Environmental Health Perspectives articles from September 2005

Environmental Health Perspectives archives from September 2005

The future of environmental medicine in environmental health perspectives: where should we be headed?(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... In 1998, Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) began "Grand Rounds in Environmental Medicine" as a regular feature (Hu 1998; Hu and Woolf 2003). This soon led to an expanded Environmental Medicine section that aimed to regularly publish...

Training the next generation.(NIEHS DIRECTOR'S PERSPECTIVE)
September 1, 2005... Many factors go into achieving the highest-quality research: a clear vision, sufficient funding, and supportive facilities, to name just a few. But without question, the most critical factor is the human one. All great research starts with a...

IARC carcinogen update.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... We recently published an article in which we presented a list of occupational carcinogens (Siemiatycki et al. 2004), based on the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Monographs Program. Our review covered Volumes 1-83 of the IARC...

Indoor- and outdoor-generated particles and children with Asthma.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... In their article "Pulmonary Effects of Indoor- and Outdoor-Generated Particles in Children with Asthma," Koenig et al. (2005) made use of their really interesting model that enables them to discern exposure from indoor- and outdoor-generated...

Indoor- and outdoor-generated particles: Koenig et al. respond.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... We appreciate Moshammer's comments and his interest in our research. We have several points to raise in reply. In our article (Koenig et al. 2005), we stated that indoor sources are known to affect airway inflammation. We recognized that...

Blood lead and IQ in older children.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... In their article about blood lead and IQ in older children, Chen et al. (2005) made the very important observation that IQ (intelligence quotient) in older children correlates better with their current blood lead level than with levels...

Comparison of study controls.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... In the article "Natural Variability and the Influence of Concurrent Control Values on the Detection and Interpretation of Low-Dose or Weak Endocrine Toxicities," Ashby et al. (2004) discounted a number of studies reporting low-dose effects...

Study controls: Ashby responds.(Perspectives / Correspondence)
September 1, 2005... Figure 1 is the relevant summary figure (Figure 8) from our article (Ashby et al. 2004). Our point in the article, as well as now, is that it is incumbent upon each investigator to accept, to study, and where possible, to understand the extent,...

Erratum.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2005... In "Decrease in Anogenital Distance among Male Infants with Prenatal Phthalate Exposure" [Environ Health Perspect 113:1056-1061 (2005)], Shanna Swan's affiliation was listed as University of Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota. The correct location...

Empowering indigenous peoples.(Sustainable Development)
September 1, 2005... Deforestation, erosion, and loss of biodiversity all directly affect Central American indigenous peoples' sustenance, health, and way of life. The new Integrated Ecosystem Management in Indigenous Communities Regional Program (IEM) aims to...

Meth's pollution epidemic.(Drug Abuse)
September 1, 2005... Methamphetamine problems are soaring nationwide. Nearly 60% of county officials report that meth is the largest drug problem in their county, and 87% saw jumps in meth arrests in the past three years, according to a survey released in July 2005...

Watching mines in eastern Europe.(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... In January 2000, cyanide from a Romanian gold mine spilled into the Tisza River, killing nearly all the aquatic life and fouling the drinking water of millions of people. To help avoid such incidents in the future, government officials from a...

Smoking ends up on cutting-room floor.(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... "Bollywood," the Indian film industry and the world's largest producer of films, has been ordered by the Indian government to cut movie and TV scenes showing actors smoking, effective October 2005. Announcement of the ban set off a flurry of...

The power of pachyderm poo.(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... The Rosamund Gifford Zoo of Syracuse, New York, is investigating a potential new source of renewable energy, one that is based on the dally output of the zoo's own residents, especially its six elephants--the zoo is looking at the half-ton of...

Tattoos: safe symbols?(Metal Toxicity)
September 1, 2005... A 2003 Harris Poll reported that 16% of U.S. adults are tattooed, including over a third of those aged 25-29. Despite the art's growing popularity, the toxicology of tattoos is poorly understood. Now some ink components--particularly heavy...

Green farming equipment.(Agriculture)
September 1, 2005... California's San Joaquin Valley, known for its rich harvests of grapes, tomatoes, and oranges, is also prone to smog and ground-level ozone created when the equipment that works the land combines with the natural topography. Now farmers can do...

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.(Forum)
September 1, 2005... The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is the largest assessment to date of the health of the world's ecosystems. Launched in 2001 by United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan and authorized by governments through four international...

