The South Carolina Environmental Public Health Tracking Program's Role in Monitoring and Reducing Occupational Exposure to Lead: Public Health Actions in Collaboration with the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Per South Carolina (SC) Law §44-29-10, all blood lead test records are reportable. The SC Environmental Public Health Tracking (SC EPHT) program is directly involved in blood lead surveillance in SC, as it maintains the blood lead record database. Although Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was discontinued in 2013, SC EPHT has continued to monitor and record adult blood lead test records.

Potential sources and racial disparities in the residential distribution of soil arsenic and lead among pregnant women.

Exposure to arsenic (As) or lead (Pb) has been associated with adverse health outcomes, and high-risk populations can be disproportionately exposed to these metals in soils. The objectives of this study were: to examine if predicted soil As and Pb concentrations at maternal residences of South Carolina (SC) low-income mothers differed based on maternal race (non-Hispanic black versus white), to examine whether differences in predicted residential soil As and Pb concentrations among black and white mothers differed by socioeconomic status (SES), and to examine whether such disparities persisted after controlling for anthropogenic sources of these metals, including direction from, and distance to industrial facilities. Kriged soil As and Pb concentrations were estimated at maternal residences in 11 locations in SC, and models with maternal race and individual and US Census block group level SES measures were examined.

Associations between land cover categories, soil concentrations of arsenic, lead and barium, and population race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

The potential of using land cover/use categories as a proxy for soil metal concentrations was examined by measuring associations between Anderson land cover category percentages and soil concentrations of As, Pb, and Ba in ten sampling areas. Land cover category and metal associations with ethnicity and socioeconomic status at the United States Census 2000 block and block group levels also were investigated. Arsenic and Pb were highest in urban locations; Ba was a function of geology.

Temporal and spatial variation in residential soil metal concentrations: implications for exposure assessments.

Understanding temporal and spatial variation in soil chemicals is critical in exposure assessments. We measured eight metals in subsamples, duplicates (~0.3 m), and repeat soil samples taken 1-6 years after initial sampling (~5 m).

Associations between soil lead concentrations and populations by race/ethnicity and income-to-poverty ratio in urban and rural areas.

Lead (Pb) is a well-studied environmental contaminant that has many negative health effects, especially for children. Both racial/ethnic and income disparities have been documented with respect to exposure to Pb in soils. The objectives of this study were to assess whether soil Pb concentrations in rural and urban areas of South Carolina USA, previously identified as having clusters of intellectual disabilities (ID) in children, were positively associated with populations of minority and low-income individuals and children (≤ 6 years of age).

Associations of estimated residential soil arsenic and lead concentrations and community-level environmental measures with mother-child health conditions in South Carolina.

We undertook a community-level aggregate analysis in South Carolina, USA, to examine associations between mother-child conditions from a Medicaid cohort of pregnant women and their children using spatially interpolated arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) concentrations in three geographic case areas and a control area. Weeks of gestation at birth was significantly negatively correlated with higher estimated As (r(s) = -0.28, p = 0.

HIV testing in women: missed opportunities.

Objective: To investigate opportunities for early human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing of women.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study design linked case reports from HIV surveillance to several statewide health-care databases. Medical encounters occurring before the first positive HIV test (missed opportunities) were categorized by diagnosis/procedure codes to distinguish visits that were likely to have prompted an HIV test.

Identifying natural and anthropogenic sources of metals in urban and rural soils using GIS-based data, PCA, and spatial interpolation.

Determining sources of neurotoxic metals in rural and urban soils is important for mitigating human exposure. Surface soil from four areas with significant clusters of mental retardation and developmental delay (MR/DD) in children, and one control site were analyzed for nine metals and characterized by soil type, climate, ecological region, land use and industrial facilities using readily available GIS-based data. Kriging, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were used to identify commonalities of metal distribution.

Soil metal concentrations and toxicity: associations with distances to industrial facilities and implications for human health.

Urban and rural areas may have different levels of environmental contamination and different potential sources of exposure. Many metals, i.e.

Application of encapsulation (pH-sensitive polymer and phosphate buffer macrocapsules): a novel approach to remediation of acidic ground water.

Macrocapsules, composed of a pH-sensitive polymer and phosphate buffer, offer a novel remediation alternative for acidic ground waters. To test their potential effectiveness, laboratory experiments were carried out followed by a field trial within a coal pile runoff (CPR) acidic contaminant plume. Results of traditional limestone and macrocapsule treatments were compared in both laboratory and field experiments.

Metal concentrations in rural topsoil in South Carolina: potential for human health impact.

Rural areas are often considered to have relatively uncontaminated soils; however few studies have measured metals in surface soil from low population areas. Many metals, i.e.

Use of a general toxicity test to predict heavy metal concentrations in residential soils.

Significant clusters of developmental delay and mental retardation (DD/MR) were identified in children born in South Carolina. Although it is difficult to identify one factor that causes DD/MR, environmental insult including exposure of pregnant women to heavy metals can induce DD/MR in their children. Because it is expensive to measure the concentrations of individual metals in large numbers of environmental samples, the general Microtox toxicity test was used to identify highly toxic soil samples.