Publications by authors named "Helle Andersen"

Background: Developmental exposures to neurotoxic insecticides, as pyrethroids and chlorpyrifos are of growing concern.

Objective: To study associations between low prenatal and childhood exposure to pyrethroids and chlorpyrifos and motor skills at age 7.

Materials And Methods: Data consisted of sub-samples of women and children from the Odense Child Cohort; 883 mother-child pairs with maternal urine collected around gestational week 28 and child motor function tests performed at age 7; 1166 children with urine samples collected at age 5 and motor function test at age 7.

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The role of the GDF15 receptor, GDNF family receptor alpha-like (GFRAL), in the metabolic effects of FGF21 was investigated by treating female GFRAL knockout mice with recombinant human FGF21. In contrast to FGF21-treated wild-type mice, which lost 12% body weight relative to the vehicle, the absence of GFRAL coincided with a greater compensatory increase in food intake, and accordingly, the weight-lowering effect of FGF21 treatment was blunted. Interestingly, the glycemic benefits of FGF21 persisted in the absence of GFRAL.

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Background: Over the past decade, the use of organophosphate insecticides including chlorpyrifos has faced increasing restrictions due to health concerns, leading to a rise in use of pyrethroids. Concerns about neurodevelopmental insults following pyrethroids exposure exist, but few studies have examined the long-term effects of childhood exposure to chlorpyrifos and pyrethroids on IQ.

Objective: To investigate the prospective associations between pyrethroids and chlorpyrifos exposure at age 5 years and IQ scores assessed at age 7.

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Pyrethroids constitute a large group of insecticides widely used in agriculture, indoor environments, and in vector control. Structurally, pyrethroids resemble thyroid hormones, and have been suggested to be thyroid hormone disruptors based on experimental studies. During pregnancy, even minor disturbances in maternal levels can affect fetal brain development.

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The nursing profession has a long history of advocating for social justice and health equity, and both values profoundly infuse nursing ethics, theory, and education. Homecare nursing occurs between the patient's daily life at home and the public health care system. Therefore, homecare nurses ideally possess insight into the living conditions and social determinants of health that their patients experience.

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Background: Nursing is historically, ethically, and theoretically mandated to champion social justice.

Objective: To investigate how the concept of "social justice" has been explored in nursing research regarding extent, range, and nature.

Methods: The five-stage framework by Arksey and O'Malley was adopted, and JBI and PRISMA guidelines further informed the study.

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Psychotic disorders have been linked to immune-system abnormalities, increased inflammatory markers, and subtle neuroinflammation. Studies further suggest a dysfunctional blood brain barrier (BBB). The endothelial Glycocalyx (GLX) functions as a protective layer in the BBB, and GLX shedding leads to BBB dysfunction.

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Background: Nursing students often face challenges reconciling theoretical concepts with clinical realities. This study examines a novel concept 'Communities of Reflection' designed and tested to enhance coherency between theory and practice. The concept involves reflection groups comprising students, preceptors, and faculty during clinical placements.

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Background: Organophosphates and pyrethroids are two major groups of insecticides used for crop protection worldwide. They are neurotoxicants and exposure during vulnerable windows of brain development may have long-term impact on human neurodevelopment. Only few longitudinal studies have investigated associations between prenatal exposure to these substances and intelligence quotient (IQ) at school age in populations with low, mainly dietary, exposure.

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Background: Robust data on changes in pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) procedural volume and predictors of bioprosthetic pulmonary valve (BPV) durability in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) are scarce.

Objectives: This study sought to assess temporal trends in PVR procedural volume and BPV durability in a nationwide, retrospective TOF cohort.

Methods: Data were obtained from patient records.

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Knowledge about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) over time in Fontan patients is sparse. We aimed to describe HRQoL over a ten-year period in a population-based Fontan cohort. Further, we compared HRQoL in Fontan patients with the general population.

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Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric disorder with severe and lifelong impact on mental health and socioeconomic achievements. Environmental factors may play a role in the increasing incidens rates. Previous studies on associations between prenatal and childhood exposure to organophosphate and pyrethroid insecticides and ADHD symptoms have yielded mixed findings.

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Background: Long-chained poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in pesticide formulations but their potential impact on human PFAS exposure has not been addressed.

Objectives: To investigate if occupationally pesticide exposed female greenhouse workers in Denmark had higher serum concentrations of PFAS than a comparable background population.

Methods: Serum samples collected between 1996 and 2001 from 181 pregnant greenhouse workers and a contemporary urban population of 48 pregnant women were analyzed for eight PFAS: perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA), N-methyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido acetic acid (N-MeFOSAA), and N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamido acetic acid (N-EtFOSAA).

