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We aimed to assess the relationship of urine phthalate metabolite concentrations with anthropometric indices, and blood pressure in first-grade children. We detected 11 phthalate metabolites in urine and estimated anthropometric indices, including skinfold measurements, waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI) in 276 children aged 6-8 years. Multivariate linear regression models were used to assess the associations between urinary phthalate metabolite levels, and anthropometric and blood pressure indices in a gender-specific manner. In boys, a 1-ng/mL increase in monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) concentration was associated with a 0.027-cm decrease in the skinfold measurement (95% confidence interval [CI], - 0.053 to 0.001), whereas a 1-ng/mL increase in mono-ethyl-phthalate (MEP) concentration was associated with a 0.016-mm Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure (95% CI, - 0.031 to 0.001). MBzP, mono-(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP), and MEOHP concentrations were also inversely associated with WC. However, in girls, MEP concentrations were positively associated with chest measurements, but were inversely associated with WC. A 1-ng/mL increase in monomethyl phthalate concentrations was associated with a 0.039-cm increase in skinfold measurements (95% CI, 0.002 to 0.076), whereas a 1-ng/mL increase in MECPP concentrations was associated with a 0.050 cm decrease in skinfold measurements (95% CI, - 0.095 to - 0.005). In this exploratory, cross-sectional analysis, we identified various interesting associations between different phthalate metabolite levels and anthropometric indices, which suggest that some of phthalate metabolite should be considered in addition to the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity.

Objective: We attempted to evaluate maternal thyroid function in a new self-sequential longitudinal reference interval (SLRI) which we established recently. By this method, we analysed the correlation between pregnancy outcome, neonatal thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level and maternal thyroid diseases. Methods: A total of 1744 pregnant women participated in the study and 1747 babies were born from those women (three bore twins). The levels of TSH, free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab) of mothers were quantified by electrochemistry immunoassay (ECL). The levels of neonatal blood TSH were detected by time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA). All data were collected and statistically analysed by SPSS 13.0 software. Results: With our new SLRI method, we found that 0.11%~3.84% pregnant women would get thyroid diseases. Subclinical hypothyroidism was the most common maternal thyroid disorder. Being positive for thyroid peroxidase antibodies was a significant risk factor of subclinical hypothyroidism during pregnancy. The median, P2.5~P97.5, and interquartile range (IQR) of neonatal TSH (N-TSH) of 1747 babies were 2.72 mIU/L, 0.10~8.01 mIU/L and 2.62 mIU/L, respectively; 28.6% of pregnant women with thyroid diseases developed pregnancy complications. The prevalence was significantly higher than in the normal thyroid function group (p < 0.001). The levels of N-TSH were low correlated with maternal TSH levels (p < 0.05), but there were no significant correlations between N-TSH and maternal FT4 and maternal TPO-Ab (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Thyroid disorders, especially subclinical hypothyroidism, are common in pregnant women. These disorders are associated with pregnancy and fetal outcome. Routine maternal thyroid function screening is important and should be recommended.

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In the current study, an effective and simple procedure of extraction for the four benzophenone compounds from water samples was achieved by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) based on the solidification of floating organic droplets (SFO) with a natural monoterpene enol as the extractant. As a natural, high solidification point, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly hydrophobic solvent, α−terpineol was selected firstly as an extractant for DLLME and could be collected and transferred easily after extraction by solidification at a lower temperature. Several main parameters closely related to extraction efficiencies, such as volume of extractant, extraction time, pH and salt concentration of the sample solution, temperature, and time of the solidification process, were investigated in detail. The results showed that the established method had good extraction performance for benzophenone compounds with enrichment factors in the range of 29–47. Furthermore, the linearities were over the range of 2–2000 µg/L, and the limits of detection were 0.12–0.53 µg/L for four benzophenone compounds. The recoveries ranged from 80.2% to 108.4%, with RSDs (intra- and inter-assay) less than 8.5%. At last, the method applicability was investigated by the determination of the benzophenone compounds in aqueous solutions, and satisfactory recoveries (83.0–107.0%) were acquired. Taken together, α−terpineol, a natural monoterpene enol, was first used as an extractant of DLLME-SFO, which provided an alternative method with simplicity and rapidity for the determination of benzophenone compounds in aqueous samples.