Herbal answers for deadly diseases.(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... Ohio State University researcher shave found that extracts from two Mojave Desert plants can kill the parasites that cause leishmaniasis and African sleeping sickness. These diseases afflict millions, primarily in developing nations, and are...

Nanotech to the rescue?(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... A new study by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics shows just how useful new nanotechnologies could be in helping developing countries overcome urgent problems such as extreme poverty, hunger, environmental degradation, and...

Africa afire.(The Beat)
September 1, 2005... By 2030, smoke from wood-fueled cooking fires will cause about 10 million premature deaths among African women and children, and by 2050, such fires will release 7 billion tons of carbon into the environment, according to a study published 1...

Dwelling on differences in health.(Environews / NIEHS News)
September 1, 2005... While millions of Americans suffer from illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancers of the breast and prostate, these maladies affect certain population groups more than others, for a host of complex...

Timeless protein plays a role in coupling cell cycle and circadian rhythm.(Headliners/ Proteins)
September 1, 2005... Unsal-Kacmaz K, Mullen TE, Kaufmann WK, Sancar A. 2005. Coupling of human circadian and cell cycles by the Timeless protein. Mol Cell Biol 25:3109-3116. In mammals, the Timeless protein is necessary for proper functioning of circadian...

Cultivating environmental leadership in the Midwest.(Beyond the Bench)
September 1, 2005... Today's youth are the environmental health leaders of tomorrow. The Environmental Health Sciences Research Center (EHSRC) at The University of Iowa, in conjunction with its partner, the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and...

Population equation: balancing what we need with what we have.(Environews/ Focus)
September 1, 2005... Planet Earth, now home to about 6.5 billion human beings, has thus far disproved the doomsayers. In 1798, Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus predicted that population would outrun food supply on the assumption that human numbers would increase at a...

Keeping afloat: a strategy for small island nations.(Environews/ Spheres of Influence)
September 1, 2005... Looking for some adventure? Then how about a trip to Fiji, the Caribbean, or the Seychelles? With their palm trees, lazy beaches, and clear turquoise waters, few places have more appeal than the world's island nations. Roughly 40 such...

Breaking the code: predicting where disease will strike.(Environews/ Innovations)
September 1, 2005... Health authorities today enjoy an embarrassment of riches when it comes to data on disease incidence, thanks to the rapidly increasing use of electronic record keeping at hospitals, clinics, and related businesses such as pharmacies. Where...

Rocking the cradle: phthalate exposure in NICU infants.(Environews/ Science Selections)
September 1, 2005... Animal studies have linked di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) with reproductive and developmental toxicity, and have demonstrated an especially pronounced effect on testicular development when administered postnatally. Previous research has...

Arsenic and prostate cancer: acquiring androgen independence.(Environews/ Science Selections)
September 1, 2005... Scientists already suspect that prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in U.S. men, is linked with chronic arsenic exposure. Now a team of researchers reports that human prostate cells that underwent chronic, low-level...

Air pollution in space and time: birth outcomes are complicated by exposure variations.(Environews/ Science Selections)
September 1, 2005... The association between air pollution and adverse effects on human birth outcomes is drawing increasing attention worldwide. In one of the latest developments, two epidemiologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have found that...

When lead goes to your head: genotype may link exposure and meningioma.(Environews/ Science Selections)
September 1, 2005... Scientists know very little about the causes of most brain tumors. A small percentage of cases can be explained by familial syndromes, or by exposure to ionizing radiation, but the precise roles of specific genes or other environmental factors,...

The NAS perchlorate review: questions remain about the perchlorate RfD.(Commentary)
September 1, 2005... Human exposure to perchlorate is commonplace because it is a contaminant of drinking water, certain foods, and breast milk. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a perchlorate risk assessment in 2002 that yielded a reference...

Methylmercury contamination of laboratory animal diets.(Commentary)
September 1, 2005... In the midst of research focusing on the neurodevelopmental effects of mercury vapor in rats, we detected significant levels of mercury (30-60 ng/g) in the blood of nonexposed control subjects. We determined that the dominant form of the...

Arsenic: a roadblock to potential animal waste management solutions.(Commentary)
September 1, 2005... The localization and intensification of the poultry industry over the past 50 years have incidentally created a largely ignored environmental management crisis. As a result of these changes in poultry production, concentrated animal feeding...

