under risk.

This study examines age-related differences in behavioral responses to risk and in the neurophysiological correlates of feedback processing. Our sample was composed of younger, middle-aged, and older adults, who were asked to decide between 2 risky options, in the gain and loss domains, during an EEG recording. Results evidenced group-related differences in early and later stages of feedback processing, indexed by differences in the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3 amplitudes. Specifically, in the loss domain, younger adults showed higher FRN amplitudes after non-losses than after losses, whereas middle-aged and older adults had similar FRN amplitudes after both. In the gain domain, younger and middle-aged adults had higher P3 amplitudes after gains than after non-gains, whereas older adults had similar P3 amplitudes after both. Behaviorally, older adults had higher rates of risky decisions than younger adults in the loss domain, a result that was correlated with poorer performance in memory and executive functions. Our results suggest age-related differences in the outcome-related expectations, as well as in the affective relevance attributed to the outcomes, which may underlie the group differences found in risk-aversion.

Iodine Nutritional Status in Schoolchildren from Public Schools in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study Exposes Association with Socioeconomic Factors and Food Insecurity.

INTRODUCTION: National programs of salt iodization were implemented in Brazil to combat iodine deficiency (ID) in children of school age. Currently, there are limited data in Brazil on those still vulnerable to this deficiency and the state of nutritional iodine status in the northeast region of Brazil, where children are vulnerable to malnutrition. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the iodine nutritional status, household food insecurity, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics among schoolchildren from the public school system living in state the state of Bahia, Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1419 schoolchildren in Bahia between the ages of 6 and 14 years old. Anthropometric parameters, urinary iodine concentrations (UIC), and thyrotropin (TSH) measurements were evaluated from blood spots on filter paper. RESULTS: The mean UIC was 206.4 ± 80.5 µg/L, with a median of 221.6 µg/L, indicating sufficient iodine intake in the region. Low urinary iodide concentration (<100 µg/L) was detected in 12.3% of the schoolchildren (n = 174), with 6.2% with mild (<100 µg/L), 3.0% with moderate (20-49 µg/L), and 3.1% with severe ID (<20 µg/L). Moreover, 9.4% (n = 134) had a urinary iodide concentration of >300 µg/L, indicating the coexistence of excessive iodine intake (EII). The mean TSH was 1.0 ± 0.6 mIU/L. The body mass index category "overweight/obesity" was a protective factor against EII (odds ratio [OR] = 0.64 [confidence interval (CI) 0.4-1.0]; p = 0.07). Urban areas (73%) had a mean UIC of 213.1 ± 80 µg/L compared with 176.8 ± 76.1 µg/L in rural areas. The risk for EII increased in children living in a house with more than six people (OR = 1.62 [CI 0.9-2.6]; p < 0.05) and water consumption from shallow wells (OR = 1.70 [CI 0.9-3.1]; p = 0.09). The risk of ID was increased by 70% in schoolchildren who had moderate or severe food insecurity (OR = 1.70 [CI 0.9-3.0]; p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of schoolchildren still have ID or EII in the northeast region of Brazil, emphasizing the importance of committed public policies to address this problem. Socioeconomic factors and the lack of education about nutritional importance of iodine were important influencing factors in the presence of ID in schoolchildren.

The use of decision trees and naïve Bayes algorithms and trace element patterns for controlling the authenticity of free-range-pastured hens' eggs.

This article aims to evaluate 2 machine learning algorithms, decision trees and naïve Bayes (NB), for egg classification (free-range eggs compared with battery eggs). The database used for the study consisted of 15 chemical elements (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cs, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Pb, Se, Sr, V, and Zn) determined in 52 eggs samples (20 free-range and 32 battery eggs) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Our results demonstrated that decision trees and NB associated with the mineral contents of eggs provide a high level of accuracy (above 80% and 90%, respectively) for classification between free-range and battery eggs and can be used as an alternative method for adulteration evaluation.