Feature Channels: Environmental Health

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The USDA Forest Service in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area (BWCWA) will continue to use controlled burns without worrying about fish health in associated watersheds.

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CEO Kenneth L. Davis, MD, and Other Leaders to be Featured Speakers, June 22 to July 1, 2017 Complementary Heart Health and Skin Cancer Screenings Provided at the Mount Sinai Health Concourse at Aspen Meadows

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After a day of cannonballs and swan dives, you may find yourself with some water in your ear when you’re drying off. While most of the time, water stuck in your ear is no more than a nuisance, other times water exposure can lead to acute otitis externa—or swimmer’s ear.

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The UC Blum Federation has released a compendium of research working toward reducing poverty and improving health for all populations.

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Several critical periods over a human life span – including before birth -- determine when individuals are the most susceptible to environmental toxicants. Researchers will gather at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania this Monday to discuss these “Windows of Susceptibility."

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Can use of hair products have an impact on breast cancer risk for women? That is a question explored by investigators from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers School of Public Health and other colleagues who examined use of hair dyes, hair relaxers and cholesterol-based hair products in African-American and Caucasian women.

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If you have a recipe for homemade mosquito repellent, two New Mexico State University professors want to hear about it.

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More than five trillion pieces of plastic debris are estimated to be in our oceans, though many are impossible to see with the naked eye.

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A Northwestern University-led research team has discovered an inexpensive and renewable material that rapidly removes PFOA, a highly toxic pollutant, from water. The treatment effectively eliminates the micropollutant, which has plagued several U.S. communities' water supplies last year.

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A new study finds that exposure to a widespread outdoor fungus can increase cell damage (oxidative stress) in the airways. This spike weakens the airways’ barrier defense system that, when functioning normally, removes infection- and allergy-causing organisms (mucociliary clearance).

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The American Thoracic Society is extremely disappointed that President Trump has announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement to address climate change. This agreement was signed by nearly every nation on Earth in recognition of our shared responsibility to solve this global environmental and public health crisis.

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Baby teeth from children with autism contain more toxic lead and less of the essential nutrients zinc and manganese, compared to teeth from children without autism, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers studied twins to control genetic influences and focus on possible environmental contributors to the disease. The findings, published June 1 in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that differences in early-life exposure to metals, or more importantly how a child’s body processes them, may affect the risk of autism.

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Mount Sinai study uses a unique source—baby teeth—to reveal that both the timing and amount of exposure can affect diagnosis

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Penn State College of Medicine researchers have shown, for the first time, a possible correlation between the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and thyroid cancers in the counties surrounding the plant.

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New research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) reveals that residents of the Mid-Ohio River Valley had higher than normal levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) based on blood samples collected over a 22-year span. The exposure source was likely from drinking water contaminated by industrial discharges upriver. This is the first study of PFOA serum concentrations in U.S. residents in the 1990s.

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In an ATS 2017 International Conference first, respiratory health professionals and patients joined other conference attendees at a rally near the Capitol on Tuesday, May 23 to voice their concerns about recent policies that threaten to undermine many of the ATS’s advocacy priorities including: research funding, tobacco regulation, affordable health care, and clean air. Also participating in the rally was U.S. senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Tom Carper (D-DE).WASHINGTON, DC – May 24, 2017 – In an ATS 2017 International Conference first, respiratory health professionals and patients joined other conference attendees at a rally near the Capitol on Tuesday, May 23 to voice their concerns about recent policies that threaten to undermine many of the ATS’s advocacy priorities including: research funding, tobacco regulation, affordable health care, and clean air. Also participating in the rally was U.S. senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Tom Carper (D-DE). Since its inception in 1905,

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Researchers Develop Novel Structure for a High-Efficiency Catalytic Converter Aimed at Boosting Automobile Manufacturers’ Ability to Meet Stringent Vehicle Emissions Standards

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In her latest book, Professor Barbara Demeneix explains how exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is resulting in reduced IQ levels in children and higher rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The author also explains the approaches needed to reduce exposure to today’s toxic cocktails. A book review by Diana Smith, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).

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Researchers from the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are collaborating with scientists from Brescia, Italy, on a research project for the advancement of maternal-child health.

