Environmental Health Perspectives articles from February 2002

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from February 2002

Chronic arsenic poisoning from burning high-arsenic-containing coal in Guizhou, China. (Commentaries).
February 1, 2002... Arsenic is an environmental hazard and the reduction of drinking water arsenic levels is under consideration. People are exposed to arsenic not only through drinking water but also through arsenic-contaminated air and food. Here we report the...

Cancer risk assessment for arsenic exposure through oyster consumption. (Commentaries).
February 1, 2002... Risk is assessed on the basis of assumptions, but this practice might not be well received by the general public. To avoid miscommunication, the assumptions should be stated dearly in reporting the results. Recently, a report on an assessment...

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT): ubiquity, persistence, and risks. (Research Review).
February 1, 2002... Due to uncontrolled use for several decades, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), probably the best known and most useful insecticide in the world, has damaged wildlife and might have negative effects on human health. This review gives a...

Public health consequences of mercury spills: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance system, 1993-1998. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... We analyzed data from states that participated in the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) system maintained by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to describe the public health consequences of mercury...

Protein kinase C activity and the relations between blood lead and neurobehavioral function in lead workers. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... At picomolar concentrations, lead activates protein kinase C (PKC). This activation has been implicated in the neurotoxicity of lead. No prior study has evaluated the association of PKC activity with neurobehavioral function in humans. The...

Effects of pentachlorophenol and tetrachlorohydroquinone on mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways in Jurkat T cells. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... When Jurkat human T cells were incubated with 20 [micro]M of pentachlorophenol (PCP) or its metabolite, tetrachlorohydroquinone (TCHQ), for 10 hr, flow cytometric analyses revealed marked increase in the number of apoptotic cells. DNA...

Nitrous acid, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone concentrations in residential environments. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... Nitrous acid (HONO) may be generated by heterogeneous reactions of nitrogen dioxide and direct emission from combustion sources. Interactions among nitrogen oxides and ozone are important for outdoor photochemical reactions. However, little is...

Effects of exposure to low levels of environmental cadmium on renal biomarkers. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... We conducted a study among residents of a small community contaminated with heavy metals from a defunct zinc smelter and residents from a comparison community to determine whether biologic measures of cadmium exposure were associated with...

3-chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone (MX) and mutagenic activity in Massachusetts drinking water. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... There is limited information on the prevalence of the potent mutagen 3-cbloro-4-(dichloromethyl)5-hydroxy-2(5m)- furanone (MX) in U.S. water supplies. We measured MX concentrations and mutagenic activity in tap water samples from 36 surface...

Association of the blood/air partition coefficient of 1,3-butadiene with blood lipids and albumin. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... Pulmonary gas uptake is a function of the blood solubility of a vapor, indicated by the blood/air partition coefficient. We hypothesized that blood lipid compositions are associated with the blood/air partition coefficients of lipophilic toxic...

A novel endocrine-disrupting agent in corn with mitogenic activity in human breast and prostatic cancer cells. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... Housing adult rats on ground corncob bedding impedes male and female mating behavior and causes acyclicity in females. The suppressive effects on ovarian cyclicity are mimicked by a mitogenic agent purified from the ground corncob bedding...

A competitive ELISA to detect brevetoxins from Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve) in seawater, shellfish, and mammalian body fluid. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... We developed a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to analyze brevetoxins, using goat anti-brevetoxin antibodies obtained after immunization with keyhole limpet hemo-cyanin-brevetoxin conjugates, in combination with a...

Effects of air pollutants on acute stroke mortality. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... The relationship between stroke and air pollution has not been adequately studied. We conducted a time-series study to examine the evidence of an association between air pollutants and stroke over 4 years (January 1995-December 1998) in Seoul,...

Developmental increases in rat hepatic microsomal UDP-glucuronosyltransferase activities toward xenoestrogens and decreases during pregnancy. (Articles).
February 1, 2002... Xenoestrogens, such as bisphenol A and diethylstilbestrol, are glucuronidated by an isoform of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase named UGT2B1 in the livers of adult male rats. In this study, we found that nonylphenol and octylphenol are also...

The challenge of preventing environmentally related disease in young children: community-based research in New York City. (Children's Health Review).
February 1, 2002... Rates of developmental and respiratory diseases are disproportionately high in underserved, minority populations such as those in New York City's Washington Heights, Harlem, and the South Bronx. Blacks and Latinos in these neighborhoods...

