Environmental Health Perspectives articles from May 2005

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from May 2005

Health, equity, and the built environment.(Guest Editorial)
May 1, 2005... The modern era of environmental health dates from the publication of Silent Spring in 1962. In her classic book, Rachel Carson warned of the effects of pesticides on wildlife ecology, invoking a nightmarish die-off of songbirds in the book's...

Scientific vision: setting forth a strategy.(NIEHS DIRECTOR'S PERSPECTIVE)
May 1, 2005... Environmental exposures may adversely affect those who are vulnerable temporally (age, developmental stage), spatially (geographic location), or by unique circumstance (comorbid disease, nutritional status, socioeconomic status, genetics)....

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and cognitive abilities among U.S. children and adolescents.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
May 1, 2005... In the article "Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Cognitive Abilities Among U.S. Children and Adolescents," Yolton et al. (2005) stated that the data "indicate an inverse association between ETS exposure and cognitive deficits among...

Maternal and paternal risk factors for hypospadias.(Perspectives: Correspondence)
May 1, 2005... Hypospadias is a common congenital anomaly, characterized by incomplete fusion of the urethral folds during fetal development, which results in the urethra opening on the ventral surface of the penis or on the scrotum. In their article, Pierik...

Errata.(Correspondence)(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2005... In Table 1 of "Estimating the Exposure-Response Relationships between Particulate Matter and Mortality within the APHEA Multicity Project" by Samoli et al. [Environ Health Perspect 113:88-95 (2005)], the values for CVD deaths are incorrect. The...

Growing green communities.(Sustainable Development)
May 1, 2005... Advocates of green housing received a boost when the nonprofit Enterprise Foundation of Columbia, Maryland, announced that it plans to build 8,500 environmentally friendly, affordable homes through its Green Communities Initiative. Launched in...

Organic solar cells.(Innovative Technologies)
May 1, 2005... Photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity have been around for decades, yet their commercial use has been largely limited to applications where conventional electric power is difficult or impossible to provide, such as lighting...

The new face of herbs.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... After a meteoric rise in sales in the 1990s, use of botanical dietary supplements appears to have plateaued, according to a study in the 14 February 2005 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Still, exposure may continue to increase as more...

Sunny Spanish energy.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... Spain, known for its sunny climate, is turning that resource into energy. The Spanish Industry Minister has announced that as of 2005 any new or renovated buildings must be outfitted with solar panels. Spain's government is seeking a 10-fold...

A fresh wind blows in Beijing.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... Everyone knows China is a big place with a big population. Now it can add having the world's largest wind power project to its list of superlatives. The new power plant, located 60 miles outside Beijing, will generate 400 megawatts per day,...

Healthier housing ahead.(Policy)
May 1, 2005... Community-based organizations around the country are working to promote healthy and affordable housing for all. Yet reduced government funding and increased competition for foundation support make it even harder to redress housing-based health...

Sour news for soy formula?(Children's Health)
May 1, 2005... Naturally occurring phytoestrogens have been intensively studied for health effects in adults. However, studies of soy formula, which delivers high levels of phytoestrogens to infants, have not extended much beyond ensuring that babies are...

Community Environmental Health Resource Center.(ehpnet)
May 1, 2005... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as "the fair treatment of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental...

Butting out of Bhutan.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... Known for its fierce protectiveness of its environment and culture, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan now has a unique place among the world's nations--it is the first to impose a nationwide ban on public smoking and the sale of tobacco products....

Federal agencies pledge computer stewardship.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... The U.S. government represents 7% of the world demand for computers and is expected to spend $60 billion this fiscal year on information technology needs. Now the White House and 11 federal departments and agencies have signed a memorandum of...

Think globally, shop locally.(The Beat)
May 1, 2005... How much does that apple or carton of eggs really cost? A team of researchers from Britain's University of Essex and City University tallied up the unaccounted environmental and transportation costs involved in bringing organic and...

Health on the Banks of the Rio Grande.(Environews: NIEHS News)
May 1, 2005... At the New Mexico Center for Environmental Health Sciences (NMCEHS), community concerns and relationships are as much at the center's foundation as the latest research techniques. According to center director Scott Burchiel, the unique...

Repair of DNA damage differs between sisters with and without breast cancer.(Breast Cancer)
May 1, 2005... Kennedy DO, Agrawal M, Shen J, Terry MB, Zhang FF, Senie RT, Motykiewicz G, Santella RM. 2005. DNA repair capacity of lymphoblastoid cell lines from sisters discordant for breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 97:127-132. Like many types of...

Mapping the air in public schools.(Beyond the Bench)
May 1, 2005... In the home, parents are the primary guardians of a child's environmental health. However, once the child's environment moves out of the home, identifying sources of protection can become difficult. The Community Outreach and Education Program...

Dwelling disparities: how poor housing leads to poor health.(Environews: Focus)
May 1, 2005... In recent years, environmental health science has broadened the scope of its inquiries, expanding its investigations beyond the effects of single pollutants on individuals to incorporate the entire panorama of external factors that may affect...

