Di (2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) Hormone Levels in Males

Di (2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) Hormone Levels in Males Introduction Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is one of phthalate ester and endocrine- disrupting chemical. It is used as plasticizer in Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics tubing to make PVC plastic tubing more soft and flexible. Animal data show that target organs of exposure to DEHP are the liver, kidneys, lungs, and reproductive system. DEHP may cause adverse effects of animal’s reproductive system such as reduced fertility, decreased spermatogenesis in males (Rais-Bahrami, 2004). Phthalate monoesters including mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) is the DEHP metabolites. The primary targets of Phthalate monoesters toxicity are Leydig cells (LCs) and sertoli cells (SCs). The function of LCs and SCs is spermatogenesis and testosterone production. The toxicant will damage the LCs to decrease the secretion of testosterone, which will affect spermatogenesis and decrease the sperm count. Food is one of the sources of exposure to DEHP for public (U.S. EPA, 2013). DEHP has been detected in many foods such as meat, cheese, milk, eggs, cereal products and fish. There is more and more evidence showing that DEHP induce many adverse effects on the reproductive system such as reproductive hormones included luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and free testosterone (Giuliana G. 2009). As DEHP can cause birth defects or reproductive harm, the government of California listed DEHP as reproductive toxin in 2003 (Chemical Market Reporter, 2003). In addition to the food intake exposure to DEHP, occupational and environmental are the another sources of exposure to DEHP (Guowei Pan et.al., 2006). It is essential to concern whether high levels of DEHP exposure would affect reproductive hormone levels in male. According to the studies of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, they have found that DEHP can cause birth defects in laboratory rodents (Chemical Market Reporter, 2003). However, only limited studies focus on the relationship between human reproductive hormone and DEHP exposure (J. Mendiola et.al., 2011). Hence, there are limited evidences to conclude a correlation between human reproductive hormone and exposure to DEHP. It is important to find out what chemicals will influence human reproductive hormone because it decides the total number of our offspring. Therefore, based on the related human studies, the effects of DEHP exposure on reproductive hormone levels in male would be discussed. Method The aim of the literature search was to find the associations between Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and reproductive hormone levels in male. A board research was first conducted by Medline (EBSCO HOST), Web of Science and ProQuest. The search term â€Å"Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate/ DEHP† AND â€Å"reproductive hormones† was used and excluded the term â€Å"animal.† The criteria used to select the studies were as follows: The Studies were primary sources and published within 10 years, 2004-2014. The Studies must be human study for adult and NOT animal study. The Studies should address the associations between DEHP and reproductive hormone levels in male. The studies were in good quality, such as in high impact factors of 2013. 3 main studies met the above criteria for the topic examination. The impact factor on the 3 studies are 3.206 (G. Pan et.al, 2011), 3.206 (J. Mendiola et.al, 2010) and 7.029 (Guowei Pan et.al, 2006). Totally 3 main studies at the end of literature has been searched. The three chosen studies were Cross-sectional study since there are limited long-term studies such as cohort studies and randomized controlled trial (RCT) fulfilled the above criteria. Result G. Pan et.al. (2011) carried a cross-sectional study to find the dose-response relationship between dose-response relationships between cumulative phthalate exposure and reproductive hormones in human. 74 male workers occupationally exposed to high levels of DEHP and 63 male construction workers as comparison group matched for age and smoking status. The urine and blood were collected from each patient on the same day. The authors of study observed a significantly negative correlated between hazard indices (HI) and serum concentrations of free testosterone (fT) in exposed workers (r = -0.195, p = 0.096), but not in unexposed workers. J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) carried a cross-sectional study to find the association between exposures to Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and reproductive hormone levels in men. 425 men were partners of pregnant women who were selected to participant in the study for Future Families (SFF). All men completed a questionnaire and received a physical examination. The questionnaire included the question about demographics, recent fever, history of sexually transmitted disease, diet and as well as lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol and caffeine consumption. The urine sample was collected within 15 min after the blood was collected. The result was found that Free Androgen Index (FAI) was significantly associated with the concentration of DEHP metabolites in urine. However, total testosterone levels were no associated with urinary concentration of DEHP metabolites. Guowei Pan et.al. (2006) carried a cross-sectional study to find the effect of occupational exposure to high levels of phthalate esters on the balance of gonadotropin and gonadal hormones, which including LH, FSH, free testosterone (fT), and estradiol. 74 male workers at a factory producing unfoamed PVC flooring exposed to di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) as exposure group and compared them with samples from 63 male workers from a construction company as comparison group matched for age and smoking status. Urine and blood samples were collected from each workers between 800 and 1100 hours on the same day, but not on the first day of the worker’s work week or the day after a night work shift. The authors of study observed there is significant reducing of serum fT in workers with higher levels of urinary MEHP (DEHP metabolites) compared with unexposed workers. fT was negative association to MEHP (r = -0.19, p = 0.095) in the exposed group. Discussion Study Design The three studies are a cross-sectional study. The limitations of cross-sectional studies are it cannot establish a temporal relationship and reflect the causal relationship between high levels of DEHP and the reproductive hormone levels in male. It only can provide a possible risk factor for reproductive hormones for further study. The three studies both have different advantages and disadvantages. The sample size of the study of Guowei Pan