Environmental Health Perspectives articles from November 2008

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from November 2008

Climate change and health research: time for teamwork.(Editorial)
November 1, 2008... Commitments to address climate change, including those aimed at reducing greenhouse gases by 2050, are increasing. As efforts toward mitigation of climate change gather momentum, there is an increased need to understand the linkages between...

Blood lead levels in children.(Correspondence)
November 1, 2008... The correspondence section is a public forum and, as such, is not peer-reviewed, EHP is not responsible for the accuracy, currency, or reliability of personal opinion expressed herein; it is the sole responsibility of the authors. EHP neither...

Blood lead levels: Rhoads and Brown respond.(Correspondence)
November 1, 2008... Rothenberg states that the level of concern for blood lead in children should be lowered from 10 [micro]g/dL, but he provides little cogent rationale for doing so. As basic science support, he cites studies that a) exposed isolated neurons to a...

School siting poses particulate problem.(CHILDREN'S HEALTH)
November 1, 2008... Numerous studies dating back 18 years indicate that children who live close to major roadways tend to have more respiratory ailments as a result of exposure to nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ultrafine diesel exhaust particles, and other...

Ship sulfate an unexpected heavyweight.(AIR POLLUTION)
November 1, 2008... A technique that can identify the source of sulfate ([SO.sub.4]) produced during combustion--or primary [SO.sub.4]--has shown ships may be responsible for a large proportion of this pollutant in the fine particulate matter suspended in Southern...

Stop TB Partnership.(ehp net)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... In 2000 international agencies, government ministers, and donor groups formed the Stop TB Partnership with the mission of eliminating tuberculosis (TB). The partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015, one of its central efforts, is a...

De-icers add sweet to salt.(TRANSPORTATION)
November 1, 2008... With the onset of winter, towns are laying in a supply of road salt in preparation for icy weather. According to the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Commodity Summaries 2008, the United States used nearly 50 million metric tons of salt in...

Green screen for poultry farms.(AGRICULTURE)
November 1, 2008... The Delmarva Peninsula, comprising Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia, is home to one of the country's highest concentrations of poultry farms, some 2,000 outfits that can house upward of 75,000 birds at any one time. All those birds...

Green energy credit renewed.(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The renewable energy industry held its breath as Congress decided whether to renew tax credits for residential and commercial use of alternatives such as wind, solar, and tidal power [see "Solar Tax Credit Loses Energy," EHP 116:A380 (2008)]....

France scraps "picnic tax".(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... On 15 September 2008 French environment minister Jean-Louis Borloo announced the country would institute a "picnic tax" on disposable paper and plastic plates, cups, and cutlery as part of a package of measures aimed at reducing waste and...

Nitrate sampled in U.S. wells.(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Since the mid-20th century, use of nitrate fertilizer has steadily increased in the United States. One of the first nationwide studies of nitrates in groundwater over time, published in a September 2008 supplement to the Journal of...

Triple washed, twice shy?(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Consumers often look to convenient forms of produce to put more vegetables in their diet. An expert on foodborne pathogens speaking at the Food Micro 2008 conference in September suggested consumers should wash prepacked produce even though...

Bacterium is arsenic watchdog.(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... A newly discovered "entremophile," a bacterium that thrives at ultraclod temperatures, not only remediates arsenic-contaminated sites but may also serve as a living sensor to warn of arsenic escaping from mines and chemical facilities and to...

Arab cities get green standards.(The Beat)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Ahead of the first Eco-Cities of the Mediterranean Forum, an October 2008 meeting onurban sustainability, Jordanian environment minister Khaled Irani announced a new initiative to set standards for renewable energy, carbon emission reductions,...

Linking TB and the environment an overlooked mitigation strategy.(Focus)(tuberculosis)
November 1, 2008... One of the world's leading killers, tuberculosis (TB) is nearly as old as humanity itself; fossilized evidence of this lethal infection has been found in a Homo erectus skeleton half a million years old. But look to a modern hospital in a...

Oversight without obstruction: the challenge for high-containment labs.(Spheres of Influence)
November 1, 2008... Across the nation, government agencies, industries, and academic institutions are building high-containment biological laboratories to research hazardous pathogens that might accidentally or intentionally be introduced to the United States....

Backpack on board: individual air monitoring predicts prenatal exposure to PAHs.(Science Selections)(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons)
November 1, 2008... Scientists studying human exposure to air pollutants have traditionally had to rely on data from stations monitoring ambient pollution levels. These stations are unable to account for neighborhood variation of or indoor exposure to pollutants...

