What Allergy and Asthma Sufferers Need to Know for Fall

An estimated 35 million Americans suffer from allergies. For those with fall allergies, three triggers typically occur – ragweed, indoor allergens and infections.

“During the summer, people experience the lowest incidence of allergies and asthma so they feel better and stop taking their allergy medications...” said David Rosenstreich, M.D., director of the allergy and immunology division at Montefiore Medical Center. “If allergy sufferers make the mistake of waiting until after their symptoms are in full swing, it’s much harder to stop the allergic reaction than to prevent it from even beginning.”

One of the biggest culprits for fall allergies is ragweed. In the fall, ragweed releases pollen into the air and this continues until frost kills the plant closer to winter. Most prevalent in the Eastern and Midwest states, ragweed causes an allergic reaction commonly called hay fever and results in symptoms that include itchy eyes, nose and throat, sneezing, stuffy or runny nose, tearing or dark circles under the eyes.

An allergy symptom is the result of the immune system overreacting. It mistakes the pollen or other allergy trigger as a foreign invader and attacks it, which leads to the release of chemicals called histamines into the blood. The histamine travels through the blood and latches onto histamine receptors on other cells, causing them to swell. This inflammation causes many familiar allergy symptoms.

Another trigger for allergies during the fall is due to people staying indoors more and they are therefore exposed to allergens like pet dander, dust and mold. Several precautions to consider include:

• Maintain an allergen free environment at home
• Focus on your bedroom: keep your pets out, eliminate the rug because it collects dust and avoid feather pillows
• Make sure the fireplace is well-ventilated and be careful of any leakage
• Keep basement and bathroom dry to avoid mold growing in these damp areas of the house
• Have your heating system cleaned to avoid dust mites when you first turn on the heat


The third trigger is infections and the flu, which affect the body’s immune system and cause it to release antibodies and histamines to fight them off. The flu vaccine is recommended to help reduce the risk of getting sick, but it’s even more important for people who suffer from asthma or other lung conditions.

“There’s no reason for people with allergies to suffer,” Dr. Rosenstreich said. “As long as you take the proper precautions, you should be able to enjoy the beautiful fall weather and make the most of family time in your home.”

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Smoking during pregnancy may increase risk of bipolar disorder in offspring

A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests an association between smoking during pregnancy and increased risk for developing bipolar disorder (BD) in adult children.

The researchers evaluated offspring from a large group of pregnant women who participated in the Child Health and Development Study (CHDS) from 1959-1966. The study was based on 79 cases and 654 comparison subjects. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was associated with a twofold increased risk of BD in their offspring.

Smoking during pregnancy is known to contribute to significant problems in utero and following birth, including low birth weight and attentional difficulties. This is the first study to suggest an association between prenatal tobacco exposure and BD, a serious psychiatric illness. The condition is marked by significant shifts in mood that alternate between periods of depression and mania. Symptoms typically become noticeable in the late teens or early adulthood.

"These findings underscore the value of ongoing public health education on the potentially debilitating, and largely preventable, consequences that smoking may have on children over time," said Alan Brown, MD, MPH, senior author and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Epidemiology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University and Mailman School of Public Health.

A previous study by Dr. Brown and colleagues found that flu virus in pregnant mothers was associated with a fourfold increased risk that their child would develop BD.

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Fall Landscaping: How to Reduce Allergens in Your Yard

Photo: graur codrin; Freedigitalphotos.net

Prepping your yard this fall can give you a head start on spring landscaping, but it can also mean suffering from seasonal allergies seasonal allergies. Ragweed pollen and lingering mold can create double the symptoms for some allergy sufferers.

“The daunting task of yard work can be favorable for allergy sufferers if they know how to reduce allergens in the areas surrounding the home,” said allergist Richard Weber, MD, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). “Many people think you can only control the environment inside the home, but there are also precautions you can take to help eliminate allergens outside as well.”

While completely avoiding pollen and mold is an impossible feat, the following tips from ACAAI allergists allergists can help you breathe a little easier.

