Environmental Health Perspectives articles from October 2007

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from October 2007

GENERAL POLICY.(2007 Instructions to Authors)
October 1, 2007... Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) is a monthly journal of peer-reviewed research and news dedicated to the discussion of the impact of the environment on human health. We also publish a quarterly Chinese-language edition and occasional...

Access Denied.(Editorial)(health care information)
October 1, 2007... Accessibility to state-of-the-art environmental health studies, public health research, and clinical medical practices is a major problem in developing countries. To compound the problem, the information found in international journals is often...

The conquest of lead poisoning: a pyrrhic victory.(Editorial)
October 1, 2007... The dramatic decline in childhood lead poisoning in the United States has often been declared a public health victory. The history of lead poisoning has all the essential elements of a successful campaign: A long, embittered battle was waged by...

Definition of occupational lead toxicity in Greece.(Correspondence)
October 1, 2007... We read with interest the article of Kosnett et al. (2007) in which the authors offered medical recommendations for the health management of lead-exposed adults. These recommendations were intended to apply to all workers who have the potential...

Serum PFOA levels in residents of communities near a teflon-production facility.(Correspondence)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... In a recent article, Tillett (2007) reported on research by the University of Pennsylvania NIEHS (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET). CEET deputy director Edward Emmett...

Blood lead and water treatment.(Correspondence)(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2007... Miranda et al. (2007) recently reported the results of their investigation into the relationship between blood lead levels and residual water treatment in two locations in North Carolina. Their conclusion that "the change to chloramine...

Blood lead and water treatment: Miranda et al. respond.(Correspondence)
October 1, 2007... In response to our study (Miranda et al. 2007), in which we found an association between age of housing, water treatment practices, and blood lead levels, Weintraub concludes that a more prudent approach to prevent lead exposure via...

Saving the lives of children under 5.(ENVIRONMENTAL DISEASE)
October 1, 2007... Save the Children has compiled the first ever league table ranking 60 developing nations in their efforts to preserve the lives of their youngest citizens. This information, published in the May 2007 report State of the World's Mothers 2007:...

The sweet scent on baby's breath?(CHEMICAL EXPOSURES)(polycyclic musks in breast milk)
October 1, 2007... Synthetic fragrances known as polycyclic musks are added to soap, shampoo, deodorant, cleaning agents, cosmetics, and other consumer products. Now they are also turning up in human breast milk. In the first U.S. study to measure polycyclic...

Cars, kids, and cigarettes don't mix.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... In August 2007 New York City councilman James Gennaro proposed a city ban on smoking in cars with passengers under the age of 18, following the example of similar measures in other parts of the United States and Australia. In July 2006, for...

Green school movement.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Green schools, with features such as natural lighting and low-emission building materials, generally see lower rates of asthma and allergies among students and staff, better student attendance, and higher teacher retention. Green schools...

What keeps little ones up at night.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Studies in the July 2007 issue of Early Human Development and the September 2007 issue of Pediatrics have uncovered factors that may disrupt infant and toddler sleep. The first study identified a link between anxiety and depression in pregnant...

Lag in Label Laws.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... A decade ago, the FDA admitted that its regulations regarding pharmaceutical labeling needed revision to help protect pregnant women against taking products that could harm their unborn children. Although a new labeling system has been...

Early puberty among U.S. girls.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The risk of breast cancer can increase by as much as 50% in women who reach menarche at age 12 compared with age 16. Other possible effects of early puberty include depression, anxiety, and eating and adjustment disorders. The Falling Age of...

Sussing out high blood pressure in kids.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... About 2 million U.S. children and adolescents are estimated to have high blood pressure, but 1.5 million of their cases may be undiagnosed, according to a study in the 22 August 2007 issue of JAMA. A review of more than 14,000 child medical...

Iron deficiency in toddlers.(The Beat)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in the September 2007 issue of Pediatrics that being overweight and not attending daycare both put toddlers at high risk for iron deficiency. Iron-deficiency anemia in the formative years is...

Secondhand behavioral problems.(NEUROLOGY)
October 1, 2007... Children whose mothers regularly smoked during pregnancy are known to be more likely to exhibit disruptive and aggressive behavior than children of nonsmoking mothers. A new study now finds that children born even to nonsmoking mothers who were...

You are what your mother ate.(Diet and Nutrition)
October 1, 2007... It is now axiomatic that the in utero environment influences prenatal development and may trigger structural and functional changes that can persist for a lifetime. New evidence of the importance of the womb environment for the long-term health...

Peace Child International.(ehpnet)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Peace Child International (PCI) works through affiliated groups in more than 100 countries to inspire young people to become more socially and environmentally conscious through education, leadership development, and community involvement. PCI...

Environmental literacy: knowledge for a healthier public.(Focus)
October 1, 2007... In 1988, New York City's West Harlem community had a problem. The recently opened North River Sewage Treatment Plant, which stretches eight blocks along the Hudson River, was doing a poor job of processing about 170 million gallons of raw...