et.al. (2006) and G. Pan et.al. (2011) is relative small. They are all less than 100 people in exposed group and comparison group. The study of J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) has relative large sample size (N=425) but it does not contain a comparison group. The study of Guowei Pan et.al. (2006) and G. Pan et.al. (2011) only investigated the confounding effect of the influence of occupational exposure to DEHP. The study of J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) also only investigated the confounding effect of the influence of environmental exposure to DEHP. They did not considered the confounding effect of the influence of food intake exposure to DEHP. Study population Randomization is a basic and essential technique to avoid selection bias in Epidemiology Study and It can show better association between exposure and outcome is true or not. However, the participants of three studies are not strictly random. It may cause false association between high exposure of DEHP and male reproductive hormone. In the study of Guowei Pan et.al. (2006) and G. Pan et.al. (2011), the authors wanted to compare the reproductive hormone levels between exposed group and comparison group. Therefore, they selected exposed group in a factory producing unfoamed PVC flooring and using DEHP as plasticizers and comparison group in a construction company. The authors can ensure the exposed group was exposed to DEHP by dermal contact and/ or through dust inhalation in their work. A comparison group who without occupational exposure to DEHP and matched for age and smoking status to exposed group. The comparison group can help authors to exclude other factors that may influence reproductive hormone levels in male in addition to DEHP exposure. The study of J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) did not contain a comparison group. All the participants were conducted in the study for Future Families and at prenatal clinics affiliated with university hospital in five United States cities. Exposure assessment The concentration of MEHP and reproductive hormone were determined by using different methods. Both methods have advantages and limitations. Table 1: The methods used to determine the concentration of MEHP Three studies used similar method to determine the urinary concentrations of DEHP metabolites. Thus, the urinary DEHP metabolite concentration of three studies will not have significant difference. Table 2: The methods used to measure the levels of reproductive hormone The advantages of using radioimmunoassay are high sensitivity and highly specific. However, using radioimmunoassay method is very dangerous because it uses radiolabelled reagents. Thus, the labs require specially trained person and special license to handle radioactive material. The following methods have less dangerous than radioimmunoassay. Chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) is it has been applied broadly to the clinical diagnosis and environmental analysis. It can show the result quickly because it does not require long incubation time (Ayio, K. 2010). Also, CLIA has high specificity and relatively simple and inexpensive instrumentation (J.L.S. ARAÚJO-FILHO et.al 2011). An electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) procedure was based on solid-phase sandwich immunoassay method. Thus, ECLIA has the superior sensitivity to determine plasma and urine sample (Xiao-yan, C. 2013).The advantages of TR-IFMA are higher sensitivity due to lower background values, higher specificity as only intact molecules of FSH and LH can be measured. (Van Casteren JI et.al 2000) Result analysis The result of J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) in addition to showing the relationship between reproductive hormone in male and the concentration of DEHP metabolite (N=425), it also found some factors such as age, Body Mass Index (BMI) and smoking etc may influence the reproductive hormone in male. Therefore, J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) had done multivariate analysis for reproductive hormone in male and the concentration of DEHP metabolite (N=363) to control for factors such as age, BMI and smoking states etc. It can increase the accuracy of the studies. Although the study did not contain a comparison group, J. Mendiola et.al. (2011) tried consistent the factors found in the questionnaire of participants to minimize the influence of confounding factors to the data analysis. G. Pan et.al. (2011) was using hazard indices (HI) to show the result. The hazard index is the sum of hazard quotients. The ratio of hazard index is compared to 1.0. If the ratio is less than 1, then the systemic effects are assumed not to be of concern; if the hazard quotient is greater than 1, then the systemic effects are assumed to be of concern (U.S. EPA, 2012). It is more easily to show the result and indicate whether DEHP exposure as the concerned factors for reproductive hormone to public and epidemiology. In addition to showing the relationships between serums free Testosterone in workers and the exposure to high levels of DEHP, Guowei Pan et.al. (2006) also compared the demographic characteristics including age, marriage status, smoking and alcohol consumption and plastic material contact of exposed group (N=74), comparison group (N=63) and all the workers (N=137). Also, all the results of this study were compared to exposed group and comparison group. The result can be shown the different of reproductive hormone levels between exposed group and comparison group easily. Limitation of studies The data and result of the three studies were limited by using a single urine and blood/serum samples to determine the levels of DEHP and hormone. It may cause a bias in spot sampling because the result is not reflecting average hormone levels. The endogenous serum LH and FSH concentration had significant change by assessing in different time. The urine samples only reflect the recent exposure to DEHP because phthalates have short half-lives. Also, the concentration of DEHP in three studies was based on the concentration of urinary metabolites of DEHP (MEHP). Therefore, the concentration of DEHP may be not the real concentration of participants. Conclusion The result of three study indicate that there are adverse effects of high levels of DEHP exposure on reproductive hormone levels in male. However, there is no clear evidence to prove a causal relationship between high levels of DEHP and the reproductive hormone levels in male because cross-sectional studies cannot reflect the causal relationship between them. High level of DEHP can as an investigative target included in long term studies such as cohort study and randomized controlled trial of reproductive hormone levels in male. The further research is required to prove that high levels of DEHP exposure will decrease the reproductive hormone levels in human.

