Environmental Health Perspectives articles from January 2005

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from January 2005

Noise and health.(Guest Editorial)
January 1, 2005... Noise affects everybody in everyday life--at home, at leisure, during sleep, when traveling, and at work. However, human organisms are not prepared to shut off the noise. Hearing is a permanent process using cortical and subcortical structures...

Comments on "recent developments in low-level lead exposure and intellectual impairment in children".(Perspectives / Correspondence)
January 1, 2005... We commend Koller et al. (2004) for their thoughtful and detailed review of recent research on childhood lead exposure and intellectual development, and we take this opportunity to clarify and respond to several of their questions regarding our...

Low-level lead exposure and intellectual impairment in children: Koller et al. respond.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
January 1, 2005... We are grateful to Jusko et al. for addressing two concerns raised in our review (Koller et al. 2004) relating to confounding and their use of the Stanford-Binet test in their original report (Canfield et al. 2003). They provide valuable...

TCDD and puberty in girls.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
January 1, 2005... We would like to comment on the article by Warner et al. (2004), in which the authors reported no significant associations between age at menarche and exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), an extremely potent antiestrogenic...

TCDD and puberty: Warner and Eskenazi respond.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
January 1, 2005... As Wolff et al. note, in data from the Seveso Women's Health Study (SWHS) we found no change in age of onset of menarche associated with TCDD exposure in all women in the cohort or in women exposed before 8 years of age (Warner et al. 2004)....

Errata.(Perspectives / Correspondence)(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2005... Because the study "Threshold of Trichloroethylene Contamination in Maternal Drinking Waters Affecting Fetal Heart Development in the Rat" (Johnson et al. 2003) was a long-term and continuous study, the authors compiled the data from controls of...

Comment on "breast milk: an optimal food".(Perspectives / Correspondence)
January 1, 2005... In their editorial "Breast Milk: An Optimal Food," Pronczuk et al. (2004) stated that "in most cases, mothers can and should be reassured that breast milk is by far the best food to give to their babies," despite the evidence that "a myriad of...

The ugly side of beauty products.(Chemical Exposures)
January 1, 2005... In recent decades reproductive and developmental problems have become more prevalent--for example, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that male reproductive problems, including undescended testicles and...

Reverse osmosis moves forward.(Innovative Technologies)
January 1, 2005... As drought and growing populations cause water supplies to dwindle in areas around the world, reclaimed wastewater offers a possible solution. Indeed, some communities in California already use reclaimed wastewater to irrigate crops, water golf...

Smoky horror picture show?(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... At the American Medical Association's 2004 annual meeting, the group's policy-making House of Delegates adopted a resolution urging the film industry to give an "R" rating to movies with scenes of characters smoking. The goal of the resolution...

EU bans phthalates in toys.(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... In September 2004 the European Competitiveness Council voted to ban three phthalates from all products intended for children and to prohibit the use of three others specifically in toys and other items intended to be chewed or sucked by very...

Roaming foam may find a home.(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... The polystyrene foam that helps boat docks stay afloat can break off in large chunks, littering the lakescape and posing a boating hazard. Foam is traditionally very hard to recycle because it is wet and oily, and often contains metal screws...

North Korean catastrophe.(International Health)
January 1, 2005... When the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPR Korea, or North Korea as it is still commonly known) makes headlines, it usually concerns the country's nuclear ambitions. But recently the environment made the news, when the United Nations...

Noise Pollution Clearinghouse.(ehpnet)
January 1, 2005... Not all sound is bad, but too much of the wrong sounds harm your health. What many people don't know is that everyday items such as lawn mowers and kitchen blenders can emit noise at hazardous levels. More than 30 million Americans work at al...

Coco locomotion.(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... Coconuts are the latest plant to be tapped for bio-based fuels. In October 2004, a unit of the Philippine National Oil Company opened the first cocodiesel plant. The plant is meant to show Filipino farmers how the technology can benefit them...

Targeting mosquitoes online.(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... Ever wonder whether those swarming mosquitoes in your backyard are carrying West Nile virus or some other disease? Researchers at Texas A&M University are developing a web-based real-time system that researchers and the public will be able to...

Mozambique phases out leaded gas.(The Beat)
January 1, 2005... In August 2004 Mozambique announced its intention to ban the importation of leaded gasoline by the end of the year. The decision followed government approval of an action plan by the Leaded Gasoline Phase-out Task Force, a multiagency group...

Stirring the pot in environmental health.(Environmental Knights of the Roundtable)
January 1, 2005... The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine can be thought of as a think tank--a neutral, nonofficial setting where scientists, government officials, academics, industry representatives, and members of advocacy...

