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Introduction Exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is associated with adverse health outcomes, including elevated blood pressure (BP). (1-3) However, unlike fine particulate matter [PM [less than or equal to]2:5 [...]

Tools are needed to allow accurate and timely prediction of water quality so that recreational users can make informed decisions about the safety of water, and beach managers can post updated advisories. In this paper, we describe the development of a health advisory system based on the probability that real-time estimates of sewage indicator bacteria levels exceed water quality standards. Real-time estimates of bacteria concentrations were made using multivariate linear regression models and real-time input data. Probability distribution functions based on the model results and their associated variances were used to determine the probability that predicted bacteria levels exceed water quality standards. The models were developed for the Mystic River watershed, an urban watershed near Boston, using Enterococcus bacteria data measured during the summers of 2002 and 2003. The linear regression models had adjusted-[R.sup.2] values of 0.55-0.82 for two river sites, and 0.42 for both a beach on a lake and a boathouse near a dam. Independent variables with predictive power included precipitation and the time since the last rainfall. The probabilistic models for the beach and the boathouse sites correctly predicted water quality exceedances and nonexceedances with >85% accuracy. CE Database subject headings: Water quality; Bacteria; Recreation; Uncertainty principles; Public health.

The distributions of five peaks of size-segregated atmospheric aerosol samples analyzed for C24H14 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) with respect to particle size appear to be bimodal with the majority of the mass associated with accumulation mode particles and a smaller fraction of the mass associated with ultrafine mode particles. Results reveal that C24H14 PAH repetition to larger particles occurs more rapidly through vaporization and sorption.

A bioassay-directed fractionation method proved useful in describing the analysis of an organic extract of Washington, DC airborne particle sample for human cell mutagens. The method allowed the separation of mutagenic constituents into chemically simplified fractions. Less than 20% of the total mutagenicity of the extract was obtained in two fourth-order fractions that contained less than 3% of the total extract mass. Thirteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were identified that accounted for less than 15% of the mutagenicity of the extract.

Bioassay-directed fractionation procedures were employed to study the main human cell mutagens in organic extracts of sediments from Wedge Pond in eastern Massachusetts. The samples' mutagenicity, which have been proved to be mutagenic in human cells, were resolved to two subfractions which contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The latter's presence was measured by liquid chromatographic separation with ultraviolet-vis spectrometic sensing.

Mutagenicity testing is typically used to isolate mutagenic water samples from nonmutagenic ones. It can also be used to detect the presence of compounds that pose health risks even at low concentrations. A method for obtaining organic pollutants prior to mutagenicity testing is described. The method, which is artifact-free, combines solid-phase extraction with filtration. It uses membrane filters linked in columns filled with C18 and CN sorbents.

Abstract Background Ambient air pollution and malnutrition, particularly anemia, are risk factors for pneumonia, a leading cause of death in children under five. We simultaneously assessed these risk factors in Quito, Ecuador. Methods In 2005, we studied two socioeconomically similar neighborhoods in Quito: Lucha de los Pobres (LP) and Jaime Roldos (JR). LP had relatively high levels of air pollution (annual median PM2.5 = 20.4 μg/m3; NO2 = 29.5 μg/m3) compared to JR (annual median PM2.5 = 15.3 μg/m3; NO2 = 16.6 μg/m3). We enrolled 408 children from LP (more polluted) and 413 children from JR (less polluted). All subjects were aged 18-42 months. We obtained medical histories of prior physician visits and hospitalizations during the previous year, anthropometric nutrition data, hemoglobin levels, and hemoglobin oxygen saturation via oximetry. Results In anemic children, higher pollution exposure was significantly associated with pneumonia hospitalization (OR = 6.82, 95%CI = 1.45-32.00; P = 0.015). In non-anemic children, no difference in hospitalizations by pollution exposure status was detected (OR = 1.04, NS). Children exposed to higher levels of air pollution had more pneumonia hospitalizations (OR = 3.68, 1.09-12.44; P = 0.036), total respiratory illness (OR = 2.93, 95% CI 1.92-4.47; P < 0.001), stunting (OR = 1.88, 1.36-2.60; P < 0.001) and anemia (OR = 1.45, 1.09-1.93; P = 0.013) compared to children exposed to lower levels of air pollution. Also, children exposed to higher levels of air pollution had significantly lower oxygen saturation (92.2% ± 2.6% vs. 95.8% ± 2.2%; P < 0.0001), consistent with air pollution related dyshemoglobinemia. Conclusions Ambient air pollution is associated with rates of hospitalization for pneumonia and with physician's consultations for acute respiratory infections. Anemia may interact with air pollution to increase pneumonia hospitalizations. If confirmed in larger studies, improving nutrition-related anemia, as well as decreasing the levels of air pollution in Quito, may reduce pneumonia incidence.

