Smoking among New Yorican adolescents: time 1 predictors of time 2 tobacco use.

The authors identified longitudinal relationships between early risk and protective factors from the domains of family, personality, and peer influences and later tobacco use in Puerto Rican adolescents living in New York. Aspects of the ethnic minority experience as moderators of familial risk and protective factors were investigated. Participants were 282 female and 276 male Puerto Rican adolescents interviewed twice, 5 years apart.

Tobacco use and health in young adulthood.

In this prospective longitudinal study, the authors investigated the association between lifetime tobacco use and subsequent health problems by age 30. The authors interviewed a community group of 749 participants from upstate New York at mean ages of 14, 16, 22, and 27 years. Daily tobacco use during any of the time periods, as well as the number of periods of daily tobacco use, were significantly associated with increased risk for respiratory ailments, neurobehavioral and cognitive problems, and general malaise.

Illicit drug use and risky sexual behavior among African American and Puerto Rican urban adolescents: the longitudinal links.

The authors assessed whether (a) early illicit drug use predicted later risky sexual activity, (b) early risky sex predicted later illicit drug use, and (c) common factors affected both risky sexual behavior and illicit drug use. African American and Puerto Rican youth completed questionnaires in their classrooms at Time 1 (T1) and face-to-face interviews with the authors in their homes 5 years later at Time 2 (T2). Logistic regression analyses showed the association between T1 illicit drug use and T2 risky sexual activity and between T1 risky sexual behavior and T2 illicit drug use.

Correlates of aggression in African American and Puerto Rican children.

The authors examined a cross-sectional interrelationship of psychosocial domains as they relate to aggression in a group of African American and English-speaking Puerto Rican children living in New York City. The population included 80 biological children of African American and Puerto Rican young adults who had been participating in the authors' ongoing longitudinal study, and 77 mothers or mother substitutes (rearing mothers) of those children. The authors performed hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

Effects of concentrated fine ambient particles on rat plasma levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine.

The health effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and its potential impact on vascular endothelial function have not been thoroughly investigated. As endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its complications, we examined the effects of concentrated fine ambient particles (CAPs) on the plasma level of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in a pilot study.

Relative contributions of PM2.5 chemical constituents to acute arterial vasoconstriction in humans.

Studies have shown associations between acute ambient particulate matter (PM) levels and increases in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. We have previously reported in 24 healthy adults that exposure to concentrated ambient particles plus ozone (CAP + O(3)) caused a mean decrease of 0.09 mm in brachial artery diameter (BAD), which was significantly larger than a mean increase of 0.

Association between television viewing and sleep problems during adolescence and early adulthood.

Background: Although research has suggested that extensive television viewing may be associated with sleep problems, the direction of this association has not yet been determined.

Objective: To investigate directional hypotheses regarding the association between television viewing and sleep problems during adolescence and early adulthood.

Design: The Children in the Community Study, a prospective longitudinal investigation.

Air pollution and sudden infant death syndrome.

Background: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) affects approximately 1 in 1000 live births and is the most common cause of infant death after the perinatal period.

Objective: To determine the influence of air pollution on the incidence of SIDS.

Methods: Time-series analyses were performed to compare the daily mortality rates for SIDS and the daily air pollution concentrations in each of 12 Canadian cities during the period of 1984-1999.

Influence of outdoor aeroallergens on hospitalization for asthma in Canada.

Background: The risk of hospitalization for asthma caused by outdoor aeroallergens is largely unknown.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the association between changes in outdoor aeroallergens and hospitalizations for asthma from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Canada.

Methods: A daily time series analysis was done to test the association between daily changes in aeroallergens and daily changes in hospitalizations for asthma during a 7-year period between 1993 and 2000 in 10 of the largest cities in Canada.

Do socioeconomic characteristics modify the short term association between air pollution and mortality? Evidence from a zonal time series in Hamilton, Canada.

Study Objective: To assess the short term association between air pollution and mortality in different zones of an industrial city. An intra-urban study design is used to test the hypothesis that socioeconomic characteristics modify the acute health effects of ambient air pollution exposure.

Design: The City of Hamilton, Canada, was divided into five zones based on proximity to fixed site air pollution monitors.

Identification of the major sources contributing to PM2.5 observed in Toronto.

The chemical composition of Toronto PM2.5 was measured daily from Feb 2000 to Feb 2001, and source apportionment was undertaken using positive matrix factorization (PMF). In Toronto, PM2.

A time-series study of air pollution, socioeconomic status, and mortality in Vancouver, Canada.

We evaluated the relationship between daily levels of particulate and gaseous phase pollutants and mortality within a dynamic cohort of approximately 550,000 individuals whose vital status was ascertained between 1986 and 1999. Time-series methods were applied to evaluate whether there were differential pollutant effects on daily aggregated numbers of deaths in the cohort that was stratified into quintiles of income as defined by the 1991 and 1996 Canadian censuses. The percent change in all-cause, cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer daily mortality was calculated in relation to short-term changes in levels of a number of particulate (PM(2.

The DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 6.

Chromosome 6 is a metacentric chromosome that constitutes about 6% of the human genome. The finished sequence comprises 166,880,988 base pairs, representing the largest chromosome sequenced so far. The entire sequence has been subjected to high-quality manual annotation, resulting in the evidence-supported identification of 1,557 genes and 633 pseudogenes.

