During May–June 2010, a childhood lead poisoning outbreak related to gold ore processing was confirmed in two villages in Zamfara State, Nigeria. During June–September of that year, villages with suspected or confirmed childhood lead poisoning continued to be identified in Zamfara State.


Although hyperthermia is a recognized animal teratogen and maternal fever has been associated with birth defects in humans, data on the relationship between high environmental temperatures and birth defects are limited.
 To determine whether pregnancies are potentially vulnerable to the weather extremes anticipated with climate change, the researchers evaluated the relationship between extreme summer temperature and the occurrence of birth defects.


Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, due to in utero exposures may play a critical role in early programming for childhood and adult illness. Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for multiple adverse health outcomes in children, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.
 The researchers investigated epigenome-wide methylation in cord blood of newborns in relation to maternal smoking during pregnancy.

In adult populations, emerging evidence indicates that humans are exposed to arsenic by ingestion of contaminated foods such as rice, grains, and juice; yet little is known about arsenic exposure among children. The objective of the study was to determine whether rice consumption contributes to arsenic exposure in U.S. children.

Short-term exposure to ozone has been associated with increased daily mortality. The shape of the concentration–response relationship—and, in particular, if there is a threshold—is critical for estimating public health impacts. 


Exposure to ozone has been associated with adverse health effects, including premature mortality and cardiopulmonary and respiratory morbidity. In 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lowered the primary (health-based) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone to 75 ppb, expressed as the fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hr average over a 24-hr period. Based on recent monitoring data, U.S. ozone levels still exceed this standard in numerous locations, resulting in avoidable adverse health consequences.


Winter temperature inversions—layers of air in which temperature increases with altitude—trap air pollutants and lead to higher pollutant concentrations. Previous studies have evaluated associations between pollutants and emergency department (ED) visits for asthma, but none have considered inversions as independent risk factors for ED visits for asthma.


Previous studies have suggested that diabetes mellitus (DM) is an outcome of exposure to air pollution, and metabolic detoxification genes affect air pollution–related outcomes.
 The researchers evaluated associations between air pollutants and markers of insulin resistance (IR), an underlying mechanism of type 2 DM, and effect modification by GSTM1, GSTT1, and GSTP1 genotypes among elderly participants in the Korean Elderly Environmental Panel (KEEP) study.


Although fluoride may cause neurotoxicity in animal models and acute fluoride poisoning causes neurotoxicity in adults, very little is known of its effects on children’s neurodevelopment.
 The researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies to investigate the effects of increased fluoride exposure and delayed neurobehavioral development.


When Darine El-Chaar began her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa five years ago, she grew curious about the potential health repercussions of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), the catchall term for procedures used to help couples artificially conceive a child. ART involves surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the womb.