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PubMedDate not supplied

[Hygienic assessment of the influence of climatic factors on the prevalence of respiratory diseases in the Primorye Territory].

A methodology is proposed to assess environmental factors on human health, which is a new type of analyses and helps to substantiate managerial solutions in human health promotion and environmental protection. Stages and an algorithm of calculation of the risk of prevalence of diseases are presented, which has established cause-effect relationships between the climatic parameters and the incidence of respiratory diseases in different age groups and different bioclimatic zones. The established threshold criteria permit a rapid estimation of the influence of environmental factors on morbidity rates and provides a system conception for the development of a complex of therapeutic-and-prophylactic measures.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Preliminary study on health risk from mercury exposure to residents of Wujiazhan town on the Di'er Songhua river, Northeast China.

Mercury concentrations in hair are typically used as a biomarker to assess exposure to mercury. A total of 108 hair samples were collected from residents (age range 5-73 years) of Wujiazhan town, northeast China, to determine total mercury concentrations. Hair mercury concentrations ranged from 0.16 to 199 mg kg(-1) with an average value of 3.41 mg kg(-1). The relationships between mercury concentration and gender and between hair mercury concentration and age were not significant. Overall, 16.7% of all samples were above the RfD value published by the United States Environmental Protection agency. The results indicate that there may be some been health risk from mercury exposure to the residents in the study area.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Organochlorine pesticides and PCBs along the coast of north Vietnam.

Organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were determined in sediments and clams collected from the coast of the north of Vietnam during the rainy season (August-September 1997). Results show that the organochlorine pesticides of major concern are HCHs (1.2-33.7 ng g-1 dry wt.), DDTs (6.2-10.4 ng g-1 dry wt.) and HCB (0.1-6.5 ng g-1 dry wt.). PCBs, in aroclor 1254 equivalents, were also generally present in concentrations ranging from 0.47 to 28.1 ng g-1 sediment dry wt. Concentrations measured in the soft tissues of clams (Meretrix meretrix) generally reflect the level of contamination at the sampling sites. In the clams, the concentrations of DDTs (12.0-23.3 ng g-1 dry wt.) and PCBs (5.1-25.3 ng g-1 dry wt.) were generally higher than those of other chlorinated hydrocarbons. These results underscore the need to improved environmental protection measures in order to reduce the exposure of the population to these persistent and bioaccumulative compounds through food ingestion.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Measuring potential dermal transfer of a pesticide to children in a child care center.

Currently, the major determinants of children's exposure to pesticides are not fully understood, and approaches for measuring and assessing dermal exposure in a residential setting have not been sufficiently evaluated. In one approach, dermal exposure is estimated using empirically derived transfer coefficients. To assess the feasibility of using this approach for assessing children's exposure to pesticides, we conducted a study was conducted in a child care center that had a preexisting contract with a pest control service for regular monthly pesticide applications. Children in the selected child care center were monitored using full-body cotton garments to measure dermal loading. Pesticide residues on classroom surfaces were measured in the areas where the children spent time. Measured surface-wipe loadings ranged from 0.47 to 120 ng/cm2, and total garment loadings ranged from 0.5 to 660 pg/cm2. The garment and surface loading measurements were used to calculate dermal-transfer coefficients for use in assessing children's residential exposure to pesticides. Dermal-transfer coefficients calculated using these data range from approximately 10 to 6,000 cm2/hr. The wide range in these values demonstrates the importance of developing standard surface-measurement protocols if this approach is to be used to assess dermal exposure in a residential environment. The upper-range values resulting from this study were found to be similar to the default value used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assess children's dermal exposures resulting from contact with indoor surfaces.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

PubMed2000

Invertebrates in neurotoxicology.

