Sea level rise from climate change is expected to increase the release of arsenic into Bangladesh's drinking well water by reduction and by the salt effect.

Background: Over 165,000,000 people live in Bangladesh; approximately 97% of Bangladeshis drink well water. Approximately 49% of Bangladesh's area has drinking well water with arsenic (As) concentrations that exceed the 10 micrograms per liter (μg/L) World Health Organization (WHO) guideline. This exposure to a potent carcinogen is a significant threat to public health.

A comprehensive survey and analysis of international drinking water regulations for inorganic chemicals with comparisons to the World Health Organization's drinking-water guidelines.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has published criteria for determining the quality of drinking water since 1958. Since 1984, these criteria were termed "guidelines" to emphasize that they are not national standards, but rather guidelines for nations to develop their own national standards, which may take into account local environmental, social, economic, and cultural conditions. When calculating guideline values (GVs), the WHO reviews the toxicological literature, calculates a health-based value (HBV), and determines whether the HBV should be adopted as a GV.

Arsenic in drinking water: An analysis of global drinking water regulations and recommendations for updates to protect public health.

Evidence-based public health policy often comes years or decades after the underlying scientific breakthrough. The World Health Organization's (WHO's) provisional 10 μg/L arsenic (As) drinking water guideline was set in 1993 based on "analytical achievability." In 2011, an additional proviso of "treatment performance" was added; a health-based risk assessment would lead to a lower and more protective guideline.

How much manganese is safe for infants? A review of the scientific basis of intake guidelines and regulations relevant to the manganese content of infant formulas.

Background: Recent research has uncovered the potential for excess manganese (Mn) intakes causing significant neurotoxic effects for early brain development.

Methods: We identified the Mn tolerable intakes (TI) published by the U.S.

Estimating daily intakes of manganese due to breast milk, infant formulas, or young child nutritional beverages in the United States and France: Comparison to sufficiency and toxicity thresholds.

Background: Although manganese (Mn) is an essential nutrient, recent research has revealed that excess Mn in early childhood may have adverse effects on neurodevelopment.

Methods: We estimated daily total Mn intake due to breast milk at average body weights by reviewing reported concentrations of breast milk Mn and measurements of body weight and breast milk intake at 3 weeks, 4.25 months, 7 months, and 18 months.

An accurate, precise, and affordable light emitting diode spectrophotometer for drinking water and other testing with limited resources.

Spectrophotometers are commonly used to measure the concentrations of a wide variety of analytes in drinking water and other matrixes; however, many laboratories with limited resources cannot afford to buy these very useful instruments. To meet this need, an accurate, precise, and affordable light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer was designed and built using best engineering practices and modern circuit design. The cost and performance of this LED spectrophotometer was compared against 4 common commercial spectrophotometers.

Manganese levels in infant formula and young child nutritional beverages in the United States and France: Comparison to breast milk and regulations.

Exposure to high levels of manganese (Mn) in children has recently been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental effects. Current infant formula regulations for Mn content were set between 1981 (United States), 2006 (European Union, France), and 2007 (Codex Alimentarius) prior to the publication of much of the growing body of research on the developmental neurotoxicity of Mn. In this study, we sought to measure the concentrations of Mn in some infant formulas and young child nutritional beverages available on the United States (US) and French markets using ion beam analysis by particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry and then compare the analytical results to concentrations reported in the literature for breast milk and applicable infant formula regulations and guidelines.

Urgent need to reevaluate the latest World Health Organization guidelines for toxic inorganic substances in drinking water.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has established guidelines for drinking-water quality that cover biological and chemical hazards from both natural and anthropogenic sources. In the most recent edition of Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (2011), the WHO withdrew, suspended, did not establish, or raised guidelines for the inorganic toxic substances manganese, molybdenum, nitrite, aluminum, boron, nickel, uranium, mercury, and selenium. In this paper, we review these changes to the WHO drinking-water guidelines, examining in detail the material presented in the WHO background documents for each of these toxic substances.

World Health Organization increases its drinking-water guideline for uranium.

The World Health Organization (WHO) released the fourth edition of Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality in July, 2011. In this edition, the drinking-water guideline for uranium (U) was increased to 30 μg L(-1) despite the conclusion that "deriving a guideline value for uranium in drinking-water is complex, because the data [from exposures to humans] do not provide a clear no-effect concentration" and "Although some minor biochemical changes associated with kidney function have been reported to be correlated with uranium exposure at concentrations below 30 μg L(-1), these findings are not consistent between studies" (WHO, Uranium in Drinking-water, Background document for development of WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, available: , accessed 13 October 2011). This paper reviews the WHO drinking-water guideline for U, from its introduction as a 2 μg L(-1) health-based guideline in 1998 through its increase to a 30 μg L(-1) health-based guideline in 2011.

Preoperative skeletal versus cutaneous traction for femoral shaft fractures treated within 24 hours.

Objectives: To compare the advantages and disadvantages of preoperative cutaneous traction versus skeletal traction in adults with diaphyseal femur fractures amenable to fixation within 24 hours.

Design: Randomized prospective trial.

Setting: Level I trauma center in a major metropolitan area.

World Health Organization discontinues its drinking-water guideline for manganese.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) released the fourth edition of Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality in July 2011. In this edition, the 400-µg/L drinking-water guideline for manganese (Mn) was discontinued with the assertion that because "this health-based value is well above concentrations of manganese normally found in drinking water, it is not considered necessary to derive a formal guideline value."

Objective: In this commentary, we review the WHO guideline for Mn in drinking water--from its introduction in 1958 through its discontinuation in 2011.

The genetics of heterotopic ossification: insight into the bone remodeling pathway.

Objectives: Heterotopic Ossification (HO) is a significant complication after trauma occurring in 12% to 25% of fractures. Although clinical predictors have been studied to determine the likelihood of developing HO, the results have been inconsistent. This study examines genetic predictors of the HO phenotype to identify the "at-risk" patient and increase the understanding of the genetic contribution to the formation of HO.

Public health strategies for western Bangladesh that address arsenic, manganese, uranium, and other toxic elements in drinking water.

Background: More than 60,000,000 Bangladeshis are drinking water with unsafe concentrations of one or more elements.

Objectives: Our aims in this study were to evaluate and improve the drinking water testing and treatment plans for western Bangladesh.

Methods: We sampled groundwater from four neighborhoods in western Bangladesh to determine the distributions of arsenic, boron, barium, chromium, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, lead, antimony, selenium, uranium, and zinc, and to determine pH.

The development and use of an innovative laboratory method for measuring arsenic in drinking water from western Bangladesh.

All of Bangladesh's approximately 10 million drinking-water tube wells must be periodically tested for arsenic. The magnitude of this task and the limited resources of Bangladesh have led to the use of low-cost, semiquantitative field kits that measure As to a relatively high 50 microg/L national drinking water standard. However, there is an urgent need to supplement and ultimately replace these field kits with an inexpensive laboratory method that can measure As to the more protective 10 microg/L World Health Organization (WHO) health-based drinking water guideline.

The effect of gamma radiation sterilization on the fatigue crack propagation resistance of human cortical bone.

Background: Clinical evidence has suggested that the rate of fracture in allografts sterilized with gamma radiation may be higher than that in controls. Gamma radiation sterilization has been shown to affect the post-yield properties of bone but not the elastic modulus. Since most allograft fractures occur with subcritical loads during activities of daily living, it may be that the fatigue properties of irradiated allografts are diminished.