Environmental Health Perspectives articles from December 2005

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from December 2005

Inflammatory genomics.(Perspectives / Editorial)
December 1, 2005... As a University of London undergraduate beginning a module on pathology, I remember Professor Frank Fairweather opening his lecture by pointing to a large boil on his forehead as an example of acute inflammation. He then proceeded to describe...

Note from the Editor: good bye and thank you.(Perspectives / Editorial)(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) is like one of the lighthouses that dot the North Carolina coast; the journal acts as a beacon warning people of potential environmental dangers and, at the same time, welcomes people whose goal is to...

Physician-scientists in environmental health.(NIEHS DIRECTOR'S PERSPECTIVE)
December 1, 2005... I believe that the physician-scientist represents an endangered species in biomedical research, and is absolutely essential to achieving our vision for the NIEHS. As a physician-scientist, my thoughts on this topic are somewhat biased and...

Pesticides and neurologic symptoms.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... We read with interest the recent study titled "Neurologic Symptoms in Licensed Private Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study" (Kamel et al. 2005). Although this was a hypothesis-generating study, the authors speculated...

Pesticides and neurologic symptoms: Kamel et al. respond.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... Burns and Goldstein raise several issues regarding our paper (Kamel et al. 2005), in which we reported that applicators chronically exposed to moderate levels of pesticide experience more neurologic symptoms. They assert that our measures of...

Tungsten alloy and cancer in rats: link to childhood leukemia?(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... We read with interest the article by Kalinich et al. (2005) on the generation of rhabdomyosarcomas from "embedded weapons-grade tungsten alloy." Although the study design and the reported findings are of great interest, we are concerned about...

Tungsten alloy and cancer in rats: Kalinich responds.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... We would like to address Schell's comments about our article published in EHP (Kalinich et al. 2005). Schell expresses concern about certain statements we made in our article about embedded tungsten alloy fragments, especially our reference to...

Synthetic musk compounds and effects on human health?(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... A recent article by Luckenbach and Epel (2005) on in vitro observations of inhibitory properties exhibited by certain nitromusk and polycyclic musk fragrance ingredients on mussel cells raised some concerns regarding potential environmental...

Synthetic musk compounds: Luckenbach responds.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... In his letter on our recent article in EHP (Luckenbach and Epel 2005), Salvito raises important questions about effects of the synthetic musk fragrances regarding a) human and environmental health effects, b) environmental concentrations of the...

Benefits and risks of pesticide testing on humans.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... Resnik, David B.^Portier, Christopher In their review of the history of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) response to the question of human testing of pesticides, Resnick and Pottier (2005) argued that the benefits of such...

Pesticide testing on humans: Resnick and Portier respond.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... In their letter, Needleman et al. suggest that our arguments regarding the ethics of human testing of pesticides (Resnik and Portier 2005) are "vague, tendentious, and essentially incorrect." However, they offer no effective sustained arguments...

Infant methemoglobinemia: causative factors.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... That individually and environmentally mediated cofactors function in the development of infant methemoglobinemia (iMHG) is not a new finding. Studies cited by Fewtrell (2004) note these cofactors. In my work on iMHG, using a nested case-control...

Infant methemoglobinemia: Fewtrell responds.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... In her letter, Zeman seems to be objecting to three points relating my article (Fewtrell 2004): that the role of cofactors is not new, that her articles were not cited, and that exposure-response data are available. First, in my article...

Avian influenza and UV-B blocked by biomass smoke.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
December 1, 2005... Washam (2005) described various poultry inoculation strategies being considered for controlling the spread of avian influenza in Southeast Asia and China. Longini et al. (2005) proposed that a future avian influenza A pandemic might be...

Errata.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2005... There was an error in Figure 2 of Zeman et al. [Environ Health Perspect 110:817-822 (2002)]: the y-axis should have been labeled "Nitrite" instead of "Nitrate." The corrected figure appears below. [FIGURE OMITTED] In Giusi et al....

Resurgence of teen inhalant use.(Substance Abuse)
December 1, 2005... The 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey showed that inhalant use ("huffing") is rising among American teenage students, particularly 8th graders. The results, released in December 2004, showed that 9.6% of 8th graders used inhalants in...

