Reaching Out to Northern Manhattan
This month's NIEHS News (p. A450) features the community outreach and education program (COEP) at the Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan. The center's COEP has forged strong community partnerships to address the environmental health problems faced by residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, including some of the highest asthma hospitalization rates in the country.
China's Environmental Health Challenge
In the midst of a time of great cultural and industrial upheaval, China is a land of both severe problems and remarkable achievements. The Focus (p. A452) takes a look at this quickly developing nation and how it's coming to terms with the environmental health demands of a new century.
Accounts and Accountability
This month's Spheres of Influence (p. A460) provides an overview of the General Accounting Office, a nonpartisan agency that investigates whether government programs are meeting their objectives and providing the public with competent and trustworthy service.
Brain Power for Algal Blooms
The Innovations (p. A464) describes the use of artificial neural networks, computer systems that work like neurons in the human brain, to predict toxic algal blooms. By predicting when blooms might occur, scientists and water treatment professionals are better able to prepare for these outbreaks and their environmental health sequelae.
Research Progress in Air Pollution
In a Commentary, Künzli and Tager (p. 915) proposed efficient strategies to address long-term effects of outdoor pollution by using concentration maps to impute outdoor pollution to any residential location, independent of the location of monitors.
Insecticide Toxicity to Human Cells
Tayabali and Seligy (p. 919) showed that spore-containing Bacillus thuringiensis products in bioinsecticides have an inherent capacity to lyse human cells and to act as immune sensitizers. The authors report that human risk would be rare because there would have to be massive exposure, and only those individuals with weak microbe-clearance capacities and/or immune response systems could be affected.
Transfer of BPA to Fetus
Takahashi and Oishi (p. 931) administered a 1 g/kg dose of bisphenol A (BPA) to pregnant rats and measured the kinetics. BPA reached maximal concentrations in maternal blood, liver, and kidney in 20 minutes and was 2-5% of maximum after 6 hours; similar kinetics were found in fetuses, indicating that there was extremely rapid absorption and distribution and that the placenta did not act as a barrier to BPA. (Also see Science Selections, p. A468)
Wheel Weights Source of Lead Contamination
Root (p. 937) found that lead loading of urban streets by deposition of automobile wheel weights is continuous, significant, and widespread. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, lead deposited at one intersection from abraded wheel weights was approximately 11 grams per square foot per year, exceeding federal lead hazard criteria by more than 10,000-fold.
Fine Particulates and Mortality
Laden et al. (p. 941) extracted daily counts of deaths from National Center for Health Statistics records and estimated city-specific associations of mortality by regression, adjusting for various source factors. Results indicate that combustion particles in the fine fraction are associated with increased mortality.
Genetics and Lead Biomarkers in Humans
Schwartz et al. (p. 949) evaluated the influence of polymorphisms in enzyme and vitamin receptor genes on blood and bone lead and chelatable lead in 798 lead workers in the Republic of Korea. The authors show that the *-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase gene and the vitamin D receptor gene modify the toxicokinetics of lead. (Also see Science Selections, p. A468)
Transformer PCBs and Reproductive Toxicity
The effects of PCB-containing transformer fluids on testicular steroidogenesis were examined in rats by Andric et al. (p. 955). Injections of Aroclor 1260-containing Askarel into the body or testes markedly decreased serum androgen levels and depressed chorionic gonadotropin-stimulated progesterone and androgen productions for the testes by inhibiting 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and stimulating 17*-hydroxylase/lyase.
Global Sperm Density Between 1934 and 1996
Global declines in human sperm density in the United States, Europe, and Australia were reported by Carlsen (1992) and by Swan (1997) using studies from 1938 to 1990. Here, Swan et al. (p. 961) confirm the trends using 47 more studies published between 1934 and 1996.
Erythroleukemia Cell Differentiation and ELF-EMF
Friend erythroleukemia cells were induced to differentiate with DMSO and hexamethylene bis-acetamide. Chen et al. (p. 967) report that 60-Hz electromagnetic fields partially blocked differentiation, resulting in cells that remained in an undifferentiated, cell proliferative state, similar to those treated with chemical tumor promoters. (Also see Science Selections, p. A469)
Toxicity of Xenoestrogens in Mice
Ulrich et al. (p. 973) administered continuous low doses of ß-hexachlorocyclohexane or o,p'-DDT to ovariectomized mice to correlate concentrations in fat and blood to estrogenic end points of uterine epithelial height and vaginal epithelial thickness. Estrogenic end points were generally correlated with tissue concentrations of the organochlorines; values were in the same order of magnitude as human blood concentrations, suggesting blood organochlorines may reach estrogenic levels in humans.
Phthalate Metabolites in Humans
Monoester metabolites of seven common phthalates were measured in 289 adults. Blount et al. (p. 979) report that the three phthalates with the highest urinary concentrations were monoethyl, monobutyl, and monobenzyl phthalate, with women of reproductive age exhibiting higher levels of the monobutyl phthalate than other age/gender groups. The authors suggest that these three phthalates be included in health risk assessments for exposure.
Xenoestrogen Mixture Toxicity
Payne et al. (p. 983) used the recombinant yeast estrogen screen (YES) to assess estrogenic activity of two-, three-, and four-component mixtures of o,p'-DDT, genistein,
4-nonylphenol, and 4-n-octylphenol. Models of concentration addition and independent action were used to calculate mixture effects; there was good agreement between predicted and observed mixture effects in all cases.
Lung Cancer: Risks from Beryllium, Asbestos, and Tobacco Smoke
Steinmaus and Balmes (p. 1003) used data-based risk estimates to determine the risk of lung cancer in a 73-year-old former smoker who had worked with both beryllium and asbestos. The authors estimated that the patient's risk of lung cancer from asbestos was less than his risk from tobacco smoke, and that his risk of cancer from beryllium was approximately equal to his risk from smoking.
Last Updated: October 18, 2000
