Environmental Health Perspectives articles from January 2002

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from January 2002

Where the boys aren't: dioxin and the sex ratio. (Commentaries).
January 1, 2002... The question of how exposure to dioxins might affect only males and why it affects preferentially male embryos in the Seveso data presented by Mocarelli et al. remains intriguing. This enigma can be explained by the ovopathy concept, which...

Starlink corn: a risk analysis. (Commentaries).
January 1, 2002... Modern biotechnology has dramatically increased our ability to alter the agronomic traits of plants. Among the novel traits that biotechnology has made available, an important group includes Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-derived insect...

Dioxins and endometriosis: a plausible hypothesis. (Research Review).
January 1, 2002... A potential connection exists between exposure to organochlorine chemicals and the increasing prevalence of endometriosis. Evidence shows that dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) can increase the incidence and severity of the disease...

Exposure assessment to dioxins from the use of tampons and diapers. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... Over the past several years there has been concern over exposure to dioxins through the use of tampons and other sanitary products. This article describes attempts to estimate dioxin exposures from tampons and infant diapers; we then compare...

Prediction of estrogen receptor binding for 58,000 chemicals using an integrated system of a tree-based model with structural alerts. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... A number of environmental chemicals, by mimicking natural hormones, can disrupt endocrine function in experimental animals, wildlife, and humans. These chemicals, called "endocrine-disrupting chemicals" (EDCs), are such a scientific and public...

Attenuation of both apoptotic and necrotic actions of cadmium by Bcl-2. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... We examined the effects of cadmium on the bcl-2 family of proteins--bcl-2, bax, bad, and bcl-xS/L--in cadmium-induced cytotoxicity. Addition of 10 [micro]M cadmium to cultured porcine kidney LLC-P[K.sub.1] cells caused apoptosis. Western blot...

Air conditioning and source-specific particles as modifiers of the effect of P[M.sub.10] on hospital admissions for heart and lung disease. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... Studies on acute effects of particulate matter (PM) air pollution show significant variability in exposure--effect relations among cities. Recent studies have shown an influence of ventilation on personal/indoor-outdoor relations and stronger...

Implanted depleted uranium fragments cause soft tissue sarcomas in the muscles of rats. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... In this study, we determined the carcinogenicity of depleted uranium (DU) metal fragments containing 0.75% titanium in muscle tissues of rats. The results have important implications for the medical management of Gulf War veterans who were...

Air pollution and daily mortality: a hypothesis concerning the role of impaired homeostasis. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... We propose a hypothesis to explain the association between daily fluctuations in ambient air pollution, especially airborne particles, and death rates that can be tested in an experimental model. The association between airborne particulates...

A tale of two cities: effects of air pollution on hospital admissions in Hong Kong and London compared. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... The causal interpretation of reported associations between daily air pollution and daily admissions requires consideration of residual confounding, correlation between pollutants, and effect modification. If results obtained in Hong Kong and...

The effect of ozone exposure on the ability of human surfactant protein A variants to stimulate cytokine production. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... Ozone exposure can cause inflammation and impaired lung function. Human surfactant protein A (SP-A) may play a role in inflammation by modulating cytokine production by macrophages. SP-A is encoded by two genes, SP-A1 and SP-A2, and several...

A consistent approach for the application of pharmacokinetic modeling in cancer and noncancer risk assessment. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... Physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling provides important capabilities for improving the reliability of the extrapolations across dose, species, and exposure route that are generally required in chemical risk assessment regardless of...

The characterization of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation in inactivating airborne microorganisms. (Articles).
January 1, 2002... In this study, we explored the efficacy of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) in reducing the concentration of Serratia marcescens and Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) aerosols in an enclosed space. We...

The effect of interior lead hazard controls on children's blood lead concentrations: a systematic evaluation. (Children's Health Articles).
January 1, 2002... Dust control is often recommended to prevent children's exposure to residential lead hazards, but the effect of these controls on children's blood lead concentrations is uncertain. We conducted a systematic review of randomized, controlled...

