Environmental Health in New Jersey
New Jersey has the most Superfund sites of any other state in the United States plus 3,000 additional hazardous waste sites, making it a gold mine of raw data for environmental health studies. This month's NIEHS News article profiles the Center for Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical school on the campus of Rutgers University located in Piscataway, New Jersey.
South America's Balancing Act
National prosperity in the countries of South America is rising dramatically, but at a great cost--unplanned growth and the chaos of political and economic restructuring have led to increased poverty among certain sectors and a disturbing array of serious environmental health consequences, particularly is urban areas. The Focus article provides a snapshot of the status of environmental health in these countries and the steps being taken to address development and sustainability issues.
A Green Light for Research
The same green fluorescent protein (GFP) that gives jellyfish their ethereal nighttime glow now offers scientists a better way to study bacteria and other microscopic mysteries by providing a marker for use in living cells and organisms. The Innovations article tells why genetically engineered GFP is the meanest, greenest biomarker in town.
Estrogenic Activity of Phthalate Esters
A recombinant yeast screen was used by Harris et al.
to test a large number of phthalate esters for estrogenic activity; some of these were also tested for mitogenic effects on estrogen-responsive human breast cancer cells. The activities of simple mixtures of butyl benzyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, and 17ß-estradiol exhibited additive but not synergistic activity in the yeast screen. A few of the phthalates tested were weakly estrogenic in vitro, but confirmation of in vivo estrogenicity would require tests using different classes of vertebrates and different routes of exposure.
SAR, Xenobiotic Transport, and P-glycoproteins
Bain et al. investigated the characteristics of substrates functional in the multixenobiotic resistance phenotype that acts by increasing the efflux of compounds from cells employing P-glycoprotein or related transporters. Many transport substrates for compounds are differentiated by molecular size/shape, lipophilicity, and hydrogen bonding potential. These properties can be used to predict structure-activity relationships and to identify P-glycoprotein substrates and inhibitory ligands. Molecular characteristics of transport substrates for several pesticides suggest that P-glycoproteins may function in the elimination of hydroxylated metabolites of the pesticides.
Exchange of Lead in Teeth and Bone
A pilot study by Gulson and Gillings used stable lead isotopes to measure lead in enamel and dentine of permanent and deciduous teeth in 47 immigrants to Australia. Lead exchange in dentine of teeth was about 1% per year, and that in trabecular bone from the tooth socket was about 6% per year. Similar analyses of tooth and bone lead in immigrants living for varying lengths of time in Australia are needed to confirm these preliminary findings.
Air Pollution in a Washington, D.C. Summer
Acid aerosol and inhalable particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 µm (PM10) or less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) were collected for 24-hr periods on alternate days during the summer of 1994 at six monitoring sites as part of the Metropolitan Acid Aerosol Characterization Study. Suh et al. reported strong correlations between PM10, PM2.5, sulfate, and hydrogen ions; PM2.5 comprised 77% of PM10 with sulfate-related species accounting for 49% of total PM2.5.
Arsenic Exposure in a Slovak Coal-Fired Power Plant
Arsenic in the breathing zone and arsenic metabolites in urine (inorganic arsenic, monomethylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid) were measured in plant workers for five days. Yager et al. showed that about 90% of the arsenic was 3.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter. The 8-hr time-weighted average was 48.3 µg/m3 arsenic and the mean sum of urinary arsenic was 16.9 µg/g creatinine. Comparisons with other studies suggest that bioavailability of arsenic from airborne coal fly ash is about one-third that seen in smelters.
Environmental Analysis Van in Germany
Pröhl et al. conducted 1,793 site inspections using a mobile unit for environmental analyses of indoor toxic pollutants. In 936 cases elevated concentrations of one or more toxicants were found, and in 80 cases highly persistent indoor contamination of permethrin was detected. Removal of pyrethroid-treated carpet resulted in significant health improvement.
Exposure to Automobile Fuels in Alaska
Concentrations of gasoline components in blood and in the personal breathing zone of individuals pumping unleaded gasoline in Fairbanks, Alaska, were compared to those pumping 10% ethanol oxyfuel. Backer et al.
reported that people were briefly exposed to low levels of known carcinogens and other potentially toxic compounds while pumping gas, regardless of the type used.
Birth Weight Reduction and Hazardous Waste Sites
Berry and Bove collected 25 years of birth certificates from families that lived in four towns near hazardous waste landfills. Newborns of parents living closest to landfills exhibited significantly lower average birth weights and had twice the risk of prematurity, suggesting there was a significant impact from exposure to hazardous wastes. The magnitude of the effects were in the range of birth weight reduction due to cigarette smoking during pregnancy.
Hormonal Biomarkers for Pregnancy and Spontaneous Abortion
Daily blood and urine samples were collected from 10 women during conceptive cycles with ensuing pregnancy and from 10 women with bilateral tubal ligations. Mean values of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured by Qiu et al. as a biomarker for verification of pregnancy and to identify early fetal loss. The sensitivity and specificity of the hormone assays were about 89%, suggesting that FSH could serve as an additional biomarker for pregnancy outcome in prospective epidemiological studies.
Last Update: August 29, 1997 |