Articles

Developmental exposure to DDT or DDE alters sympathetic innervation of brown adipose in adult female mice

Exposure to the bioaccumulative pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolite dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) has been associated with increased risk of insulin resistance and obesi...

Authors: Annalise N. vonderEmbse, Sarah E. Elmore, Kyle B. Jackson, Beth A. Habecker, Katherine E. Manz, Kurt D. Pennell, Pamela J. Lein and Michele A. La Merrill

Cord blood acrylamide levels and birth size, and interactions with genetic variants in acrylamide-metabolising genes

Up to now, 3 epidemiological studies have shown clear inverse associations between prenatal acrylamide exposure and birth size. In addition to studying the association between acrylamide and birth size, we inv...

Authors: Janneke Hogervorst, Hubert W. Vesper, Narjes Madhloum, Wilfried Gyselaers and Tim Nawrot

The interplay between environmental exposures and COVID-19 risks in the health of children

An unusual feature of SARS-Cov-2 infection and the COVID-19 pandemic is that children are less severely affected than adults. This is especially paradoxical given the epidemiological links between poor air qua...

Authors: Peter D. Sly, Brittany A. Trottier, Catherine M. Bulka, Stephania A. Cormier, Julius Fobil, Rebecca C. Fry, Kyoung-Woong Kim, Steven Kleeberger, Pushpam Kumar, Philip J. Landrigan, Karin C. Lodrop Carlsen, Antonio Pascale, Fernando Polack, Mathuros Ruchirawat, Heather J. Zar and William A. Suk

The science of spin: targeted strategies to manufacture doubt with detrimental effects on environmental and public health

Numerous groups, such as the tobacco industry, have deliberately altered and misrepresented knowable facts and empirical evidence to promote an agenda, often for monetary benefit, with consequences for environ...

Authors: Rebecca F. Goldberg and Laura N. Vandenberg

Road traffic noise, noise sensitivity, noise annoyance, psychological and physical health and mortality

Both physical and psychological health outcomes have been associated with exposure to environmental noise. Noise sensitivity could have the same moderating effect on physical and psychological health outcomes ...

Authors: Stephen Stansfeld, Charlotte Clark, Melanie Smuk, John Gallacher and Wolfgang Babisch

Geospatial indicators of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to assess neighbourhood variation in vulnerability to climate change-related health hazards

Although the frequency and magnitude of climate change-related health hazards (CCRHHs) are likely to increase, the population vulnerabilities and corresponding health impacts are dependent on a community’s exp...

Authors: Jessica Yu, Kaitlin Castellani, Krista Forysinski, Paul Gustafson, James Lu, Emily Peterson, Martino Tran, Angela Yao, Jingxuan Zhao and Michael Brauer

Dampness and student-reported social climate: two multilevel mediation models

Little previous research has analysed the relationship between schools’ indoor air problems and schools’ social climate. In this study, we analysed a) whether observed mould and dampness in a school building r...

Authors: Eerika Finell, Asko Tolvanen, Juha Pekkanen, Timo Ståhl and Pauliina Luopa

Effect of short-term exposure to particulate air pollution on heart rate variability in normal-weight and obese adults

The adverse effects of particulate air pollution on heart rate variability (HRV) have been reported. However, it remains unclear whether they differ by the weight status as well as between wake and sleep.

Authors: Luyi Li, Dayu Hu, Wenlou Zhang, Liyan Cui, Xu Jia, Di Yang, Shan Liu, Furong Deng, Junxiu Liu and Xinbiao Guo

Systemic lupus Erythematosus and geomagnetic disturbances: a time series analysis

To examine the influence of solar cycle and geomagnetic effects on SLE disease activity.

Authors: George Stojan, Flavia Giammarino and Michelle Petri

Severity of parkinsonism associated with environmental manganese exposure

Exposure to occupational manganese (Mn) is associated with neurotoxic brain injury, manifesting primarily as parkinsonism. The association between environmental Mn exposure and parkinsonism is unclear. To char...

