The social and economic benefits of the coastal zone make it one of the most treasured environments on our planet. Yet it is vulnerable to increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Coastal management aims to mitigate these pressures while augmenting the socio-economic benefits the coastal region has to offer. However, coastal management is challenged by inadequate sampling of key environmental indicators, partly due to issues relating to cost of data collection.

News media are major channels for the transmission of information to the public and deliver news about the latest developments regarding health issues such as climate change. How the media frame such information may enhance public understanding and enable appropriate responses by individuals and communities. This study follows up on previous research examining media portrayals of climate change in US newspapers from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2008.

Congenital heart defects are the most prevalent type of birth defects. The association of air pollution with congenital heart defects is not well understood. We investigated a cohort of 8969 singleton live births in Lanzhou, China during 2010–2012. Using inverse distance weighting, maternal exposures to particulate matter with diameters ≤10 μm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) were estimated as a combination of monitoring station levels for time spent at home and in a work location.

A numerical model, XBeach, calibrated and validated on field data collected at Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of Marshall Islands, was used to examine the effects of different coral reef characteristics on potential coastal hazards caused by wave-driven flooding and how these effects may be altered by projected climate change. The results presented herein suggest that coasts fronted by relatively narrow reefs with steep fore reef slopes (~1:10 and steeper) and deeper, smoother reef flats are expected to experience the highest wave runup.

This review updates the effect of lifestyle on plasma triacylglycerols (TAG) in the postprandial state, commonly reported as postprandial lipemia (PPL), an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Numerous studies have shown that Mediterranean diet may reduce PPL. However, most of these studies were focused on the type of fat (i.e., monounsaturated fat from olive oil) and the other components of the Mediterranean lifestyle were neglected. Physical activity, an integral part of this lifestyle, is widely investigated on its own and shown to reduce PPL.

Very little is currently known about air pollutants’ adverse effects on neurodegenerative diseases even though recent studies have linked particulate exposures to brain pathologies associated with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Here we investigate long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and Parkinson’s disease.

Pregnancy is usually a happy time for women and their families. But, for some women, pregnancy ends unhappily. Some women lose their baby during early pregnancy (spontaneous abortion or miscarriage) or during late pregnancy (stillbirth). Others have their baby earlier than expected (preterm birth) or have a baby with low birth weight, two outcomes that adversely affect the baby’s survival and long-term health.

In May 2012, the New York City Board of Health set a limit of 16 ounces on sugary drinks sold in city restaurants, theaters, and food carts, triggering international media attention and a firestorm of opposition. A majority of New Yorkers viewed the portion cap as a “bad idea”, and three-quarters of Americans opposed it. The soft drink industry embarked on a multimillion-dollar campaign to block the rule, culminating in a successful legal challenge.

Preventable diseases like measles and mumps are occurring with increasing frequency in the U.S. despite the availability of an effective vaccine. Given concern that an outbreak may occur among military recruits, we compared serologic evidence of immunity to measles, mumps, and rubella among military recruits with known herd immunity thresholds and determined whether the current Department of Defense policy of presuming mumps immunity based on measles and rubella titers is reliable.

Globally, sodium intake far exceeds the level recommended by the World Health Organization. Assessing health literacy related to salt consumption among older adults could guide the development of interventions that target their knowledge gaps, misconceptions, or poor dietary practices. This study aimed to develop and validate the Chinese Health Literacy Scale for Low Salt Consumption - Hong Kong population (CHLSalt-HK).