A population-based job exposure matrix for power-frequency magnetic fields.

A population-based job exposure matrix (JEM) was developed to assess personal exposures to power-frequency magnetic fields (MF) for epidemiologic studies. The JEM compiled 2,317 MF measurements taken on or near workers by 10 studies in the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, and Italy. A database was assembled from the original data for six studies plus summary statistics grouped by occupation from four other published studies.

Potential occupational risks for neurodegenerative diseases.

Background: Associations between occupations and neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) may be discernable in death certificate data.

Methods: Hypotheses generated from 1982 to 1991 study were tested in data from 22 states for the years 1992-1998. Specific occupations and exposures to pesticides, solvents, oxidative stressors, magnetic fields, and welding fumes were evaluated.

Occupational exposure to magnetic fields in case-referent studies of neurodegenerative diseases.

Objectives: Case-referent studies of Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease were conducted to explore the relationship between these neurodegenerative diseases and occupational exposure to magnetic fields. Three methods of exposure assessment were used for the comparison, and the consistency of findings between these approaches was evaluated.

Methods: Separate case-referent sets were formed from among recorded deaths of males in the state of Colorado for the years 1987 through 1996.

Strategies for assessing children's organophosphorus pesticide exposures in agricultural communities.

Children can be exposed to pesticides from multiple sources and through multiple pathways. In addition to the standard pathways of diet, drinking water and residential pesticide use, children in agricultural communities can be exposed to pesticides used in agricultural production. A research program on children and pesticides was established at the University of Washington (UW) in 1991 and has focused on two major exposure pathway issues: residential proximity to pesticide-treated farmland and transfer of pesticides from the workplace to the home (paraoccupational or take-home exposure).

Adult glioma in relation to residential power frequency electromagnetic field exposures in the San Francisco Bay area.

In a population-based study, we examined residential power frequency electromagnetic field exposures for 492 adults newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed glioma between August 1, 1991 and April 30, 1994, in the San Francisco Bay area and 462 controls, obtained through random-digit dialing frequency, matched to cases for age, gender, and race. Residential exposure assessment consisted of spot measures with EMDEX (Enertech Consultants, Campbell, CA) meters and wire codes based on characterization and location of nearby power lines. We considered the index residence at the time of the case's diagnosis or the control's interview and all other California residences of each subject for 7 years before study entry.