Authors: Brad A. Racette, Gill Nelson, Wendy W. Dlamini, Pradeep Prathibha, Jay R. Turner, Mwiza Ushe, Harvey Checkoway, Lianne Sheppard and Susan Searles Nielsen

Examining the role of wind in human illness due to pesticide drift in Washington state, 2000–2015

Pesticides play an important role in protecting the food supply and the public’s health from pests and diseases. By their nature, pesticides can be toxic to unintended target organisms. Changing winds contribu...

Authors: Edward J. Kasner, Joanne B. Prado, Michael G. Yost and Richard A. Fenske

Interaction of Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) candidate longevity gene and particulate matter (PM2.5) on all-cause mortality: a longitudinal cohort study in China

The SIRT1 gene was associated with the lifespan in several organisms through inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways. Long-term air particulate matter (PM) is detrimental to health through the same pathways.

Authors: Yao Yao, Linxin Liu, Guang Guo, Yi Zeng and John S. Ji

Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and autistic- and ADHD-related symptoms in children aged 2 and5 years from the Odense Child Cohort

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a non-persistent chemical with endocrine disrupting abilities used in a variety of consumer products. Fetal exposure to BPA is of concern due to the elevated sensitivity, which particularl...

Authors: Julie Bang Hansen, Niels Bilenberg, Clara Amalie Gade Timmermann, Richard Christian Jensen, Hanne Frederiksen, Anna-Maria Andersson, Henriette Boye Kyhl and Tina Kold Jensen

Severe volcanic SO₂ exposure and respiratory morbidity in the Icelandic population – a register study

The Holuhraun volcanic eruption September 2014 to February 2015 emitted large amounts of sulfur dioxide (SO₂). The aim of this study was to determine the association between volcanic SO₂ gases on general populati...

Authors: Hanne Krage Carlsen, Unnur Valdimarsdóttir, Haraldur Briem, Francesca Dominici, Ragnhildur Gudrun Finnbjornsdottir, Thorsteinn Jóhannsson, Thor Aspelund, Thorarinn Gislason and Thorolfur Gudnason

Meteorological factors and childhood diarrhea in Peru, 2005–2015: a time series analysis of historic associations, with implications for climate change

Global temperatures are projected to rise by ≥2 °C by the end of the century, with expected impacts on infectious disease incidence. Establishing the historic relationship between temperature and childhood dia...

Authors: Miranda J. Delahoy, César Cárcamo, Adrian Huerta, Waldo Lavado, Yury Escajadillo, Luís Ordoñez, Vanessa Vasquez, Benjamin Lopman, Thomas Clasen, Gustavo F. Gonzales, Kyle Steenland and Karen Levy

Association between biomass fuel use and the risk of cognitive impairment among older populations in China: a population-based cohort study

Cohort studies on the impact of biomass fuel use for cooking on cognitive impairment among older population are still lacking in China and elsewhere. The aim of this study was to examine whether biomass fuel u...

Authors: Min Du, Liyuan Tao, Lin Zhu and Jue Liu

Correction to: A review of health effects associated with exposure to jet engine emissions in and around airports

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Katja M. Bendtsen, Elizabeth Bengtsen, Anne T. Saber and Ulla Vogel

Assessing additive effects of air pollutants on mortality rate in Massachusetts

We previously found additive effects of long- and short-term exposures to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), ozone (O₃), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) on all-cause mortality rate using a generalized propensity score (...

Authors: Yaguang Wei, Brent Coull, Petros Koutrakis, Jiabei Yang, Longxiang Li, Antonella Zanobetti and Joel Schwartz

Socio-economic factors do also matter: comments on the article “can climatic factors explain the differences in COVID-19 incidence and severity across the SPANISH regions?: an ecological study”

Phosri et al., commented on our previous study about the influence of climate variables at the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Spain. They showed the impact of the association of gross domestic product...

Authors: Pedro Muñoz Cacho, José L. Hernández, Marcos López-Hoyos and Víctor M. Martínez-Taboada

Socio‐economic factors do also matter: comments on the article “Can climatic factors explain the differences in COVID-19 incidence and severity across the spanish regions?: an ecological study”

A report published in this journal showed an inversely significant association between ultraviolet radiation (UVR) before the pandemic and cumulative COVID-19 cases in Spain. The analyses employed several mete...