Explain Why Pope Urban Ll Called for a Crusade

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban ll made a powerful and well planned speech. His message was clear and precise, ‘go to the holy land in Jerusalem and claim back what is rightfully yours or die trying, and in return remission of all your sins with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven’. He was addressing Christians from all over France calling for a ‘Crusade’ in the name of God and as many would argue, abusing his authority and status he received from the Catholic Church.What occurred during the First Crusade is well known to many, whereas the reason behind Pope Urban ll calling the Crusade is a highly debated and contradicting issue. One of the reasons which are occasionally cited for Urban’s calling of the First Crusade is the call of help which Alexins Comnenus had sent to Urban at the Council of Piacenza. This letter was sent in response to the loss of Byzantine land which had occurred after the battle of M anzikert in 1072.The letter When Urban received this letter it is debateable as to whether he was actually galvanised by the thought of helping Alexins or if his main motive was an attempt at ending the schism between the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox church in Constantinople. This is likely as it was one of the ideals of the papal reform movement which Urban belonged to, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Gregory VII. By making out to help the Byzantine emperor in their time of need, Urban hoped to heal the schism.Another reason behind why Urban called for a Crusade is for religious purposes. He felt Christians in the East needed to be rescued from persecution and had ‘suffered mightily at the hands of the Turks’ and there men and children were being persecuted and there women raped , this was also backed up in Alexins letter to the Pope. Christians were supposedly suffering under Muslim rule after the Byzantine Empire was defeated by the Seljuk Tu rks who reverted to Islam, at the point when Islam was a religion quickly rising in power and dominance.Urban saw this violation of the Christian race as a great disrespect of Christianity and used it as a stimulus in his speech at the Council of Clermont which angered and therefore manipulated the Christian race into heading to the holy land for the First Crusade. Finally, an additional reason for Urban’s calling for a so called Crusade was that he felt ‘the lands of Christ needed to be reclaimed’ and in the control of Christianity not in the hands of ‘infidels’. Jerusalem is at the centre of the Christian faith and is the eligions birth place. It is the land in which Jesus was crucified and then, as Christians believe, bought back to life in a miracle event. Urban said in his speech, ‘wrest that land from the wicked race, that land which the scripture says floweth with milk and honey and was given by god to the children of Israel’. By these few words we can understand why Urban felt so strongly that it the land of Christians and why he ordered for it to be reclaimed, even if it mean death.At the time of Urban’s speech Jerusalam was under the rule of Muslim, who also have a strong attachment with the land as it is the place where the holy prophet descended to heaven. Urban however believed that it belonged to the Christians and therefore ordered it to be reclaimed in the ‘name of god’. Pope Urban ll called for a Crusade at the Council of Clermont to claim back what he believed rightfully belonged to the Christians and unite the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. Through the cover of Alexins plea for help Urban strengthened relations with the Byzantine Empire and called on a Crusade that was to claim thousands of lives.

Marilyn Bell