Timing is Everything – The mid-day and afternoon hours might seem like the best time for yard work, but it’s the worst time if you have pollen allergies. Pollen counts are the highest during this time, making early morning and evening hours more suitable. Weather can also play an important role. Rain showers can temporarily clear pollen from the air. Thunderstorms, however, can increase airborne allergens, and the standing water left behind is the perfect breeding ground for mold spores.

Dress to Protect – You don’t need to impress while working in your yard, instead dress wisely. Buy pollen masks and gardening gloves at your local hardware store. These will help keep your hands clean and allergens from entering your airways. Wearing large sunglasses will keep pollen and mold from aggravating your eyes. A hat will reduce pollen from sticking to your hair. Also opt for long pants and shirts to prevent skin irritation, while keeping allergy-causing stinging insects away.

Choose Wisely – The worst allergy offenders might be in your own yard. If you are considering adding new trees, grasses and plants into your landscape, be sure they aren’t the worst offenders. While everyone’s allergies are different, these are typically safe:

Trees
o Apple
o Dogwood
o Pear
o Plum
o Begonia flower

Plants and Flowers
o Daffodil
o Lilac
o Magnolia
o Rose
o Sunflower

Be Quick to Clean – Mold and pollen can collect on fallen leaves. Be sure to rake leaves often and wear a pollen mask while doing so, since raking can stir allergens into the air. Continue mowing your lawn throughout the fall and keep your grass short. Maintaining your lawn will keep grass from flowering and producing pollen. If raking and mowing are too bothersome, ask a family member to do it for you. Once you are finished with yard work, remove your shoes before entering your home and be sure to shower right away. Your shoes, clothing and hair can all be allergen magnets.

Taking allergy medication long before you head into the great outdoors can help suppress allergy symptoms. ACAAI allergists recommend taking your medication two weeks before symptoms start, and continue well after the first frost.

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Can't take another minute of your seasonal allergies? Move to the country say researchers

For the first time ever, researchers from Denmark have demonstrated that exposure to a farming environment may prevent or dampen hypersensitivities and allergies - even in adults.

Adults who move to farming areas where they experience a wider range of environmental exposures than in cities may reduce the symptoms of their hypersensitivities and allergies considerably.

Positive effect on children and adults

Surprisingly, the positive effect on the immune system is seen both in people who have lived in urban environments and in adults who were born and raised in farming areas. But the real surprise is that the effect is not only seen in children:

“Previously, the assumption was that only persons who had lived in farming areas while growing up would benefit from the environment’s protective effect on the immune system. But now we can demonstrate that it’s not too late simply because you are an adult,” says postdoc Grethe Elholm.

It is, in other words, possible to affect the immune system and thereby the hypersensitivity which may cause allergy and allergic asthma, and what is more, this can be done at a much later point in life than previously assumed.

Closer to preventing allergies

This knowledge is now bringing researchers closer to discovering how to prevent allergies. The assumption is that the absence of environmental exposure does not protect against hypersensitivity. In fact, living in an environment with a much higher level of environmental exposure than you are used to can actually be good for your health. In general, exposure to the farming environment dampens the entire immune response to the environment because it stimulates the immune system.

“We cannot, however, simply recommend that people who suffer from allergies and hypersensitivities move to farms. Because they may also suffer from lung diseases such as asthma and would therefore become more ill due to the high concentrations of dust and particles found in stables and in agriculture in general,” stresses Grethe Elholm.

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Women in their 40s and 50s at greater risk for asthma hospitalization

Photo: Ambro/freedigitalimages.net

Asthma is a disease that mostly affects young boys and adult women. And according to a new study, women in their 40s and 50s with asthma are hospitalized more than twice as often as men in the same age group. The 10-year study is published in the September issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

“Until puberty, boys have higher rates of asthma than girls,” said Robert Yao-wen Lin, MD, allergist and lead study author. “Then, during the menopausal years, women’s hospitalization rates are double those of men in the same age group. This could indicate that asthma may have distinct biological traits.”