Phthalate linked to lupus in mice.(Autoimmune Disease)
December 1, 2005... No one knows to what degree genetics or environmental agents cause lupus, an autoimmune disorder that affects the skin, joints, and internal organs including the kidneys. However, researchers at Indiana State University may have strengthened...

Fly the environmentally friendly skies.(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... In June 2005, the British airline industry unveiled a 15-year initiative to make itself more environmentally friendly. The industry wants to improve its fuel efficiency, reduce perceived external noise, and lower carbon dioxide emissions on new...

A loan for Colombia.(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... In June 2005 the World Bank announced it was granting a $150 million loan to Colombia to help that nation integrate sustainability principles into its environmental programs and policies and meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, including...

Wave power in the works.(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... Just off the northern coast of Portugal is the site of the world's first commercial wave-generated electric plant. The contract was signed in May 2005 for the $9.6 million project, under which three wave energy converters will be built at the...

New human retroviruses.(Infectious Disease)
December 1, 2005... Retroviruses called human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLVs) are found in two types--HTLV-1 and HTLV-2--in people all over the world. Genetic evidence suggests that they crossed into humans from simian T-lymphotropic viruses (STLVs) and that each...

Life lessons.(Ecological Change)
December 1, 2005... "All global environmental change eventually ends up as a human health problem," said Eric Chivian, director of the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, opening the August 2005 First International Conference on Health and...

National Eye Institute. (ehpnet).
December 1, 2005... The National Eye Institute (NEI) is the primary institute of the NIH for supporting and conducting research on preventing, diagnosing, and treating eye diseases and other vision disorders. Currently the NEI oversees approximately 1,600 research...

Baytril gets the boot from bird farms.(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... Amidst calls from doctors and public health advocates, the FDA has banned the use of the antibiotic Baytril in poultry. The FDA is also reviewing requests to ban the use of other drugs given to animals. Although Perdue Farms and other producers...

WHO knows about radon?(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... The WHO has launched the International Radon Project to educate the public about the hazards of this chemically inert, radioactive gas that occurs naturally in soils and rocks around the world. The project will include a database of average...

From carpet to kilowatts.(The Beat)
December 1, 2005... Each year some 4.7 billion pounds of carpet are taken to U.S. dumps, taking up almost 1% of the country's landfill space. Now Shaw Industries, the world's largest carpet maker, has opened a $10 million power plant that is fueled by the 16,000...

Abdiction/addiction connection.(Environews / NIEHS News)
December 1, 2005... Sometimes in science, as in politics, connections arise that may at first glance appear to be strange bedfellows. That might be the natural first impression of a potential association between chemical intolerance and addiction. But although the...

Nurses adapt to changing health care climate.(Beyond the Bench)
December 1, 2005... With increased emphasis being placed on the importance of environmental health comes the need for an expanded variety of environmental health care practitioners. Nursing is one of several professions that are augmenting and advancing the...

Oocyte generation in adult mice.(Headliners / Reproduction)
December 1, 2005... Johnson J, Bagley J, Skaznik-Wikiel M, Lee H-J, Adams GB, Niikura Y, Tschudy KS, Tilly TC, Cortes ML, Forkert R, Spitzer T, Iacomini J, Scadden DT, Tilly JL. 2005. Oocyte generation in adult mammalian ovaries by putative germ cells in bone...

Critical care: applying genomics to inflammation outcomes.(Environews / Focus)
December 1, 2005... What do gunshot wounds, burns, heart attacks, arthritis, asthma, and cancer all share in common? Apart from inflicting misery, these conditions--and others too--involve inflammation, an immune response to injury and infection that normally...

Focusing on vision: through an environmental lens.(Environews / Focus)
December 1, 2005... Our eyes are our window to the world, but for many people the view becomes dim or even darkens entirely due to visual impairment. Although the full impact of the environment on sight is unknown and significant gaps remain in our understanding...

GAO sounds off on chemical regulation.(Environews / Spheres of Influence)
December 1, 2005... Since 1976 the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has given the federal government the power to require that chemicals are properly tested and regulated before they reach the market, and that they don't pose unreasonable risks to human and...