The irritation of house dust: DEHP heightens inflammatory response in allergy sufferers.(Science Selections)(di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate)
November 1, 2008... Past research has suggested that di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a commonly used plasticizer, contributes to asthma symptoms in children [EHP 116:98-103 (2008)] and to dermatitis caused by dust mite allergens in mice [EHP 114:1266-1268...

Growing weight of OP evidence: parathion linked to metabolic effects in rats.(Science Selections)(organophosphate )
November 1, 2008... Parathion and other organophosphate pesticides, the most widely used class of insecticides, have long been known as neurotoxicants but were only recently linked to metabolic disorders. A new study adds to the growing evidence that parathion may...

Dioxin exposure and cardiovascular disease: an analysis of association.(Science Selections)
November 1, 2008... Dioxins have long been known as highly toxic compounds, having been implicated in cancer, immune system disorders, endocrine disruption, and birth defects. Animal and in vitro studies have also suggested a role for dioxins in heart disease. Now...

The limits of two-year bioassay exposure regimens for identifying chemical carcinogens.(Commentary)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Chemical carcinogenesis bioassays in animals have long been recognized and accepted as valid predictors of potential cancer hazards to humans. Most rodent bioassays begin several weeks after birth and expose animals to chemicals or...

Dioxins and cardiovascular disease mortality.
November 1, 2008... OBJECTIVE: In this systematic review we evaluated the evidence on the association between dioxin exposure and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in humans. DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION: We conducted a PubMed search in December 2007 and...

Climate change, tropospheric ozone and particulate matter, and health impacts.(Review)
November 1, 2008... OBJECTIVE: Because the state of the atmosphere determines the development, transport, dispersion, and deposition of air pollutants, there is concern that climate change could affect morbidity and mortality associated with elevated...

Exposure of neonatal rats to parathion elicits sex-selective reprogramming of metabolism and alters the response to a high-fat diet in adulthood.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Developmental exposures to organophosphate pesticides are virtually ubiquitous. These agents are neurotoxicants, but recent evidence also points to lasting effects on metabolism. OBJECTIVES: We administered parathion to neonatal...

Prospective analysis of traffic exposure as a risk factor for incident coronary heart disease: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: For people living close to busy roads, traffic is a major source of air pollution. Few prospective data have been published on the effects of long-term exposure to traffic on the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). ...

Secondhand smoke exposure in hospitality venues in Europe.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Although in the last few years some European countries have implemented smoking bans in hospitality venues, the levels of secondhand smoke (SHS) in this occupational sector could still be extremely high in most countries. ...

Cadmium, lead, and other metals in relation to semen quality: human Evidence for molybdenum as a male reproductive toxicant.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Evidence on human semen quality as it relates to exposure to various metals, both essential (e.g., zinc, copper) and nonessential (e.g., cadmium, lead), is inconsistent. Most studies to date used small sample sizes and were unable...

Acute effects of ambient particulate matter on Mortality in Europe and North America: results from the APHENA Study.(Research)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: The APHENA (Air Pollution and Health: A Combined European and North American Approach) study is a collaborative analysis of multicity time-series data on the effect of air pollution on population health, bringing together data from...

A controlled challenge study on di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in house dust and the immune response in human nasal mucosa of allergic subjects.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Few studies have yet addressed the effects of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in house dust on human nasal mucosa. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the effects of house dust containing DEHP on nasal mucosa of healthy and house dust...

Glutathione S-transferase polymorphisms, passive smoking, obesity, and heart rate variability in nonsmokers.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Disturbances of heart rate variability (HRV) may represent one pathway by which second-hand smoke (SHS) and air pollutants affect cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The mechanisms are poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: We...

Murine lung responses to ambient particulate matter: genomic analysis and influence on airway hyperresponsiveness.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Asthma is a complex disease characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and chronic airway inflammation. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that exposures to environmental factors such as ambient particulate matter (PM),...

Estimating individual-level exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons throughout the gestational period based on personal, indoor, and outdoor monitoring.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... OBJECTIVES: Current understanding on health effects of long-term polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure is limited by lack of data on time-varying nature of the pollutants at an individual level. In a cohort of pregnant women in Krakow,...