Authors: Arthit Phosri, Yang Cao, Mariko Harada Sassa and Kouji H. Harada

Fluoride exposure and duration and quality of sleep in a Canadian population-based sample

Fluoride from dietary and environmental sources may concentrate in calcium-containing regions of the body such as the pineal gland. The pineal gland synthesizes melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wa...

Authors: Jasmyn E. A. Cunningham, Hugh McCague, Ashley J. Malin, David Flora and Christine Till

Metal biomarker mixtures and blood pressure in the United States: cross-sectional findings from the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

The objective of this study was to identify conditional relationships between multiple metal biomarkers that predict systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the non-institutionalized United States adult popul...

Authors: Todd M. Everson, Megan M. Niedzwiecki, Daniell Toth, Maria Tellez-Plaza, Haoran Liu, Dana B. Barr and Matthew O. Gribble

The impact of energy retrofits on pediatric asthma exacerbation in a Boston multi-family housing complex: a systems science approach

Pediatric asthma is currently the most prevalent chronic disease in the United States, with children in lower income families disproportionately affected. This increased health burden is partly due to lower-qu...

Authors: Koen F. Tieskens, Chad W. Milando, Lindsay J. Underhill, Kimberly Vermeer, Jonathan I. Levy and M. Patricia Fabian

A tiered approach to prioritizing registered pesticides for potential cancer hazard evaluations: implications for decision making

Over 800 pesticides are registered for use in the United States. Human studies indicate concern that some pesticides currently in use in large quantities may also pose a carcinogenic hazard. Our objective is t...

Authors: Pamela J. Schwingl, Ruth M. Lunn and Suril S. Mehta

Exposure to traffic-related air pollution and changes in exhaled nitric oxide and DNA methylation in arginase and nitric oxide synthase in children with asthma

Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) has been associated with increased risk of airway inflammation in children with asthma. While epigenetic changes could potentially modulate TRAP-induced inflammatory respon...

Authors: N. Ji, M. Fang, A. Baptista, C. Cepeda, M. Greenberg, I. Colon Mincey, P. Ohman-Strickland, F. Haynes, N. Fiedler, H. M. Kipen and R. J. Laumbach

Residential exposure to air pollution and access to neighborhood greenspace in relation to hair cortisol concentrations during the second and third trimester of pregnancy

Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in studies worldwide, other studies have described beneficial effects of residential greenspace on pregnancy outco...

Authors: Veerle Josefa Verheyen, Sylvie Remy, Nathalie Lambrechts, Eva Govarts, Ann Colles, Lien Poelmans, Els Verachtert, Wouter Lefebvre, Pieter Monsieurs, Charlotte Vanpoucke, Flemming Nielsen, Lena Van den Eeden, Yves Jacquemyn and Greet Schoeters

A review of health effects associated with exposure to jet engine emissions in and around airports

Airport personnel are at risk of occupational exposure to jet engine emissions, which similarly to diesel exhaust emissions include volatile organic compounds and particulate matter consisting of an inorganic ...

Authors: Katja M. Bendtsen, Elizabeth Bengtsen, Anne T. Saber and Ulla Vogel

Houston hurricane Harvey health (Houston-3H) study: assessment of allergic symptoms and stress after hurricane Harvey flooding

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey caused unprecedented flooding across the greater Houston area. Given the potential for widespread flood-related exposures, including mold and sewage, and the emotional and ment...

Authors: Abiodun O. Oluyomi, Kristen Panthagani, Jesus Sotelo, Xiangjun Gu, Georgina Armstrong, Dan Na Luo, Kristi L. Hoffman, Diana Rohlman, Lane Tidwell, Winifred J. Hamilton, Elaine Symanski, Kimberly Anderson, Joseph F. Petrosino, Cheryl Lyn Walker and Melissa Bondy

Seasonality of acute kidney injury in a tertiary hospital academic center: an observational cohort study

The aim of our study was to describe seasonal trends of acute kidney injury (AKI) and its relationship with weather conditions in a hospitalized population.