Health and air quality: directions for policy-relevant research.

The NERAM International Colloquia series is a program of five annual meetings involving scientists, regulators, industry representatives, and other stakeholder groups to improve the linkage between emerging scientific evidence on the population health impacts of exposure to particulate matter and clean air policy decisions. Health and Air Quality 2001, the first meeting in the colloquium series, focused on the findings of prospective cohort studies of particulate air pollution and mortality and implications for risk management. A further objective of the colloquium was to identify research directions to reduce information gaps and uncertainties faced by policy makers.

Sampling atmospheric carbonaceous aerosols using an integrated organic gas and particle sampler.

Measurement of particle-bound organic carbon (OC) may be complicated by sampling artifacts such as adsorption of gas-phase species onto particles or filters or evaporation of semivolatile compounds off the particles. A denuder-based integrated organic gas and particle sampler (IOGAPS), specifically designed to minimize sampling artifacts, has been developed to sample atmospheric carbonaceous aerosols. IOGAPS is designed to first remove gas-phase chemicals via sorption to the XAD-coated denuder, and subsequently particles are trapped on a quartz filter.

Early risk factors for violence in Colombian adolescents.

Objective: Violence and homicide are more prevalent in Colombia, South America, than in the United States, but the role of psychosocial factors in the violent behavior of Colombian adolescents remains unclear. The objective of the study was to identify personality, familial, peer, and ecological variables associated with violence in Colombian adolescents.

Method: A survey of adolescents was conducted in 1995-1996.

Association between particulate- and gas-phase components of urban air pollution and daily mortality in eight Canadian cities.

Although some consensus has emerged among the scientific and regulatory communities that the urban ambient atmospheric mix of combustion related pollutants is a determinant of population health, the relative toxicity of the chemical and physical components of this complex mixture remains unclear. Daily mortality rates and concurrent data on size-fractionated particulate mass and gaseous pollutants were obtained in eight of Canada's largest cities from 1986 to 1996 inclusive in order to examine the relative toxicity of the components of the mixture of ambient air pollutants to which Canadians are exposed. Positive and statistically significant associations were observed between daily variations in both gas- and particulate-phase pollution and daily fluctuations in mortality rates.

Ambient nitrogen dioxide and distance from a major highway.

The primary objective of this pilot study was to measure the variation of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) concentration with increasing distance from a major highway in Montréal, Canada, in order to assess the validity of distance from the roadways as a surrogate for exposure to traffic-related air pollution in epidemiologic studies. A total of 31 two-sided Ogawa passive samplers (using triethanolamine-impregnated filters as an absorbent) were installed for 7 days in groups of two or three along an axis perpendicular to a major highway where traffic density exceeds 100000 vehicles/day. Distances ranged from 0 to 1310 m from the highway.

Maternal correlates of toddler insecure and dependent behavior.

The present study was designed to examine the relationship between characteristics of mothers and their toddler's insecure and dependent behavior. The authors studied 254 2-year-old toddlers and their mothers via a structured questionnaire administered to the mothers in their homes. The extent to which insecure and dependent behavior is related to the domains of maternal child rearing, maternal personality traits, parental marital relations, and maternal drug use was assessed.

T-box genes in human disorders.

The T-box gene family encodes a large family of transcription factors with more than 20 members identified in humans so far, and homologues in many other organisms. A number of human disorders have been linked to mutations in T-box genes, confirming their medical importance. They include Holt- Oram syndrome/TBX5, Ulnar-Mammary syndrome/TBX3, and more recently DiGeorge syndrome/TBX1, ACTH deficiency/TBX19 and cleft palate with ankyloglossia/TBX22.

Alcohol use in adolescents whose fathers abuse drugs.

This study examined the interrelation of several domains, including father attributes, father-child relations, peer influences, environmental factors, and youth personality, as they related to adolescent alcohol use. Several aspects of the father-child relationship were also examined as possible protective factors against adolescent drinking. Subjects consisted of 204 HIV-positive and HIV-negative drug-abusing fathers and their adolescent children between the ages of 12-20.

Earlier marijuana use and later problem behavior in Colombian youths.

Objective: The study examined the relationship between earlier adolescent marijuana use and later adolescent behavioral problems.

Method: A community-based sample of Colombian adolescents was interviewed in 1995-1996 and 1997-1998. The time 2 (T(2)) sample consisted of 1,151 males and 1,075 females.

The role of fungal spores in thunderstorm asthma.

Study Objectives: To document the existence and investigate the etiology of "thunderstorm asthma," which has been reported sporadically over the past 20 years.

Design: We assessed the relationship between thunderstorms, air pollutants, aeroallergens, and asthma admissions to a children's hospital emergency department over a 6-year period.

Results: During thunderstorm days (n = 151 days) compared to days without thunderstorms (n = 919 days), daily asthma visits increased from 8.

Associations between ambient air pollution and daily mortality among persons with congestive heart failure.

We conducted a mortality time series study to investigate the association between daily mortality for congestive heart failure (CHF), and daily concentrations of particles and gaseous pollutants in the ambient air of Montreal, Quebec, during the period 1984-1993. In addition, using data from the universal Quebec Health Insurance Plan, we identified individuals >/=65 years of age who, one year before death, had a diagnosis of CHF. Fixed-site air pollution monitors in Montreal provided daily mean levels of pollutants.