Making succinate more successful.(Environews / Innovations)
December 1, 2005... What does the word "fermentation" bring to mind? Beer? Bread? Ethanol derived from corn and other plant matter? How about succinate? Since 2001, biochemist George Bennett and bioengineer Ka-Yiu San, both professors at Rice University, have been...

Asthma in young children: prenatal DDE exposure may increase risk.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2005... Most countries have banned the agricultural use of the organochlorine insecticide DDT because of the way this persistent, fat-soluble compound accumulates in the food chain. However, DDT is still widely sprayed in developing countries to combat...

Death by particles: the link between air pollution and fatal coronary heart disease in women.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2005... A growing body of evidence links chronic exposure to air pollution--especially particulate matter (PM)--with mortality resulting from a variety of heart, lung, and respiratory diseases. A new study corroborates this association, and indicates...

Liver cancer and aflatoxin: new information from the Kenyan outbreak.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2005... Millions of people are exposed to aflatoxins, toxic compounds produced by Aspergillus molds. These molds infest staple crops such as maize, peanuts, rice, and wheat throughout the world. Outbreaks of aflatoxicosis affecting up to several...

The heavy load of lead: ergonomic stress heightens exposure-related neuropathy.(Environews / Science Selections)
December 1, 2005... Long-term lead exposure among industrial workers can result in neuropathy (a disorder of the peripheral nervous system), while lower exposure levels cause muscle weakness. Until recently, however, the interaction between lead toxicity and...

The tobacco industry and pesticide regulations: case studies from tobacco industry archives.(Commentary)
December 1, 2005... Tobacco is a heavily pesticide-dependent crop. Because pesticides involve human safety and health issues, they are regulated nationally and internationally; however, little is known about how tobacco companies respond to regulatory pressures...

Comparison of the use of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model and a classical pharmacokinetic model for dioxin exposure assessments.(Commentary)
December 1, 2005... In epidemiologic studies, exposure assessments of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) assume a fixed elimination rate. Recent data suggest a dose-dependent elimination rate for TCDD. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model,...

A critical review of biomarkers used for monitoring human exposure to lead: advantages, limitations, and future needs.
December 1, 2005... Lead concentration in whole blood (BPb) is the primary biomarker used to monitor exposure to this metallic element. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization define a BPb of 10 [micro]g/dL (0.48...

Evidence of detrimental effects of environmental contaminants on growth and reproductive physiology of white sturgeon in impounded areas of the Columbia River.(Research)
December 1, 2005... This study sought to determine whether wild white sturgeon from the Columbia River (Oregon) were exhibiting signs of reproductive endocrine disruption. Fish were sampled in the free-flowing portion of the river (where the population is...

Folate, homocysteine, and arsenic metabolism in arsenic-exposed individuals in Bangladesh.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Chronic exposure to arsenic is occurring throughout South and East Asia due to groundwater contamination of well water. Variability in susceptibility to arsenic toxicity may be related to nutritional status. Arsenic is methylated to...

Body burdens of polybrominated diphenyl ethers among urban anglers.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been widely used in the United States and worldwide as flame retardants. Recent PBDE production figures show that worldwide use has increased. To determine whether fish consumption is a source of PBDE...

Effects of particle size fractions on reducing heart rate variability in cardiac and hypertensive patients.(Research)
December 1, 2005... It is still unknown whether the associations between particulate matter (PM) and heart rate variability (HRV) differ by particle sizes with aerodynamic diameters between 0.3 [micro]m and 1.0 [micro]m ([PM.sub.0.3-1.0]), between 1.0 [micro]m and...

Leukotoxin diols from ground corncob bedding disrupt estrous cyclicity in rats and stimulate MCF-7 breast cancer cell proliferation.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Previous studies in our laboratory demonstrated that high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of ground corncob bedding extracts characterized two components (peak I and peak II) that disrupted endocrine function in male and...

Household disposal of pharmaceuticals as a pathway for aquatic contamination in the United Kingdom.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Pharmaceuticals are produced and used in increasingly large volumes every year. With this growth comes concern about the fate and effects of these compounds in the environment. The discovery of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment has...