The National Impatient Sample databases for 2000-2010 were used to calculate the ratio of female to male hospitalization rates for different decades of adult life. The highest rate of difference was found in the fifth and six decade. Common coexisting conditions, such as cigarette smoking and obesity were taken into account.

“This study reinforces that asthma is a women’s health issue,” said John Oppenheimer, MD, ACAAI Fellow and associate editor of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. “There is a need for more prevention and early intervention to reduce asthma hospitalization in menopausal women and reduce healthcare costs.”

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology suggests that women in their 40s and 50s with asthma make an appointment with their allergist and ask these questions:
• Do I need any change in my medications?
• What are the symptoms associated with the risk of a severe asthma attack during menopause?
• How do I keep my asthma in check and avoid needing emergency room or hospitalized treatment?

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Flame Retardants in Blood Drop after State Ban

A class of flame retardants that has been linked to learning difficulties in children has rapidly declined in pregnant women’s blood since the chemicals were banned in California a decade ago, according to a study led by researchers at UC San Francisco.

Blood levels of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), tested in patients at the UCSF-affiliated San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center fell by two-thirds since they were last tested three years ago and found to be the highest levels reported among pregnant women anywhere in the world.

Researchers said the dramatic decline was most likely the result of the statewide ban, as well as a voluntary national phase out. But they said the levels fell more quickly than expected, given how persistently these chemicals remain in the environment once they have been introduced.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the extent of the decline,” said Ami R. Zota, ScD, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and the study’s lead author. Zota conducted the research while she was a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health. “Regulations can have an impact on people’s everyday lives.”

PBDEs were used in foam furniture starting in the 1970s to meet the state’s fire safety regulations, which are now being reviewed. Experiments in animals and also in human cells have shown that PBDEs damage the brain in utero. Researchers have found a strong relationship between an expectant mother’s exposure to the chemicals – even at low levels – and subsequent learning difficulties in her child, including worsened concentration and attention and lower IQ. The chemicals also can disrupt thyroid hormones in adulthood and during development. While much of the data is correlational, the researchers said there is enough evidence to raise serious concern that the chemicals are harmful to people.

PBDEs get into the body in different ways. They easily wear off foam and degrade into household dust, which gets ingested. The chemicals also find their way in through diets rich in fish, meat and dairy products, as PBDEs in the environment are persistent and can accumulate up the food chain. Nursing mothers also pass them to their babies through breast milk.

Previous research has shown that the PBDEs present in California house dust have fallen since the ban. But this is the first time that researchers have shown a decline in PBDEs in people since the chemicals were phased out.

San Francisco General Hospital, the city’s public hospital, serves vulnerable populations, who may be at higher risk for exposure to PBDEs because they are more likely to own older, cheaper furniture and live in poor housing conditions. The researchers compared a group of 25 women who came to the hospital from 2008 to 2009 to 36 women who came between 2011 and 2012. The first group had the highest reported levels of PBDEs of any group of pregnant women tested worldwide. But in just three years, overall levels fell by two-thirds.

Every woman tested from 2008-2009 had all five of the PBDEs measured by the researchers in her blood. But by 2011-2012, only one of the PBDEs was present in every woman tested. The researchers did not test the same women at both time points, but they did find that overall levels of all five PBDE’s were significantly lower in the second group.

Although PBDEs have been banned, furniture makers have substituted other chemicals, which may also be dangerous, as a way of meeting state fire safety standards. Chlorinated Tris, for example, is a suspected carcinogen listed on Proposition 65. Others, such as Firemaster 550, have not adequately been tested.

The findings were published online on Sept. 25 in Environmental Science & Technology.
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Deep sea ecosystem may take decades to recover from Deepwater Horizon spill

Multicorer sampling in the Gulf of Mexico

The deep-sea soft-sediment in the immediate area of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will likely take decades to recover from the spill's impacts, according to a scientific paper reported in the online scientific journal PLoS One.