Due to the relative simplicity of their nervous system, invertebrate animals were widely used in the past decades for studying the processes of excitability at membrane level, as well as the mechanisms of neuronal events and interneuronal communication. Parallel with investigating basic questions of neurobiology, lower animals have also been the object of toxicological studies, because simple invertebrate preparations with well-known physiological, biochemical and pharmacological characteristics proved to be excellent models for testing the action of natural and synthetic compounds important to human pharmaceutical research as well as in searching suitable chemicals for pest control. In the last ten-fifteen years with the growing interest towards environmental protection, a new field was opened for the application of invertebrates, namely, testing and monitoring the presence and harmful effects of anthropogenic toxic substances. Invertebrates are used today both as passive and as active biomonitors to detect and evaluate the level of pollution in a given ecosystem, and to study the effects and mechanisms of action of pollutants. Invertebrate nervous systems are suitable objects in clarifying the mechanisms of action of toxic chemicals at various levels of the neural regulation. Toxic influences can be reflected in behavioural alterations, by the modification of the function of different organs as well as the neural regulation, presented by examples on mussels and snails. In case of neurotoxicity, the targets of action are the elements of the nervous system. Alterations can occur in the permeability (ion channels) of the neuronal membrane influencing excitability, potential generation and propagation of nerve impulse, in the transmitter system (synthesis, release, elimination and binding to the receptors), in the interneuronal and neuroeffector connections responsible for co-ordinated and adequate responses to the internal and external challenges. For the future, it can be predicted that neurotoxicological research with new compounds cannot be effective without using invertebrate preparations, since, due to animal protection and restrictions in animal experimentation, the permission of the use of vertebrates is much more limited in most of the developed countries, and this trend is certainly to be expanded.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rapid determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in water samples by using solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid and simple method of using solid-phase microextraction was developed for determination of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) in water samples. In this method, the target analyte is extracted from the sample into the polymeric coating of the fused-silica fiber. After exposure, the fiber is thermally desorbed in the heated injection port of the gas chromatograph, and a chromatographic analysis is performed by using low-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Parameters that may affect the extension of the microextraction process, such as sampling mode, sample volume, temperature, agitation, and sampling time, were studied. Extraction efficiencies for 3 coating fibers were investigated: 100 microm poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), 65 microm PDMS-divinylbenzene, and 75 microm carboxen-PDMS. Linearity was evaluated (R = 0.999) for a 250-fold concentration range from the fg/mL to the pg/mL level. The 2,3,7,8-TCDD was detected at the fg/mL level when the headspace over the water sample was sampled for 60 min; the limit of detection obtained was better than that of Method 8280B of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The proposed method performed well when applied to the analysis of tap water, lake water, and seawater samples.

Adsorption↗

PubMed2004

Direct detection of trace haloacetates in drinking water using microbore ion chromatography. Improved detector sensitivity using a hydroxide gradient and a monolithic ion-exchange type suppressor.

A highly sensitive gradient microbore ion chromatographic method was developed with electrolytically generated hydroxide eluents for the determination of low microg/L levels of chloroacetate, bromoacetate, trifluoroacetate, dichloroacetate, chlorodifluoroacetate, dibromoacetate, trichloroacetate, bromodichloroacetate and dibromochloroacetate disinfectant by-products formed as a result of chlorination of drinking waters. The possibility of using a packed bed Dionex Atlas suppressor with a hydroxide gradient at microbore flow rates was investigated in order to reduce baseline noise levels. The Atlas suppressor displayed a very significant reduction in noise levels compared to the standard alternative ASRS Ultra suppressor, reducing noise by a factor of 15-20 in some cases, allowing trace haloacetic acids (HAs) to be seen with the direct injection of 100 microL of treated water, with prior chloride and sulfate removal. To lower detection limits even further, a solid phase extraction was employed to preconcentrate HAs, resulting in detection limits of between 0.09 and 21.5 microg/L. The method was applied to the determination of HAs in environmental samples and standard addition curves for three drinking water samples were carried out for both direct injection and preconcentration methods. R2 values in both cases were > or =0.98. Combined content for US Environmental Protection Agency regulated HAs in the three drinking water samples from Dublin City University; New Ross, Co. Wexford and Drogheda, Co. Louth were 46.5, 58.3 and 12.6 microg/L, respectively.

