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Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder
Published in Herman Staudenmayer, Environmental Illness, 2018
In the third companion study with the same sexually abused adolescent study group, DeBellis and colleagues postulated abnormalities in thyroid functioning and plasma anti-nuclear antibody tests (DeBellis et al., 1996). An antinuclear antibody (ANA) refers to an antibody against various proteins or nucleotides within the cell nucleus. It is hypothesized that elevated ANA titers reflect a failure to inhibit autoreactive lymphocytes through hypofunctioning of the immune cells that actively suppress autoimmunity (Agius and Arnason, 1991). In reviewing prior clinical studies, DeBellis et al. noted that some studies have reported a higher incidence of antinuclear antibodies in adults with depression (Maes et al., 1991, 1993). Their results showed that thyroid function tests and plasma antinuclear antibody titers did not differ between sexually abused and matched control adolescent girls. However, it was noted that the control group was biased to positive reactions because of the inclusion of African-American girls, who have a higher prevalence of autoimmune phenomena (Steinberg, 1992). DeBellis et al. then employed a second control group of 22 relatively older healthy white female volunteers, ages 20 to 58 years, who showed a significantly lower incidence of positive ANA levels (even though older age is associated with greater risk) compared to the sexually abused girls in the study group. The investigators concluded that this is an exploratory investigation suggesting that sexually abused girls may show evidence of an alteration in normal immune homeostatic function.
Exposure of Akwesasne Mohawk women to polychlorinated biphenyls and hexachlorobenzene is associated with increased serum levels of thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 2023
Florence Lee, Mia V. Gallo, Lawrence M. Schell, Julia Jennings, David A. Lawrence, Akwesasne Task Force On the Environment
The study has some limitations. Participants within the study were under 40 years of age and did not include women who used hormonal contraceptives. As a result, the findings might not be generalizable to a broader population. The sample size is small, as the number of women with above normal levels of TPOAbs is less than women with normal levels of TPOAbs. The analysis needs to be replicated in future studies with a larger sample. As women recruited in the study had higher PCB burdens of specific congeners than the general population, the results might not represent the general population. Autoantibodies to thyroglobulin, a possible sign of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, were not measured. Thyroid function tests were not conducted which could have identified possible hypothyroidism.
Urinary levels of phthalate esters and heavy metals in adolescents with thyroid colloid cysts
Published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2022
S. Songül Yalçin, İzzet Erdal, Semra Çetinkaya, Berna Oğuz
Several studies including phthalates observed changes in free T4 and TSH, but some revealed null associations (Meeker and Ferguson 2011; Minatoya et al. 2016; Tsai et al. 2016; Huang, Pan, Chang, Chiang, Guo, Jaakkola and Huang 2017; Huang et al. 2018; Kim et al. 2019). Due to the normal range of thyroid function tests in the TCC group, we didn’t analyze association between thyroid functions and EDC.