The Impact of Low-Level Lead Toxicity on School Performance among Hispanic Subgroups in the Chicago Public Schools.

Background: Environmental lead exposure detrimentally affects children's educational performance, even at very low blood lead levels (BLLs). Among children in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the severity of the effects of BLL on reading and math vary by racial subgroup (White vs. Hispanic vs.

The impact of early life stress on risk of tobacco smoking initiation by adolescents.

Aims: Our study aimed to examine the association between early life stress and early initiation of alcohol and tobacco use.

Design: This prospective cohort study of women and children belongs to the Ukrainian component of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood.

Setting: Dniprodzerzhynsk, a city of some 250,000 inhabitants in south central Ukraine.

Pregnancy and birth cohort resources in europe: a large opportunity for aetiological child health research.

Background: During the past 25 years, many pregnancy and birth cohorts have been established. Each cohort provides unique opportunities for examining associations of early-life exposures with child development and health. However, to fully exploit the large amount of available resources and to facilitate cross-cohort collaboration, it is necessary to have accessible information on each cohort and its individual characteristics.

Results from a Ukrainian-US collaborative study: prevalence and predictors of respiratory symptoms among Ukrainian coal miners.

Background: Underground coal mining is an expanding industry in Ukraine, yet little is known about the burden of respiratory disease among Ukrainian miners.

Methods: A Fogarty International Center-supported collaboration between researchers at the University of Illinois and the Institute of Occupational Health in Kyiv, Ukraine formed to improve capacity for conducting and monitoring medical surveillance among Ukrainian coal miners. A cross-sectional survey among a random sample of working and former miners was conducted; demographic, work, and health information were collected using a standardized questionnaire.

Health risks of limited-contact water recreation.

Background: Wastewater-impacted waters that do not support swimming are often used for boating, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, and rowing. Little is known about the health risks of these limited-contact water recreation activities.

Objectives: We evaluated the incidence of illness, severity of illness, associations between water exposure and illness, and risk of illness attributable to limited-contact water recreation on waters dominated by wastewater effluent and on waters approved for general use recreation (such as swimming).

Multimedia emissions inventory of polychlorinated biphenyls for the U.S. Great Lakes states.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were banned in the United States in 1979, and since then a significant decline in their release to the environment has been observed. This decline has now reached a plateau. Several new regulatory programs have been put in place to further reduce PCB emissions/releases.

Effect of ozone and aeroallergens on the respiratory health of asthmatics.

The effect of ambient air pollutants, pollens, and mold spores on respiratory health was studied in an area with low concentrations of chemical pollutants and abundant aeroallergens. A panel of 40 asthmatic subjects living near East Moline, Illinois, recorded peak expiratory flow rates (PEFRs), respiratory symptoms, frequency of asthma attacks, and asthma medication use between April and October 1994. Daily outdoor concentrations of pollutants and aeroallergens were measured, and indoor levels of bioaerosols were measured on several occasions in each participant's home.

Chicago area methyl parathion response.

The Illinois Department of Public Health participated in the Chicago, Illinois, area methyl parathion (MP) response with several other federal, state, and local government agencies beginning in April 1997. This response was initiated on evidence that hundreds of homes in the Chicago area were illegally treated for cockroaches with MP over a period of several years. Through applicator receipt books and information reported by property owners and tenants, 968 homes were identified as having been treated with MP.

Urinary p-nitrophenol as a biomarker of household exposure to methyl parathion.

Methyl parathion (MP) is an organophosphate pesticide illegally applied to the interiors of many hundreds of homes throughout the United States by unlicensed pesticide applicators. Public health authorities developed a protocol for investigating contaminated homes and classifying their need for public health interventions. This protocol included environmental screening for MP contamination and 1-day biomonitoring (a.

Heroin insufflation as a trigger for patients with life-threatening asthma.

Study Objectives: To determine the prevalence of self-reported, heroin-associated asthma symptoms among inner-city patients treated for life-threatening asthma, and to compare the rates of drug use between ICU patients with asthma and ICU control patients with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Designs: Study 1 was a sequential case series of patients requiring ICU admission for asthma (January to June 1999). Study 2 was a retrospective, case-control study of drug use among asthma patients and control subjects with DKA requiring ICU care (1997 to 1998).

Surveillance for carbon monoxide poisoning using a national media clipping service.

Using a novel method to review carbon monoxide (CO) exposures in the US, the role of CO detectors in prevention of CO-related deaths was studied. Using a national media clipping service, CO poisonings reported in the US were analyzed. The impact of CO detectors was investigated through nonfatal outcomes attributable to the presence of CO detectors and case fatality rate comparison among cities with and without CO detector ordinances.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in placenta.

Concentrations of chrysene, benz [a] anthracene, benzo [a]-pyrene, benzo [b] fluoranthene, indeno [1,2,3-c,d] pyrene, dibenz [a,h] anthracene, and benzo [g,h,i] perylene were measured in placentas from 200 women from two cities in Ukraine, Kyiv and Dniprodzerzhinsk. The participants had no special exposures and were chosen from among subjects in an ongoing study of reproductive health. All seven of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were found in all placentas, with the sole exception of benzo [a] pyrene in one placenta.

Association of asthma symptoms and severity with indoor bioaerosols.

