Unintentional injuries among infants age 0-12 months

Each year an estimated 328,500 infants age 0-12 months are treated for unintentional injuries in emergency departments (EDs): one infant every minute and a half. The leading cause, overall and by month of age, was fall-related injury. The second leading cause was 'struck by or against.' The majority of patients were injured at home. Younger infants were more likely to be hospitalized than older ones and more males than females were injured. Gender differences suggest that parenting practices may play a role, but ecological approaches should be considered in an effort to understand the connection between injuries and an infant's developmental stage.     

Organohalogen compounds in human breast milk from mothers living in Payatas and Malate, the Philippines: Levels, accumulation kinetics and infant health risk

Human breast milk samples (n = 33) from primipara and multipara mothers from Payatas a waste dump site, and Malate a reference site in the Phillipines were collected in 2004 and analyzed for eight organohalogen compounds, viz., PCBs, DDTs, CHLs, HCHs, HCB, TCPMe, PBDEs and HBCDs. DDTs and PCBs were predominant in all the samples. Overall mean concentrations of PBDEs found in our study were higher (7.5 ng/g lipid wt.) than those reported for Japan and many other Asian countries. Primipara mothers had significantly higher levels of DDTs, CHLs and HCHs than multipara mothers, but not PBDEs and HBCDs. A few individuals accumulated CHLs close to or even higher than the tolerable daily intake guidelines proposed by Health Canada.     

Exposure estimates to Fusarium mycotoxins through cereals intake

Mycotoxins are harmful substances produced by fungi in several commodities with a widespread presence in foodstuffs. Human exposure to mycotoxins occurs mainly by contaminated food. The quantitation of mycotoxins in cereal-based food, highly consumed by different age population, is of concern. In this survey, 159 cereal-based samples classified as wheat, maize and rice-based, have been evaluated for the occurrence of patulin, deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol, fusarenon-X, diacetoxyscirpenol, nivalenol, neosolaniol, HT-2, T-2 and zearalenone by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Intakes were calculated for average consumers among adults, children and infants and compared with the tolerable daily intakes (TDI). Data obtained were used to estimate the potential exposure levels. 65.4% of the samples were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin and 15.7% of the analyzed samples showed co-occurrence of mycotoxin. The dietary exposure to HT-2 and T-2 toxins was estimated as 0.010 and 0.086 μg kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹, amounting to 10% and 86% of the TDI, for adults and infants respectively. These results back up the necessity to take a vigilant attitude in order to minimize human intake of mycotoxins.