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Background: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent chemicals used in everyday consumer products leading to ubiquitous human exposure. Findings of impaired neurodevelopment after prenatal exposure to PFAS are contradictory and few studies have assessed the impact of postnatal PFAS exposure. Language development is a good early marker of neurodevelopment but only few studies have investigated this outcome separately.

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As one of the core elements of the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) a human biomonitoring (HBM) survey was conducted in 23 countries to generate EU-wide comparable HBM data. This survey has built on existing HBM capacity in Europe by aligning national or regional HBM studies, referred to as the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. The HBM4EU Aligned Studies included a total of 10,795 participants of three age groups: (i) 3,576 children aged 6-12 years, (ii) 3,117 teenagers aged 12-18 years and (iii) 4,102 young adults aged 20-39 years.

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Objective: A fundamental difference between physiological and pharmacological studies in rats and humans is that withdrawal of blood from conscious rats necessitates restraint which inevitably inflicts a higher level of stress. We investigated the impact of handling on acute glucose regulation and secretion of glucoregulatory hormones in rats.

Methods: Fasted male Sprague Dawley rats (375-400 g, n = 11) were given an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) by gavage (2 g/kg).

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Objectives: To assess temporal changes in the surgical management of patients with tetralogy of Fallot including the timing of interventions, surgical techniques, reinterventions and survival in a nationwide cohort.

Methods: Patients with tetralogy of Fallot in Denmark were divided into 3 eras based on their year of birth: early (1977-1991), intermediate (1992-2006) and late (2007-2021).

Results: The cohort consisted of 745 patients.

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Currently used pesticides are rapidly metabolised and excreted, primarily in urine, and urinary concentrations of pesticides/metabolites are therefore useful biomarkers for the integrated exposure from all sources. Pyrethroid insecticides, the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, and the herbicide glyphosate, were among the prioritised substances in the HBM4EU project and comparable human biomonitoring (HBM)-data were obtained from the HBM4EU Aligned Studies. The aim of this review was to supplement these data by presenting additional HBM studies of the priority pesticides across the HBM4EU partner countries published since 2000.

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Applications of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in buildings and their persistence in indoor environments have led to cases of current and highly elevated exposure in humans, despite the global cease of production decades ago. Personal exposure to PCBs was assessed among residents in a social housing estate in Denmark containing both contaminated (n = 67) and non-contaminated (n = 23) apartments. Samples and estimated daily intakes (EDIs) were assessed for 15 PCB congeners, and body burden, which was limited by the dietary data availability, was compared across 7 indicator PCBs, with its sum (PCB) often applied in European regulation of PCBs.

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Background: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are biopersistent chemicals classified as human carcinogens. This classification is primarily based on evidence on higher-chlorinated PCBs found in food. The carcinogenic potential of airborne lower-chlorinated PCBs remains largely unexplored.

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Within HBM4EU, human biomonitoring (HBM) studies measuring glyphosate (Gly) and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in urine samples from the general adult population were aligned and quality-controlled/assured. Data from four studies (ESB Germany (2015-2020); Swiss HBM4EU study (2020); DIET-HBM Iceland (2019-2020); ESTEBAN France (2014-2016)) were included representing Northern and Western Europe. Overall, median values were below the reported quantification limits (LOQs) (0.

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Few data are available on the exposure of children to glyphosate (Gly) in Europe. Within HBM4EU, new HBM exposure data were collected from aligned studies at five sampling sites distributed over Europe (studies: SLO CRP (SI); ORGANIKO (CY); GerES V-sub (DE); 3XG (BE); ESTEBAN (FR)). Median Gly concentrations in urine were below or around the detection limit (0.

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Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used in a number of industrial products from 1950 to 80s, including building materials. As a result, some buildings exhibit high levels of PCBs in the indoor environment. The aim of this study was to test silicone wristbands as a method for estimating personal exposure to PCBs in buildings both in controlled experiments and field settings.

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Background: Pyrethroid metabolites are widely detectable in urine from the general population, including pregnant women and children. Pyrethroids are neurotoxic and suggested endocrine disruptors. Exposure during vulnerable developmental time windows may have long-term impacts on neurodevelopment.

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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a slowly developing non-communicable disease (NCD), causing non-reversible obstruction and leading to marked morbidity and mortality. Besides traditional risk factors such as smoking, some environmental substances can augment the risk of COPD. The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) is a program evaluating citizens' exposure to various environmental substances and their possible health impacts.

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