Background: In this study, repeated measurements were made of levels of mold spores, bacteria, and dust-mite allergens over a 7-month period in the homes of asthmatics, and relationships with measures of asthma severity were evaluated.

Methods: A sample of 57 asthmatic individuals, living in 44 homes in East Moline, Illinois, and nearby communities, participated in a panel study. The homes were visited up to nine times during the study to collect air and dust samples.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls in breast milk from two cities in Ukraine.

Substantial environmental pollution has been alleged in Ukraine, but little information is available to allow an assessment of the possible impact on humans. To help remedy this lack of information, it was of interest to investigate whether certain polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), or coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were elevated in people from Ukraine. Samples of breast milk were obtained from 200 women from the cities of Kyiv and Dniprodzerzhinsk; Kyiv is the capital and Dniprodzerzhinsk is a highly industrialized city.

Collaborative research and research training through the "Family and Children of Ukraine" research program.

Family and Children of Ukraine, the Ukrainian component of the European Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood, is a prospective, geographically-based study to evaluate pregnancy outcomes in 8,000 women in five cities in Ukraine and follow the cohort of births through 7 years of age. Family and Children in Ukraine has been the major collaborative research project for the University of Illinois' Fogarty-funded program, International Training and Research in Environmental and Occupational Health. This Fogarty program includes graduate training, U.

A morbidity study of former pentachlorophenol-production workers.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a pesticide that was once widely used for wood preservation. Commercial PCP contained impurities including higher chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (CDDs) and chlorinated dibenzofurans (CDFs). We investigated the effects of occupational exposure to PCP and its CDD and CDF contaminants on the skin, liver, porphyrin metabolism, and central and peripheral nervous systems.

Night of the sirens: analysis of carbon monoxide-detector experience in suburban Chicago.

Study Objective: To determine the pattern and environmental causes of carbon monoxide (CO)-detector alarms.

Methods: Data including time, location, detector manufacturer, CO measurements in the home, reported illness, cause, and actions taken were collected between July 15, 1994, and January 26, 1995, on all calls to 17 suburban Chicago fire departments for CO-detector alarms. We used univariate time-series analysis involving joint estimation of model parameters and outlier effects to analyze data and compared data on ambient CO levels from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to the number of calls per day.

Environmental Exposure to Organic Mercury among the Makuxi in the Amazon Basin.

Gold mining in the savannah region of northern Brazil (Roraima) has increased dramatically since 1989. Elemental mercury is used to extract gold from sediment. Mercury released into the Amazon aquatic ecosystem may convert into the organic form and bioconcentrate in the food chain, posing a hazard for fish-eating peoples such as some of the Makuxi.

Acute bone marrow toxicity and pancytopenia following exposure to lead chromate, xylene, and ethylbenzene in a degloving injury.

A case of unique acute bone marrow toxicity and pancytopenia following subcutaneous exposure to lead chromate, xylene, and ethylbenzene in a previously healthy patient is reported. The patient sustained an extensive degloving injury to his lower extremity. The wound was contaminated with traffic paint containing lead chromate pigment along with a large volume of xylene and ethylbenzene solvent.

Constraints on the enhancement of elimination of drugs with activated charcoal.

Both extracorporeal hemoperfusion through charcoal-containing columns and repeated oral administration of charcoal can accelerate clearance of some drugs or toxins from the systemic circulation. The efficacy of these 2 interventions is limited by a variety of factors, and the complex kinetic equations describing charcoal-induced clearance provide little practical clinical guidance about the potential efficacy of charcoal in accelerating clearance of a specific drug or toxin without previous empiric data. We derive here simple rules that place an upper limit on the maximal fraction of an absorbed dose of drug that can be removed (FRmax) by charcoal in terms of the volume of distribution (Vd), a parameter which is known for most drugs.

Successful therapy of iron intoxication in pregnancy with intravenous deferoxamine and whole bowel irrigation.

We describe the successful treatment of a severely iron-poisoned adult patient in week 26 of gestation with 10.2 g deferoxamine administered iv over 14 h and whole bowel irrigation (2 L/h of polyethylene glycol-electrolyte solution/nasogastric tube for 12 h) with a good maternal outcome and no adverse effects on the fetus.

Tricyclic antidepressants in red cells and plasma: correlation with impaired intraventricular conduction in acute overdose.

Objective: Tricyclic antidepressant levels in red blood cells and plasma in acute overdose and their association with cardiotoxicity were studied.

Methods: This was a prospective study in 15 patients with acute tricyclic antidepressant overdose. Tricyclic antidepressant parent compounds and metabolites were measured in red blood cells and plasma, and tricyclic antidepressant levels were correlated with ECG indexes of toxicity.

The price of gold: mercury exposure in the Amazonian rain forest.

Concern has surfaced over the recent discovery of human mercury exposure throughout the tropical rain forest of South America's Amazon River Basin. The probable source of mercury has been traced to gold mines located within the interior. The mining process involves the extraction of gold from ore by burning off a mercury additive, resulting in vaporization of elemental mercury into the surrounding environment.

Cocaine liberation from body packets in an in vitro model.

Study Objective: To quantitatively assess cocaine liberation from various body packet materials.

Design: 100-milligram cocaine packets (plastic bags with various wrapping techniques, paper, and condoms) were placed in a simulated gastric medium. Samples were also tested in an alkalinized gastric medium, with determination of both cocaine and benzoylecogonine concentrations using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.