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The article presents the study which explores the distribution of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) levels on human liver and breast milk in Catalonia, Spain. Samples were analyzed by solid-phase extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. It notes that liver samples accumulated high PFCs and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) concentration. It was observed in the study that PFCs are bound to the protein fraction in blood.

In unaccented contexts, formant frequency differences related to vowel reduction constitute a consistent cue to word stress in English, whereas in languages such as Spanish that have no systematic vowel reduction, stress perception is based on duration and intensity cues. This article examines the perception of word stress by speakers of Central Catalan, in which, due to its vowel reduction patterns, words either alternate stressed open vowels with unstressed mid-central vowels as in English or contain no vowel quality cues to stress, as in Spanish. Results show that Catalan listeners perceive stress based mainly on duration cues in both word types. Other cues pattern together with duration to make stress perception more robust. However, no single cue is absolutely necessary and trading effects compensate for a lack of differentiation in one dimension by changes in another dimension. In particular, speakers identify longer mid-central vowels as more stressed than shorter open vowels. These results and those obtained in other stress-accent languages provide cumulative evidence that word stress is perceived independently of pitch accents by relying on a set of cues with trading effects so that no single cue, including formant frequency differences related to vowel reduction, is absolutely necessary for stress perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the role that some food processing and packaging might play as a source of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) through the diet was assessed. The levels of PFCs were determined in composite samples of veal steak (raw, grilled, and fried), pork loin (raw, grilled, and fried), chicken breast (raw, grilled, and fried), black pudding (uncooked), liver lamb (raw), marinated salmon (home-made and packaged), lettuce (fresh and packaged), pate of pork liver, foie gras of duck, frankfurt, sausages, chicken nuggets (fried), and common salt. Among the 11 PFCs analyzed, only PFHxS, PFOS, PFHxA, and PFOA were detected in at least one composite sample, while the levels of the remaining PFCs (PFBuS, PFHpA, PFNA, PFDA, PFUnDA, and PFDoDA) were under their respective detection limits. PFOS was the compound most frequently detected, being found in 8 of the 20 food items analyzed, while PFHxA was detected in samples of raw veal, chicken nuggets, frankfurt, sausages, and packaged lettuce. According to the results of the present study, it is not sufficiently clear if cooking with non-stick cookware, or packaging some foods, could contribute to a higher human exposure to PFCs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Although virtually all populations worldwide are commonly exposed to numerous persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and human concentrations vary widely, only a few countries conduct nationwide surveillance programs of POP concentrations in representative samples of the general population. Objective: To evaluate the distribution of serum concentrations of nineteen POPs and their main predictors in a representative sample of the general population of Catalonia. Methods: Participants in the Catalan Health Interview Survey aged 18–74years were interviewed face-to-face, gave blood, and underwent a physical exam. Graphs (including “POP Geoffrey Rose curves”) were used to represent the full population distribution of each POP in the 919 participants. Through multivariate statistical models we analyzed the influence on POP concentrations of sex, age, body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic status and, in women, parity. Results: We detected dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (p,p′-DDT), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (p,p′-DDE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) congeners 118, 138, 153 and 180, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH) in more than 85% of the subjects. p,p′-DDE, HCB and β-HCH showed the highest concentrations (median=399, 159 and 92ng/g lipid, respectively). Distributions were highly skewed and interindividual differences were up to 7700-fold. POP levels differed significantly by gender, age, BMI, educational level, and parity. Conclusions: In Catalonia, an advanced European society, exposure to POPs remains common, a vast majority of the population has much lower blood concentrations than a relative minority, and the population distributions of POP are hence highly skewed to the right. Shifting distributions towards lower concentrations requires more energetic policies and population strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]