Standing on principle: the global push for environmental justice.(Spheres of Influence)
October 1, 2007... Climate change, acid rain, depletion of the ozone layer, species extinction--all of these issues point to one thing: environmental health is a global issue that concerns all nations of the world. Now add environmental justice to the list. From...

Autism and agricultural pesticides: integrating data to track trends.(Science Selections)
October 1, 2007... The purpose of the CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking Program is to integrate diverse data sources for surveillance and research. In a demonstration project by program grantees, a powerful convergence of data on births, social services,...

Feeling the burn: combustion by-products put kids at risk.(Science Selections)
October 1, 2007... One of the most extensive studies of the link between lower respiratory diseases and ambient concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of widespread air pollutants, has found that the chemicals are a potent problem for...

A reason to rethink groups: new approach links PCBs, thyroid disruption.(Science Selections)(polychlorinated biphenyls )
October 1, 2007... The production of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), once widely used in electrical transformers, plastics, and other products, has been banned in the United States since the 1970s. Nevertheless, most Americans carry measurable levels of PCBs...

DDT and breast cancer revisited: new findings in an old debate.(Science Selections)(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)
October 1, 2007... Author Rachel Carson made the initial claim in her 1962 best-seller Silent Spring. Subsequent studies, including a meta-analysis published in EHP [Lopez-Cervantes et al. 112:207-214], downplayed the connection. Now researchers have found new...

Reducing Health Disparities Among Minority and Underserved Children (R21).(Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
October 1, 2007... This initiative is designed to stimulate research that targets the reduction of health disparities among children. For purposes of this initiative, health disparities apply to children who have limited access to resources and privileges that...

International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum Development Award (R25).(Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
October 1, 2007... Few developing country institutions provide formal education in research ethics, and few developed country programs for advanced research ethics education/training focus in depth on the internationally relevant aspects of research ethics....

Announcements.(Bibliography)
October 1, 2007... A Computer Scientist's Guide to Cell Biology William W. Cohen New York:Springer, 2007. 100 pp. ISBN: 978-0-387-48275-0, S29.95 Accounting for Climate Change: Uncertainty in Greenhouse Gas Inventories--Verification, Compliance, and...

The ambulatory pediatric association fellowship in pediatric environmental health: A 5-year assessment.(Commentary)
October 1, 2007... Background: Evidence is mounting that environmental exposures contribute to causation of disease in children. Yet few pediatricians are trained to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease of environmental origin. Objectives: To develop a cadre...

Addendum.
October 1, 2007... At the end of "Program Description," a new section, "Conclusion of funding," has been added.

Comparative assessment of air pollution--related health risks in Houston.(Commentary)(Texas)
October 1, 2007... Background: Airborne emissions from numerous point, area, and mobile sources, along with stagnant meteorologic conditions, contribute to frequent episodes of elevated air pollution in Houston, Texas. To address this problem, decision makers...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... Table 4, published online in the original manuscript, has been deleted here. The relevant information now appears in "Results."

Developing asthma in childhood from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke: insights from a meta-regression.(Review)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Objective: Studies have identified associations between household secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure and induction of childhood asthma. However, the true nature and strength of this association remains confounded in many studies, producing...

Cancer mortality and incidence of mesothelioma in a cohort of wives of asbestos workers in Casale Monferrato, Italy.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Background: Family members of asbestos workers are at increased risk of malignant mesothelioma (MM). Although the hazard is established, the magnitude of the risk is uncertain, and it is unclear whether risk is also increased for other cancers....

DDT and breast cancer in young women: new data on the significance of age at exposure.(Research)(dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... BACKGROUND: Previous studies of DDT and breast cancer assessed exposure later in life when the breast may not have been vulnerable, after most DDT had been eliminated, and after DDT had been banned. OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether DDT...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... In the original manuscript published online, a data point for New York City in 1986 was inadvertently omitted from Figure 1B. It has been corrected here.

Association between arsenic exposure from drinking water and plasma levels of soluble cell adhesion molecules.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Background: Epidemiologic studies of cardiovascular disease risk factors and appropriate bio-markers in populations exposed to a wide range of arsenic levels are a public health research priority. Objective: We investigated the relationship...

Relationship of blood mercury levels to health parameters in the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).(Research)
October 1, 2007... Background: Mercury is a pervasive environmental pollutant whose toxic effects have not been studied in sea turtles in spite of their threatened status and evidence of immunosuppression in diseased populations. Objectives: In the present...

Plasma concentrations of selected organobromine compounds and polychlorinated biphenyls in postmenopausal women of Quebec, Canada.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Background: Brominated flame retardants, especially polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), have been widely used in North America, but little is known about the level of exposure of human populations to these compounds. Objectives: We set...