Influence of geographic location in modeling blood pesticide levels in a community surrounding a U.S. environmental protection agency superfund site.(Research)
December 1, 2005... In this study we evaluated residential location as a potential determinant for exposure to organochiorine compounds. We investigated the geographic distribution characteristics of organochlorine levels in approximately 1,374 blood samples...

Acute ozone-induced differential gene expression profiles in rat lung.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Ozone is an oxidant gas that can directly induce lung injury. Knowledge of the initial molecular events of the acute [O.sub.3] response would be useful in developing biomarkers of exposure or response. Toward this goal, we exposed rats to toxic...

The association between fatal coronary heart disease and ambient particulate air pollution: are females at greater risk?(Research)
December 1, 2005... The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of long-term ambient particulate matter (PM) on risk of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD). A cohort of 3,239 nonsmoking, non-Hispanic white adults was followed for 22 years. Monthly...

Effect of lead exposure and ergonomic stressors on peripheral nerve function.(Research)
December 1, 2005... In this study we investigated the effect of recent and chronic lead exposure, and its interaction with ergonomic stressors, on peripheral nerve function. In a cross-sectional design, we used retrospective exposure data on 74 primary lead...

Evaluation of exposure to arsenic in residential soil.(Research)
December 1, 2005... In response to concerns regarding arsenic in soil from a pesticide manufacturing plant, we conducted a biomonitoring study on children younger than 7 years of age, the age category of children most exposed to soil. Urine samples from 77...

Associations between health effects and particulate matter and black carbon in subjects with respiratory disease.(Research)
December 1, 2005... We measured fractional exhaled nitric oxide ([FE.sub.NO]), spirometry, blood pressure, oxygen saturation of the blood (Sa[O.sub.2]), and pulse rate in 16 older subjects with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Seattle,...

Discrimination of vanadium from zinc using gene profiling in human bronchial epithelial cells.(Research)
December 1, 2005... We hypothesized that gene expression profiling may discriminate vanadium from zinc in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs). RNA from HBECs exposed to vehicle, V (50 [micro]M), or Zn (50 [micro]M) for 4 hr (n = 4 paired experiments) was...

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-independent toxicity of weathered crude oil during fish development.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), derived largely from fossil fuels and their combustion, are pervasive contaminants in rivers, lakes, and nearshore marine habitats. Studies after the Exxon Valdez oil spill demonstrated that fish embryos...

Aflatoxin contamination of commercial maize products during an outbreak of acute aflatoxicosis in eastern and central Kenya.(Research)
December 1, 2005... In April 2004, one of the largest aflaroxicosis outbreaks occurred in rural Kenya, resulting in 317 cases and 125 deaths. Aflatoxin-contaminated homegrown maize was the source of the outbreak, but the extent of regional contamination and status...

Workgroup report: workshop on source apportionment of particulate matter health effects--intercomparison of results and implications.(Research)
December 1, 2005... Although the association between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 [micro]m ([PM.sub.2.5]) and human mortality is well established, the most responsible particle types/sources are not yet certain. In...

Acute effects of a fungal volatile compound.(Research / Environmental Medicine)
December 1, 2005... OBJECTIVE: 3-Methylfuran (3-MF) is a common fungal volatile product with active biologic properties, and previous studies have indicated a contribution to airway disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the acute health effects of...

Case-control study of an acute aflatoxicosis outbreak, Kenya, 2004.(Research / Environmental Medicine)
December 1, 2005... OBJECTIVES: During January-June 2004, an aflatoxicosis outbreak in eastern Kenya resulted in 317 cases and 125 deaths. We conducted a case-control study to identify risk factors for contamination of implicated maize and, for the first time,...

Case report: the clinical toxicity of dimethylamine borane.(Research / Environmental Medicine)
December 1, 2005... CONTEXT: Dimethylamine borane (DMAB) is a reducing agent used in nonelectric plating of semiconductors. Exposures are usually through occupational contact. We report here four cases of people who suffered from work-related exposure to DMAB. ...

