It is estimated that over 60 million Americans (1/3 of the adult population) are functionally or marginally illiterate. To recognize and gain an understanding of illiteracy and its impact on poisoning, we determined if the illiterate in our community could recognize potential poisons. A prospective study involving 29 male and 21 female adult illiterates was undertaken. A personal interview was ...

This technical note introduces the Household Hunger Scale (HHS), a simple, new indicator to assess household hunger in food insecure areas. The HHS consists of three questions and three frequencies that, when administered in a population-based household survey, allows for estimating the percent of households affected by three different severities of household hunger: 1) Little to no household h...

BACKGROUND This article reports on the use of the 'neighborhood method' to measure the prevalence and basic characteristics of children who became separated from their parents or usual caregivers subsequent to an attack by the M23 militia group in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. METHODS A two-stage household cluster survey was conducted in 522 households in North Kivu in August ...

BACKGROUND The risk of indoor exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on allergic airway diseases in children remains unknown. OBJECTIVE We examined the residential concentrations of VOCs, emitted from building materials, paints, furniture, and other lifestyle practices and the risks of multiple allergic diseases as well as the IgE-sensitization in pre-school age children in Sweden. M...

BACKGROUND Microorganisms influence the chemical milieu of their environment, and chemical metabolites can affect ecological processes. In built environments, where people spend the majority of their time, very little is known about how surface-borne microorganisms influence the chemistry of the indoor spaces. Here, we applied multidisciplinary approaches to investigate aspects of chemical micr...

I report how some adulterants affect results for drugs of abuse in urine as measured by Roche RIA, Syva emit d.a.u., and Abbott TDx fpia (fluorescence polarization immunoassay) for the following drugs: amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, opiates, and phencyclidine (PCP). Sodium chloride interfered negatively with all of these drugs when assayed by emit and caused...

Cadmium is one of the highest priority chemicals regulated under the EPA’s Superfund program and can enter soil, water, and air from mining and industrial processes, burning coal and household wastes, where it can be taken up by fish, plants and animals. This activity features the research of a scientist who is funded by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Superfund Research Program to investigate the link betwe...

The aims of the present study were to assess the effects of maternal use of domestic chemicals during pregnancy on wheezing and lung function in children aged </=8.5 yrs and to explore the potential modifying effect of atopy. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a cohort study, a maternal composite household chemical exposure (CHCE) score was derived. Wheezing phenotypes from...

Many chemicals are present in cleaning and personal care products, which after use are washed down the drain and find their way into water bodies, where they may impact the environment. This study surveyed individuals to determine what products were used most in the home, in an attempt to prioritize which compounds may be of most concern. The survey resulted in the identification of 14 categori...

BACKGROUND Current developments in science and the media have now placed pregnant women in a precarious situation as they are charged with the responsibility to navigate through information sources to make the best decisions for her pregnancy. Yet little is known regarding how pregnant women want to receive and use health information in general, let alone information regarding the uncertain ris...