On closer inspection: learning to look at the whole home environment.(Environews: Innovations)
May 1, 2005... It's supposed to be a harbor, a haven--it's home. But some home environments can cause serious health problems. Moisture and molds can inflame asthma and allergies. Broken steps can cause a fall. A leaky oil furnace can produce deadly carbon...

Seasick lungs: how airborne algal toxins trigger asthma symptoms.(Environews: Science Selections)
May 1, 2005... Adverse health effects from harmful algal blooms have most frequently been linked to eating fish or shellfish that have accumulated algal toxins. However, people have also suffered asthma-like symptoms after inhaling minute amounts of algal...

Challenging assumptions about lead and IQ: effects increase, not decrease, in older children.(Environews: Science Selections)
May 1, 2005... The concentration of lead in children's blood peaks at about age 2 years and then declines as hand-to-mouth activity tends to drop off. Much of the practice and research concerning lead poisoning is based on the belief that the most damage is...

Poultry's persistence problem: drug-resistant Campylobacter in chicken.(Environews: Science Selections)
May 1, 2005... Mounting evidence suggests that the poultry industry's use of antibiotics promotes antibiotic resistance among the foodborne bacteria that infect humans. One such bacterium is Campylobacter, a pathogen common to chicken products. Every year...

Chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes of healthy subjects and risk of cancer.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... There is evidence that increased frequency of chromosomal aberration (CA) in peripheral blood lymphocytes is a predictor of cancer, but further data are needed to better characterize CA as marker of cancer risk. From the archives of 15...

Mercury, food webs, and marine mammals: implications of diet and climate change for human health.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... We modeled the flow of methyl mercury, a toxic global pollutant, in the Faroe Islands marine ecosystem and compared average human methyl mercury exposure from consumption of pilot whale meat and fish (cod, Gadus morhua) with current tolerable...

Developmental exposure of rats to chlorpyrifos leads to behavioral alterations in adulthood, involving serotonergic mechanisms and resembling animal models of depression.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... Developmental exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF) causes persistent changes in serotonergic (5HT) systems. We administered 1 mg/kg/day CPF to rats on postnatal days 1-4, a regimen below the threshold for systemic toxicity. When tested in adulthood,...

Human neurobehavioral effects of long-term exposure to styrene: a meta-analysis.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... Many reports in the literature suggest that long-term exposure to styrene may exert a variety of effects on the nervous system, including increased choice reaction time and decreased performance of color discrimination and color arrangement...

Historical comparison of perfluorooctanesulfonate, perfluorooctanoate, and other fluorochemicals in human blood.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether there has been a change in the human blood concentration of perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and five other fluorochemicals since 1974. Blood samples were...

Gliomas and farm pesticide exposure in women: the Upper Midwest Health Study.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... An excess incidence of brain cancer in male farmers has been noted in several studies, but few studies have focused on women. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Upper Midwest Health Study evaluated effects of rural...

Risk-based consumption advice for farmed Atlantic and wild Pacific Salmon contaminated with dioxins and dioxin-like compounds.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... We reported recently that several organic contaminants occurred at elevated concentrations in farmed Atlantic salmon compared with concentrations of the same contaminants in wild Pacific salmon [Hites et al. Science 303:226-229 (2004)]. We also...

Fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter isolates from conventional and antibiotic-free chicken products.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... The use of fluoroquinolones (FQs) in poultry production is an important issue in public health today. In February 2002, two prominent U.S. poultry companies pledged to stop using FQs for flock-wide treatment. One year later, we began a survey...

The application of the Haddon matrix to public health readiness and response planning.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... State and local health departments continue to face unprecedented challenges in preparing for, recognizing, and responding to threats to the public's health. The attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing anthrax mailings of 2001 highlighted...

Symptomatic effects of exposure to diluted air sampled from a swine confinement atmosphere on healthy human subjects.(Research: Article)
May 1, 2005... Aerial emissions from a swine house at North Carolina State University's field laboratory were diluted to a level that could occur at varying distances downwind from a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) both within and beyond the property...

Ascorbate depletion: a critical step in nickel carcinogenesis?
May 1, 2005... Nickel compounds are known to cause respiratory cancer in humans and induce tumors in experimental animals. The underlying molecular mechanisms may involve genotoxic effects; however, the data from different research groups are not easy to...

Two outbreaks of occupationally acquired histoplasmosis: more than workers at risk.(Environmental Medicine: Article)
May 1, 2005... OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the etiology and risk factors for acute histoplasmosis in two outbreaks in Illinois among laborers at a landfill in 2001 and at a bridge reconstruction site in 2003. DESIGN: We...

Public health and economic consequences of methyl mercury toxicity to the developing brain.(Children's Health: Article)
May 1, 2005... Methyl mercury is a developmental neurotoxicant. Exposure results principally from consumption by pregnant women of seafood contaminated by mercury from anthropogenic (70%) and natural (30%) sources. Throughout the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental...

IQ and blood lead from 2 to 7 years of age: are the effects in older children the residual of high blood lead concentrations in 2-year-olds?(Children's Health: Article)
May 1, 2005... Increases in peak blood lead concentrations, which occur at 18-30 months of age in the United States, are thought to result in lower IQ scores at 4-6 years of age, when IQ becomes stable and measurable. Data from a prospective study conducted...