Marilyn BellMarilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio is a retired long distance swimmer, born October 19, 1937, in Toronto, Ontario. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca.Personal lifeBell was born in Toronto, Ontario to parents Sydney and Grace Bell. The family moved to North Bay, Ontario, then Halifax, Nova Scotia before returning to Toronto in 1946.[1] After her swimming career, Marilyn married Joe Di Lascio and moved to New Jersey, United States. They raised four children, Lisa, Michael, Jodi, and Janet. Joe died in September 2007.Swimming careerBell first took up swimming lessons in 1946 at Oakwood Pool, joining the Dolphinette Club coached by Alex Duff.[2] In 1947, Bell entered her first long-distance race: a one-mile swim at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Lake Ontario.[3] It was at that first race that Bell first met her future coach Gus Ryder, who was coach of the Lakeshore Swimming Club. Bell soon jo ined the Lakeshore Club and started practicing at the indoor pool of Humberside Collegiate in Toronto.[4]1954 Lake Ontario swimOne September night, Bell started her swim across Lake Ontario from Queens Beach Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario to Toronto at virtually the same time as world famous United States long-distance swimmer, Florence Chadwick. The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto had offered Chadwick $10,000 to swim the lake as a publicity effort for the annual exhibition. Bell, who felt the offer snubbed Canadian swimmers, took on the challenge without pay with the encouragement of Alexandrine Gibb, a Toronto Daily Star reporter. After several hours, Chadwick was forced to give up with stomach pains and vomiting, while 16-year-old Bell completed the swim, the first person ever  to swim the thirty-two-mile (52 km) distance when she arrived in Toronto the next day.A third swimmer, Torontonian Winnie Roach, also attempted the swim at this time, but failed. Bell swam fo r 20 hours and 59 minutes under gruelling conditions before she finally reached a breakwater near the Boulevard Club, west of the CNE grounds. The planned route straight across the lake was 51.5 km (32 mi), but she actually had to swim much further because of strong winds and the lack of modern navigation equipment. Waves that day were almost 5 m high, (up to 15 ft), water temperature was 21  °C (65  °F) and lamprey eels were attacking her legs and arms.Bell kept up her strength with Pablum, corn syrup, and lemon juice with water, along with heroic encouragement from her boat crew and her coach, Gus Ryder. Radio stations broadcast hourly reports of her progress and rival newspapers published â€Å"extra† editions throughout the day. When she finally arrived at about 8:15 p.m., a crowd of 300,000 people gave her an emotional welcome at the Sunnyside waterfront. In an article, Bell later thanked the Toronto community for the support, especially Alexandrine Gibb, the Star re porter.[5] The CNE decided to give Bell the $10,000 prize, and she was later given numerous gifts, including a car, television, clothing and furniture.Other swimsIn 1955, she became the youngest person to swim the English Channel and in 1956, she swam the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the Pacific coast. She retired that year from swimming.Awards and recognitionIn 1954, Bell was named the Canadian Newsmaker of the Year by the Canadian Press, awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's athlete of the year and awarded the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadian female athlete of the year. Bell was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1958. In 1993 she entered the Canadian Swimming Hall of Fame and was named one of Canada's top athletes of the century. In 2002, Bell (now Marilyn Bell Di Lascio) was presented with the Order of Ontario.The national Historic Sites and Monuments Board designated Bell's crossing of the lake a National Historic  Event in 2005, and a federal plaque was erected in 2008 near the site of her landfall.[6][7] Another plaque is mounted on the base of a statue of a lion along Lake Shore Boulevard by the Government of Ontario Building of the CNE. Parkland near the location where Bell arrived is now named Marilyn Bell Park. In 2009, the Lakeshore Swimming Club of Toronto held the first annual Marilyn Bell Swim Classic, a meet sanctioned by Swim Ontario.In 2010, a ferry boat to serve the Toronto Island Airport was named the Marilyn Bell 1. The name was chosen as the top name in a contest held by the Toronto Port Authority.[8] The story of Bell's historic swim was told in the 2001 made-for-TV film Heart: The Marilyn Bell Story with Caroline Dhavernas portraying Marilyn Bell.

