Are Child Visual-Spatial Abilities Related to Prenatal Phthalate, Triclosan, or Bisphenol A Exposures?
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Introduction: During prenatal development, gonadal hormones can influence sexually dimorphic behaviors, like visual-spatial abilities during childhood. Thus, chemicals that affect gonadal hormones during gestation may affect these behaviors. We investigated the relationship of prenatal phthalate, triclosan, and BPA exposures with visualspatial abilities in 198 children. Methods: Data were from a prospective birth cohort in Cincinnati, OH. We quantified nine phthalate metabolites, BPA, and triclosan in maternal urine collected at 16 and 26 weeks gestation. We assessed children’s visual-spatial abilities at 8 years of age using the Virtual Morris Water Maze (VMWM), a computerized version of a rodent visualspatial test. We estimated the covariate-adjusted change in the time and distance to complete the VMWM with an interquartile range (IQR) increase in chemical concentrations using linear mixed models. Results: Boys completed the VMWM faster (-4.1 seconds; 95% CI:-7.1, -1.2) and in less distance (-1.4 units; 95% CI:-2.8, 0) than girls. Mono-n-butyl (MnBP), mono-benzyl (MBzP), and mono-carboxypropyl phthalate concentrations were associated with reduced distance and time to complete the VMWM. For example, MBzP levels were associated with completing the VMWM 1.4 seconds faster (95% CI:-3.3, 0.5) and in 1.1 less distance units (95% CI:-2.0, -0.2). Child sex modified the association between MnBP and VMWM performance (interaction p-values<0.05) where MnBP levels were associated with longer time (3.5 seconds; 95% CI:-1.6, 8.7) and shorter distance (-3.6 units; 95% CI:-1.1, -6.1) in girls. In boys, MnBP concentrations were associated with shorter time (-6.2 seconds; 95% CI:-12, -0.6), but not distance (-0.3 units; 95% CI:-2.8, 2.2). Other phthalates, triclosan, and BPA were not associated with VMWM performance and sex did not modify these associations. Conclusions: In this cohort, prenatal urinary concentrations of some phthalates were associated with improved VMWM performance.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".