Neural protein may stop the progression of Alzheimer disease.(Headliners / Neurological Disease)
January 1, 2005... Stein TD, Anders N J, DeCarli C, Chan SL, Mattson MP, Johnson JA. 2004. Neutralization of transthyretin reverses the neuroprotective effects of secreted amyloid precursor protein (APP) in APPSW mice resulting in tau phosphorylation and loss of...

Environmental roots of asthma.(NIEHS News)
January 1, 2005... From 1980 to 1999, the number of U.S. doctor's office visits for asthma jumped from about 6 million to nearly 12 million, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization estimates cases...

Building blocks of learning.(beyond the BENCH)
January 1, 2005... Playing with blocks has long been a favorite pastime of children and one that parents often encourage as a means of developing reasoning, spatial acuity, and other skills. A program developed by the Community Outreach and Education Program...

Noise that annoys: regulating unwanted sound.(Environews: Spheres of Influence)
January 1, 2005... Anyone who lives in Bensenville, Illinois, knows about the "Bensenville pause." According to long-time resident Pat Johnson, it goes like this: As the roar of a jetliner departing from nearby O'Hare International Airport becomes a blasting...

Clamoring for quiet: new ways to mitigate noise.(Environews: Innovations)
January 1, 2005... On a typical day in an American suburb, the steady whoosh of traffic on a nearby freeway drowns out the rustling of leaves in the wind. From across the street comes the nagging whine of a leaf blower, accompanied every few minutes by the deeper...

A whiff of danger: synthetic musks may encourage toxic bioaccumulation.(Environews / Science Selections)
January 1, 2005... A class of widely used fragrances that are considered nontoxic may pose a hidden threat to human health by enhancing the effects of compounds that are toxic--a paradox discovered by Stanford University researchers Till Luckenbach and David Epel...

ETS and learning: children's exposure linked to cognitive effects.(Environews / Science Selections)
January 1, 2005... Previous studies have linked exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) with lower performance on tests of intelligence, reasoning ability, and language development, as well as higher risk for grade retention, suggesting that such exposure...

Asbestos and autoimmunity: more bad news from Libby?(Environews / Science Selections)
January 1, 2005... Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and systemic lupus erythematosus seem to be the product of a complex and poorly understood interaction between environmental exposures and genetic predisposition....

Ionizing radiation and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.(Research)
January 1, 2005... The U.S. government recently implemented rules for awarding compensation to individuals with cancer who were exposed to ionizing radiation while working in the nuclear weapons complex. Under these rules, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is...

Human colon microbiota transform polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to estrogenic metabolites.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Ingestion is an important exposure route for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to enter the human body. Although the formation of hazardous PAH metabolites by human biotransformation enzymes is well documented, nothing is known about the...

Uptake and elimination of brevetoxin in blood of striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) after aqueous exposure to Karenia brevis.(Research)
January 1, 2005... There is a critical need to simply and reliably monitor brevetoxins routinely in the blood of humans and aquatic animals. We used striped mullet as laboratory test animals to better define the uptake and elimination kinetics of brevetoxin...

Nitromusk and polycyclic musk compounds as long-term inhibitors of cellular xenobiotic defense systems mediated by multidrug transporters.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Synthetic musk compounds, widely used as fragrances in consumer products, have been detected in human tissue and, surprisingly, in aquatic organisms such as fish and mollusks. Although their persistence and potential to bioaccumulate are of...

Assessment of autoimmune responses associated with asbestos exposure in Libby, Montana, USA.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Systemic autoimmune responses are associated with certain environmental exposures, including crystalline particles such as silica. Positive antinudear antibody (ANA) tests have been reported in small cohorts exposed to asbestos, but many...

Blood lead is a predictor of homocysteine levels in a population-based study of older adults.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Lead and homocysteine are both associated with cardiovascular disease and cognitive dysfunction. We evaluated the relations among blood lead, tibia lead, and homocysteine levels by cross-sectional analysis of data among subjects in the...

Associations among lead dose biomarkers, uric acid, and renal function in Korean lead workers.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Recent research suggests that both uric acid and lead may be nephrotoxic at lower levels than previously recognized. We analyzed data from 803 current and former lead workers to determine whether lead biomarkers were associated with uric acid...

Dose-additive carcinogenicity of a defined mixture of "dioxin-like compounds".(Research)
January 1, 2005... Use of the dioxin toxic equivalency factor (TEF) approach in human risk assessments assumes that the combined effects of dioxin-like compounds in a mixture can be predicted based on a potency-adjusted dose-additive combination of constituents...