A time-series analysis of air pollution and preterm birth in Pennsylvania, 1997-2001.(Children's Health: Article)
May 1, 2005... Preterm delivery can lead to serious infant health outcomes, including death and lifelong disability. Small increases in preterm delivery risk in relation to spatial gradients of air pollution have been reported, but previous studies may have...

Acute respiratory diseases and carboxyhemoglobin status in school children of Quito, Ecuador.(Children's Health: Article)
May 1, 2005... Outdoor carbon monoxide comes mainly from vehicular emissions, and high concentrations occur in areas with heavy traffic congestion. CO binds to hemoglobin, forming carboxyhemoglobin (COHb), and reduces oxygen delivery. We investigated the link...

Time course of gene expression of inflammatory mediators in rat lung after diesel exhaust particle exposure.(Toxicogenomics: Article)
May 1, 2005... Diesel exhaust particles (DEPs) at three concentrations (5, 35, and 50 mg/kg body weight) were instilled into rats intratracheally. We studied gene expression at 1, 7, and 30 days postexposure in cells obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL)...

Overview of aerosolized Florida red tide toxins: exposures and effects.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Florida red tide is caused by Karenia brevis, a dinoflagellate that periodically blooms, releasing its potent neurotoxin, brevetoxin, into the surrounding waters and air along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Exposure to Florida red tide toxins...

Natural and derivative brevetoxins: historical background, multiplicity, and effects.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Symptoms consistent with inhalation toxicity have long been associated with Florida red tides, and various causal agents have been proposed. Research since 1981 has centered on a group of naturally occurring trans-fused cyclic polyether...

Inhalation toxicity of brevetoxin 3 in rats exposed for twenty-two days.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Brevetoxins are potent neurotoxins produced by the marine dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Exposure to brevetoxins may occur during a K. brevis red tide when the compounds become aerosolized by wind and surf. This study assessed possible adverse...

Effects of inhaled brevetoxins in allergic airways: toxin-allergen interactions and pharmacologic intervention.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... During a Florida red tide, brevetoxins produced by the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis become aerosolized and cause airway symptoms in humans, especially in those with pre-existing airway disease (e.g., asthma). To understand these toxin-induced...

Characterization of marine aerosol for assessment of human exposure to brevetoxins.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Red tides in the Gulf of Mexico are commonly formed by the fish-killing dinoflagellate Karenia brevis, which produces nine potent polyether brevetoxins (PbTxs). Brevetoxins can be transferred from water to air in wind-powered white-capped...

Occupational exposure to aerosolized brevetoxins during Florida red tide events: effects on a healthy worker population.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Karenia brevis (formerly Gymnodinium breve) is a marine dinoflagellate responsible for red tides that form in the Gulf of Mexico. K. brevis produces brevetoxins, the potent toxins that cause neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. There is also limited...

Initial evaluation of the effects of aerosolized Florida red tide toxins (brevetoxins) in persons with asthma.(Brevetoxins: Mini-Monograph)
May 1, 2005... Florida red tides annually occur in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting from blooms of the marine dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. K. brevis produces highly potent natural polyether toxins, known as brevetoxins, that activate voltage-sensitive sodium...

Nanotechnology in the environmental health sciences.(Announcements: NIEHS Extramural Update)
May 1, 2005... Among the newest buzzwords in biomedical science is nanotechnology: small is big! The vision for nanotechnology has existed for many years--remember Isaac Asimov's Fantastic Voyage--but the ability to manipulate individual atoms to engineer...

Lung response to inhaled highly toxic chemicals.(Announcements: Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
May 1, 2005... The purpose of this program announcement (PA) is to investigate acute mucosal irritation in the upper and lower respiratory tract occurring after aerosol exposure to toxic chemicals with the goals to: 1) minimize initial injury promptly, 2)...

In utero exposure to bioactive food components and mammary cancer risk.(Announcements: Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
May 1, 2005... In utero exposures are important determinants of some cancers occurring in children and young adults. For example, exposure to ionizing radiation in utero promotes childhood leukemia, and maternal use of diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy has...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
May 1, 2005... 2005 May 10-11 May, Tue-Wed. National Toxicology Program: A Quarter Century of Toxicology for Public Health. Washington, D.C. Information: Nan Cushing, 919-541-0530, e-mail: cushingl@niehs.nih.gov, Internet: http:// ntp.niehs.nih.gov...

The Bhopal Saga: Causes and Consequences of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster.
May 1, 2005... By Ingrid Eckerman Hyderabad, India: Universities Press, 2005. 283 pp. ISBN: 81-7371-515-7. Rs250 After 20 years, victims, health care workers, and governments are still trying to comprehend what has been called the world's worst...

New books.(Announcements)
May 1, 2005... An Introduction to Human Molecular Genetics: Mechanisms of inherited Diseases, 2nd ed. Jack K. Pasternak Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley & Sons, 2005. 656 pp. ISBN: 0 471 47426-6, $83.95 CCN Proteins: A New Family of Cell Growth and...