IBM

IBM -1911 Charles R. Flint arranges the merger of the International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Company, and the Tabulating Machine Company to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R). The new company is based in New York City and has 1,300 employees. George Fairchild becomes the first chairman of the board of directors. C-T-R will be renamed International Business Machines Corporation in 1924.-1914 Thomas J. Watson, Sr., joins the Computing Tabulating Recording Co. (C-T-R) as general manager. The next year Watson is elected president of the company.-1924 The Computing- Tabulating- Recording Co. is renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). The company had operated under the IBM name in Canada since 1917.-1928 IBM redesigns the punch card to hold 80 columns, almost double the previous capacity. The patented new design, featuring rectangular holes and called the "IBM card," becomes so popular that the name essentially becomes synonymous with punc hed cards.IBM BladeCenter HS21-1944 IBM presents its first large scale computer, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), to Harvard University. Also known as the Mark I, the ASCC is the first machine to execute long calculations automatically. More than 50 feet long, eight feet high, and weighing almost five tons, the ASCC uses electromechanical relays to perform addition, multiplication, and division.-1952 IBM signals its commitment to electronic computing as it introduces the IBM 701, the company's first production computer and a watershed in the computing industry. Designed primarily for scientific calculations, the 701 features the IBM-invented tape drive vacuum column, an innovation which paved the way for magnetic tape to become a popular storage medium.-1953 IBM announces the IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Calculator, an intermediate size electronic computer, to handle widely diversified accounting and scientific computations. Warmly received by universities and businesse s, nearly 2,000 of the 650...

Superior Bank Trust

Superior Bank Trust The thrift financial Institution Superior Bank Trust is one of the largest. It is located in Chicago and has many branches eighteen of which can be found in the Chicago area. It is owned by one of Chicago's wealthiest families the Pritzkers and Alvin Dworman a well-known real-estate investor from New York. With assets totaling $2.3 billion and deposits of $1.6 billion Superior Bank FSB got caught up in some problems with sub prime loans. This was their main focus. Sub prime lending is lending to people who are poor credit risks. They lend money or issue credit cards at high interest rates. Many companies have prospered using this method but most have gone under due to rising default rates and early prepayments by borrowers who can refinance at lower rates. Superior Bank Trust's failure was directly related to sub prime lending.Regulators were believed to have detected problems as early as January 1999.LoanThese regulators should have been the ones to step in and notice that things weren't going the way they should have been. Instead Superior's management is bearing the brunt of the blame in this situation. Ellen Seidman states "responsibility for the success or failure of any depository institution rests with its management, directors, and owners." This may be true but if management and financial intermediaries had been performing their tasks properly they would have noticed that there where parties involved in their credit system that they didn't know enough about to make accurate lending decisions on. They should have noticed that their clientele accumulated as a result of adverse selection. They weren't given an option. They were picking the best of the worst. Management and owners should have questioned the intentions of their customers. They should have been aware that their clients might have...

