Various factors can modify the health effects of outdoor air pollution. Prior findings about modifiers are inconsistent, and most of these studies were conducted in developed countries. The researchers conducted a time-series analysis to examine the modifying effect of season, sex, age, and education on the association between outdoor air pollutants [particulate matter

Dengue—a viral disease that can refer to both dengue fever and the more severe dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)—swept away records again this past spring as it raged across Brazil, infecting more than 160,000 people and killing more than 100. The reports were similar to those out of Southeast Asia in the summer of 2007, South America the previous spring, and India the fall before that. Although it may not be the most devastating of the mosquito-borne diseases—malaria strikes 10 times more people and yellow fever kills more of its victims—dengue has become a major public health concern for two reasons: the speed with which it is spreading and the escalating seriousness of its complications.

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Over the past several decades, satellite surveillance with increasingly sophisticated instruments has enabled scientists to better visualize the complex fluctuations of several pollutants as they make their way around the Earth. One aspect of this research has focused on directly correlating satellite-observed concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere with those at ground level.

Although much has been written separately about the direct toxicity of fossil fuel burning emissions and the broad effects of climate change on health [see, e.g., the recent series in

Although China's agricultural reputation has been tarnished by widespread reports of food tainted with pesticides and other contaminants, the country is undergoing a rapid expansion in the production of and market for organic food. Spurred in part by growing demand for organic products from other nations, China now devotes more than 28% of its agricultural land to "eco-foods," which include organic foods as well as China's domestic "green" and "hazard-free" categories of food.

Previous research has documented effects of both physical and social environmental
exposures on childhood asthma. However, few studies have considered how these two environments might interact to affect asthma. This study aimed to test interactions between chronic exposure to traffic-related air pollution and chronic family stress in predicting biologic and clinical outcomes in children with asthma.

Chronic arsenic exposure causes a wide range of health effects, but little is known about critical windows of exposure. Arsenic readily crosses the placenta, but the few available data on postnatal exposure to arsenic via breast milk are not conclusive. The goal of the study was to assess the arsenic exposure through breast milk in Bangladeshi infants, living in an area with high prevalence of arsenic-rich tube-well water.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between arsenic exposure
through drinking water and the occurrence of pterygium in southwestern Taiwan.

Reasons for the variability in survival among ALS cases are unknown but may include exposure to environmental neurotoxicants. The authors aimed to determine whether lead exposure, assessed by measuring blood and bone lead levels, is associated with survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Traffic-related air pollution is consistently associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent human and animal studies suggest that exposure to air pollutants affects vascular function. Diesel exhaust (DE) is a major source of traffic-related air pollution. The goal of this particular study was to study the effects of short-term exposure to DE on vascular reactivity and on mediators of vascular tone.