The paper is the first to give comprehensive results of the spill's effect on deep-water communities at the base of the Gulf's food chain, in its soft-bottom muddy habitats, specifically looking at biological composition and chemicals at the same time at the same location.

"As the principal investigators, we were tasked with determining what impacts might have occurred to the sea floor from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," said Paul Montagna, Ph.D., Endowed Chair for Ecosystems and Modeling at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. "We developed an innovative approach to combine tried and true classical statistical techniques with state of the art mapping technologies to create a map of the footprint of the oil spill."

"Normally, when we investigate offshore drilling sites, we find pollution within 300 to 600 yards from the site," said Montagna. "This time it was nearly two miles from the wellhead, with identifiable impacts more than ten miles away. The effect on bottom of the vast underwater plume is something, which until now, no one was able to map. This study shows the devastating effect the spill had on the sea floor itself, and demonstrates the damage to important natural resources."

"The tremendous biodiversity of meiofauna in the deep-sea area of the Gulf of Mexico we studied has been reduced dramatically," said Jeff Baguley, Ph.D., University of Nevada, Reno expert on meiofauna, small invertebrates that range in size from 0.042 to 0.300 millimeters in size that live in both marine and fresh water. "Nematode worms have become the dominant species at sites we sampled that were impacted by the oil. So though the overall number of meiofauna may not have changed much, it's that we've lost the incredible biodiversity."

The oil spill and plume covered almost 360 square miles with the most severe reduction of biological abundance and biodiversity impacting an area about 9 square miles around the wellhead, and moderate effects seen 57 square miles around the wellhead.

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Protein explains increased asthma severity in children exposed to traffic pollution

A new study shows that exposure to diesel exhaust particles from traffic pollution leads to increased asthma severity in children. Moreover, the study finds that this is due to increased blood levels of IL-17A, a protein associated with several chronic inflammatory diseases, in children with high diesel exposure.

The study by researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The research, conducted in mice and in humans, showed that neutralizing IL-17A prevented airway inflammation. Neutralization of IL-17A "may be a useful potential therapeutic strategy to counteract the asthma-promoting effects of traffic-related air pollution, especially in highly exposed, severe allergic asthmatics," says Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, director of asthma research at Cincinnati Children's and senior author of the study.

Dr. Hershey and her colleagues studied 235 children and teens with asthma. The researchers plotted each person's primary address and estimated their diesel exposure attributable to traffic based on where they lived. The researchers also studied mice exposed to diesel particles and dust mites, a common household allergen.

In children with asthma, diesel exposure was associated with more frequent asthma symptoms and increased IL-17A blood levels. Similarly, exposure to both diesel and dust mites resulted in more severe asthma in mice compared to dust mite exposure alone. When IL-17A was neutralized in mice, it alleviated airway inflammation induced by diesel exposure.

"Blocking IL-17A may be a useful strategy to counteract the effects of traffic-related air pollution, especially in highly exposed allergic asthmatic children," says Dr. Hershey.
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Dust storms in Africa affect US air quality

NASA image of dust storm

Your may never have the chance to travel the world, but your lungs may. That's because scientists have identified that that large quantities dust and other pollutants are traveling thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

In their study Joseph Prospero, professor at the University of Miami and collaborators at the University of Houston and Arizona State University found that the average air concentrations of inhabitable particles in Houston, Texas more than doubled during a major Saharan dust storm.

The researchers were able to distinguish between particles transported across the Atlantic and those from local sources in the Houston region. In this way they established the "fingerprint" of the African dust. To their knowledge, this is the first study that isolates, differentiates, and quantifies the air contaminants in the US during the incursion of African dust. There is a concern that the fine airborne dust particles could be a health problem for asthmatics and people with respiratory problems.

"Current EPA air quality standards are based on the total amount of particles that are in the air," Prospero says. "Our study will contribute to our ability to discriminate and identify the dominant components in the air during long-range transport events," he says.

The findings published in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology can also serve to address African dust intrusion in other affected regions of the world. For instance, the Caribbean Basin receives enormous quantities of African dust every year. In addition to its impact on air quality, an important factor for the Caribbean basin is the potential effect of Saharan air outbreaks on hurricane activity.