Prenatal dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and asthma in children.(Research / Children's Health)
December 1, 2005... Prevalence of asthma increases with increasing dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) levels. However, the effect of early-life exposure, the fundamental window of exposure, is unknown. We assessed the association between prenatal DDE and other...

Exhaled nitric oxide in children with asthma and short-term [PM.sub.2.5] exposure in Seattle.(Research / Children's Health)
December 1, 2005... The objective of this study was to evaluate associations between short-term (hourly) exposures to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 [micro]m ([PM.sub.2.5]) and the fractional concentration of nitric oxide in exhaled breath...

Association of housing disrepair indicators with cockroach and rodent infestations in a cohort of pregnant Latina women and their children.(Research / Children's Health)
December 1, 2005... Health burdens associated with poor homing and indoor pest infestations are likely to affect young children in particular, who spend most of their time indoors at home. We completed environmental assessments in 644 homes of pregnant Latina...

Organophosphate urinary metabolite levels during pregnancy and after delivery in women living in an agricultural community.(Research / Children's Health)
December 1, 2005... Little information has been published about pesticide exposures experienced by pregnant women. We measured six dialkyl phosphate (DAP) urinary metabolites of organophosphate (OP) pesticides in 600 pregnant, low-income women living in the...

Late pregnancy exposures to disinfection by-products and growth-related birth outcomes.(Research / Children's Health)
December 1, 2005... Toxicologic studies have demonstrated associations between growth-related birth outcomes and exposure to high concentrations of disinfection by-products (DBPs), including specific trihalomethane (THM) and haloacetic acid (HAA) chemical...

Evolving partnerships in community.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
December 1, 2005... In recent years there have been a significant number of publications on the benefits and challenges of community-based participatory research (CBPR). In this introduction we give an overview of three projects presented in this mini-monograph...

Social and physical environments and disparities in risk for cardiovascular disease: the healthy environments partnership conceptual model.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
December 1, 2005... The Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP) is a community-based participatory research effort investigating variations in cardiovascular disease risk, and the contributions of social and physical environments to those variations, among...

Health disparities and toxicant exposure of Akwesasne Mohawk young adults: a partnership approach to research.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
December 1, 2005... In this article we describe a research partnership between the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation and scientists at the University at Albany, State University of New York, initiated to address community and scientific concerns regarding environmental...

Exploration of work and health disparities among black women employed in poultry processing in the rural south.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
December 1, 2005... We describe an ongoing collaboration that developed as academic investigators responded to a specific request from community members to document health effects on black women of employment in poultry-processing plants in rural North Carolina....

Environmental influences on epigenetic regulation.(Announcements / NIEHS Extramural Update)
December 1, 2005... Epigenetics refers to the study of gene silencing and non-Mendelian inheritance of traits. By controlling the expression of key genes and associated pathways, epigenetics provides an elegant mechanism for time and tissue-specific expression of...

Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
December 1, 2005... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, and its interagency partners, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautic and Space...

Implications of tropospheric air pollution for surface UV exposures.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
December 1, 2005... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research to better understand the effect of tropospheric pollution (ozone and particulate matter) on...

Interdisciplinary partnerships in environmental health sciences.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
December 1, 2005... The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to promote research that will ultimately reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes. The research supported by the NIEHS...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
December 1, 2005... December 13-16 December, Tue-Fri. Indian Aerosol Science and Technology Association. Mumbai, India. Information: H.S. Kushaha, Convenor, AAC-2005, Director, Health, Safety and Environment Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai--400...

The Environmental Science of Drinking Water.
December 1, 2005... The Environmental Science of Drinking Water By Patrick J. Sullivan, Franklin J. Agardy, and James. J.J. Clark Burlington, MA:Elsevier, 2005. 368 pp. ISBN: 0-7506-7876-3, $59.95 cloth Our ever-increasing knowledge of the subtle impacts...

New books.(Announcements)
December 1, 2005... Advances in Air Pollution Modeling for Environmental Security: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop Istvan Farago, Krassimir Georgiev, Agnes Havasi, eds. New York:Springer-Verlago 2005.406 pp. ISBN: 1-4020-3350-8....