Authors: Gianmarco Lombardi, Giovanni Gambaro, Nicoletta Pertica, Alessandro Naticchia, Matteo Bargagli and Pietro Manuel Ferraro

Inferential challenges when assessing racial/ethnic health disparities in environmental research

Numerous epidemiologic studies have documented environmental health disparities according to race/ethnicity (R/E) to inform targeted interventions aimed at reducing these disparities. Yet, the use of R/E under...

Authors: Tarik Benmarhnia, Anjum Hajat and Jay S. Kaufman

Short-term exposure to air pollution and hospital admission for pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Air pollution is a major issue that poses a health threat worldwide. Although several studies investigated the adverse effects of air pollution on various diseases, few have directly demonstrated the effects o...

Authors: Jeong Yee, Young Ah Cho, Hee Jeong Yoo, Hyunseo Yun and Hye Sun Gwak

Sex-dependent dysregulation of human neutrophil responses by bisphenol A

In the present study, we aimed to investigate selected functions of human neutrophils exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) under in vitro conditions. As BPA is classified among xenoestrogens, we compared its action an...

Authors: Wioletta Ratajczak-Wrona, Marzena Garley, Malgorzata Rusak, Karolina Nowak, Jan Czerniecki, Katarzyna Wolosewicz, Milena Dabrowska, Slawomir Wolczynski, Piotr Radziwon and Ewa Jablonska

Trimester effects of source-specific PM₁₀ on birth weight outcomes in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)

Evidence suggests that exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM₁₀) is associated with reduced birth weight, but information is limited on the sources of PM₁₀ and exposure miscl...

Authors: Yingxin Chen, Susan Hodgson, John Gulliver, Raquel Granell, A. John Henderson, Yutong Cai and Anna L. Hansell

Metabolomic signatures of the long-term exposure to air pollution and temperature

Long-term exposures to air pollution has been reported to be associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. However, the underlying metabolic mechanisms remain poorly understood.

Authors: Feiby L. Nassan, Rachel S. Kelly, Anna Kosheleva, Petros Koutrakis, Pantel S. Vokonas, Jessica A. Lasky-Su and Joel D. Schwartz

Long-term effects of fine particulate matter exposure on the progression of arterial stiffness

Prior studies have investigated the association of PM_2.5 exposure with arterial stiffness measured by ankle-brachial index (ABI) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), of which conclusions are inconsiste...

Authors: Dianqin Sun, Yue Liu, Jie Zhang, Jia Liu, Zhiyuan Wu, Mengyang Liu, Xia Li, Xiuhua Guo and Lixin Tao

Prenatal metal mixtures and child blood pressure in the Rhea mother-child cohort in Greece

Child blood pressure (BP) is predictive of future cardiovascular risk. Prenatal exposure to metals has been associated with higher BP in childhood, but most studies have evaluated elements individually and mea...

Authors: Caitlin G. Howe, Katerina Margetaki, Marina Vafeiadi, Theano Roumeliotaki, Marianna Karachaliou, Manolis Kogevinas, Rob McConnell, Sandrah P. Eckel, David V. Conti, Maria Kippler, Shohreh F. Farzan and Leda Chatzi

Preconception air pollution exposure and glucose tolerance in healthy pregnant women in a middle-income country

Preconception exposure to air pollution has been associated with glucose tolerance during pregnancy. However, the evidence in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is under debate yet. Therefore, this study ...

Authors: Moslem Lari Najafi, Mehdi Zarei, Ali Gohari, Leyla Haghighi, Hafez Heydari and Mohammad Miri

Synergistic health effects of air pollution, temperature, and pollen exposure: a systematic review of epidemiological evidence

Exposure to heat, air pollution, and pollen are associated with health outcomes, including cardiovascular and respiratory disease. Studies assessing the health impacts of climate change have considered increas...

Authors: Susan C. Anenberg, Shannon Haines, Elizabeth Wang, Nicholas Nassikas and Patrick L. Kinney

DNA methylation of insulin-like growth factor 2 and H19 cluster in cord blood and prenatal air pollution exposure to fine particulate matter

The IGF2 (insulin-like growth factor 2) and H19 gene cluster plays an important role during pregnancy as it promotes both foetal and placental growth. We investigated the association between cord blood DNA methyl...

