Environmental Health Perspectives articles from May 2008

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from May 2008

Recent changes at Environmental Health Perspectives.(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... doi: 10.1289/ehp.11568 Readers of Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) will note several changes in the masthead of the journal, reflecting a renewed commitment to publishing the best research and news in the environmental health...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and cryptorchidism: confounding or cause and effect?(Correspondence)
May 1, 2008... doi: 10.1289/ehp. 11052 Main et al. (2007) reported that elevated levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in breast milk, but not placenta, were associated with congenital cryptorchidism in Danish and Finnish boys. For the Danish...

Cryptorchidism: effects of maternal diabetes or PBDEs.(Correspondence)
May 1, 2008... doi: 10.1289/ehp.11096 It was with great interest that we read the article by Main et al. (2007) regarding polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and cryptochordism, and we are impressed with the data in humans. Main et al. stated that the...

Tungsten and cobalt in Fallon, Nevada: association with childhood leukemia.(Correspondence)
May 1, 2008... doi: 10.1289/ehp.10614 In their article, Sheppard et al. (2007) suggested that the "results in Fallon [Nevada] suggest a temporal correspondence between the onset of excessive childhood leukemia and elevated levels of tungsten and cobalt."...

Erratum.(Correction notice)
May 1, 2008... The April 2008 Focus article [Environ Health Perspect 116:A160-A167 (2008)] includes a misprint. The first paragraph under the subhead "How Much Is Enough?" should read: "Gilchrest points out a problem with the literature: 'Everyone recommends...

Fresh track on indoor dust.(METALS)
May 1, 2008... Dust is seldom innocuous. At the very least, it can earn homeowners a reputation for lax housekeeping. More important from a health perspective, it can also exacerbate asthma and allergies. Growing evidence suggests this humble material may...

Not finished yet.(PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS)
May 1, 2008... Although polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the United States in 1977, they persist in the environment. These bioaccumulative chemicals can damage the immune, reproductive, endocrine, and nervous systems. When looking for...

Eye on lodine.(DIET AND NUTRITION)
May 1, 2008... Before the 1924 advent of salt iodization, millions of Americans suffered from iodine deficiency. Now, eight decades after salt iodization virtually eliminated iodine deficiency in the United States, intake of this essential mineral has once...

Lead particles on tap.(DRINKING WATER QUALITY)
May 1, 2008... Lead exposure is a serious concern for children's health. Lead impairs children's brain development, and many scientists believe no dose is safe. High levels of lead in the paint used on children's toys resulted in numerous toy recalls in 2007....

Design for the environment partnerships.(ehpnet)
May 1, 2008... http://www.epa.gov/oppt/dfe/pubs/projects/index.htm The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Design for the Environment Program works with various industries to minimize the use of toxic chemicals and identify suitable replacement for...

Navajo fight uranium comeback.(The Beat)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In 2005 the Navajo nation banned uranium mining and milling on its lands because of increases in lung cancer and other chronic diseases in miners and residents living near piles of mine waste. Now, because of soaring uranium prices and the...

New lead paint rule.(The Beat)(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... On 31 March 2008, the EPA issued long-awaited new regulations on reducing children's exposure to lead paint during renovations and repairs of buildings constructed before 1978. The regulations will go into effect in April 2010, at which time...

Race without a trace.(The Beat)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In support of the ongoing international trend toward making sporting events more environmentally friendly, the North Carolina-based Endurance Magazine has launched the "Race Without a Trace" initiative to minimize the waste and carbon emissions...

Nanofood on research menu.(The Beat)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... For the past few years, the food industry has spent millions of dollars on nanotechnology research and development, but there has been little government oversight concerning the safety and regulation of "nanofoods" (foods produced with or...

Key to reducing C[O.sub.2]?(The Beat)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Each year, buildings release 35% of the total C[O.sub.2] emitted in North America. In March 2008, the trinational Commission for Environmental Cooperation released Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges, which prescribes...