Assessing susceptibility from early-life exposure to carcinogens.
September 1, 2005... Cancer risk assessment methods currently assume that children and adults are equally susceptible to exposure to chemicals. We reviewed available scientific literature to determine whether this was scientifically supported. We identified more...

Acquisition of androgen independence by human prostate epithelial cells during arsenic-induced malignant transformation.(Research)
September 1, 2005... Lethal phenotypes of human prostate cancer are characterized by progression to androgen independence, although the mechanisms behind this progression remain unclear. Arsenic is a potential human prostate carcinogen that may affect tumor...

Fine particulate matter national ambient air quality standards: public health impact on populations in the northeastern United States.(Research)
September 1, 2005... In this article we identify the magnitude of general and susceptible populations within the northeastern United States that would benefit from compliance with alternative U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) annual and 24-hr mass-based...

Using moving total mortality counts to obtain improved estimates for the effect of air pollution on mortality.(Research)
September 1, 2005... In many cities of the United States, measurements of ambient particulate matter air pollution (PM) are available only once every 6 days. Time-series studies conducted in these cities that investigate the relationship between mortality and PM...

Dietary intake and arsenic methylation in a U.S. population.(Research)
September 1, 2005... Millions of people worldwide are exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water, and ingestion of inorganic arsenic (InAs) has been associated with increased risks of cancer. The primary metabolic pathway of ingested InAs is methylation to...

Pesticide exposure alters follicle-stimulating hormone levels in Mexican agricultural workers.(Research)
September 1, 2005... Organophosphorous pesticides (OPs) are suspected of altering reproductive function by reducing brain acetylcholinesterase activity and monoamine levels, thus impairing hypothalamic and/or pituitary endocrine functions and gonadal processes. Our...

Design of a microsphere-based high-throughput gene expression assay to determine estrogenic potential.(Research)
September 1, 2005... Recently gene expression studies have been multiplied at an accelerated rate by the use of high-density microarrays. By assaying thousands of transcripts at a time, microarrays have led to the discovery of dozens of genes involved in particular...

Microwaves from GSM mobile telephones affect 53BP1 and [gamma]-H2AX foci in human lymphocytes from hypersensitive and healthy persons.(Research)
September 1, 2005... The data on biologic effects of nonthermal microwaves (MWs) from mobile telephones are diverse, and these effects are presently ignored by safety standards of the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). In the...

Physiologic and symptomatic responses to low-level substances in individuals with and without chemical sensitivities: a randomized controlled blinded pilot booth study.(Research)
September 1, 2005... We conducted a pilot study using a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled exposure among 10 individuals with and 7 without reported chemical sensitivities in a dedicated testing chamber. Objectives of the study were to explore the length...

Correlating agricultural use of organophosphates with outdoor air concentrations: a particular concern for children.(Research)
September 1, 2005... For the organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos, median inhalation noncancer, acute children's exposures in agricultural communities are elevated above reference doses; for diazinon, similar exposures are nearly elevated. We used multivariate...

Testing the dose-response specification in epidemiology: public health and policy consequences for lead.(Research)
September 1, 2005... Statistical evaluation of the dose--response function in lead epidemiology is rarely attempted. Economic evaluation of health benefits of lead reduction usually assumes a linear dose-response function, regardless of the outcome measure used. We...

The development and use of an innovative laboratory method for measuring arsenic in drinking water from western Bangladesh.(Research)
September 1, 2005... All of Bangladesh's approximately 10 million drinking-water tube wells must be periodically tested for arsenic. The magnitude of this task and the limited resources of Bangladesh have led to the use of low-cost, semiquantitative field kits that...

Meeting report: summary of IARC Monographs on formaldehyde, 2-butoxyethanol, and 1-tert-butoxy-2-propanol.(Research)
September 1, 2005... An international, interdisciplinary working group of expert scientists met in June 2004 to develop IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans (IARC Monographs) on formaldehyde, 2-butoxyethanol, and...

[delta]-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase polymorphism and risk of brain tumors in adults.(Research / Environmental Medicine)
September 1, 2005... The enzyme [delta]-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD), which catalyzes the second step of heme synthesis, can be inhibited by several chemicals, including lead, a potential risk factor for brain tumors, particularly meningioma. In this...

