OBJECTIVES To gather enough data from a large scale investigation involving two health authorities, to assess the possible concentrations and routes of exposure and the consequent health implications. To use the data to decide whether a polluted beach should remain open to the public. In Spring 1997, a chemical incident came to light at a beach on the south coast of England when a local residen...

The Daily Mail said that “770 deaths a year could be avoided,” about weekend childbirth. But the study hadn’t said that. For this to be true, maternity services would need to be like Groundhog Day, with every day being Tuesday (the weekday with the lowest risk). In theMirror it was “good news for the posh” because drinking three glasses of champagne a week could “stave off” dementia, although t...

Aim We tested the hypothesis that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) interferes with the antithrombotic effects of dabigatran and warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and results This is a post-hoc analysis of the Randomized Evaluation of Long-term anticoagulation therapY (RE-LY) Study. We defined LVH by electrocardiography (ECG) and included patients with AF on the ECG...

Heavy metal pollution in soils caused by mining and smelting has attracted worldwide attention for its potential health risks to residents. This paper studies the concentrations and accumulations of Sb and As in both soils and vegetables and the human health risks of Sb and As in vegetables from Xikuangshan (XKS) Sb mine, Hunan, China. Results showed that the soils were severely polluted by Sb ...

entail moving people through a much higher exposure, albeit for a shorter duration. Our results show that direct exposure to smoke is a more important determinant of ill health than the cumulative exposure to smoke. These results are consistent with other studies. 3 7 Reasons for evacuation Despite the expert guidance, an unacceptably high proportion of chemical incidents worldwide result in ev...

The procedure to assess the risk posed by systemic insecticides to honey bees follows the European Directives and depends on the determination of the Hazard Quotient (HQ), though this parameter is not adapted to these molecules. This paper describes a new approach to assess more specifically the risk posed by systemic insecticides to honey bees with the example of imidacloprid (Gaucho). This ap...

BACKGROUND Light to moderate alcohol intake lowers the risk of cardiovascular mortality, but whether this protective effect can be attributed to a specific type of beverage remains unclear. Moreover, little is known about the effects of long-term alcohol intake on life expectancy. METHODS The impact of long-term alcohol intake and types of alcoholic beverages consumed on cardiovascular mortal...

AIMS/INTRODUCTION Depression, anger, sleep disorders and cognitive impairment are regarded as presenting a high risk for diabetes. We investigated whether responses to single statements on a self-report questionnaire on the presence of each of these four factors were associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS We investigated 3,211 Japanese individuals without di...

OBJECTIVES We prospectively assessed the association between alcohol consumption and onset of perimenopause in women of late reproductive age using data from the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles. Specific types of alcoholic beverages - red wine, white wine, beer, and liquor - were evaluated. METHODS Among 502 women aged 36-45 years residing in seven Boston communities, we assessed self-repor...