Birth weight and exposure to kitchen wood smoke during pregnancy in Rural Guatemala. (Children's Health Articles).
January 1, 2002... In this study, we aimed to establish whether domestic use of wood fuel is associated with reduced birth weight, independent of key maternal, social, and economic confounding factors. We studied 1,717 women and newborn children in rural and...

Blood lead concentration after a shotgun accident. (Grand Rounds in Environmental Medicine).
January 1, 2002... In an accidental shooting, a man in his late forties was hit in his left shoulder region by about 60 lead pellets from a shotgun. He had injuries to the vessels, the clavicle, muscles, and nerves, with total paralysis of the left arm due to...

The National Center for Toxicogenomics: using new technologies to inform mechanistic toxicology. (Editorial).
January 1, 2002... The science of toxicology has evolved from the empirical codification of dose-related effects to studies directed toward understanding the mechanisms by which individual agents cause their effects in humans. Due to technical limitations, this...

Detection of excess arsenic-related cancer risks. (Correspondence).
January 1, 2002... Morales et al. (1) reanalyzed data from a study in an arseniasis-endemic area of Taiwan (2-5). Cancer risks for low-level waterborne arsenic exposures were estimated using a variety of statistical models with and without a comparison...

Carcinogenicity of trichloroethylene. (Correspondence).
January 1, 2002... The possible carcinogenicity of trichloroethylene (TCE) remains a controversy. Over the past year the National Toxicology Program's Tenth Report on Carcinogens (1) reaffirmed the classification of TCE as "reasonably anticipated to be a human...

N-Acetyltransferase 2 polymorphism in patients with Spanish toxic oil syndrome. (Correspondence).
January 1, 2002... Ladona et al. (1) reported on the possible relationship between several genetic polymorphisms that regulate enzymatic activities involved in the processing of multiple xenobiotics and the risk of Spanish toxic oil syndrome (TOS). TOS, a disease...

Use of reporter genes and vertebrate DNA motifs in transgenic zebrafish as sentinels for assessing aquatic pollution. (Correspondence).
January 1, 2002... In a recent paper in EHP, Mattingly and co-workers (1) showed that dioxin-treated transgenic zebrafish [having 1,905 bp of 5' flanking region of the human CYP1A1 gene, driving the jelly fish green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene]...

Clarification.
January 1, 2002... In the December 2001 Forum article "Old Pesticides Pose New Problems for Developing World" [EHP 109:A578-A579], the partnership behind the Africa Stockpiles Project was not clearly defined. The Africa Stockpiles Project is an initiative of the...

New cell growth. (Innovative Technologies).
January 1, 2002... Nearly 90% of electricity-generating solar panels sold today are based on the original practical solar cell technology of the 1970s, which employs crystalline silicon. But these cells are expensive to fashion. Other, newer technologies may...

A disservice to the environment? (Energy).
January 1, 2002... Internet server "farms" fuel the high-tech industry by housing computer servers and networking equipment for businesses, both on- and offline, that require massive data processing. Server farms are measured in square feet; the total square...

A change in the air. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... The American Wind Energy Association and the European Wind Energy Association announced in May 2001 that the addition of new wind energy capacity in 1999 and 2000 outpaced that of added nuclear energy capacity. During those two years, 7,400...

A swish for the swoosh. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... Nike has signed a Climate Savers memorandum of understanding with the World Wildlife Fund and the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its company-owned operations and subcontracted manufacturing and...

Scrap exchange. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... A new process that makes a petroleum-like product from biological materials such as fishery wastes, yard clippings, fryer fat, and animal wastes could eliminate the environmental impact of petroleum exploration and production. The patented...

The economics of ethanol. (Alternative Fuels).
January 1, 2002... The conversion of corn into ethanol to produce gasohol (a gasoline-ethanol mixture) is touted by some scientists as an economical and environmentally cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. However, ethanol production is neither economical nor...

