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Objective: In children with congenital heart defects (CHD), a sedentary lifestyle should be avoided and usually WHO recommendations on physical activity (PA) are supposed to be followed. In order to obtain representative data of the actual amount of PA (and potential influencing factors) in children with CHD we performed a nationwide online survey. Methods: All patients aged 6-17 years registered in the German National Register for CHD were contacted by email and asked to participate in the survey using the comprehensive questionnaire of the Motorik-Modul from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS), thus allowing the comparison with a representative age-matched subset of 3.385 participants of the KiGGS study. The questionnaire for CHD-patients was amended by specific questions regarding medical care, sports recommendations and PA restrictions. Results: Complete datasets of 1.198 patients (mean age of 11.6 +/- 3.1 years) were available for evaluation. Compared to the reference group, CHD patients significantly less frequently reached the WHO recommended level of 60 min of daily PA (8.8 vs. 12%; p < 0.001). Enjoyment in sports was almost equally distributed across CHD and reference groups, and strongly correlated with the level of PA (r = 0.41; p < 0.001). Remarkably, 49.2% of children with complex CHD, 31.7% with moderate, and even 13.1% with simple CHD were advised by their physician to restrict PA. Conclusions: According to this nationwide survey, PA is markedly reduced in children with CHD. An important reason for this might be an unexpected high rate of physician-recommended restrictions on levels of PA. more...

Passive sampling methods (PSMs) allow the quantification of the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree) of an organic contaminant even in complex matrices such as sediments. Cfree is directly related to a contaminant's chemical activity, which drives spontaneous processes including diffusive uptake into benthic organisms and exchange with the overlying water column. Consequently, Cfree provides a more relevant dose metric than total sediment concentration. Recent developments in PSMs have significantly improved our ability to reliably measure even very low levels of Cfree. Application of PSMs in sediments is preferably conducted in the equilibrium regime, where freely dissolved concentrations in the sediment are well‐linked to the measured concentration in the sampler via analyte‐specific partition ratios. The equilibrium condition can then be assured by measuring a time series or a single time point using passive samplers with different surface to volume ratios. Sampling in the kinetic regime is also possible and generally involves the application of performance reference compounds for the calibration. Based on previous research on hydrophobic organic contaminants, it is concluded that Cfree allows a direct assessment of 1) contaminant exchange and equilibrium status between sediment and overlying water, 2) benthic bioaccumulation, and 3) potential toxicity to benthic organisms. Thus, the use of PSMs to measure Cfree provides an improved basis for the mechanistic understanding of fate and transport processes in sediments and has the potential to significantly improve risk assessment and management of contaminated sediments., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (U.S.), SETAC (Society), University of California, Riverside. Department of Environmental Sciences more...

Background: A growing number of adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) pose a particular challenge for health care systems across the world. Upon turning into 18 years, under the German national health care system, ACHD patients are required to switch from a pediatric to an adult cardiologist or an ACHD-certified provider. To date, reliable data investigating the treatment situation of ACHD patients in Germany are not available. Materials and methods: An online survey was conducted in collaboration with patient organizations to address the life situation and the conditions of health care provision for ACHD patients in Germany. ACHD patients were recruited from the database of the National Register for Congenital Heart Defects (NRCHD) and informed about the survey via email, websites, and social networks. A total of 1,828 ACHD patients (1,051 females) participated in this study. The mean age was 31.7 +/- 11.7 years. Participants were surveyed about treating physicians and the institution mainly involved in the treatment of their CHD. In addition, participants were asked questions to assess the level of trust toward their treating physician and their familiarity with the term ACHD-certified provider. Results: Among the surveyed patients, 25.4% stated that they attended a specific ACHD clinic at a heart center regularly, 32.7% were treated in a private practice setting by a pediatric cardiologist, 32.4% in a private practice (adult) cardiology setting, and 9.5% were treated by an other physician. Only 24.4% of the male and 29.7% of the female ACHD patients were familiar with the term ACHD-certified provider. Conclusion: The transfer from pediatric cardiology to ACHD care requires further attention as many adult patients have not transferred to certified ACHD providers. The question of whether ACHD patients in Germany are offered consistent and adequate care should also be investigated in more detail. The answers regarding the ACHD certification are particularly di more...

Background: Most patients born with CHD nowadays reach adulthood, and thus quality of life, life situation, and state of medical care aspects are gaining importance in the current era. The present study aimed to investigate whether patients' assessment depends on their means of occupation. The findings are expected to be helpful in optimising care and for developing individual treatment plans. Methods: The present study was based on an online survey conducted in cooperation with patient organisations. Participants were recruited from the database of the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. In total, 1828 individuals (777 males, 1051 females) took part. Participants were asked to rate aspects such their state of health on a six-tier scale (1=worst specification). Response behaviour was measured against the background of occupational details. Results: Training for or pursuing a profession was found to be significantly associated with participants' rating of five of the six examined aspects (p<0.05). Sex seemed to play an important part in four of the six aspects. Conclusions: An optimal treatment plan for adults with CHD should always consider aspects such as sex and employment status. To work out such an optimal and individual treatment plan for each adult CHD patient, an objective tool to measure patients' actual CHD-specific knowledge precluding socially accepted response bias would be very useful. more...