A Biomonitoring Study of Lead, Cadmium, and Mercury in the blood of New York City adults.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Objectives: We assessed the extent of exposure to lead, cadmium, and mercury in the New York City (NYC) adult population. Methods: We measured blood metal concentrations in a representative sample of 1,811 NYC residents as part of the NYC...

Diabetes in relation to serum levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides in adult Native Americans.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Background: Recent research suggests that diabetes, a condition whose incidence is increasing, is associated with exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides. Objectives: We investigated the potential association...

Prolonged toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of Paraquat in Mouse Brain.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Background: Paraquat (PQ) has been implicated as a risk factor for the Parkinson disease phenotype (PDP) in humans and mice using epidemiologic or experimental approaches. The toxicokinetics (TK) and toxicodynamics (TD) of PQ in the brain are...

Tumor suppressor gene inactivation during cadmium-induced malignant transformation of human prostate cells correlates with overexpression of de novo DNA methyltransferase.(Research)(deoxyribonucleic acid)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... In mammals the methylation of cytosine residues in DNA by DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) is the predominant postreplication base modification (Das and Singal 2004). Mammalian DNMTs transfer a methyl group from S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) to the...

Identification of gene markers for formaldehyde exposure in humans.(Research)
October 1, 2007... Formaldehyde (FA) is an industrial chemical used for manufacturing building materials and household products. It is also found in automobile emissions and tobacco smoke. Inhalation of FA induces sensory irritation at relatively low...

A phytoestrogen-rich diet increases energy expenditure and decreases adiposity in mice.(Research)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... In Western society obesity has become a major health problem, and it is beginning to replace undernutrition and infectious diseases as the most significant contributor to ill health worldwide. Overweight individuals have a strong predisposition...

Assessing exposure to atrazine and its metabolites using biomonitoring.(Research)
October 1, 2007... Atrazine (ATZ; 2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) is a systemic triazine herbicide that blocks photosynthesis in broadleaf weeds and some grassy weeds (Laws and Hayes 1991). ATZ is currently one of the two most widely used...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... The percent contribution for "Low-level acute exposures" in Figure 5 was changed from that in the original manuscript published online.

Case report: mixed cholestatic/hepatocellular liver injury induced by the herbicide quizalofop-p-ethyl.(Environmental Medicine)(Case study)
October 1, 2007... Quizalofop-p-ethyl {(R)-2-[4-(6-chloro-quinoxalin-2-yloxy)phenoxy] propionic acid; QpE} is a selective, postemergence phenoxy herbicide that belongs to the chemical group of aryloxyphenoxypropionic acids. The aryloxyphenoxypropionic acids,...

Maternal residence near agricultural pesticide applications and autism spectrum disorders among children in the California Central Valley.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2007... "Autism" refers to a set of neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by impaired social interaction, restricted communication, and repetitive, stereotypic behaviors. The number of children reported as having autism spectrum disorders...

Associations between prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone levels in a Mexican-American population, Salinas Valley, California.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2007... Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chemicals that were widely used in electrical transformers, inks, plastics, and other consumer products. A total of 209 PCB congeners can be produced depending on the number of chlorine atoms and...

Relationship between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-DNA adducts, environmental tobacco smoke, and Child Development in the World Trade Center cohort.(Children's Health)(deoxyribonucleic acid)
October 1, 2007... In this research we focused on possible neurodevelopmental risks of prenatal exposure to pollutants emitted by the World Trade Center (WTC) fires because of prior experimental and human evidence that some of the pollutants can affect the...

Determinants of arsenic metabolism: blood arsenic metabolites, plasma folate, cobalamin, and homocysteine concentrations in maternal-newborn pairs.(Children's Health)(Clinical report)
October 1, 2007... Exposure to arsenic-contaminated drinking water represents one of the largest public health poisonings in history, affecting tens of millions of people worldwide (Chowdhury 2004). Bangladesh is one of the most severely affected regions. Adverse...

Early childhood lower respiratory illness and air pollution.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2007... Research linking air pollution with morbidity and mortality indicates the strongest effects on the very young and the elderly. Higher infant and early childhood mortality has been associated with elevated ambient particle concentrations in...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 1, 2007... In "Respiratory illnesses," some of the numbers of events under various ICD-10 codes; the rates of croup in "Respiratory illness rates"; and some values in Table 3 for "Day of the week" were incorrect in the manuscript originally published...

Flame retardants in placenta and breast milk and cryptorchidism in newborn boys.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2007... Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are widely used as flame retardants, and the general population is exposed through products such as upholstery, building materials, insulation, electronic equipment, and contaminated food. PBDEs are added...

The contribution of dental amalgam to urinary mercury excretion in children.(Children's Health)
October 1, 2007... Much attention has focused on potential adverse health effects associated with exposure to mercury and mercury compounds. Of particular public health concern has been possible neurologic impairment associated with prolonged exposure to...