Local variations in CO and particulate air pollution and adverse birth outcomes in Los Angeles County, California, USA.(Research / Children's Health)
September 1, 2005... We extended our previous analyses of term low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth to 1994-2000, a period of declining air pollution levels in the South Coast Air Basin. We speculated that the effects we observed previously for carbon monoxide,...

Use of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate--containing medical products and urinary levels of mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in neonatal intensive care unit infants.(Research / Children's Health)
September 1, 2005... OBJECTIVE: Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a plasticizer used in medical products made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and may be toxic to humans. DEHP is lipophilic and binds noncovalently to PVC, allowing it to leach from these...

Baseline micronuclei frequency in children: estimates from meta- and pooled analyses.(Research / Children's Health)
September 1, 2005... The number of studies evaluating the effect of environmental exposure to genotoxic agents in children has rapidly increased in the last few years. The frequency of micronuclei (MN) in peripheral blood lymphocytes determined with the cytokinesis...

Early environmental origins of neurodegenerative disease in later life.(Research/ Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... Parkinson disease (PD) and Alzheimer disease (AD), the two most common neurodegenerative disorders in American adults, are of purely genetic origin in a minority of cases and appear in most instances to arise through interactions among genetic...

The role of early life environmental risk factors in Parkinson disease: what is the evidence?(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... Parkinson disease (PD) is of unknown but presumably multifactorial etiology. Neuropathologic studies and animal models show that exposure to environmental neurotoxicants can determine progressive damage in the substantia nigra many years before...

Fetal environment and schizophrenia.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... Schizophrenia and related disorders are adult-onset illnesses with no definitively established risk factors. Several studies report that exposures to infection and nutritional deprivation during early development may elevate the risk of later...

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors that can affect sensitivity to neurotoxic sequelae in elderly individuals.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... Early-life exposure to agents that modulate neurologic function can have long-lasting effects well into the geriatric period. Many other factors can affect neurologic function and susceptibility to neurotoxicants in elderly individuals. In this...

Neurodegenerative diseases: an overview of environmental risk factors.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... The population of the United States is aging, and an ever-increasing number of Americans are afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases. Because the pathogenesis of many of these diseases remains unknown, we must consider that environmental...

Aging and the environment: a research framework.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... The rapid growth in the number of older Americans has many implications for public health, including the need to better understand the risks posed to older adults by environmental exposures. Biologic capacity declines with normal aging; this...

Developmental pesticide models of the Parkinson disease phenotype.(Research / Mini-Monograph)
September 1, 2005... It has been hypothesized that developmental insults could contribute to Parkinson disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder resulting from the loss of the dopamine neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway. Two models of developmental pesticide...

Science education: the future begins today!(Announcements / NIEHS Extramural Update)
September 1, 2005... Today, more than ever, science education is essential for increasing our science literacy and cultivating the next generation of scientists. Science literacy is key to helping us make sense of the information we receive in this fast-paced world...

Tools for zebrafish research.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
September 1, 2005... This Program Announcement (PA) is to encourage investigator-initiated applications designed to exploit the power of the zebrafish as a vertebrate model for biomedical and behavior research. Applications proposing to develop new tools or genetic...

Innate immunity to NIAID Category B protozoa.(Announcements / Fellowships, Grants, & Awards)
September 1, 2005... This initiative will support basic research to define the mechanisms of action by which the innate immune system recognizes and responds to the food and waterborne eukaryotes classified as NIAID Category B priority protozoan pathogens (...

Calendar.(Announcements)(Calendar)
September 1, 2005... 2005 September 4-6 September, Sun-Tue. 11th International Conference of the Pacific Basin Consortium: Threats to Human Health and Sustainability in the Pacific Basin. Honolulu, Hawaii. Information: June Kuramoto, East-West Center,...

Prescription for a Healthy Nation: A New Approach to Improving Our Lives by Fixing Our Everyday World.
September 1, 2005... By Tom Farley and Deborah Cohen Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2005 243 pp. ISBN: 0-8070-2116-4, $24.95 cloth Much of our daily news is devoted to health care crises. Spiraling health care costs, which currently consume one-seventh of the U.S....

New Books.(Announcements)
September 1, 2005... Children's Health and the Environment: Developing Action Plans L. Licari, L. Nemer, G. Tamburlini Geneva: World Health Organization, 2005. 96 pp. ISBN: 92-890-1374-5, $36 Computational Genome Analysis: An Introduction Richard C. Deonier,...