Epidemiological aspects of magnesium and calcium metabolism. Implications of altered magnesium metabolism in women taking drugs for the suppression of ovulation.
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Calcium↗
Biomedical subjects
J R Goldsmith
Publications and source records attributed to J R Goldsmith.
The Karolinska studies of twins.
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Diseases in Twins↗
Dietary and clastogenic factors in children who immigrated to Israel from regions contaminated by the Chernobyl accident.
The authors evaluated the possible association between dietary history and plasma clastogenic factors in children who immigrated to Israel between 1989 and 1993 from regions contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. The authors compared questionnaire data about demographic variables, dietary histories before and after immigration occurred, and health status with clastogenic factor scores for 162 immigrants. Logistic regression analysis revealed a negative association between clastogenic factor scores and frequency of consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit among children < or = 7 yr of age during the postimmigration period. Intake of eggs and fish by boys who were < or = 7 yr of age prior to immigration was associated positively with clastogenic factor scores. Consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits afforded protection to the immune systems of children who were < or = 7 yr of age.
Adolescent↗
Reproductive outcomes in families of DBCP-exposed men.
The families of 30 workers employed in a plant which, until 1977, had produced 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), have been monitored for 5 yr. Thirteen men who were azoospermic in 1977 had more than 100 hr of estimated exposure in production; of these, 4 have recovered spermatogenesis and 2 have fathered 4 female children. Eight men who were oligospermic in 1977 had been exposed for 34-95 hr; of 8 children subsequently born to their wives, 6 were female. Five men with exposure times estimated to be between 10 and 60 hr were normospermic in 1977, and of 5 children subsequently born to them, 4 were male and 1 was female. The outcome of the pregnancies among families of 4 non-exposed men and of exposed men prior to exposure resulted in 27 male and 24 female children. No increase in spontaneous abortion occurred in pregnancies fathered by exposed men. Four infant deaths and 5 congenital anomalies occurred among the babies born of unexposed pregnancies. No infant or fetal deaths and no congenital abnormalities occurred among children born to wives of men after the men were exposed. The birth of at least 10 females of 12 babies born to wives of exposed men with evidence of testicular toxicity would be expected according to binomial probabilities with a P = .015. The children born to families of exposed workers are in good health. A possible explanation for the observed female sex predominance might be Y chromosome non-disjunction, which was reported to be more frequent in sperm of DBCP workers by Kapp et al.
Abortion, Spontaneous↗
Improving the prospects for environmental epidemiology.
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Environmental Exposure↗
Longitudinal study of respiratory conditions among schoolchildren in Israel: interim report of an epidemiological monitoring program in the vicinity of a new coal-fired power plant.
Second and fifth grade schoolchildren living within 19 km of a 1400 megawatt coal-fired power plant were followed-up. The children were first studied in 1980, before the power plant went into operation, and in 1983 after two units were operating. They performed pulmonary function tests (PFT), and their parents filled out American Thoracic Society-National Heart and Lung Institute health questionnaires. In the younger cohort, respiratory symptoms and pneumonia and measles were more common in 1983 than in 1980, while in the older cohort pneumonia and measles showed higher prevalence in 1983 but most respiratory symptoms became less common. Temporal changes in prevalence of respiratory symptoms and diseases and annual increases in PFT within three communities in the region with different expected levels of pollution were analyzed. It appears that effects of age, epidemics, and background variables rather than environmental pollution are responsible for the observed differences.
Age Factors↗
Clustering of Parkinson's disease points to environmental etiology.
On three adjacent kibbutzim in the Negev (southern region) of Israel, 13 cases of Parkinson's disease were found in a population of 592 persons who were at least 40 yr of age. There were no clinical (or other) findings that distinguished these Parkinson's disease cases. Long-term residence is characteristic of this population. During the past 40 yr, water has been supplied to these persons via wells from a common aquifer. On the basis of local age-specific incidence data, no difference in age distribution was found between clustered and nonclustered cases. The incidence of Parkinson's disease is about five times greater in each of the three kibbutzim than in the remainder of the region. The three kibbutzim in the cluster use similar agricultural chemicals, as do other kibbutzim. Although associations with rural residence and well water use have been reported elsewhere, clusters of this sort have not been reported. Clusters strongly suggest that common environmental factors exist. Drinking water and agricultural chemicals are the most likely common environmental factors.
Adult↗
Associations between health and air pollution in time-series analyses.
The objective of this study was to determine the contribution of cyclic geophysical and sociocultural factors and of meterological and pollutant variations to explained variance in asthma admissions. A Poisson regression-type quasi-Fourier generalized linear model was built. We constructed an extended family of models to study the contribution of each variable. Daily observations of children's admissions for asthma were conducted during 2 y in hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. Pollutant data (i.e., fine particles, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone) and meterological data (i.e., maximum and minimum temperatures, mean humidity, and mean barometric pressure) were collected. The result of the final model accounted for 57% of the variance in admissions. The contribution of pollution, with all periodic patterns estimated by Poisson ANOVA, was 14%, even though no pollutant alone made a significant contribution to explained variance. Autocorrelation analysis of residuals showed that the model accounted reasonably well for autocorrelation effects.
