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Our report examines the connections between forest management, wildfire smoke, and human health through interviews with health sector organizations in California and a review of the scientific literature. We highlight the knowledge gaps and the data, research, and collaborations needed to effectively fill them, as well as steps the State of California, the federal government, and others can take to ensure the improved health of all who live under frequently smoky skies. Broadly, we find: 1.  Wildfire smoke impacts human health and health sector organizations’ workforces, operations, and ability to provide services, yet the costs are largely unquantified. Quantifying these costs would enable state and local health sector organizations to make more informed decisions regarding budgeting, resource allocation, and response.2.  Many interviewed health sector organizations see value in future engagement with forest management to mitigate adverse outcomes and costs associated with wildfire smoke, but require avenues for collaboration and more information on the potential benefits of forest management to human health and the health sector.3.  Comprehensive statewide and/or locally specific information on the adverse human health impacts of wildfire smoke are not readily available but could be generated from additional analysis of existing data resources. The data and methodologies to support the above understanding require thoughtful, forward-looking, collaborative, coordinated research design that is informed by use cases appropriate for California.4.  A small but growing body of research suggests that management to improve forest health can be tailored to reduce total smoke impacts and benefit human health. Informed prioritization of management strategies that promote forest resilience and human health across California’s many landscapes will benefit from filling data gaps relating the costs and efficacy of various treatments under different conditions.

A community garden is a great place to grow nutritious food, fresh flowers, and even a more vibrant and sharing community! This publication tells about all sorts of community gardens and shows you how you can set one up in your own neighborhood.

With a cast iron Dutch oven, you can recreate the historic cooking experience of immigrants crossing the prairies and at the same time produce a delicious campfire feast! Learn how best to use and care for this useful cooking tool.

A vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients your body requires, but if you are new to vegetarianism you may have to take extra care in planning your meals. This short publication will help you make good, informed choices.

Phytochemicals are chemical compounds (including flavonoids, flavonols, and others) that scientists believe to be responsible for the disease-preventing effects of many foods. This publication is a quick introduction to these compounds and their benefits.

Flavonols are chemicals naturally present in fruits and vegetables. Research has shown them to have beneficial effects on people with a number of medical conditions, including asthma, diabetes, and even cancer. Find out more in this brief introduction.

Catechins are a type of flavonol found in many foods, including red wine, broad beans, black grapes, apricots, strawberries, chocolate, black tea, and green tea. Learn about the health benefits of this nutrient!

Omega-3 fatty acids are important to human health. Find out about their health benefits and what foods are good sources for these nutrients.

A calcium-poor diet is a primary risk factor for osteoporosis. Learn how the right mix of calcium, other nutrients, exercise, and sensible good-health practices can help you keep your chances of osteoporosis to a minimum.

Good eating habits and the right amount of exercise can keep you healthy and feeling your best. This publication is a quick guide to help you balance all of the food groups, eat a sensible diet, and maintain an activity level that will keep you fit.

St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), a dietary supplement, is sometimes used as an antidepressant in alternative medicine. Learn more about its safe use, with particular attention to its interactions with other medicines.

You need plenty of iron in your diet, both to carry oxygen in your bloodstream and to keep all of your body's cells functioning properly. Severe iron deficiency causes a type of anemia. Learn to ensure you have the right amount of iron in your diet.

Saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, trans — This short publication will help you sort out the one from the other and help you make better food choices.

You know it's a good idea to have plenty of fiber in your diet, but what are the best kinds of fiber to eat, and where can you find them in your pantry or fridge? This free publication can answer those questions and set you on the right track.

The long-time presence of soy in traditional Asian foods may have something to do with historically low rates of some chronic diseases in many Asian cultures. Learn how to integrate this excellent protein and nutrient source into your own cuisine.

Calcium does more than build strong bones: too little calcium in your food can also have severe consequence for your muscles, teeth, blood, and nervous system. Learn where to find calcium in your food and how to keep enough in your diet.

Cholesterol isn't simple. Some is “good,” some is “bad”; it's something our bodies need, but only in small amounts. Confused? This publication can help with its clear, specific answers to common questions about cholesterol in your diet and in your body.

Marketers of energy drinks make many claims about their products' effects and safety. Find out what's behind those claims.