Diabetes WA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diabetes WA - Research Paper Example The 360 degree marketing approaches are important. The DAGMER (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Rules) approach tells the effective advertising must be measurable (Altstiel & Grow 2006). However, the marketing are the ongoing process and financial support is very important for these campaigns. Most of the campaigns must reach the target audiences. The basic target audiences are the people who are in the middle age, staying nearby the town and the diabetes WA centers. However, Diabetes can happen to anyone irrespective of their earning capacity and even many time juvenile diabetic patents are also seen. The major concept about the campaigns must be to create a concern about the diabetes within the minds of the diabetic patients. And for the future patients the fear of losing the happy moments with the family must be focused. It means the advertising campaigns must tell the viewers about the importance of him or her being fit and diabetes free. Media Mix: Media is th e most important factor in this case. The media is the platform which can help the campaigns to reach the mass. That is the reason the media mix is very vital. The media mix is basically the combination of the proper Medias which supports the advertising campaign efficiently (Surmanek, 1996). In this case the television and the radio are very important as they reach to the mass in a very efficient way.

Case Study on Cafe Espresso Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

On Cafe Espresso - Case Study Example Thus, from being the number one in the market, Caf Espresso has slipped to the number three position. Internally, the company suffers high staff turnover and low employee morale thus, hampering the ability of the workforce to convey excellent customer service. In this situation, two personalities have been instrumental in regaining the leadership which had been enjoyed by the specialty coffee retailer-the charismatic Chief Executive Officer Ben Thomson and the new global HR director Kam Patel. In solving the problem that the company faces, Ben Thomson has drawn the company's intended direction while Kam Patel aligned its workforce with the identified goals and objectives. This example illustrates how strategic human resource management works in a business organisation. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2007) defines strategic human resource management as a "general approach to the strategic management of human resources in accordance to the intentions of the organisation on the future direction it wants to take" adding that "it is concerned with longer-term people issues and macro-concerns about structure, quality, culture, values, commitment, and matching resources to future need." What becomes apparent in these definitions is the function of the human resource department to align the company's workforce for the attainment of its goals. Human resource alignment calls for the integration of people with the results the company is trying to obtain (CIPD 2007). Doing this provides various benefits for a business organisation. In the case of Caf Espresso, this is manifested by the competitive advantage that it enjoys from the alignment.The importance of human resource in a business organization is emphasized by strategic human reso urce management. John Purcell who is known to have pioneered in this field, highlighted the importance of employees in his research which emphasized the huge role played by the company's workforce as "strategic partners." This research strongly supports the highly economist viewpoint of Grant (2002: 219) of "aligning employees with organizational goals." Schuler and Jackson (1987) gave a more precise description on how management should "align" their workforce to support the company crafted strategy. Their conclusion was: If management chooses a competitive strategy of differentiation through product innovation, this would call for high levels of creative, risk-orientated and cooperative behaviour. The company's HR practices would therefore need to emphasise "selecting highly skilled individuals, giving employees more discretion, using minimal controls, making greater investment in human resources, providing more resources for experimentation, allowing and even rewarding failure and appraising performance for its long run implications" - on the other hand if management wants to pursue cost leadership (the model) suggests designing jobs which are fairly repetitive, training workers as little as is practical, cutting staff numbers to the minimum and rewarding high output and predictable behaviour.