Environmental Health Perspectives articles from December 2004

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from December 2004

The legacy of conflicts.(Guest Editorial)
December 1, 2004... The pictures during wars and conflicts usually bring to our living rooms the misery of human suffering. When conflicts are over, the news usually concentrates on reconstruction issues. However, the legacy of conflicts might also include...

Mercury levels in mothers.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2004... I read with great interest the excellent article by Mahaffey et al. (2004), which further describes the characteristics of the 1,709 women from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2000 who were sampled for total...

U.S. PBDE levels: effects in mice.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2004... I am pleased to submit this letter as a representative of the American Chemistry Council Brominated Flame Retardants Industry Panel (BFRIP). The BFRIP is composed of producers of brominated flame retardants; member companies include Albemarle...

PBDEs: Sjodin's response.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2004... I appreciate Cleet's response to our paper concerning time trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and related compounds in the U.S. population (Sjodin et al. 2004), and I appreciate the opportunity to address his comments. ...

The human population: accepting earth's limitations.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2004... I thank Fowler and Hobbs for their letter (2004) and their research (2003). The view that a complexity of factors impacts human population growth certainly makes sense, and they have correctly pointed out that scientifically organized efforts...

Conflicts of interests: declarations for all.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2004... Concerning your editorial, "Embracing Scrutiny," in the October issue of EHP [Environ Health Perspect 112:A788 (2004)], the need for full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest by all coauthors contributing to a publication in EHP is...

Corrections.(Perspectives / Correspondence)(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2004... In the letter by Storm and Mazor [Environ Health Perspect 112:A862-A864 (2004)], the title of Table 1 was incorrect; also, P1 and P2 were not exposed but were unexposed children tested in another study. The corrected table is presented below....

NAFTA worries in Juarez.(Trade/Commerce)
December 1, 2004... In June 2004, Mexico's government enacted a law requiring industrial facilities to measure, record, and report emissions of 104 chemicals that formerly were subject only to voluntary reporting. Mexico now joins the United States and Canada in...

Dodging the bullet.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... Studies in the late 1990s showed that lead bullets were contaminating soil and groundwater near shooting ranges. Alternative "green" bullets made of tungsten were developed and first distributed to select Army facilities in 1999. Now...

The worm turns in Cambodia.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... Cambodia has successfully treated 75% of its nearly 3 million school-aged children against intestinal worms six years ahead of a World Health Organization goal for global parasite control. Cambodia is the first country to reach this...

Wave of fish advisories.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... New figures released by the U.S. EPA show that 35% of lake acreage in the United States and 24% of river miles contain enough pollution to warrant consumption advisories for fish caught in those waters. The advisories cover some 40 different...

Flu, fetuses, and schizophrenia.(Children's Health)
December 1, 2004... Pregnant women who contract the flu may increase the risk that their child will develop schizophrenia later in life, according to a recent addition to a growing body of research along these lines. The study, published in the August 2004...

A better model for PD.(Neurology)
December 1, 2004... The ubiquitin-proteasome system mediates protein recycling by tagging abnormal or unwanted proteins within cells with the small protein ubiquitin. Enzymes called proteasomes then dismantle the tagged proteins. Malfunctioning of this system is...

POV's Borders: Environment.(ehp net)
December 1, 2004... The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has long been known for the quality of its programming, which runs the gamut from children's shows to revealing documentaries. Now PBS is taking its talents to the Internet with an award-winning series,...

Malawi bans methyl bromide.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... Although the Montreal Protocol stipulates that methyl bromide need not be banned in developing countries until 2015, protocol party Malawi is working to phase out use of the ozone-depleting pesticide by the end of 2004. Imports of the pesticide...

Plutonium accumulating in Japanese Bay.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... Fifty years ago, the United States performed tests of nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands, an island group almost halfway between Hawaii and Tokyo. Now radioactive plutonium particles that match the fallout from those blasts have been found...

Protecting peanuts from aflatoxins.(The Beat)
December 1, 2004... The U.S. Agricultural Research Service has received EPA approval for the first biological pesticide to protect peanut crops against toxic Aspergillus mold strains that produce aflatoxins. Consumption of grains and nuts contaminated with...

Ethics in environmental health.(Environews / NIEHS News)
December 1, 2004... When it comes to the ethics of health research, "there's been a presumption that ethicists and ethics committees will be in charge and solve ethical problems," says Ann Cook, director of the National Rural Bioethics Project at the University of...

Symposium explores children's environments.(Environews / NIEHS News)
December 1, 2004... "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." Quoting naturalist John Muir, Michael Fischer, an environmental consultant formerly of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, introduced the...

Schwartz named new NIEHS/NTP director.(Environews / NIEHS News)
December 1, 2004... On 25 October 2004 NIH director Elias Zerhouni announced the appointment of David Schwartz as the new director of the NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program. Schwartz, who will assume his new duties on 4 April 2005, is currently director of...