Intended for staff of agencies, organizations, and others who desire to strengthen their partnerships with Latino communities, this brief publication addresses to issues that concern many public agencies and nonprofit, community-based organizations.

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of current gaps of and challenges for LCA structured into inventory, impact assessment, generic and evolving aspects. A total of 34 gaps and challenges were identified. These include challenges like `allocation', `uncertainty' or `biodiversity', as well as issues like `littering', `animal well-being' or `positive impacts' which are not covered as often in the existing LCA literature. Each of these gaps is described by a high-level overview of the topic and its relevance to LCA, and the state of the art in terms of literature and potential solutions, if any, is presented. The motivation for such an overview is two-fold: First, robust, sustainable and credible use of LCA should avoid the over-interpretation of LCA results without proper consideration of its gaps and limitations. Second, these gaps and challenges represent research needs for the scientific LCA community and hopefully inspire further progress in method development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in nutrient absorption and accumulation is derived from the need to increase crop productivity by better nutrition and also to improve the nutritional quality of plants as foods and feeds. This review focuses on contrasting data on the importance for human health of food mineral nutrients (Ca, Mg, K, Na and P) and also the trace elements considered essential or beneficial for human health (Cr, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se and Zn). In addition, environmental stresses such as salinity, drought, extreme temperatures and light conditions that affect mineral content were revised in the light that the effect of these factors depends on the species or cultivar, and the specific plant organ, as well as the intensity and duration of the stress. Differences between inorganic and organic fertilisation practices on the mineral levels were also analysed to evaluate the influence of external factors on the quality of plant-based foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter explores the literature on ultraviolet (UV) irradiance in urban ecosystems with respect to the likely effects on human health. The focus was the question of whether the health effects of UV radiation should be included in the planning of landscape elements such as trees and shading structures, especially for high use pedestrian areas and school play grounds. Ultraviolet radiation can have a strong effect on humans, primarily as a cause or contributing factor for skin cancer and eye cataracts. It is also a probable factor in the development of immune deficiencies. However, UV can also positively affect human health, primarily because it is essential for photosynthesis of vitamin D in human skin. Vitamin D has long been recognized as a requirement for bone health. Recent epidemiological findings attribute vitamin D for the reduction of many types of non-skin cancers. Moreover, there is evidence that it may reduce mortality for those diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer. Alternatively, some public health authorities, particularly those from countries with a large population of northern European descent, strongly recommend that exposure to UV radiation should be minimized to prevent skin cancer. Other agencies, including the World Health Organization, that take a broader world view, differentiate their recommendations according to skin color. They recommend that humans with darker skin, who are likely deficient in vitamin D and also have little access to vitamin D fortified foods, should have moderate UV exposure. Judging from current knowledge of typical spectra of solar radiation in tree shade and the difference between the action spectra (effectiveness versus radiation wavelength) for vitamin D synthesis and that for sunburn in human skin, tree shade has advantages for moderate exposure to solar radiation. Where trees are separated, as is typical in heavily populated urban areas, the shortest wavelengths of UV radiation are scattered from the sky into shady locations with some sky view, and to a small extent, vitamin-D-promoting wavelengths are increased over the radiation spectrum that causes sunburn. The sunburn action spectrum includes longer wavelengths that are less readily scattered into direct beam shade. Global climate change, which is expected to increase temperatures, especially at higher latitudes, may have a variety of effects on UV exposure for human populations. For example, warming could lead to greater exposure as people adapt to increased temperatures by wearing less clothing. However, empirical evidence for a temperature influence on human exposure independent of radiation climate does not seem to exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) plays an important role in health maintenance, and optimization of Se status of the general population is an urgent task for many countries worldwide. Low Se availability from European soils due to fertilization decreased dramatically. Se availability for plants leads to low Se concentrations in grains and in animal-derived products and ultimately in human diet. Supplementing animal diets with Se in the form of sodium selenite or selenate does not affect substantially Se concentration in eggs, meat, and milk. SeMet represents the major form of Se in animal-derived foods and must be provided with diets for solving Se deficiency problems through production of Se-enriched eggs, meat, and milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