"African dust storms are associated with hurricane season because the meteorological situations that are involved with generating tropical cyclones are also associated with the generation and transport of dust," Prospero says. "The dust emerges from the coast of Africa in a hot, dry, elevated layer – the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) following behind Easterly Waves from which tropical cyclones sometimes develop," he says. "The SAL interacts with the waves in complex way, so that the relationship is not entirely clear. It is the subject of much ongoing research."

Also, the dust suspended in the wind absorbs and scatters solar radiation. Less sunlight reaches the ocean surface resulting in cooler temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, the main area where hurricanes develop. Cooler ocean temperatures mean less energy for hurricanes to form and strengthen.

"Dust activity has been very intense this year and sea surface temperatures are unusually low," Prospero says. "These may have been contributing factors to the unusually weak hurricane season this year."

A better understanding of all the processes involved in Saharan air outbreaks would help create models that can predict future trends.

"The question is what happens with climate change," Prospero says. "Although much of North Africa is expected to get drier, which would mean more dust, models can't agree on whether the climate in the current major dust sources will get drier or wetter in the future" he says. "We are still trying to understand what drives these differences and the possible impacts."
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Experts Say Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Pose Global Health Threat

In an editorial published in Endocrinology, a journal of The Endocrine Society, endocrine experts agreed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) pose a threat to human health and to the ecosystems of the earth. The editorial comes in response to a commentary (Dietrich et al. Chem Biol Interact) signed by a number of editors of toxicology journals that dismisses the state-of-the-science on EDCs and argues for the status quo in the regulation of these hazardous substances.

EDCs are commonly found in food and food containers, plastic products, furniture, toys, carpeting, building materials, and cosmetics. They are often released from the products that contain them and enter the bodies of humans and wildlife through dust or through the food chain. A large volume of studies have shown that EDCs exert their effects by interfering with endogenous hormone action and can impact male and female reproduction, breast development and cancer, prostate cancer, neuroendocrinology, thyroid, metabolism and obesity, and cardiovascular endocrinology.

“The Dietrich et al. paper neglects the fundamental principles of how the endocrine system works and how chemicals can interfere with its normal function, nor does it consider the consequences of that interference,” said Andrea Gore, PhD, lead author of the editorial and Editor-in-Chief of Endocrinology. “We cannot have sound policies for regulating these chemicals when we ignore the science.”

The Endocrinology editorial, Gore et al., represents an unprecedented response from the endocrine community. The editorial was signed by 20 editors-in-chief and 28 associate and senior editors of endocrine, neuroendocrine, environmental, and other peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Teresa Woodruff, PhD, President of The Endocrine Society and several other presidents of societies or medical organizations have also signed on to the editorial.

The Endocrine Society has published a Scientific Statement on EDCs—a thorough review of the literature, with recommendations for improved policy—and a Statement of Principles—a summary of critical endocrine principles that are relevant to risk assessment as it applies to EDCs. In its Statement of Principles, the Society recommends that endocrine principles be incorporated into programs by the EPA and other agencies charged with evaluating chemicals for endocrine-disrupting potential.

“Regulatory decisions on the use of EDCs should be made based on the best available science and expertise that involves among others, reproductive biology, endocrinology, medicine, genetics and toxicology,” said Gore.

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VIDEO: Better U.S. air quality leads to a 35% reduction in air pollution-related deaths

“Some of the best news relative to the air pollution research over the last few years is the evidence that our reducing air pollution in the United States has resulted in measurable improvements in life expectancy and public health”



Arden Pope’s students know him as an excellent economics teacher, but some would be surprised to learn that, thanks to him, the air they breathe today is cleaner than the first breath they ever took.

In fact, a new study by this BYU professor concludes that improvements in U.S. air quality since 1990 have sparked a 35 percent reduction in deaths and disability specifically attributable to air pollution. Pope was a member of a large research team who co-authored the study for the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Some of the best news relative to the air pollution research over the last few years is the evidence that our reducing air pollution in the United States has resulted in measurable improvements in life expectancy and public health,” said Pope.