New findings on Gulf War illness.(The Beat)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Increasing evidence suggests that chronic multisymptom illness in Persian Gulf War veterans can be partly explained by exposure to organophosphate and carbamate acetyl-cholinesterase inhibitors (AChEis) in the nerve agent sarin, anti-nerve gas...

Unwelcome guest: PBDEs in indoor dust.(Focus)(polybrominated diphenyl ether)
May 1, 2008... Researchers have known for years that house dust is a major exposure route for lead and certain pesticides. Now attention is turning to another class of dustborne chemicals--polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. A growing body...

New thinking on flame retardants.(Innovations)
May 1, 2008... No one wants their bed, couch, chair, computer, or TV to catch on fire. "If an ordinary upholstered chair in your home gets ignited, it can essentially take your whole house down," says Richard Gann, a senior research scientist at the U.S....

Lead and retinal function: low prenatal exposure suggests future abnormality.(Science Selections)
May 1, 2008... The harmful effects of low-level lead exposure on the development of cognitive, auditory, and visual-motor functions in children are well documented, but few studies have focused on the effects of low-level lead exposure specifically on retinal...

Neurotransmission on fire? Metabolic activation heightens effect of PBDEs.(Science Selections)
May 1, 2008... Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are man-made flame retardants used in a variety of consumer products, including fabrics, cushion foam, carpet pads, computers, and electronic equipment. Ubiquitous in the environment, PBDEs and their...

PAHs from the inside out: birth outcomes vary among ethnic groups in NYC.(Science Selections)(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)
May 1, 2008... In humans, the developmental hazards associated with exposure to urban ambient air pollution, particularly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), continue to be debated. PAHs are formed during the incomplete burning of fossil fuels, wood, and...

Hold that thought: organochlorines may alter infant attention skills.(Science Selections)
May 1, 2008... From the mid-1940s on, a group of synthetic chemicals known as organochlorines (OCs) were used in industry and as pesticides. Because of evidence of human and environmental risks from exposure to some of these chemicals, the Environmental...

Computational molecular modeling for evaluating the toxicity of environmental chemicals: prioritizing bioassay requirements.(Commentary)
May 1, 2008... A diverse spectrum of anthropogenic molecules is found in the environment, including chemicals introduced deliberately as well as unintended by-products of human activity. Through diligent monitoring, we are learning the identity, distribution,...

Global farm animal production and global warming: impacting and mitigating climate change.(Commentary)
May 1, 2008... Although much evidence has been amassed on the negative impacts of animal agricultural production on environmental integrity, community sustainability, public health, and animal welfare, the global impacts of this sector have remained largely...

Conceptual model of comprehensive research metrics for improved human health and environment.(Review)
May 1, 2008... The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes. This mission is furthered partly through funding of extramural research in...

Formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity via microglial activation: a mediator between peripheral infection and neurodegeneration?(Research)
May 1, 2008... Parkinson disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disease, is characterized by progressive and selective degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (Leenders and Oertel 2001). Although the etiology of PD is still...

Exposure to a mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzofurans resulted in a prolonged time to pregnancy in women.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been extensively produced as technical mixtures and have been used as dielectric fluids in transformers and capacitors, organic diluents, plasticizers, adhesives, and flame retardants, as well as in several...

The polybrominated diphenyl ether mixture DE-71 is mildly estrogenic.(Research)
May 1, 2008... The polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a series of 209 possible brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) that differ in the number and position of bromine atoms [Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) 2004]. Three kinds of...

Metabolic syndrome and inflammatory responses to long-term particulate air pollutants.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Ambient air pollution, especially particulate matter (PM), has increasingly been recognized as a threat to cardiovascular health (Kaiser 2005; Nel 2005). As noted in a recent comprehensive review of the mounting volume of epidemiology...

