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BACKGROUND: Previous studies of association between exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia (PE) have shown conflicting results, but most dichotomized outcome and did not study continuous blood pressure (BP) changes. OBJECTIVES: To study the association between PFAS exposure in early pregnancy and maternal BP trajectories in pregnancy, gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. METHODS: 1436 women were enrolled in the Odense Child Cohort in early pregnancy and had a serum sample drawn, from which perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) were measured using LC-MS/MS. Repeated BP measurements through pregnancy and information on PE were obtained from hospital files. Adjusted linear mixed models were used to investigate association between PFAS exposure and BP trajectory. Associations between PFAS and PE and GH were assessed by Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: All women had measurable concentrations of PFAS. In all of many comparisons higher PFAS exposure (apart from PFHxS) was associated with higher systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures, although not all were significant, which is unlikely to be due to chance. After adjustment, each doubling in PFOS or PFOA exposure was associated with 0.47 mmHg (95% CI: -0.13; 1.08) and 0.36 mmHg (-0.19; 0.92) higher SBP; and 0.58 mmHg (0.13; 1.04) and 0.37 mmHg (-0.05; 0.79) higher DBP. No clear associations between PFAS exposure and PE or GH were found. DISCUSSION: The magnitude of the association between PFAS exposure and BP might appear small, statistically non-significant and the possible clinical importance low. However, at a population level this may slightly shift the distribution of BP towards an increased incidence of GH. If BP increases in pregnancy, it may have long-term impact on health not only of the pregnant woman but also of her offspring.

This paper describes the development of a new concept for organizing thesis work and supervision with the purpose of improving civil engineer students learning within the general key competences and increase their contribution to research and development, by using the student, supervisor and technicians resources in a more efficient way.This concept organizes the traditional thesis works with 1 or 2 students collaborating at a project and a report into project families. A project family consists of a number of project students focusing on a common problem, where the students works supplement each other, share the supervisor team, test facilities, data and project room, while still being independent. The paper presents results for 104 students thesis works and documents significant improvements in learning and in contributions to research and thus a better and more efficient use of the students resources and of the university resources.

The aim was to study the effect of pasturing time (4 versus 9 hours) combined with restricted indoor feeding on fat content, fatty acid composition, concentration of ¿-tocopherol, ß-carotene, uric acid and ß-hydroxybutyrate in milk from Holstein Friesian dairy cows. Morning and afternoon milk samples were collected three times at the end of week 2, 4 and 6 of the experiment. Morning and afternoon milk from cows at pasture for 4 h varied significantly in medium and long chain fatty acids (C6-C14), C18:1 n-9, C18:2 n-6, C18:3 n-6 and cis 9, trans 11 CLA concentration for all the 3 weeks. Fat percentage, ¿-tocopherol, ß-carotene, milk uric acid and ß-hydroxybutyrate showed significant differences between morning and afternoon milk from 4-h pasture. In the contrary, there was no significant difference observed between morning and afternoon milk for most parameters studied in the 9-h pasture group. Similarly the difference between morning milk from 4- and 9-h was also non-significant for most parameters. Therefore, in general 4-h morning, 9-h morning and 9-h afternoon milk were very similar in their compositions for the parameters studied.

A red-smear soft cheese was produced four times during a year at an organic dairy farm using pasteurized and un-pasteurized milk, respectively, from the same milking. A commercial starter culture was added. The cheeses were characterized microbiologically and chemically in order to study how heat treatment and season affected their characteristics during cheese making and ripening. Large variations between the different lots of cheeses characterized the production. However, the cheeses made from un-pasteurized milk generally had a higher lactic acid bacteria count except in cases, where the pasteurized milk was recontaminated or if acidification failure took place. Delays in acidification caused a more pronounced increase in numbers of E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae and staphylococci, as well as an increase in the plasmin and plasminogen-derived activities. A number of pre-milking and process steps were identified as important for the microbiological contamination and development in the cheeses.

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