Adolescent↗
Prevention, gas masks, and sealed rooms: a public health perspective.
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Biological Warfare↗
Prospective lung health monitoring in relation to a new power plant.
A new power plant has been in operation in Ashkelon since the end of 1990. In order to record the effect of the environmental changes on lung health, a prospective monitoring system was established during the planning and construction phase of the plant. Data about lung health in the general population as well as the sensitive population (asthma patients) are recorded, and air pollution is monitored by seven monitoring stations located within a 5-25 km radius of the power plant. The lung health monitoring system includes: (1) A record of all visits to the local emergency room. (2) A record of visits to ten representative outpatient clinics related to cardiac and pulmonary symptoms. (3) A close follow-up of 200 asthmatic children enrolled in the local pediatric pulmonary clinic. This includes spirometry four times yearly, an annual winter check-up by a pediatric pulmonologist, and daily symptoms diary filled in by each patient for two weeks after the spirometry. (4) Spirometry and health questionnaires filled out by the parents of the 3600 studied children once in three years. (5) Mortality rate monitoring, relying on the Ministry of Health death registration. This system has been in operation since 1988, collecting base line data; the follow-up is planned to be operating for ten years. A dynamic interaction of the environmental and epidemiological monitoring systems will facilitate more efficient control of the emmissions from the power plant and better protection of the health of the population.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Child↗
Lung cancer's persistent association with population density in Los Angeles County communities.
119 community clusters assembled from contiguous census tracts are investigated in an ecologic study, using as the dependent variable age-adjusted lung cancer in both sexes, 1970 (CA); independent variables are: population density (PD), % white (Anglo) (WH), % Spanish surname (SP), % black (BL), % Oriental (OR), mean income per capita (IN), % of dwelling units with 1+ persons/room (CR), % annoyed by air pollution 1956 (AP), and male/female population ages 55-64 (M/F). Except for CA and AP all data are from 1970 census, compiled by John Chapman and Anne Coulson. Variables given in percent except for AP are arcsine transformed in order to more closely approximate Gaussian normality. AP is approximately normal already. The association of CA with AP is negative and small, and inclusion of other variables and structures never leads to an interesting or significant association. Positive associations with CA are with PD (r = 0.300) and WH (0.228). M/F has the highest negative association with CA (-0.285), and is positively associated with WH (0.273) and IN (0.388). M/F has a strong negative association with PD (-0.549). CR is negatively associated with CA (-0.173). In testing for the independent contribution of PD, we use the strategy of testing whether divergent methods give convergent results. Path analysis is used to reflect a number of structural assumptions among independent variables, and the association of CA and PD remains consistent and positive. After recoding the variables PD, WH, SP, BL, OR, IN, and CR into five classes of 20 and one of 19, a multiple classification analysis (MCA) is performed, using MF as a continuous co-variable. Although the unadjusted PD has a slightly greater eta than the other variables, WH and IN have a larger beta after adjustment, and the multiple R is similar to that found by path analysis, reflecting explained variance of about 0.5. The deviations of PD, CR, and BL are not monotonic but those of WH and IN are. Analysis is repeated for the 20 communities with highest IN and for the 20 with lowest IN, and the correlations (r) of CA with PD are 0.561 and 0.376 respectively. For the 20 communities with highest proportion SP, the association is a non-significant 0.108, for the 20 with highest BL, it is 0.196 and for the the 40 highest WH, the CA association with PD is 0.772. Data for the 40 most white communities are presented in a path analysis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Female↗
Incorporation of epidemiological findings into radiation protection standards.
In standard setting there is a tendency to use data from experimental studies in preference to findings from epidemiological studies. Yet the epidemiological studies are usually the first and at times the only source of data on such critical effects as cancer, reproductive failure, and chronic cardiac and cardiovascular disease in exposed humans. A critique of the protection offered by current and proposed standards for ionizing and non-ionizing radiation illustrates some of the problems. Similar problems occur with water and air pollutants and with occupational exposures of many types. The following sorts of problems were noted: (a) Consideration of both thermal and non-thermal effects especially of non-ionizing radiation. (b) Interpretation of non-significant results as equivalent to no effect. (c) Accepting author's interpretation of a study, rather than examining its data independently for evidence of hazard. (d) Discounting data on unanticipated effects because of poor fit to preconceptions. (e) Dependence on threshold assumptions and demonstrations of dose-response relationships. (f) Choice of insensitive epidemiological indicators and procedures. (g) Consideration of each study separately, rather than giving weight to the conjunction of evidence from all available studies. These problems may be minimized by greater involvement of epidemiologists and their professional organizations in decisions about health protection.
