Production and use of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants has been reduced or eliminated because of concerns about health effects of these environmentally persistent compounds, but hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) flame retardants are still in wide use. Schecter et al.

It has been reported that cigarette smoking is a risk factor for bacterial pneumonia and other respiratory infections, and that smokers are more likely to harbor bacterial pathogens in their oral and nasopharyngeal cavities than nonsmokers.

Urinary excretion of estrogens, including endogenously produced estrogens, estrogens from dietary sources, and estrogens from prescription medications and veterinary pharmaceuticals, can result in surface water contamination and subsequent human exposure via contaminated drinking water. Caldwell et al.

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with myocardial infarction and mortality in heart failure patients, and acute decreases in HRV have been reported to precede ischemic events and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Use of environmentally persistent polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants has been reduced because of concerns about health effects, but potential health effects of organophosphate (OP) flame retardants used as alternatives to PBDEs have not been extensively investigated, despite evidence of widespread human exposure. Meeker and Stapleton (p.

It has been proposed that formaldehyde may influence the risk or severity of asthma through irritant effects by stimulating allergic responses (when linked with endogenous proteins) or by inhibiting bronchodilation, but findings of observational studies of childhood asthma and formaldehyde have been inconsistent. McGwin et al.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified occupational exposure as a painter as being carcinogenic to humans based on a comprehensive review published in 1989. Guha et al. (p.

Every morning and evening, millions of women in India spend an hour or two cooking their rice, dal, curry, and roti or other flat bread. Most will prepare their meals over a smoky, 3-stone open fire or a traditional clay or brick cook stove called a chulha.

Release of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from a chemical plant in West Virginia contaminated drinking water in several water districts, but use of granular activated-carbon filtration in two water districts reduced PFOA concentrations to levels below the limit of detection. Bartell et al. (p.

Recent studies have indicated that organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) may disrupt metabolism by altering the expression or function of adenylyl cyclase (AC; the enzyme that catalyzes the formation of cAMP from ATP) or G-proteincoupled receptors and G-proteins involved in the AC signaling cascade.