Environmental research
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Environmental research · Feb 2009
Shortness of breath at night and health status in congestive heart failure: effects of environmental conditions and health-related and dietary factors.
Recent studies suggest that persons with congestive heart failure (CHF) may be at higher risk for the short-term effects of air pollution. We carried out this daily diary panel study in Montreal, Quebec, to determine whether indicators of self-reported health status and shortness of breath at night were associated with selected health-related and dietary factors, weather conditions, and air pollution. ⋯ The findings from the present investigation suggest that certain health-related indices and environmental conditions affect self-reported health and shortness of breath in CHF patients, although larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.
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Environmental research · Jan 2009
Indoor exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and dampness: respiratory symptoms in Sardinian children--DRIAS study.
Indoor exposures at home, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and mould/dampness adversely affect respiratory health of children. Disturbi Respiratori nell'Infanzia e Ambiente in Sardegna (DRIAS) (Respiratory Symptoms in children and the Environment in Sardegna, Italy) aims at relating the prevalence of respiratory and allergic symptoms to indoor exposures in Sardinian children. DRIAS, a cross-sectional investigation of respiratory symptoms/diseases, used a modified version of ISAAC questionnaire, included 4122 children attending 29 primary schools in the school year 2004-2005. ⋯ DRIAS results add evidence to the causal role of childhood exposure to ETS in the development of respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, and wheezing) and asthma. The joint effect of ETS and family atopy is corroborated. The results strengthen the evidence for a causal association between "dampness" and respiratory health, pointing to its possible independent role in causing asthma, a long-lasting exposure entails a doubled prevalence for both asthmatic and bronchitis symptoms.
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Environmental research · Nov 2008
Risk factors for elevated blood lead levels among African refugee children in New Hampshire, 2004.
Surveillance blood lead screening of refugee children resettled in Manchester, NH, in 2004 revealed that 39 (42%) of 92 children had elevated levels (>or=10 microg/dL) after resettlement. Furthermore, 27/92 children (29%) had nonelevated screening blood lead levels on arrival (BLL1) but had elevated follow-up blood lead levels 3-6 months after settlement (BLL2). The main objective was to identify risk factors for increasing lead levels among refugee children after resettlement in Manchester in 2004. ⋯ Of the 93 African refugee children in 42 families who participated, 60 (65%) had been born in a refugee camp. Median age was 5.5 years at the time of BLL2 measurement. Thirty-six (39%) of the refugee children had BLL2 >or= 10 microg/dL. Liberians and those born in refugee camps had higher geometric mean BLL2 than those not Liberian or not born in camps. Younger children and children with nutritional wasting before immigrating to the United States had a greater increase in geometric mean from BLL1 to BLL2, compared to older children and those without nutritional wasting. Follow-up blood lead testing of refugee children, particularly those resettled in areas with older housing stock, as in Manchester, is important for identifying lead exposure occurring after resettlement. Increased attention to improve nutritional status of children in refugee camps and after arrival in the United States and awareness of children who were born in refugee camps should be incorporated into lead-poisoning prevention strategies.
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Environmental research · Feb 2008
A time-series analysis of any short-term effects of meteorological and air pollution factors on preterm births in London, UK.
Although much is known about the incidence and burden of preterm birth, its biological mechanisms are not well understood. While several studies have suggested that high levels of air pollution or exposure to particular climatic factors may be associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, other studies do not support such an association. To determine whether exposure to various environmental factors place a large London-based population at higher risk for preterm birth, we analyzed 482,568 births that occurred between 1988 and 2000 from the St. ⋯ The risk of preterm birth did not increase with exposure to the levels of ambient air pollution or meteorological factors experienced by this population. Cumulative exposure from 0 to 6 days before birth also did not show any significant effect on the risk of preterm birth. This large study, covering 13 years, suggests that there is no association between preterm births and recent exposure to ambient air pollution or recent changes in the weather.
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We have recently proposed that lifestyle-related factors, screening and aging cannot fully account for the present overall growing incidence of cancer. In order to propose the concept that in addition to lifestyle related factors, exogenous environmental factors may play a more important role in carcinogenesis than it is expected, and may therefore account for the growing incidence of cancer, we overview herein environmental factors, rated as certainly or potentially carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). We thus analyze the carcinogenic effect of microorganisms (including viruses), radiations (including radioactivity, UV and pulsed electromagnetic fields) and xenochemicals. ⋯ Of major concerns are: outdoor air pollution by carbon particles associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; indoor air pollution by environmental tobacco smoke, formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds such as benzene and 1,3 butadiene, which may particularly affect children, and food pollution by food additives and by carcinogenic contaminants such as nitrates, pesticides, dioxins and other organochlorines. In addition, carcinogenic metals and metalloids, pharmaceutical medicines and cosmetics may be involved. Although the risk fraction attributable to environmental factors is still unknown, this long list of carcinogenic and especially mutagenic factors supports our working hypothesis according to which numerous cancers may in fact be caused by the recent modification of our environment.