It’s no coincidence that 1990 is a point of reference in air quality research. In the late 80s, a steel mill in Utah Valley shut down for one year due to a labor strike. Pope spotted a research opportunity that found big problems caused by small particles floating in the air. Known as “particulate matter,” this kind of pollution is produced by combustion of car engines, power plants and steel mills.

Pope and other scholars found in successive studies that dirty air impacted hospital admissions, mortality rates, and cardiovascular disease – including the risk of heart attacks.

“One of the biggest surprises of this research was that air pollution contributed to cardiovascular disease and not just respiratory disease,” Pope said. “In fact, we’re learning that air pollution not only impacts our lungs but it impacts our heart and our brain.”

The research caught the attention of scientists and regulators, which led to automobile emissions standards and cleaner manufacturing processes.

Now a world-renowned expert on the topic, Pope was asked this year to evaluate the credibility of an intriguing study on China’s air quality by scientists at MIT, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Editors of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science invited Pope to write a commentary that accompanied a research paper on China’s Huai River policy.

The Huai River runs west to east and is regarded as the geographical dividing line between northern and southern China. In winter, the Chinese government provides free coal to residents north of the river to heat their homes.

In denying coal to people who live south of the river, the Chinese government actually did them a favor. The researchers found that air pollution is 55 percent lower on the south side. They also estimated that life expectancy was five years lower on the north side because of the extra air pollution.

“While their results tend to be a bit higher than what we’d expect based on the rest of the literature, it’s still roughly consistent with what we would expect based on the other studies that we’ve been doing,” Pope said.

For a more in-depth look at Professor Pope’s career, read this fascinating profile from BYU Magazine.

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Study: Gulf oil spill cleanup workers show blood abnormalities

A new study reports that workers exposed to crude oil and dispersants used during the Gulf oil spill cleanup display significantly altered blood profiles, liver enzymes, and somatic symptoms compared to an unexposed control group. Investigators found that platelet counts were significantly decreased in the exposed group, while both hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were notably increased. Their findings, reported in The American Journal of Medicine, suggest that oil spill cleanup workers are at risk for developing hepatic or blood-related disorders.

In April 2010, Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig owned by British Petroleum (BP) exploded, spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In order to break down the oil slick, BP used nearly 2 million gallons of dispersants like COREXIT, and an estimated 170,000 workers participated in the cleanup effort. Currently, COREXIT is banned in the United Kingdom because of its potential risk to cleanup workers.

While other studies have identified a relationship between oil spills, dispersants, and human health, this new research from the University Cancer and Diagnostic Centers, Houston, TX, conducted by Mark A. D’Andrea, MD, FACRO, and G. Kesava Reddy, PhD, MHA, focuses primarily on the link between oil spill exposure and hematologic and hepatic functions in subjects who had participated in the oil spill cleanup operation. The investigators looked at a total of 247 subjects between January 2010 and November 2012, with 117 subjects identified as exposed to the oil spill and dispersants by participating in the cleanup over the duration of three months. The unexposed control group of 130 subjects was comprised of people living at least 100 miles away from the Gulf coast of Louisiana.

Using medical charts, demographic and clinical records, the team reviewed specific data points such as white blood cell (WBC) counts, platelet counts, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, serum beta-2 microglobulin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), and alanine amino transferase (ALT) for both groups.

While no significant differences were noted in the WBC counts of the two groups, the study did find that platelet counts were notably decreased in the oil spill exposed group. Also, BUN and creatinine levels were substantially lower in the exposed group, while hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were increased compared to the unexposed subjects. Furthermore, considered indicators of hepatic damage, the serum ALP, AST, and ALT levels in the exposed subjects were also elevated, suggesting that the exposed group may be at a higher risk for developing blood-related disorders.