Organic contaminants, in particular persistent organic pollutants (POPs), adversely affect water quality and aquatic food webs across the globe. As of now, there is no globally consistent information available on concentrations of dissolved POPs in water bodies. The advance of passive sampling techniques has made it possible to establish a global monitoring program for these compounds in the waters of the world, which we call the Aquatic Global Passive Sampling (AQUA-GAPS) network. A recent expert meeting discussed the background, motivations, and strategic approaches of AQUA-GAPS, and its implementation as a network of networks for monitoring organic contaminants (e.g., POPs and others contaminants of concern). Initially, AQUA-GAPS will demonstrate its operating principle via two proof-of-concept studies focused on the detection of legacy and emerging POPs in freshwater and coastal marine sites using both polyethylene and silicone passive samplers. AQUA-GAPS is set-up as a decentralized network, which is open to other participants from around the world to participate in deployments and to initiate new studies. In particular, participants are sought to initiate deployments and studies investigating the presence of legacy and emerging POPs in Africa, Central and South America. more...

Funding agencies: Environment Canada; Arctic Net; Northern Contaminants Program (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada); Centre for Global Science, University of Toronto; Northern Science Training Program, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada more...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) are both currently released into the environment from anthropogenic activity. Both are hence primarily associated with populated or industrial areas, although wildfires can be an important source of PAHs, too. Polyethylene passive samplers (PEs) were simultaneously deployed in surface water and near surface atmosphere to determine spatial trends and air-water gaseous exchange of 22 PAHs and 11 PBDEs at 19 sites across Lake Superior in 2011. Surface water and atmospheric PAH concentrations were greatest at urban sites (up to 65 ng L-1 and 140 ng m-3, respectively, averaged from June to October). Near populated regions, PAHs displayed net air-to-water deposition, but were near equilibrium off-shore. Retene, probably depositing following major wildfires in the region, dominated dissolved PAH concentrations at most Lake Superior sites. Atmospheric and dissolved PBDEs were greatest near urban and populated sites (up to 6.8 pg L-1 and 15 pg m-3, respectively, averaged from June to October), dominated by BDE-47. At most coastal sites, there was net gaseous deposition of BDE-47, with less brominated congeners contributing to Sault Ste. Marie and eastern open lake fluxes. Conversely, the central open lake and Eagle Harbor sites generally displayed volatilization of PBDEs into the atmosphere, mainly BDE-47. more...

Part II of the second Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report (CACAR-II) began with a section on “Physicochemical Properties of Persistent Organic Pollutants”, which identified key physicochemical (pchem) properties, provided the rationale for their measurement or prediction and tabulated literature citations for chemicals that are of concern to the NCP (Bidleman et al. 2003). The section also discussed temperature dependence of pchem properties and their applications to describing partitioning in the physical environment. There is, and will continue to be, emphasis on predictive approaches to screening chemicals for persistence, bioaccumulation and toxic (PB&T)properties, as well as long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) potential (Brown and Wania 2008, Czub et al. 2008, Fenner et al. 2005, Gouin andWania 2007, Howard and Muir 2010, Klasmeier et al. 2006, Matthies et al. 2009, Muir and Howard 2006). This has created the need for determining pchem properties of new and emerging chemicals of concern. Predicting gas exchange cycles of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and new and emerging chemicals of concern places a high demand on the accuracy of pchem properties, particularly the air/water partition coefficient, KAW. Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in Arctic Ocean surface waters are close to air-water equilibrium, with excursions toward net volatilization or deposition that vary with location and season (Hargrave et al. 1993, Jantunen et al. 2008a, Lohmann et al. 2009, Su et al. 2006, Wong et al. 2011) while hexachlorobenzene (HCB) (Lohmann et al. 2009, Su et al. 2006, Wong et al. 2011) and some current use pesticides (CUPs) (Wong et al. 2011) are undergoing net deposition. The predicted Arctic Contamination Potential (ACP) for persistent organic chemicals is strongly influenced by ice cover due to its effect on air-water gas exchange (Meyer and Wania 2007). Many advances have taken place and numerous papers have been published since CACAR-II, w, Reviewers Chapter 2: Susan Bengtson Nash (Griffith University, Australia), Knut Breivik (Norwegian Institute forAir Research, Norway) more...

The enantiomers of chiral pesticides are often metabolised at different rates in soil and water, leading to nonracemic residues. This paper reviews enantioselective metabolism of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in soil and water, and the use of enantiomers to follow transport and fate processes. Residues of chiral OCPs and their metabolites are frequently nonracemic in soil, although exceptions occur in which the OCPs are racemic. In soils where enantioselective degradation and/or metabolite formation has taken place, some OCPs usually show the same degradation preference — e.g., depletion of (+)trans-chlordane (TC) and (-)cis-chlordane (CC), and enrichment of the metabolite (+)heptachlor exo-epoxide (HEPX). The selectivity is ambivalent for other chemicals; preferential loss of either (+) or (-)o,p?-DDT and enrichment of either (+) or (-)oxychlordane (OXY) occurs in different soils. Nonracemic OCPs are found in air samples collected above soil which contains nonracemic residues. The enantiomer profiles of chlordanes in ambient air suggests that most chlordane in northern Alabama air comes from racemic sources (e.g., termiticide emissions), whereas a mixture of racemic and nonracemic (volatilisation from soil) sources supplies chlordane to air in the Great Lakes region. Chlordanes and HEPX are also nonracemic in arctic air, probably the result of soil emissions from lower latitudes. The (+) enantiomer of a-hexachlorocyclohexane (a-HCH) is preferentially metabolised in the Arctic Ocean, arctic lakes and watersheds, the North American Great Lakes, and the Baltic Sea. In some marine regions (the Bering and Chukchi Seas, parts of the North Sea) the preference is reversed and (-)a-HCH is depleted. Volatilisation from seas and large lakes can be traced by the appearance of nonracemic a-HCH in the air boundary layer above the water. Estimates of microbial degradation rates for a-HCH in the eastern Arctic Ocean and an arctic lake have been made from the enantiomer fraction more...