Transcriptome analysis in peripheral blood of humans exposed to environmental carcinogens: a promising new biomarker in environmental health studies.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Human carcinogenesis is known to be initiated and/or promoted by exposure to chemicals that occur in the environment. Molecular cancer epidemiology is used to identify human environmental cancer risks by applying a range of effect...

Agriculture alters gonadal form and function in the toad Bufo marinus.(Research)(Report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Many agricultural contaminants disrupt endocrine systems of wildlife. However, evidence of endocrine disruption in wild amphibians living in agricultural areas has been controversial. Typically, studies on the effects of pollutants...

Following the water: a controlled study of drinking water storage in northern coastal Ecuador.(Research)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: To design the most appropriate interventions to improve water quality and supply, information is needed to assess water contamination in a variety of community settings, including those that rely primarily on unimproved surface...

S-Ethyl-N, N-dipropylthiocarbamate exposure and cancer incidence among male pesticide applicators in the agricultural health study: a prospective cohort.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: The Agricultural Health Study (AHS) is a prospective cohort study of licensed pesticide applicators from Iowa and North Carolina enrolled between 1993 and 1997- EPTC (S-ethyl-N, N-thipropylthiocarbamate) is a thiocarbamate herbicide...

Global DNA hypomethylation is associated with high serum-persistent organic pollutants in Greenlandic Inuit.(Research)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may influence epigenetic mechanisms; therefore, they could affect chromosomal stability and gene expression. DNA methylation, an epigenetic mechanism, has been associated with cancer initiation...

Aflatoxin exposure and viral hepatitis in the etiology of liver cirrhosis in the Gambia, West Africa.(Research)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Cirrhosis of the liver is thought to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, but few controlled studies on the etiology of cirrhosis have been conducted in this region. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to...

Associations of serum concentrations of persistent organic pollutants with the prevalence of periodontal disease and subpopulations of white blood cells.(Research)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which are endocrine disruptors that accumulate in adipose tissue, can increase the risk of periodontal disease through the disturbance of the immune system. OBJECTIVE: We examined...

Meeting report: risk assessment of Tamiflu use under pandemic conditions.(Research)(Conference notes)
November 1, 2008... On 3 October 2007, 40 participants with deiverse expertise attended the workshop Tamiflu and the Environment: Implications of Use under Pandemic Conditions to assess the potential human health impact and environmental hazards associated with...

Meeting report: moving upstream--evaluating adverse upstream end points for improved risk assessment and Decision-Making.(Research)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Assessing adverse effects from environmental chemical exposure is integral to public health policies- Toxicology assays identifying early biological changes from chemical exposure are increasing our ability to evaluate links between...

Childhood lymphohematopoietic cancer incidence and hazardous air pollutants in southeast texas, 1995-2004.(Children's Health)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second leading cause of death among U.S. children with few known risk factors. There is increasing interest in the role of air pollutants, including benzene and 1,3-butadiene, in the etiology of childhood cancers. ...

Influence of glutathione S-transferase polymorphisms on cognitive functioning effects induced by p,p'-ddt among preschoolers.(Children's Health)(Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane)(Clinical report)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: Early-life exposure to p,p'-DDT [2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl) -1, 1, 1 - trichloroethane] is associated with a decrease in cognitive skills among preschoolers at 4 years of age. We hypothesized that genetic variability in glutathione...

Prenatal exposure to lead, [delta]-aminolevulinic acid, and schizophrenia: further evidence.(Children's Health)
November 1, 2008... BACKGROUND: A previously conducted study of prenatal lead exposure and schizophrenia using [delta]-aminolevulinic acid, a biologic marker of Pb exposure, in archived maternal serum samples collected from subjects enrolled in the Childhood...

2008.(Calendar)
November 1, 2008... November 15-18 November, Mon-Thu. 4th EMBO Conference: From Functional Genomics to Systems Biology. Heidelberg, Germany. Information; Sylke Helbing, Meyerhofstrafie 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany, +49 [0] 6221 387-0, (fax) +49 {0] 6221...

Bending science: How special interests corrupt public health research.
November 1, 2008... Biased reporting of science has been documented for industry-supported research on many hazardous substances, including the plasticizer bisphenol A, secondhand tobacco smoke, asbestos, and lead. Several books that have hit the stands recently...

New Books.(List)
November 1, 2008... Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy, 2nd ed. Greg Pahl Write River Junction, VT:Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008. 296 pp. ISBN: 978-1-933-39296-7, $19.95 Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment R., Nieder, D.K. Benbi...