Abstract Background Decades of improper disposal of uranium-mining wastes on the Navajo Nation has resulted in adverse human and ecological health impacts as well as socio-cultural problems. As the Navajo people become increasingly aware of the contamination problems, there is a need to develop a risk-communication strategy to properly inform tribal members of the extent and severity of the health risks. To be most effective, this strategy needs to blend accepted risk-communication techniques with Navajo perspectives such that the strategy can be used at the community level to inform culturally- and toxicologically-relevant decisions about land and water use as well as mine-waste remediation. Objective The objective of this study was to develop GIS-based thematic maps as communication tools to clearly identify high risk exposure areas and offer alternatives to minimize public and ecological health impacts. Methods Thematic maps were produced that incorporated data derived from environmental sampling and public health surveys. The maps show the location and quality of unregulated water resources and identify regulated water sources that could be used as alternatives. In addition, the maps show the location of contaminated soil and sediment areas in which disturbance of surface deposits should be avoided. Preliminary feedback was collected from an informal Navajo working group to assess the clarity and efficacy of this proposed communication method. Results The working group found the maps to be both clear and effective, and made suggestions for improvements, such as the addition of more map features. The working group predicted that once the maps are presented to the public, water hauling and soil use behaviors will change, and dialogue with chapter officials will be initiated to accelerate further risk reduction efforts. Implications Because risk communication is complicated by language barriers, lack of infrastructure, and historical mistrust of non-Navajo researchers, mapping provides an easily interpretable medium that can be objectively viewed by community members and decision makers to evaluate activities that affect toxicant exposures.

The Palestinian residents of Aida Refugee Camp have lived under Israeli military occupation for over 50 years. While they struggle against the more legible concerns of the separation wall, unemployment, military violence, and high rates of incarceration, these residents are also acutely aware of a lack of adequate drinking water supplies. This led one young filmmaker, working at a small Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) in Aida, to produce a documentary in 2011 called Everyday Nakba, which suggests that for Palestinians, water scarcity is a continuation of the historical crisis of dispossession that began in 1948. This documentary ignited an interdisciplinary and multimodal collaboration among an environmental engineer, an environmental lawyer, an anthropologist, a Boston-based NGO, and the small Palestinian NGO to investigate problems of water quality that are related to water scarcity. This article—co-authored by members of the group of interdisciplinary scholars and NGO workers—reflects on our practice together to chronicle how small NGOs and interdisciplinary groups of community-engaged scholars can creatively approach multifaceted environmental problems, while also examining the limits of such approaches. Our collaboration has catalyzed water quality testing, point-of-use water treatment, rooftop gardens, awareness about water problems, political advocacy, and environmental education, though it has not been able to address the structural problem of inadequate supply of water. It has led to research that contributed to the literature on water intermittency. This article considers how this collaboration has shifted how members of a refugee community think about justice and the environment. Water concerns often demand a multifaceted and interdisciplinary approach because water scarcity has health, economic, social, and political implications. Our research team saw how interdisciplinary collaboration and a network of activists in the West Bank and the USA can lead to multifaceted—albeit modest—outcomes, even though military occupation presents stubborn barriers to major change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract There is growing evidence of a distinct set of freshly-emitted air pollutants downwind from major highways, motorways, and freeways that include elevated levels of ultrafine particulates (UFP), black carbon (BC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO). People living or otherwise spending substantial time within about 200 m of highways are exposed to these pollutants more so than persons living at a greater distance, even compared to living on busy urban streets. Evidence of the health hazards of these pollutants arises from studies that assess proximity to highways, actual exposure to the pollutants, or both. Taken as a whole, the health studies show elevated risk for development of asthma and reduced lung function in children who live near major highways. Studies of particulate matter (PM) that show associations with cardiac and pulmonary mortality also appear to indicate increasing risk as smaller geographic areas are studied, suggesting localized sources that likely include major highways. Although less work has tested the association between lung cancer and highways, the existing studies suggest an association as well. While the evidence is substantial for a link between near-highway exposures and adverse health outcomes, considerable work remains to understand the exact nature and magnitude of the risks.