Association between blood lead and blood pressure: a population-based study in Brazilian adults.

Background: Environmental lead exposure among adults may increase blood pressure and elevate the risk of hypertension. The availability of data on blood lead levels (BLL) in adult Brazilian population is scarce and population-based studies are important for screening the population exposure and also to evaluate associations with adverse health effects. The goal of this study was to examine the association of BLL with blood pressure and hypertension in a population-based study in a city in Southern Brazil.

Exposure to pathogens among workers in a poultry slaughter and processing plant.

Background: Working conditions in poultry slaughter/processing plants may expose workers to zoonotic pathogens. We explored exposure to pathogens among poultry slaughter/processing plant workers including job duties as risk factors.

Methods: We collected questionnaire data on job duties and nasal swabs from 110 workers at one plant in South Carolina.

Evidence from Toxicology: The Most Essential Science for Prevention.

Background: The most essential goal of medicine and public health is to prevent harm (primum non nocere). This goal is only fully achieved with primary prevention, which requires us to identify and prevent harms prior to human exposure through research and testing that does not involve human subjects. For that reason, public health policies place considerable reliance on nonhuman toxicological studies.

Biomarkers for the 21st century: listening to the microbiome.

The field of environmental research has benefited greatly from the concept of biomarkers, which originally expanded our thinking by opening the "black box" between environmental exposures and manifestations of disease and dysfunction in exposed populations, as laid out in a highly influential article published in 1987 by an expert committee convened by the National Research Council. Advances in biomedical research now challenge us to revise this concept to include the microbiome as a critical stage in the progression from exposure to outcome. Incorporating the microbiome into the basic 1987 model can spur new advances and understanding in environmental health.

Risk factors for lead exposure in adult population in southern Brazil.

In Brazil there is no systematic evaluation to access blood lead levels (BLL) in the general population and few studies with adults have been published. The aim of this study was to examine the socioeconomic, environmental, and lifestyle determinants of BLL in the adult Brazilian population. In total, 959 adults, aged 40 years or more, were randomly selected in a city in southern Brazil.

Multidrug-resistant and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hog slaughter and processing plant workers and their community in North Carolina (USA).

Background: Use of antimicrobials in industrial food-animal production is associated with the presence of antimicrobial-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) among animals and humans. Hog slaughter/processing plants process large numbers of animals from industrial animal operations and are environments conducive to the exchange of bacteria between animals and workers.