Air pollution impairs lung development in children.(Headliners / Respiratory Health)
December 1, 2004... Gauderman WJ, Avol E, Gilliland F, Vora H, Thomas D, Berhane K, McConnell R, Kuenzli N, Lurmann F, Rappaport E, Margolis H, Bates D, Peters J. 2004. The effect of air pollution on lung development from 10 to 18 years of age. N Engl J Med...

Help instead of hype.(beyond the BENCH)
December 1, 2004... Breast cancer strikes 1 in 7 American women, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States. Although certain genetic factors can play a part in the etiology of the disease, scientists are studying other important...

Battle scars: global conflicts and environmental health.(Environews / Focus)
December 1, 2004... War is as old as humanity, but the study of its environmental health effects is just beginning. Age-old problems still follow war--lack of food, shelter, water, and sanitation, risk of infectious diseases, and psychological trauma. But war...

The price of preparing for war.(Environews / Focus)
December 1, 2004... Located a few miles from Anchorage, Alaska's Eagle River Flats is a coastal saltwater marsh teeming with fish, wildlife--and unexploded mortar and artillery shells. The marsh lies on the Department of Defense's (DOD) 62,000-acre training...

Is environmental health a basic human right?(Environews / Spheres of Influence)
December 1, 2004... Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified by United Nations (UN) member countries in 1948, the principle of basic human rights has gained global acceptance. In recent years, proponents of environmental justice have extended...

Swimmer's lung? Indoor pools and respiratory effects.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2004... Bronchiolar epithelium cells known as Clara cells are thought to help defend airways against damage; Clara cell protein (CC16) is a lung-specific protein thought to protect the respiratory tract from inflammation. Studies have shown a positive...

Roe, interrupted: estrogen exposure impairs fish fertility.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2004... Major research efforts have shown that endocrine disruptors--environmental chemicals that can interfere with the endocrine system-may affect reproduction of wildlife and even humans. Studies in fish, for example, have shown that endocrine...

POPs in Polar Bears: organochlorines affect bone density.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2004... Both organochlorine chemicals--including a series of solvents and pesticides that have been banned in many parts of the world--and their metabolites have been linked to bone loss in a variety of species. Now, Christian Sonne of the Danish...

Environmental health disparities: a framework integrating psychosocial and environmental concepts.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Although it is often acknowledged that social and environmental factors interact to produce racial and ethnic environmental health disparities, it is still unclear how this occurs. Despite continued controversy, the environmental justice...

Sex and ceruloplasmin modulate the response to copper exposure in healthy individuals.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Previous studies indicated that sex might influence the response to copper exposure. Ceruloplasmin (Cp) is an indicator of Cu status, but it is not dear whether and how it reflects changes of Cu status among healthy individuals. In this study,...

Synergistic embryotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists with cytochrome p4501a inhibitors in fundulus heteroclitus.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Widespread contamination of aquatic systems with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has led to concern about effects of PAHs on aquatic life. Some PAHs have been shown to cause deformities in early life stages of fish that resemble those...

The relationship of urinary metabolites of carbaryl/naphthalene and chlorpyrifos with human semen quality.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Most of the general population is exposed to carbaryl and other contemporary-use insecticides at low levels. Studies of laboratory animals, in addition to limited human data, show an association between carbaryl exposure and decreased semen...

Effects of loud noise exposure on DNA integrity in rat adrenal gland.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Loud noise is generally considered an environmental stressor causing negative effects on acoustic, cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems. In this study, we investigated the effects of noise exposure on DNA integrity in rat adrenal...

Prospective study of blood and tibia lead in women undergoing surgical menopause.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Despite the dramatic decline in environmental lead exposure in the United States during the past couple of decades, concern has been expressed regarding mobilization during menopause of existing lead stored in bone. To investigate whether bone...

The sources of inflammatory mediators in the lung after silica exposure.(Research)
December 1, 2004... The expression of 10 genes implicated in regulation of the inflammatory processes in the lung was studied after exposure of alveolar macrophages (AMs) to silica in vitro or in vivo. Exposure of Ams to silica in vitro up-regulated the messenger...

Estimating the independent effects of multiple pollutants in the presence of measurement error: an application of a measurement-error-resistant technique.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Misclassification of exposure usually leads to biased estimates of exposure-response associations. This is particularly an issue in cases with multiple correlated exposures, where the direction of bias is uncertain. It is necessary to address...

Epidemiologic evaluation of measurement data in the presence of detection limits.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Quantitative measurements of environmental factors greatly improve the quality of epidemiologic studies but can pose challenges because of the presence of upper or lower detection limits or interfering compounds, which do not allow for precise...