Evaluation of urinary porphyrin excretion in neonates born to mothers exposed to airborne hexachlorobenzene.
February 1, 2002... The existence of a link between heKachlorobenzene (HCB) and porphyria cutanea tarda has been known for a long time. However, the epidemiologic data on effects on health caused by prenatal exposure have not provided convincing evidence that HCB...

Do unto the biosphere what you expect others to do; a universal ethos and the carrying capacity of a finite planet; humans should not forget that they are part of a biospheric system upon which they are dependent. Even in a democracy, humans cannot decide which natural laws to obey or ignore. (Perspectives Editorial).
February 1, 2002... A democracy is based on the concept that the impetus for any law originates with the citizens. In the United States, poll after poll has shown that the citizens favor protecting the environment, although the polling results vary with how the...

PCB-induced impairments in older adults: critique of Schantz et al.'s methodology and conclusions. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2002... Shantz (1) provided a valuable scientific service to the field of the developmental neurotoxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by offering insightful criticisms of the methodologies used by Jacobson et al. (2) and others. Schantz and...

PCB-induced impairments in older adults: Schantz et al.'s response. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2002... In his letter critiquing our study of neuropsychologic functioning in older adults exposed to PCBs and DDE (1), Kaufman states that there were some serious flaws in the research design and data analysis. Specifically, he calls into question one...

The melatonin hypothesis: a matter of method. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2002... In their paper in EHP, Graham et al. (1) addressed the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) and light at night (LAN) on hormonal regulation, particularly of melatonin and estradiol. The study provides evidence for the predicted role of...

Examination of the melatonin hypothesis: Graham et al.'s response. (Correspondence).
February 1, 2002... We appreciate Frentzel-Beyme's comments about our study (1). Our focus was to determine if melatonin and estradiol concentrations are altered, as suggested by the melatonin hypothesis (2), in women exposed to magnetic fields (EMF) at night or...

New mining regs, new discontent. (Regulations).
February 1, 2002... Of the 262 million surface acres of land under the care of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), about 85% is potentially available for mining. According to the 1999 National Academy of Sciences report Hardrock Mining on Federal Lands, more than...

Spare the plow, save the soil. (Agriculture).
February 1, 2002... After 8,000 years of use, the plow is getting the shaft as farmers around the world demonstrate that less can be more. By plowing less using no-till farming methods, farmers are getting higher crop yields and using fewer inputs such as water,...

Fake cows kill flies. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... The number of cases of African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, which threatens over 60 million people in 36 countries, has dropped from 10,000 to fewer than 100 in Zimbabwe through the use of artificial "cows." The fake cows use...

Taking the LEED. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... The U.S. Green Building Council, under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, has developed a national standard for rating environmental sustainability in existing or proposed commercial and institutional buildings. The Leadership in...

Feds fund waste fight. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... Hazardous substance research got a boost in November 2001 when the U.S. EPA announced the formation of five university-based centers to conduct basic and applied research and provide technology transfer and community outreach. The centers will...

The price of bottled water. (Food Safety).
February 1, 2002... Over half of Americans drink bottled water, spending 240-10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than they do for tap water, a trend largely fueled by the belief that bottled water is safer and healthier than tap water. Is the cost worth...

A better way to water. (Innovative Technologies).
February 1, 2002... Two years ago, the death of trees at Florida's 2,500-acre Flatford Swamp sparked an investigation by the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which concluded that the trees were drowning. "From March to May, there should be very little...

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. (Forum).
February 1, 2002... Desertification is a global problem. As of 1998 it affected more than 900 million people in 100 countries, a number expected to double by 2025. Twenty-five percent of the earth's land area experiences desertification to some degree, with...

One way to better air. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... In 2000 Bangalore, India's fifth largest city, was estimated to be the third most polluted city in that country. But ambient air quality in parts of Bangalore has significantly improved since some of the city's streets changed to one-way-only...

Learning from Minamata. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... Officials from China's first designated environmental model city, Zhangjiagang, have signed an agreement with the city of Minamata, Japan, to exchange environmental information. Officials in Minamata, the site of Japan's worst outbreak of...