Acetates↗

PubMed2003

Dioxin risks in perspective: past, present, and future.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and other U.S. and international agencies have focused extensive efforts on the evaluation of the potential health risks of exposures to chlorinated dioxins (PCDDs), furans (PCDFs), and related dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Extensive regulatory efforts over the past 20 years have also been made to control emissions of these compounds and thus to reduce exposures in the general population. This paper reviews the available information on temporal trends in emissions, environmental levels, intake levels through foods, and human body burdens of dioxins. This paper also provides an overview and comparison of recent hazard assessments for dioxins from U.S. and international agencies. Available data on emissions, environmental and food levels, and human body burdens of dioxins in the general population indicate a several-fold reduction in exposures and body burdens in the general population over the three decades from 1970 to 2000. U.S. and international hazard assessments concur on certain aspects, but disagree on fundamental issues including the likelihood of a threshold for carcinogenic dose-response and the degree of safety factors needed in deriving a protective exposure limit. These disagreements have significant consequences for interpreting the potential health risks of current background dioxin exposure levels. However, whatever the degree of health risk that may be associated with current background exposures, the general population is experiencing several-fold lower exposures, and, therefore, lower health risks, currently compared to 30 years ago. In light of the dramatic declines in exposure already observed, further efforts to reduce exposures through attempts to control emissions or food levels should be carefully evaluated to understand the likely efficacy of the efforts and the relative costs and benefits.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Still moving toward environmental justice.

Three years in the making, the Institute of Medicine report Toward Environmental Justice was funded by a consortium of agencies, including the NIEHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The independent review was authored by a 15-member committee that represented academia, public interest, medicine, law, and industry. The committee met with stakeholders, citizens, public officials, and industry representatives around the United States to assess the need for better research, education, and health policy related to environmental justice. The report investigates the situation of groups of individuals suspected of having disproportionately high levels of exposure to environmental stressors such as chemicals, biologics, allergenics, toxicants, light, noise, odors, and particulate matter. The report calls for more research to help identify and verify the environmental etiologies of diseases. It also recommends that citizens be recruited to participate in the design and execution of the research, and that communication during all phases of the research be open and reciprocal.

Environmental Health↗

PubMed1994

The NIPEH network of cooperating countries of central and eastern Europe. National Integrated Programmes on Environment and Health.

The National Integrated Programmes on Environment and Health (NIPEHs) in countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CCEE) are introduced. The NIPEH programme is one of the primary activities of the Bilthoven Division of the World Health Organization's European Centre for Environment and Health (WHO-ECEH). Located in the heart of the Netherlands on the compound of the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM) in Bilthoven, WHO-ECEH's Bilthoven Division has established a small but effective team of highly motivated experts who can draw upon the expertise available both within the Dutch host institution RIVM as well within the ECEH Centre of WHO-EURO. The NIPEHs have striven to lead the way in setting environmental health priorities in cooperation with our partners, taking into account not only what is relevant from the environmental health perspective, but also what is technologically and administratively feasible. The principal goal is to convert the information gathered by cooperating instructions into understandable information for policy and decision-making and for the interested scientific community.

Czech Republic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Association between indoor residential contamination with methyl parathion and urinary para-nitrophenol.

