Human biomonitoring (HBM) is an effective tool for assessing actual exposure to chemicals that takes into account all routes of intake. Although hair analysis is considered to be an optimal biomarker for assessing mercury exposure, the lack of harmonization as regards sampling and analytical procedures has often limited the comparison of data at national and international level. The European-funded projects COPHES and DEMOCOPHES developed and tested a harmonized European approach to Human Biomonitoring in response to the European Environment and Health Action Plan. Herein we describe the quality assurance program (QAP) for assessing mercury levels in hair samples from more than 1800 mother-child pairs recruited in 17 European countries. To ensure the comparability of the results, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sampling and for mercury analysis were drafted and distributed to participating laboratories. Training sessions were organized for field workers and four external quality-assessment exercises (ICI/EQUAS), followed by the corresponding web conferences, were organized between March 2011 and February 2012. ICI/EQUAS used native hair samples at two mercury concentration ranges (0.20-0.71 and 0.80-1.63) per exercise. The results revealed relative standard deviations of 7.87-13.55% and 4.04-11.31% for the low and high mercury concentration ranges, respectively. A total of 16 out of 18 participating laboratories the QAP requirements and were allowed to analyze samples from the DEMOCOPHES pilot study. Web conferences after each ICI/EQUAS revealed this to be a new and effective tool for improving analytical performance and increasing capacity building. The procedure developed and tested in COPHES/DEMOCOPHES would be optimal for application on a global scale as regards implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Objectives. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of endometriosis on the quality of life.Patients and methods. Study group of 205 women, aged between 18-45 years old, hospitalized in the "Cuza-Voda" Hospital of Iasi, between 2013-2015. We used the Fertility Problem Inventory, the Endometriosis Health Profile and the Beck Depression Inventory.Results. We first realized a descriptive analyses of patients' health related quality of life -60% of women reported higher infertility distress associated with relationship issues caused by difficulties to conceive. The descriptive analysis over the quality of life in patients with endometriosis suggests that the high level of stress related factors, are: the loss over the control of the symptoms, dyspareunia and altered emotional status. Regarding the sexual aspect of life, almost a quarter of the women complained about an altered sexual status, due to both fear of failing in conceiving and dyspareunia caused by the endometriosis. The descriptive analysis over the infertility related stress suggests that the factors associated with a high level of stress are: sadness, pessimism, feeling of failure, irritability, lack of confidence, self-hatred and fatigue.Conclusions. Patients with endometriosis are dealing daily with a large spectrum of symptoms, including pain, dyspareunia, emotional instability and high levels of stress, which have a negative impact upon the quality of life, by lowering it on different levels. Also, within the present study we showed a significant presence of high infertility stress in patients of all ages that lead to depression and social anxiety.
Objective: To develop a small animal model for fetoscopy. Methods: In 12 time-dated pregnant rabbits at 22 days’ gestational age (term 32 days) one amniotic sac in each uterine horn (n = 24) was used for a fetoscopic procedure. After laparotomy, a 2- to 3-mm microsurgical myometrial incision was made to expose the chorionic and amniotic membrane. Under microscopic control, a 2-mm needle was inserted into the amniotic sac. Through this a 1.2-mm endoscope was passed to carry out fetoscopy during maximally 10 min, using 5–10 ml saline amnioinfusion. Mean outcome measurements were ability to visualize the placenta, umbilical cord and the different fetal elements during fetoscopy, as well as fetal survival and weight at second-look operation at 30 days. The untreated amniotic sacs served as negative controls. Results: In all cases, fetoscopy could be carried out successfully, and all fetuses survived till delivery without significant influence on fetal birth weight. Conclusion: The midgestational rabbit can be used to perform fetoscopy.
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