Use of pharmacokinetic modeling to design studies for pathway-specific exposure model evaluation.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Validating an exposure pathway model is difficult because the biomarker, which is often used to evaluate the model prediction, is an integrated measure for exposures from all the exposure routes and pathways. The purpose of this article is to...

Association of chromosomal alterations with arsenite-induced tumorigenicity of human HaCaT keratinocytes in nude mice.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Inorganic arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen. Chronic low-dose exposure to inorganic arsenic is associated with an increased incidence of a variety of cancers, induding skin, lung, bladder, and liver cancer. Because genetic...

Is bone mineral composition disrupted by organochlorines in East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus)?(Research)
December 1, 2004... We analyzed bone mineral density (BMD) in skulls of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) (n = 139) from East Greenland sampled during 1892-2002. Our primary goal was to detect possible changes in bone mineral content (osteopenia) due to elevated...

GIS modeling of air toxics releases from TRI-reporting and non-TRI-reporting facilities: impacts for environmental justice.(Research)
December 1, 2004... The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) requires facilities with 10 or more fall-time employees that process > 25,000 pounds in aggregate or use > 10,000 pounds of any one TRI chemical to report releases annually. However, little is known about...

Long-term exposure to environmental concentrations of the pharmaceutical ethynylestradiol causes reproductive failure in fish.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Heightened concern over endocrine-disrupting chemicals is driven by the hypothesis that they could reduce reproductive success and affect wildlife populations, but there is little evidence for this expectation. The pharmaceutical...

Temporal variability of urinary phthalate metabolite levels in men of reproductive age.(Research)
December 1, 2004... Phthalates are a family of multifunctional chemicals widely used in personal care and other consumer products. The ubiquitous use of phthalates results in human exposure through multiple sources and routes, including dietary ingestion, dermal...

Epidemiology of health effects of radiofrequency exposure.(Environmental Medicine)
December 1, 2004... We have undertaken a comprehensive review of epidemiologic studies about the effects of radiofrequency fields (RFs) on human health in order to summarize the current state of knowledge, explain the methodologic issues that are involved, and aid...

Incorporating environmental health into pediatric medical and nursing education.(Children's Health / Commentary)
December 1, 2004... Pediatric medical and nursing education currently lacks the environmental health content necessary to appropriately prepare pediatric health care professionals to prevent, recognize, manage, and treat environmental-exposure-related disease....

Prenatal DDT exposure in relation to anthropometric and pubertal measures in adolescent males.(Children's Health)
December 1, 2004... DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), a pesticide once used widely in agriculture and now limited to public health use, remains a controversial chemical because of a combination of benefits and risks. DDT or its breakdown products are...

Pulmonary epithelial integrity in children: relationship to ambient ozone exposure and swimming pool attendance.(Children's Health)
December 1, 2004... Airway irritants such as ozone are known to impair lung function and induce airway inflammation. Clara cell protein (CC16) is a small anti-inflammatory protein secreted by the nonciliated bronchiolar Clara cells. CC16 in serum has been proposed...

The effects of the World Trade Center event on birth outcomes among term deliveries at three lower Manhattan Hospitals.(Children's Health)
December 1, 2004... The effects of prenatal exposure to pollutants from the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on fetal growth and subsequent health and development of exposed children remain a source of concern. We assessed the impact of gestational timing of the...

Anne Spuches receives 2004 Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award.(Announcements / NIEHS Extramural Update)
December 1, 2004... The Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP) is pleased to announce that Anne Spuches of Dartmouth College is the recipient of the seventh annual Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award. The award was presented to Spuches on 4 November 2004 at the SBRP...

NIGMS National Centers for Systems Biology.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
December 1, 2004... The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) currently supports the analysis of complex biological systems through investigator-initiated research project grants. The resources needed to conduct the multifaceted, multidisciplinary...

Environmental and human health effects of manufactured nanomaterials.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
December 1, 2004... The purpose of this collaborative research program is to strengthen support by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of research...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... January 24-26 January, Mon-Wed. EUEC 2005: Conference on Air Quality, Global Climate Change, & Renewable Energy. Tucson, Arizona. Information: Electric Utilities Environmental Conference, PO Box 66076, Tucson, AZ 85718 USA, 520-615-3535,...

The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future.
December 1, 2004... The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future By Elizabeth C. Economy Ithaca, NY:Cornell University Press, 2004. 337 pp. ISBN: 0-8014-4220-6. $29.95 cloth. In The River Runs Black, Elizabeth C. Economy strikes a fine...

New books.(Announcements)
December 1, 2004... Academia to Biotechnology: Career Changes at any Stage Jeffrey Gimble Burlington, MA:Elsevier, 2004. 186 pp. ISBN: 0-12-284151-4, $34.95 Cancers in the Urban Environment Thomas Mack Burlington, MA:Academic Press,...