Cancer incidence among glyphosate-exposed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is one of the most frequently applied pesticides in the world. Although there has been little consistent evidence of genotoxicity or carcinogenicity from in vitro and animal studies, a few...

Impacts of co-solvent flushing on microbial populations capable of degrading trichloroethylene.(Research)
January 1, 2005... With increased application of co-solvent flushing technologies for removal of nonaqueous phase liquids from groundwater aquifers, concern over the effects of the solvent on native microorganisms and their ability to degrade residual contaminant...

Metabolic biomarkers for monitoring in situ anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation.(Research)
January 1, 2005... During the past 15 years researchers have made great strides in understanding the metabolism of hydrocarbons by anaerobic bacteria. Organisms capable of utilizing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic...

Bone as a possible target of chemical toxicity of natural uranium in drinking water.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Uranium accumulates in bone, affects bone metabolism in laboratory animals, and when ingested in drinking water increases urinary excretion of calcium and phosphate, important components in the bone structure. However, little is known about...

Health-related benefits of attaining the 8-hr ozone standard.(Research)
January 1, 2005... During the 2000-2002 time period, between 36 and 56% of ozone monitors each year in the United States failed to meet the current ozone standard of 80 ppb for the fourth highest maximum 8-hr ozone concentration. We estimated the health benefits...

Dietary fat interacts with PCBs to induce changes in lipid metabolism in mice deficient in low-density lipoprotein receptor.(Research)
January 1, 2005... There is evidence that dietary fat can modify the cytotoxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and that coplanar PCBs can induce inflammatory processes critical in the pathology of vascular diseases. To test the hypothesis that the...

Estimating the exposure-response relationships between particulate matter and mortality within the APHEA multicity project.(Research)
January 1, 2005... Several studies have reported significant health effects of air pollution even at low levels of air pollutants, but in most of theses studies linear nonthreshold relations were assumed. We investigated the exposure-response association between...

Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin and coal tar creosote exposure in a railroad worker.(Environmental Medicine / Case Report)
January 1, 2005... A 50-year-old male railroad worker presented to his primary care physician with an erythematous, tender skin lesion on the right knee; a biopsy of this lesion revealed squamous cell carcinoma in situ. The site of the lesion was sun-protected...

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and cognitive abilities among U.S. children and adolescents.(Children's Health)
January 1, 2005... We used the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), conducted from 1988 to 1994, to investigate the relationship between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure and cognitive abilities among U.S. children and...

A noninvasive isotopic approach to estimate the bone lead contribution to blood in children: implications for assessing the efficacy of lead abatement.(Children's Health)
January 1, 2005... Lead hazard control measures to reduce children's exposure to household lead sources often result in only limited reductions in blood lead levels. This may be due to incomplete remediation of lead sources and/or to the remobilization of lead...

A quantitative look at fluorosis, fluoride exposure, and intake in children using a health risk assessment approach.(Children's Health)
January 1, 2005... The prevalence of dental fluorosis in the United States has increased during the last 30 years. In this study, we used a mathematical model commonly employed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to estimate average daily intake of...

Asthma and air pollution: what's happening in NIEHS extramural research.(Announcements / NIEHS Extramural Update)
January 1, 2005... Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease with symptoms including reversible airway constriction, chest tightness, cough, and wheezing. The incidence of asthma is increasing and accounts for nearly 500,000 hospitalizations, 2 million emergency...

Metals in medicine.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
January 1, 2005... The objective of this program announcement (PA) is to encourage research that bridges the areas of inorganic chemistry and medicine in continuation of PA-01-071. The National Institute of General Medical Science (NIGMS) is joined in this...

NIGMS national centers for systems biology.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
January 1, 2005... 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...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
January 1, 2005... February 2-6 February, Wed-Sun. Oncogenomics 2005: Dissecting Cancer Through Genome Research. San Diego, California. Information: American Association for Cancer Research, 615 Chestnut Street, 17th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 191064404 USA,...

Diamond: a struggle for environmental justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor.
January 1, 2005... Diamond: A Struggle for Environmental Justice in Louisiana's Chemical Corridor By Steve Lerner Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2004. 296 pp. ISBN: 0-262-12273-1, $27.95 cloth Amazon.com lists over a dozen volumes on environmental justice, but...

New books.(Announcements)
January 1, 2005... A History of Epidemiologic Methods and Concepts Alfredo Morabia, ed. New York:Spfinger-Verlag, 2004. 405 pp. ISBN: 3-7643-6818-7, $119 Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle: Assessing the Impacts of Fertilizer Use on Food...