Methyl parathion, a pesticide listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Toxicity Category I (i.e., most toxic), is not licensed for indoor use, and human exposure has resulted in the deaths of infants and children. From January 1991 through November 1994, an unlicensed pesticide applicator sprayed the interior of more than 200 homes in Lorain County, Ohio, with methyl parathion. To measure the environmental contamination this spraying caused, we measured methyl parathion in residential samples (air filtration and surface wipe) collected from a subset of 64 homes. To measure human exposure, we collected urine samples from 142 people living in these homes and measured urinary levels of para-nitrophenol, a methyl parathion metabolite. We then used a generalized estimating equation to evaluate the association between residential contamination and human exposure. The model included the age of the resident, the number of days between pesticide application and sample collection, and air and surface-wipe methyl parathion concentrations. As expected, the air and surface-wipe concentrations each had a significant inverse relationship with the number of days between application and sample collection. The model explained 65.7% of the variation in urinary para-nitrophenol concentrations. The form of this model could be used to estimate urine p-nitrophenol in residents exposed to methyl parathion in situations where urine specimens are not available. We recommend site-specific validation of this model.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Mercury toxicology as assessed through fish scales.

Increasing pollution in water bodies is directly or indirectly related to increasing urbanization and indiscriminate disposal of agrochemical & industrial effluents. Heavy metals are one of the important categories of such pollutants and are causing serious hazards to non target species (Mwachiro and Druve1997). Their salts constitute a serious type of pollution in fresh water and being stable compounds; they are not readily removed by oxidation, precipitation or other processes and affect the activity in recipient animal (Jagadeesan and Vijayalakshmi 1998). Increase in the concentration of heavy metals has been reported in water of Vasai Creek, Maharastra and surface as well as groundwater of Delhi (Lokhande and Kelker 1999; Dixit et al. 2003). Recently, Food and Drug Adminstration (USFDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (2004) in their combined report recommended that pregnant women and lactating mothers should not eat shark, sword fish and king Mackerel as these fishes contain high levels of mercury.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Screening of organochlorines in freshwater fish collected from the Pearl River Delta, People's Republic of China.

HCHs, DDTs, and PCBs were analyzed in fish flesh collected from fish ponds in the Pearl River Delta and compared with those from the Mai Po Marshes (a nature reserve) in Hong Kong, which was considered an unpolluted area. The concentrations for these contaminants were <0.01-7.8 ng/g lipid for HCHs, 22.3-381 ng/g lipid for DDTs, and 60-480 ng/g lipid for PCBs. Nevertheless, levels of HCHs and DDTs in fish flesh were lower than the China National Environmental Protection Agency maximum permissible limits set for foodstuffs. As for PCBs, 16% of fish collected from the Pearl River Delta exceeded the US EPA guideline concentration.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

The Swedish Environmental Specimen Bank with reference to the National Contaminant Monitoring Programme in Sweden.

The environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) at the Swedish Museum of Natural History constitutes the base for the National Contaminant Monitoring Programme in Sweden. This is a part of the Swedish Environmental Monitoring Programme (PMK). Since the beginning of the 1960s more than 120,000 organisms have been collected and stored in the Swedish ESB. The present PMK-programme started in 1978 under the authority of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The present paper gives a brief presentation of main types of material and species annually collected for storage in the Swedish ESB, with special reference to the Contaminant Monitoring Programme.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

The quality of Albanian natural waters and the human impact.

Albania possesses a wealth of aquatic ecosystems, many of enormous natural and biological value, such as the Lakes Ohrid, Prespa and Shkodra, glacial lakes, river valleys, and coastal lagoons. Although many habitats are highly polluted by inorganic and organic wastes, detailed knowledge on the water quality is still lacking. For the first time, an environmental assessment of the water quality is presented and the main polluting sources identified. As a consequence, a systematic control and the establishment of routine monitoring of surface and groundwater is proposed, which elucidates the present environmental state and helps to develop new strategies of waste and wastewater management. It would help allow Albania to reach an international standard in environmental protection, as a part of UNECE Convention, the Mediterranean Action Plan, the MAP/UNEP Medpol Program and the Basel Convention.

Albania↗

PubMed2001

Movement and deposition of two organophosphorus pesticides within a residence after interior and exterior applications.