Authors: Congrong Wang, Michelle Plusquin, Akram Ghantous, Zdenko Herceg, Rossella Alfano, Bianca Cox and Tim S. Nawrot

The effects of everyday-life exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on biological age indicators

Further knowledge on modifiable aging risk factors is required to mitigate the increasing burden of age-related diseases in a rapidly growing global demographic of elderly individuals. We explored the effect o...

Authors: Sofia Pavanello, Manuela Campisi, Giuseppe Mastrangelo, Mirjam Hoxha and Valentina Bollati

Prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances and thyroid hormone concentrations in cord plasma in a Chinese birth cohort

Evidence of associations between prenatal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and fetal thyroid hormones (THs) is controversial, and few studies have estimated the associations, while addressing the ...

Authors: Hong Liang, Ziliang Wang, Maohua Miao, Youping Tian, Yan Zhou, Sheng Wen, Yao Chen, Xiaowei Sun and Wei Yuan

Answer to Böhmert et al

I thank Böhmert et al. for their commentary of my review, although their criticisms suggest a misunderstanding of its aims and scope. It does not discuss their comprehensive model per se, but as the latest for...

Authors: Maël Dieudonné

Response to the “Letter to the Editor” by Alfred Körblein, “Short term increase in low birthweight babies after Fukushima”

Authors: Hagen Scherb and Keiji Hayashi

In utero and peripubertal metals exposure in relation to reproductive hormones and sexual maturation and progression among boys in Mexico City

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as metals have been reported to alter circulating reproductive hormone concentrations and pubertal development in animals. However, the relationship has rarely been i...

Authors: Pahriya Ashrap, John D. Meeker, Brisa N. Sánchez, Niladri Basu, Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz, Maritsa Solano-González, Adriana Mercado-García, Martha M. Téllez-Rojo, Karen E. Peterson and Deborah J. Watkins

Response to the “letter to the editor” by Sani Rachman Soleman et al., “spatiotemporal association of low birth weight with Cs-137 deposition at the prefecture level in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents”

We thank Sani Rachman Soleman et al. for three specific points of criticism concerning our investigation of the ecological association between low birth weight (LBW) and radioactive contamination in Japan afte...

Authors: Hagen Scherb and Keiji Hayashi

Causal perception is central in electromagnetic hypersensitivity - a commentary on “Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: a critical review of explanatory hypotheses’’

We highly welcome and appreciate the paper of Dieudonné, 2020 (https://​doi.​org/​10.​1186/​s12940-020-00602-0 ) on the important but frequently neglected topic of hypersensitivity towards electromagnetic fields (E...

Authors: Christoph Boehmert, Michael Witthöft and Omer Van den Bergh

Letter to the editor regarding “spatiotemporal association of low birth weight with Cs-137 deposition at the prefecture level in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accidents”

In the previous report, association between increased low birth weight prevalence and radiocesium deposition after 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster was found. However, the statistical analyses therein raised se...

Authors: Sani Rachman Soleman, Tomoko Fujitani and Kouji H. Harada

Short term increase in low birth weight babies after Fukushima

An analysis of low birth weight (LBW) births in ten contaminated prefectures of Japan, 1995–2018, finds a statistically significant increase in the LBW proportion in 2012–2013, but no increase after 2013. In t...

Authors: Alfred Körblein

Mortality in Yusho patients exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated dibenzofurans: a 50-year retrospective cohort study

In 1968, the Yusho incident resulted in accidental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and related compounds in Japan. This study updated the risk of mortality ...

Authors: Daisuke Onozuka, Yuko Nakamura, Gaku Tsuji and Masutaka Furue

The use of a bed with an insulating system of electromagnetic fields improves immune function, redox and inflammatory states, and decrease the rate of aging

The immune system, as a homeostatic system, is an excellent marker of health and has also been proposed as an indicator of the rate of aging. The base of the age-related changes in the immune system, “immunose...

Authors: E. Díaz-Del Cerro, C. Vida, I. Martínez de Toda, J. Félix and M. De la Fuente