Low-level human equivalent gestational lead exposure produces supernormal scotopic electroretinograms, increased retinal neurogenesis, and decreased retinal dopamine utilization in rats.(Research)
May 1, 2008... The adverse effects of low-level developmental lead exposure [blood lead (BPb) [less than or equal to] 10 [micro]g/dL] on cognitive, auditory, and visual-motor function are well documented (Canfield et al. 2003; Osman et al. 1999; Rothenberg et...

Long-term effects of polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins on pregnancy outcomes in women affected by the Yusho incident.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a group of persistent organochlorine compounds, are man-made chemicals first introduced in the late 1920s. In the late 1960s to the 1970s, many countries realized the potential dangers of PCBs and either banned...

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and airborne fine particulate matter: a case-crossover analysis of emergency medical services data in Indianapolis, Indiana.(Research)
May 1, 2008... In the last decade, several studies have associated exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) with cardiac morbidity and mortality as well as effects on cardiac rhythms and electrocardiography. Although the exact nature of the mechanisms is...

Hydroxylation increases the neurotoxic potential of BDE-47 to affect exocytosis and calcium homeostasis in PC12 cells.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Increasing concentrations of brominated flame retardants, in particular polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), in the environment, human food chain, and human tissues raise concern about possible neurotoxic effects. High concentrations of...

Perfluorooctanoic acid-induced immunomodulation in adult C57BL/6J or C57BL/6N female mice.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) polymerization aid used in the manufacture of fluorinated polymers and elastomers. The resulting fluorinated compounds are used in myriad consumer and industrial products, including...

Biomonitoring of perfluorinated compounds in children and adults exposed to perfluorooctanoate-contaminated drinking water.(Research)
May 1, 2008... Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are widely distributed in the environment. Particularly, perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) persist in humans and the environment. PFCs have been identified in surface water in the...

Prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and risk of intrauterine growth restriction.(Children's Health)
May 1, 2008... Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of multiphasic organic compounds, composed of fused aromatic rings (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 1995; Bostrom et al. 2002; Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts 1997). They are...

Prenatal organochlorine exposure and measures of behavior in infancy using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS).(Children's Health)
May 1, 2008... Organochlorines, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and p,p'-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE), the major degradation product of p,p'-dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane (p,p'-DDT), though banned in the U.S. in the 1970s, are...

Effects of prenatal exposure to coal-burning pollutants on children's development in China.(Children's Health)
May 1, 2008... Molecular and epidemiologic research has shown that fetuses and infants are more susceptible than adults to the harmful effects of a variety of environmental contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Perera et al. 2005),...

A cohort study of traffic-related air pollution impacts on birth outcomes.(Children's Health)
May 1, 2008... Numerous studies have indicated associations between exposure to ambient air pollution and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Such associations, if determined to be causal, are likely to result in significant public health impacts given the widespread...

Para Ninos Saludables: a community intervention trial to reduce organophosphate pesticide exposure in children of farmworkers.(Children's Health)(Environmental Protection Agency)
May 1, 2008... Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are ubiquitous insecticides in use in U.S. agriculture [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2004]. Exposure to such pesticides is a significant occupational health hazard for farmworkers (For Healthy Kids...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
May 1, 2008... 2008 May 19-21 May, Mon-Wed. Coastal Environment 2008: 7th International Conference on Environmental Problems in Coastal Regions. The New Forest, United Kingdom. Information: Rachel Swinburn, Conference Manager, Coastal Environment...

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power.(Book review)
May 1, 2008... Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power by Mark Schapiro White River Junction, VT:Chelsea Green, 2007. 224 pp. ISBN: 978-1-933392-15-8, $22.95 Exposed is a book with a long subtitle...

New books.(Announcements)(List)
May 1, 2008... American Hegemony and the Postwar Reconstruction of Science in Europe John Krige Cambridge, MA:MIT Press, 2008. 392 pp. ISBN: 978-0-262-61225-8, $23 Blue Covenant Maude Barlow New York:New Press, 2007. 208 pp. ...