Dropping cigarettes in South Africa. (The Beat).
February 1, 2002... Strict tobacco control measures in South Africa have resulted in eight consecutive years of declining cigarette consumption and a significant drop in the numbers of smokers in all age groups, most notably among 16- to 24-year-olds. Increased...

Environmental links to early deliveries. (NIEHS News).
February 1, 2002... According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly 12% of U.S. babies--more than 460,000 infants--are born prematurely each year, a proportion that has been steadily increasing for about a decade. Research published in the September...

Dust in the wind. (Focus).
February 1, 2002... On a blistering June day in West Africa, standing on the bank of the Senegal River, one might look east and see what appears to be a blood-red curtain billowing the length of the horizon. When the curtain arrives, daylight disappears, and the...

Delitto Perfetto: foreign DNA disappears without a trace. (Innovations).
February 1, 2002... A group of NIEHS scientists has recently perfected a new in vivo gene modification technique that enables researchers to quickly generate site-directed mutations onto specific regions of the yeast genome without leaving behind foreign DNA. The...

N[O.sub.2]--the inside story: by-product may be a problem. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2002... Due to its well-documented adverse health effects, including throat irritation, cough, and difficulty breathing, nitrogen dioxide (N[O.sub.2]) has long been a prime focus of scientific investigations into indoor air pollution. Nitrous acid...

Stroke of inspiration: researchers implicate air pollution. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2002... Strokes, one of the world's leading killers, are caused by more than just sedentary lifestyles and poor diets, says an international team of researchers [EHP 110:187-191]. Air pollutants also play a part. In one of the few detailed studies of...

Nontoxic neonates: babies avoid chemical's effects. (Science Selections).
February 1, 2002... In the late 1950s, porphyria cutanea tarda killed more than 1,000 Turkish babies when they developed a secondary soft tissue infection known as pembe yara. The babies had been exposed to the toxic chemical hexachlorobenzene (HCB) through breast...

NIEHS initiates national Toxicogenomics Research Consortium. (Extramurally Speaking ...).
February 1, 2002... The NIEHS has announced the funding of five academic research centers to establish a major new national extramural program, the Toxicogenomics Research Consortium (TRC), for advancing environmental health sciences research into the frontier of...

Internship opportunities in bioethics. (Fellowships, Grants & Awards).
February 1, 2002... The NIEHS is offering a limited number of internships in environmental policy and ethics. Interns participating in the Program ill Environmental Health Policy and Ethics (PEHPE) examine policy issues and conduct research under the guidance of a...

Social and cultural dimensions of health. (Fellowships, Grants & Awards).
February 1, 2002... Social scientists have made significant strides in shedding light on the basic social and cultural structures and processes that influence health. Social and cultural factors influence health by affecting exposure and vulnerability to disease,...

Development of innovative electronic learning products for worker safety and health training in hazardous waste and chemical emergency response. (Fellowships, Grants & Awards).
February 1, 2002... The NIEHS Worker Education and Training Program (WETP), in considering the development and application of advanced training technology (ATT) to worker safety and health training, has realized that there is a substantial challenge in translating...

Studies of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of human genetic variation research for individuals and diverse racial and ethnic groups. (Fellowships, Grants, & Awards).
February 1, 2002... Although the ultimate goal of studies aimed at relating human genetic variation to disease risk is the improvement of human health, concerns have been raised that the findings of some genetic variation research may be misunderstood and misused....

Cancer Prevention, Control, Behavioral, and Population Sciences Career Development Award. (Fellowships, Grants, & Awards).
February 1, 2002... The purpose of the Cancer Prevention, Control, Behavioral, and Population Sciences Career Development Award is to support the career development of investigators who wish to focus their research endeavors on cancer prevention, control, and...

Calendar.
February 1, 2002... March 3-7 March, Sun-Thu. International Conference on Environmental Threats to the Health of Children: Hazards and Vulnerability. Bangkok, Thailand. Information: N. Osseiran, +4122-791-4848, e-mail: ceh-conference@ who.int, Internet:...

New books.
February 1, 2002... Aeration: Principles and Practice James Mueller Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2002, 200 pp. ISBN: 1-56676-948-5, $119.95 American Metropolitics: A Comparative National Study of Social Separation and Sprawl Myron Orfield Washington,...