· Fungal metabolites called mycotoxins are considered to be unavoidable contaminants in foods and feeds and are a major problem all over the world with 25% of world΄s crop production contaminated with mycotoxins. · While biological effects of mycotoxins, organ toxicity, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, and modulation of the immune system, are well documented, the relevance of mycotoxins in human medicine remains largely underestimated. · Mycotoxins may affect the reproductive system and the immune system, exhibit hormonal activity, affect specific target organs and may be neurotoxin. Development of effective technologies to prevent food contamination with mycotoxins awaits a solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leafy vegetables occupy a very important place in the human diet, but unfortunately, constitute a group of foods, which contributes maximally to nitrate consumption by living beings. Under excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer, these vegetables can accumulate high levels of nitrate and, on being consumed by living beings, pose serious health hazards. Therefore, efforts are warranted to minimize the accumulation of nitrate in leafy vegetables and its ingestion by human beings. This review focuses on (a) the contribution of vegetables towards dietary nitrate intake by humans, (b) the nutritional, environmental and physiological factors affecting nitrate accumulation in plants, (c) the harmful and beneficial effects of nitrate on human health, and (c) the strategies that may be followed for minimizing the nitrate content in plants and its subsequent consumption by human beings. The risk to human health due to nitrate consumption may be minimized by harvesting vegetables in the noon, removal of organs rich in nitrate content and cooking of vegetables with water having a low nitrate content. The European Commission (EC) Regulation No. 1822/2005 needs to be followed in order to ensure safe levels of nitrate in plants for human consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A core mission in biodiversity informatics is to build a computing infrastructure for rapid, real-time analysis of biodiversity information. We have created the information technology to mine, analyze, interpret and visualize how diseases are evolving across the globe. The system rapidly collects the newest and most complete data on dangerous strains of viruses that are able to infect human and animal populations. Following completion, the system will also test whether positions in the genome are under positive selection or purifying selection, a useful feature to monitor functional genomic charac-teristics such as, drug resistance, host specificity, and transmissibility. Our system΄s persistent monitoring and reporting of the distribution of dangerous and novel viral strains will allow for better threat forecasting. This information system allows for greatly increased efficiency in tracking the evolution of disease threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early twenty-first century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. According to the Human Development Report 2006, more than 1 billion people are denied the right to clean water. These headline numbers capture only one dimension of the problem. Every year some 1.8 million children die as a result of diarrhoea and other diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. At the start of the twenty-first century unclean water is the world΄s second biggest killer of children. According to the UN Millennium Ecological Assessment, water-b ased ecosystems are now the world΄s most degraded natural resource; an outcome that can be traced to the breaching of ecological boundaries. Both drinking water quantity and quality are reduced by human operation. In many of the most stressed water basins quality has been impacted by different kind of pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of communicative and tropical diseases is high in the Aral Sea region of Central Asia, effecting 60–300 per 10,000 people. High levels of chlorides in drinking water, the high incidence of heart disease, and increased levels of Ca and Mg leading to biliary and renal calculosis are all problems. Morbidity rates for biliary calculosis have increased ten fold, rates for chronic gastritis four fold, renal diseases eight fold and arthrosis and arthritis by five and seven times. The incidence of acute respiratory diseases in Karakalpakistan varies from 46% to 52%, with the incidence of tuberculosis having doubled in the last ten years so that it is now three times the rate elsewhere in Uzbekistan. Complications in pregnancy affect roughly two thirds of all women who are exposed to pesticides, with increases in pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational anemia, spontaneous abortions and preterm deliveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uranium in water, soil, fodder and food products (especially meat) was studied in areas of former Soviet uranium industry in Tien-Shan 1950–1970. Uranium environment migration was very intensive in Tien-Shan, due to peculiarities waters (upper and ground): hydro-carbon-calcium content, and low potassium medium. A content of uranium in river-water from the areas was higher 30–100 times compared with rural regions of Russia. Lambs tissues (wet weight) contain: 1.2 ± 0.15 mg/g uranium in Min-Kush, 0.06 ± 0.0002 mg/kg in Mailuu-Suu. Lambs skin, horn, hoof contained 0.183 ± 0.007 mg/kg uranium. Meat of domestic animals was the only source of protein for local people. It has been found that latent pre-illness was very wide spread in human population, but not registered in official medical statistics. Health disorders (neutropenya, monocytosis, weak function of liver) have been shown by blood laboratory tests. There are several unfortunate factors in Tien-Shan region: pollution, alpine hypoxia, lack of iodine, protein and malnutrition. All these factors can lead together to low weak health of domestic animals and human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]