This paper presents results of a population-based case-control study of the association between maternal exposures to environmental sulfur dioxide and total suspended particulates (TSP) and risk for having a very low birth weight (VLBW) baby, i.e., one weighing less than 1,500 g at birth. The study, which took place between April 1, 1986 and March 30, 1988, comprised 143 mothers of VLBW babies ...

The environmental burden of disease is the mortality and morbidity attributable to exposures of air pollution and other stressors. The inequality metrics used in cumulative impact and environmental justice studies can be incorporated into environmental burden studies to better understand the health disparities of ambient air pollutant exposures. This study examines the diseases and health dispa...

INTRODUCTION Smoking is a public health risk; the prevalence of smoking among adults in Nebraska is 18.4%. Studies indicate that maltreatment of children alters their brain development, possibly increasing risk for tobacco use. Previous studies have documented associations between childhood maltreatment and adult health behaviors, demonstrating the influence of adverse experiences on tobacco us...

Endocrine disrupting chemicals that are structurally similar to steroid or amine hormones have the potential to mimic endocrine endpoints at the receptor level. However, more recently, epigenetic-induced alteration in gene expression has emerged as an alternative way in which environmental compounds may exert endocrine effects. We review concepts related to environmental epigenetics and relevan...

Three to 4 million children and adolescents in the United States live within 1 mile of a federally designated Superfund hazardous waste disposal site and are at risk of exposure to chemical toxicants released from these sites into air, groundwater, surface water, and surrounding communities. Because of their patterns of exposure and their biological vulnerability, children are uniquely suscepti...

Several recent studies have addressed the topic of “exposome”, an approach for evaluating environmental exposures and their influence on human health conditions. Environmental exposures affecting human health range from a combination of factors like air pollution, tobacco smoke, and pollen, to climate, such as heat and humidity. With continued advances in information technology, and the worldwi...

OBJECTIVE Describe the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of U.S. obstetricians on the topic of prenatal environmental exposures. STUDY DESIGN A national online survey of American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) fellows and 3 focus groups of obstetricians. RESULTS We received 2,514 eligible survey responses, for a response rate of 14%. The majority (78%) of obstetricians a...

Genetic epidemiologic studies often involve investigation of the association of a disease with a genomic region in terms of the underlying haplotypes, that is the combination of alleles at multiple loci along homologous chromosomes. In this article, we consider the problem of estimating haplotype-environment interactions from case-control studies when some of the environmental exposures themsel...

There is realistic concern about the impact of environmental influences on the health of human populations. First, exposure to environmental agents continues despite successes in reducing exposures to known toxicants such as lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and tobacco smoke. Second, there has been increasing concern about the cause of autism and other neurodevelopmental problems and hypo...

In utero and early life environmental exposure programming may be critical to the onset of many diseases and dysfunctions in adulthood (Barker, 2007; Heindel, 2006), such as an increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease (Palinski et al. 2007), diabetes (Armitage et al. 2008), and breast cancer (Xue and Michels, 2007). Some in utero and early life environmental exposures have demonst...