Switching to switchgrass. (Recycling).
January 1, 2002... Biomass fuels offer a tantalizing sidestep around global warming. When burned, they produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, but their growth takes up a similar amount of the gas, thus producing essentially no net increase in atmospheric...

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. (Forum).
January 1, 2002... For many people around the world, 2001 was unusually fraught with anxieties over energy. The year began with rolling electric power blackouts in California that affected more than 1 million people. Debates raged over controversial hydroelectric...

Mass-producing solar cells. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... Under an agreement announced in October 2001, Shell Renewables and Akzo Nobel will develop a low-cost process for mass-producing solar cell panels. In the process, a special solar cell coating just a few microns thick is applied to rolls of a...

Developing energy alternatives. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... The UN Foundation has approved two grants to assist poverty-stricken rural areas in Africa and Brazil in obtaining clean and affordable energy. An additional $2.3 million dollars will go to the African Rural Energy Enterprise Development...

New EU stamp of approval. (The Beat).
January 1, 2002... The European Union has revised its eco-labeling programs for personal and portable computers and dishwashers. Changes for dishwashers include a major overhaul of product requirements, including lower water consumption and noise limits, in...

New centers to focus on autism and other developmental disorders. (NIEHS News).
January 1, 2002... Researchers have long suspected the involvement of complex genetic factors in children's developmental disabilities, but more and more parents and health professionals believe the exposure of fetuses and newborn infants to environmental...

Petroleum: Possibilities in the pipeline. (Focus).
January 1, 2002... One of the Bush administration's defining goals on energy policy is to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of oil. Despite being the world's second largest producer after Saudi Arabia, the United States now imports 56% of its oil from...

Renewable energy: empowering the developing world. (Spheres of Influence).
January 1, 2002... The total capacity of installed electrical power in the world is currently 3.4 million megawatts (MW). Of that, 1.5 million MW is in developing countries. About 30% of the global population--an estimated 2 billion people--currently lives...

The gas is greener ... (Innovations).
January 1, 2002... According to studies done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Harvard School of Public Health, some 64,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of illnesses made worse by air pollutants. Despite fairly recent...

Cooking up problems for babies: wood smoke and low birth weight. (Science Selections).
January 1, 2002... Low birth weight, defined as less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds), places newborns at increased risk of illness and death during infancy. Low birth weight is particularly critical in the developing world, where approximately 18% of newborns are...

Polluting your internal environment: homeostasis is a factor in health. (Science Selections).
January 1, 2002... Numerous studies conducted around the world have shown a correlation between air pollution and adverse health effects, including premature death. But researchers have been stumped when they try to pin down a specific, consistent mechanism by...

East or West, cardiac arrest: air pollution effects similar worldwide. (Science Selections).
January 1, 2002... In many ways, Hong Kong and London are worlds apart. But researchers from the University of Hong Kong and St. George's Hospital Medical School in London found that air pollution patterns correlated with similar health effects in both,...

Blakely M. Adair receives 2001 SBRP Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award. (Extramurally Speaking ...).
January 1, 2002... The Superfund Basic Research Program (SBRP)is pleased to announce that Blakely M. Adair, a Ph.D. candidate at Texas Tech University, is the recipient of the 2001 SBRP Karen Wetterhahn Memorial Award. This award is given each year to pay...

Fellowships, grants, & awards.
January 1, 2002... Environmental Approaches to the Prevention of Obesity The NIEHS, along with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Center for Minority Health and...

Calendar.
January 1, 2002... February 4-8 February, Mon-Fri. Joint International Seminar on Exposure & Effects Modelling in Environmental Toxicology: A First Dialogue between Nuclear and Non-nuclear Environmental Scientists and Managers. Antwerp, Belgium. Information:...

New books.
January 1, 2002... Advances in Water and Wastewater Treatment Technology T. Matsuo, K Hanaki, S. Takizawa, H. Satoh, eds. New York, NY: Elsevier Science, 2001, 336 pp. ISBN: 0-444-50563-6, $155 Agrochemical Resistance: Extent, Mechanism, and Detection J....