Post-application temporal and spatial distributions of two organophosphorus pesticides, diazinon (O,O-diethyl O-[6-methyl-2-(1-methylethyl)-4-pyrimidinyl] phosphorothioate, CAS No. 333-41-5) and chlorpyrifos [O,O-diethyl-O-(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl) phosphorothioate, CAS No. 2921-88-2], were monitored after homeowner applications for indoor and outdoor insect control. Samples of indoor air, vacuumable carpet dust, carpet dislodgeable residues, deposits on bare floors, table tops and dinnerware, surrogate food, and residues on children's hands and toys were taken before and up to 12 days after treatments in the family room, kitchen, and child's bedroom. Results from the study demonstrate the nature and magnitude of translocation of pesticides from the areas of application to surfaces accessible for human contact and permit comparisons of potential exposures via respiration and dermal contact/oral ingestion. Potential indoor inhalation exposures were estimated to be as high as 0.5 microg/kg/day for diazinon applied indoors and 0.05 microg/kg/day for chlorpyrifos applied to the outside perimeter of the house. While ingestion of carpet dust at the rate of 100 microg/day would have added a maximum of only approximately 0.01 microg/kg/day to the daily dose, residues found on the children's hands suggest that repeated mouthing could have contributed as much as 1-1.5 microg/kg/day. These estimates are below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reference dose for chlorpyrifos, but exceed those for diazinon.

Administration, Cutaneous↗

PubMed2004

Assessing Oregon's twenty-six coastal beach areas for recreational water quality standards.

Water samples from 26 Oregon beaches were analyzed for Escherichia coli (E. coli) and enterococci concentrations by the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Public Health Laboratory. Nine Oregon beaches exceeded US Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) single sample maximum density of 104 enterococci colony forming units (cfu) per 100 mL with levels ranging from 121 to 4325 most probable number (MPN)/100 milliliters (mL). Otter Rock at South Cove had the highest enterococci concentration at 4352 MPN/100 mL. The results from two Oregon beaches exceeded Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's (ODEQ) estuarine E. coli standard of 406 organisms/100 mL. Otter Rock at South Cove had the highest E. coli concentration at 1850 MPN/100 mL while Road's End had an E. coli density of 771 MPN/100 mL. Results of this study suggest that adopting USEPA's marine enterococci standard in lieu of the ODEQ's estuarine standard will lead to increased Oregon beach water standard failures.

Enterococcus↗

PubMed2000

Applying environmental product design to biomedical products research.

The principal themes for the Biomedical Research and the Environment Conference Committee on Environmental Economics in Biomedical Research include the following: healthcare delivery companies and biomedical research organizations, both nonprofit and for-profit, need to improve their environmental performance; suppliers of healthcare products will be called upon to support this need; and improving the environmental profile of healthcare products begins in research and development (R&D). The committee report begins with requirements from regulatory authorities (e.g., U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], the U.S. Food and Drug Administration), and the healthcare delivery sector). The 1998 American Hospital Association and EPA Memorandum of Understanding to reduce solid waste and mercury from healthcare facilities is emblematic of these requirements. The dominant message from the requirements discussion is to ensure that R&D organizations do not ignore customer, environmental, and regulatory requirements in the early stages of product development. Several representatives from healthcare products manufacturers presented their companies' approaches to meeting these requirements. They reported on efforts to ensure that their R&D processes are sensitive to the environmental consequences from manufacturing, distributing, using, and disposing of healthcare products. These reports describe representatives' awareness of requirements and the unique approaches their R&D organizations have taken to meet these requirements. All representatives reported that their R&D organizations have embraced environmental product design because it avoids the potential of returning products to R&D to improve the environmental profile. Additionally, several reports detailed cost savings, sustainability benefits, and improvements in environmental manufacturing or redesign, and increased customer satisfaction. Many companies in healthcare delivery are working to improve environmental performance. Fundamental to these efforts is the necessity of motivating suppliers to improve the environmental profile of new products used in the healthcare delivery sector.

Biomedical Technology↗