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We examined the association between thymic stromal lymphopoietin ( TSLP) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and eczema in young adult Japanese women. Cases were 188 women who met the criteria of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) for eczema. Controls were 565 women without eczema according to the ISAAC criteria, who had not been diagnosed with asthma, atopic eczema, and/or allergic rhinitis by a doctor and who had no asthma as defined by the European Community Respiratory Health Survey criteria and no rhinoconjunctivitis according to the ISAAC criteria. Compared with women with the TT genotype of SNP rs1837253, those with the TC or CC genotype had a significantly increased risk of eczema after adjustment for age and smoking, although this association was not significant in crude analysis. There were no relationships between SNP rs3806933 or rs2289276 and eczema. The TC and CC genotypes combined of SNP rs1837253 may be significantly positively associated with eczema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We investigated levels of the pollutant tributyltin (TBT) in blood of pufferfishes (six species), Japanese sea perch, red sea bream, Japanese common goby, Japanese flounder, rockfish, conger eel, and sea mullet collected off the coast of northern Kyushu, Japan. We found considerable levels of TBT (1.4–190ng/mL) accumulated in the blood of these fish. Blood TBT concentrations were 1.3–22.5times liver concentrations and 4.9–78times muscle concentrations, except in conger eel and mullet. We detected TBT (16–111ng/mL-blood) in the plasma of the fine-patterned puffer (Takifugu poecilonotus) year-round, without any apparent seasonal trend. These results suggest that fish inhabiting coastal areas of Kyushu, Japan, continue to be contaminated with TBT. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]