This population-based retrospective cohort study examined adult performance on a battery of neuropsychological tests in relation to prenatal and early postnatal exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE)-contaminated drinking water on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Subjects were identified through birth records from 1969 through 1983. Exposure was modeled using pipe network information from town water departments, a PCE leaching and transport algorithm, EPANet water flow modeling software, and a Geographic Information System (GIS). Results of crude and multivariate analyses among 35 exposed and 28 unexposed subjects showed no association between prenatal and early postnatal exposure and decrements on tests that assess abilities in the domains of omnibus intelligence, academic achievement or language. The results were suggestive of an association between prenatal and early postnatal PCE exposure and diminished performance on tests that assessed abilities in the domains of visuospatial functioning, learning and memory, motor, attention and mood. Because the sample size was small, most findings were not statistically significant. Future studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted to further define the neuropsychological consequences of early developmental PCE exposure.

Acetaminophen is the recommended drug for pain and fever reduction during pregnancy. A recent Danish National Birth Cohort study showed that children born to mothers who used acetaminophen during pregnancy had an increased risk for hyperkinetic disorders and ADHD-like behaviors 1 . We aimed to investigate whether children with prenatal exposure to acetaminophen perform worse on a maternal self-reported questionnaire of neurodevelopment. Participants were recruited from MotherToBaby California, a prospective open-cohort, and categorized into exposed to acetaminophen (N = 59) and unexposed to acetaminophen (N = 87). Maternal self-reports of neurodevelopment were collected when the child was between 12-16 months of age and 24-28 months of age with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). 48 children were evaluated at both time points. The ASQ assesses five domains of function (i.e. Communication, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Problem Solving and Personal Social Skills). Only children with no exposure to known or suspected CNS teratogens were used for this analysis. Linear regression was used to examine data from the ASQ using the software package SAS version 9.2. No statistically significant associations were observed between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and ASQ scores in any of the five domains at 12-16 months of age or at 24-28 months of age, after adjusting for age and sex. More research is needed to determine the impact of acetaminophen in pregnancy on child neurodevelopment. We are now examining the effects of dose, duration, and stage.

Cerebrospinal fluid contains several proteolytic enzymes that can degrade myelin basic protein (BP) under physiological conditions into peptide fragments of various sizes which still contain antigenic determinants capable of binding antibodies to BP. These enzymes are optimally active in either acid (pH 4) or neutral (pH 7 to 8) conditions and can be characterized by the nature of the BP peptide fragments produced. Proteinases resembling cathepsin D, thrombin, plasmin (fibrinolysin), or kallikrein are present in variable amounts in CSF. No relationship to any particular disease has yet been established.

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