Articles

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

Environmental chemicals, breast cancer progression and drug resistance

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common causes of cancer in the world and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Mortality is associated mainly with the development of metastases. Identifi...

Authors: Meriem Koual, Céline Tomkiewicz, German Cano-Sancho, Jean-Philippe Antignac, Anne-Sophie Bats and Xavier Coumoul

Social inequalities in heat-attributable mortality in the city of Turin, northwest of Italy: a time series analysis from 1982 to 2018

Understanding context specific heat-health risks in urban areas is important, especially given anticipated severe increases in summer temperatures due to climate change effects. We investigate social inequalit...

Authors: Marta Ellena, Joan Ballester, Paola Mercogliano, Elisa Ferracin, Giuliana Barbato, Giuseppe Costa and Vijendra Ingole

Update on human exposure to glyphosate, with a complete review of exposure in children

Glyphosate, a commonly used pesticide, has been the topic of much debate. The effects of exposure to glyphosate remains a contentious topic. This paper provides an update to the existing literature regarding l...

Authors: Christina Gillezeau, Wil Lieberman-Cribbin and Emanuela Taioli

Health consequences of drought in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: hotspot areas and needed actions

Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged and frequent. We aimed to m...

Authors: Saverio Bellizzi, Chris Lane, Mohamed Elhakim and Pierre Nabeth

Incident cardiovascular disease and particulate matter air pollution in South Korea using a population-based and nationwide cohort of 0.2 million adults

While many studies reported the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter air pollution (PM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), few studies focused on incidence with relatively high-dose expo...

Authors: Ok-Jin Kim, Soo Hyun Lee, Si-Hyuck Kang and Sun-Young Kim

Climate factors and gestational diabetes mellitus risk – a systematic review

Current and projected increases in global temperatures and extreme climate events have led to heightened interest in the impact of climate factors (i.e. ambient temperature, season/seasonality, and humidity) o...

Authors: Emma V. Preston, Claudia Eberle, Florence M. Brown and Tamarra James-Todd

Association between coarse particulate matter and inflammatory and hemostatic markers in a cohort of midlife women

Exposure to particulate matter air pollution has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality; however, most studies have focused on fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) exposure and CVD. ...

Authors: Emilie Davis, Brian Malig, Rachel Broadwin, Keita Ebisu, Rupa Basu, Ellen B. Gold, Lihong Qi, Carol A. Derby, Sung Kyun Park and Xiangmei (May) Wu

Association of ambient air pollution with cardiovascular disease risks in people with type 2 diabetes: a Bayesian spatial survival analysis

Evidence is limited on excess risks of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) associated with ambient air pollution in diabetic populations. Survival analyses without considering the spatial structure and possible spa...

Authors: Pei-Fang Su, Fei-Ci Sie, Chun-Ting Yang, Yu-Lin Mau, Shihchen Kuo and Huang-Tz Ou

Epigenome-wide association study for pesticide (Permethrin and DEET) induced DNA methylation epimutation biomarkers for specific transgenerational disease

Permethrin and N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) are the pesticides and insect repellent most commonly used by humans. These pesticides have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance o...

Authors: Jennifer L. M. Thorson, Daniel Beck, Millissia Ben Maamar, Eric E. Nilsson and Michael K. Skinner

Immune biomarkers link air pollution exposure to blood pressure in adolescents

Childhood exposure to air pollution contributes to cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Immune and oxidative stress disturbances might mediate the effects of air pollution on the cardiovascular system, but the...

Authors: Mary Prunicki, Nicholas Cauwenberghs, Jennifer Arthur Ataam, Hesam Movassagh, Juyong Brian Kim, Tatiana Kuznetsova, Joseph C. Wu, Holden Maecker, Francois Haddad and Kari Nadeau

The dietary risk index system: a tool to track pesticide dietary risks

For years the United States Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program and the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency have published annual or quarterly data on pesticide residues in foods. Both progra...

Authors: Charles M. Benbrook and Donald R. Davis

Exposure to Perflouroalkyl acids and foetal and maternal thyroid status: a review

Exposure to perfluorinated-alkyl-acids (PFAAs) is ubiquitous. PFAAs are hormone-disrupting compounds that are strongly suspected to affect mother-child-health such as fetal growth. Thyroid disruption is a plau...

Authors: Sophie A. H. Boesen, Manhai Long, Maria Wielsøe, Vicente Mustieles, Mariana F. Fernandez and Eva C. Bonefeld-Jørgensen

Can climatic factors explain the differences in COVID-19 incidence and severity across the Spanish regions?: An ecological study

Environmental factors play a central role in seasonal epidemics. SARS-CoV-2 infection in Spain has shown a heterogeneous geographical pattern This study aimed to assess the influence of several climatic factor...

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

Aryl-hydrocarbon receptor binding and the incidence of type 2 diabetes: the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may cause diabetes, in part through aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) binding. Ensuing mitochondrial dysfunction is postulated to mediate this effect. We aim to investigate t...

Authors: Bruce B. Duncan, Cristina D. Castilhos, Paula A. Bracco, Maria I. Schmidt, Sora Kang, Suyeol Im, Hong-Kyu Lee, Álvaro Vigo and Youngmi K. Pak