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A new study examines the spread of mistletoe—a parasitic plant—and finds that the plant’s success is determined not only by its compatibility with a host tree, but also whether or not the plants’ fruiting seasons overlap. Knowing what factors are necessary for the parasite to spread may help scientists better understand the variability of other parasitic interactions, including infectious diseases.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Spring is here and summer is near, and with the increase in warm weather comes bloodsuckers. No, not vampires, but to some they cause just as much dread. It’s time for ticks, the long lost cousins of spiders and scorpions and the brothers of mites, to have their season, and Dr. John Abbott, director of museum research & collections at The University of Alabama Museums, has the low-down on what types are prevalent in the South, what they do, the dangers they pose, how to avoid them and what to do if bitten by one.

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First, diesel vehicles tainted their reputation with soot particles, then high nitric oxide emissions. So are owners of new gasoline cars environmentally friendly? Not always, says a new study led by Empa scientists: some direct-injection gasoline engines emit just as many soot particles as unfiltered diesel cars did in the past. Particle filters can remedy this.

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Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 23, 2017, the American Thoracic Society will lead ATS members, pulmonary clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates in the ATS Rally on Capitol Hill: Lab Coats for Lungs.

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A new study has found that children, especially boys, whose mothers were exposed to higher levels of outdoor particulate air pollution at the same time that they were very stressed were most likely to develop asthma by age six. The study was presented at the 2017 American Thoracic Society International Conference.

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Children and teens exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution have evidence of a specific type of DNA damage called telomere shortening, reports a study in the May Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

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The World Meteorological Organization has announced today world records for the highest reported historical death tolls from tropical cyclones, tornadoes, lightning and hailstorms. It is first time the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes has broadened its scope from temperature and weather records to address the impacts of specific events.

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Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in a variety of consumer products, such as food storage containers, water bottles and certain resins. In previous studies, Cheryl Rosenfeld, an investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center, along with other researchers at the University of Missouri, Westminster College and the Saint Louis Zoo, determined that BPA can disrupt sexual function and behavior in painted turtles. Now, the team has identified the genetic pathways that are altered as a result of BPA exposure during early development.

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Newly published research from ISU scientists shows many species may not be as susceptible to coextinction events as once thought. This new understanding hinges on how dependent individual species are on their mutualist relationships.

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The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health will expand its rapid testing program at Chicago beaches this summer to detect dangerous levels of bacteria.

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An analysis of Yellowstone grizzly bear diets reveals that grizzlies in the region continue to feed upon the products of an endangered tree species currently declining at the hands of climate change. Such changes are forcing some bears to look for more varied food sources.

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Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Ecuador and Minnesota, have found altered short-term neurological behaviors in children associated with a peak pesticide spraying season linked to the Mother’s Day flower harvest. This study examined children who did not work in agriculture but who lived in agricultural communities in Ecuador.

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A warming climate could affect the stability of alpine grasslands in Asia’s Tibetan Plateau, threatening the ability of farmers and herders to maintain the animals that are key to their existence, and potentially upsetting the ecology of an area in which important regional river systems originate.

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Despite gaps in scientific understanding, promising prevention and control measures for the tick-borne disease are available but underutilized, researchers say

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Nationwide, counties with the poorest quality across five domains – air, water, land, the built environment and sociodemographic – had the highest incidence of cancer, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer.

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As the warm weather of spring rolls across the Northeast, ticks are becoming more active. The following Cornell University experts offer an assessment of the 2017 tick season. All are available for comment.

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A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study shows that the electricity production associated with air conditioning causes emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide to increase by hundreds to thousands of metric tons, or 3 to 4 percent per degree Celsius (or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Residents of older, denser, lower-income neighborhoods and smaller, multifamily homes in Southern California can more easily access commonly frequented sites such as grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores and gas stations, according to a recent report from the University of California, Irvine.

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Zebrafish exposed to very low levels of methylmercury as embryos not only passed on toxic effects of the chemical exposure to their offspring, but also to the third generation, according to a new study. If the same effects occur in people, it means the health hazards from exposure to methylmercury, which is present in waterways and fish, are dramatically underestimated.

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Wayne State University received notice from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health of the $7.5 million renewal for five years of the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES). The previous NIH grant for CURES totaled $2.4 million for three years.

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Scientists have identified two factors that affect the accumulation of a radioactive contaminant in waterfowl.

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17 business innovations to be honored for contributions to the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

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As of October 2017, newly launched car models will have to pass more stringent exhaust gas tests in the EU and in Switzerland. The new test method includes measuring drives in actual traf-fic. Empa already tested currently available cars with the new method – with alarming results.

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Cold weather increases the risk of mortality in Texas residents, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. The findings were recently published in the journal Environmental Pollution.

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Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is the recipient of the 2017 Corporate Health Achievement Award (CHAA), presented annually by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).