Electromagnetic Fields↗
Geographical and temporal trends of childhood leukemia in relation to the nuclear plant in the Negev, Israel, 1960-1985.
Gardner et al. (Br Med J 1990; 300: 423-429) reported a high relative risk for childhood leukemia among children, aged 0-24 years at time of diagnosis, born to fathers employed at the Sellafield nuclear plant in the U.K. As a result we looked for spatial and temporal trends of childhood and young adult leukemia in the Negev, where a nuclear plant has been in operation since 1960. We divided the Negev into an Eastern part where plant employees are likely to live, and a Western part where this is quite unlikely. Reported leukemia cases were provided by the Israel Cancer Registry for the age group 0-24, and for the period 1960-1985. We checked this file against data obtained from the hospitals in the area. We added 6 more cases in the Eastern Negev, none in the Western Negev, and none of the reported cases was discarded. There was a total of 192 cases, of which 52% were acute lymphatic leukemia. Jewish and Bedouin children were studied separately. Among Jewish children the average annual incidence rate for the Eastern Negev was 2.76/100,000, the Western Negev 3.51. Over time the leukemia rates were consistently higher in the Western Negev among children aged 0-9 years, which holds especially for acute lymphatic leukemia. There was a sudden increase among girls born during the period 1970-1979 in the northern part of the Western Negev, which was not noticed among boys. No excess cases were found in the small towns around the plant.
Adolescent↗
The usefulness of epidemiology in environmental health protection. I: Atmospheric pollution effects.
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Air Pollutants↗
Apparent results of a spill on the health personnel involved in clean-up.
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Allyl Compounds↗
Babies, bread, and basic science: input output relationships do not generalize.
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Dose-Response Relationship, Drug↗
Why dose-response relationships are often non-linear and some consequences.
Given the dependence of many risk assessments on the assumption of linearity of dose-response relationships in human populations, we analyze the circumstances likely to lead to non-linearity and test our hypothesis of the high prevalence of non-linearity by examination of recent literature. METHODS. The analysis of Bross, based on whether irradiated cells die or can manifest malignancy, leads him to generalize that if a single exposure can have one of two (or more) countervailing outcomes, non-linearity of dose-response will result. We list four other common mechanisms which would have similar effects: symptom-stimulated withdrawal from exposures to respiratory irritants; certain aspects of the "healthy worker effect" (especially its obverse-withdrawal from the work force due to illness); selected consequences of the competing risks of long-term disease; and shift in relative strength among multiple independent variables. We then examine recent literature to see how often reports of linear, monotonic, and non-monotonic dose-response relationships occur and discuss the likelihood of countervailing alternate outcomes in selected examples. RESULTS. Non-linear and linear relationships are about equally frequent. Under circumstances where countervailing outcomes are probable, dose-response relationships should be non-linear and often are. These conditions may also lead to non-linear difference equations, which may manifest "chaotic" attributes. CONCLUSIONS. Regulations and policies cannot be routinely derived on the basis of extrapolating linear dose-response relationships for human populations. Although our analysis is oriented principally to epidemiology, similar considerations apply to toxicological studies as well.
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug↗
[Mortality in young adults: international comparisons].
In searching for an epidemiological indicator which might reflect the impact of the widespread use of various drugs among California youth in the late 1960s, the customary sources of health statistics were found to be unsatisfactory due to the lack of consensus on diagnosis of drug related problems. Examination of mortality of young adults (persons aged 15-24, YAM) showed marked and paradoxical rises when drug use was rising. Males and Blacks had higher rates than females and Whites; motor vehicle accidents were the largest single overall cause. But the rise, both in California and the US was proportionally greater among women and motor vehicle accidents did not contribute to the rise. Examination of rates during mid-1970s for various countries showed that for countries with per capita income less than about $3,000 per year, YAM due to diseases was very closely correlated with per capita income. Above that external cause, YAM and particularly that due to motor vehicle accidents, increased with per capita income. The increase was steeper in some countries than in others. The difference in these two groups of countries was correlated with fraction of national income spent on education and with ethnic homogeneity. In the US fluctuations in YAM paralleled admissions for heroin use. As part of the Epidemiological Revolution, young adult mortality complements infant mortality, since it is closely related to social health, employment opportunities and appropriateness of education. Further, it is important for the potential development of a country, region, or community. This report examines YAM data for mid-1980s from selected countries and notes major changes during the past decade, most countries having shown striking decreases. In some countries high rates of suicide, homicide and death due to civil disorders provide an incentive for further improvement. In other countries, the high rates for death attributed to motor vehicle crashes compels attention. Involvement of young persons themselves in plans for improvement of their opportunities seems an essential strategy, for which the educational strategies suggested by Freire seem to be appropriate.
Adolescent↗