"Phosphatases, amino transferases, and dehydrogenases play critical roles in biological processes. These enzymes are involved in detoxification, metabolism, and biosynthesis of energetic macromolecules that are important for different essential functions," says lead investigator Dr. Mark A. D’Andrea. "Alterations in the levels of these enzymes result in biochemical impairment and lesions in the tissue and cellular function."

Participants also reported somatic symptoms, with headache reported most frequently, followed by shortness of breath, skin rash, cough, dizzy spells, fatigue, painful joints, night sweats, and chest pain. "The health complaints reported by those involved in oil cleanup operations are consistent with the previously reported studies on major oil spills. However, the prevalence of symptoms appears to be higher in the present study compared with the earlier findings of other investigators," add Dr. D’Andrea and Dr. Reddy.

The investigators acknowledge that the lack of pre-disaster health data on the subjects involved in the study is the greatest limiting factor; however, the data collected have shown significant health effects on the cleanup workers.

"To our knowledge, no previous study has explored the effects of the oil spill specifically assessing the hematological and hepatic functions in oil spill cleanup workers," explain the investigators. "The results of this study indicate that oil spill exposure appears to play a role in the development of hematologic and hepatic toxicity. However, additional long-term follow-up studies are required to understand the clinical significance of the oil spill exposure."

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Diet during pregnancy and early life affects children’s behaviour and intelligence

The statement “you are what you eat” is proving significant for child development.

Researchers from the NUTRIMENTHE project looked at hundreds of European families with young children over a 5 year period. They examined the effect of B-vitamins, folic acid, breast milk versus formula milk, iron, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids - on the cognitive, emotional and behavioural development of children from before birth to age nine.

The study found that folic acid, which is recommended during the first three months of pregnancy, can reduce the likelihood of behavioural problems during early childhood. Eating oily fish is also very beneficial, not only for the omega-3 fatty acids they which are ‘building blocks’ for brain cells, but also for the iodine content which has a positive effect on reading ability in children when measured at age nine.

A long-term study was needed as explained by Professor Cristina Campoy, who led the project.

“Short term studies seem unable to detect the real influence of nutrition in early life”, explained Prof Cristina Campoy, “NUTRIMENTHE was designed to be a long-term study, as the brain takes a long time to mature, and early deficiencies may have far-reaching effects. So, early nutrition is most important.”

Many other factors can affect mental performance in children including; the parent’s educational level, socio-economic status of the parents, age of the parents and the genetic background of the mother and child. This can influence how certain nutrients are processed and transferred during pregnancy and breastfeeding and in turn, affect mental performance.

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Sleep better, look better? New research says yes

Photo: Freedigitalphotos.net

Getting treatment for a common sleep problem may do more than help you sleep better – it may help you look better over the long term, too, according to a new research study from the University of Michigan Health System and Michigan Technological University.

The findings aren't just about "looking sleepy" after a late night, or being bright-eyed after a good night's rest.

It's the first time researchers have shown specific improvement in facial appearance after at-home treatment for sleep apnea, a condition marked by snoring and breathing interruptions. Sleep apnea affects millions of adults – most undiagnosed -- and puts them at higher risk for heart-related problems and daytime accidents.

Using a sensitive "face mapping" technique usually used by surgeons, and a panel of independent appearance raters, the researchers detected changes in 20 middle-aged apnea patients just a few months after they began using a system called CPAP to help them breathe better during sleep and overcome chronic sleepiness.

While the research needs to be confirmed by larger studies, the findings may eventually give apnea patients even more reason to stick with CPAP treatment – a challenge for some because they must wear a breathing mask in bed. CPAP is known to stop snoring, improve daytime alertness and reduce blood pressure.

Sleep neurologist Ronald Chervin, M.D., M.S., director of the U-M Sleep Disorders Center, led the study, which was funded by the Covault Memorial Foundation for Sleep Disorders Research and published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

"The common lore, that people 'look sleepy' because they are sleepy, and that they have puffy eyes with dark circles under them, drives people to spend untold dollars on home remedies," notes Chervin, the Michael S. Aldrich Collegiate Professor of Sleep Medicine and professor of Neurology at the U-M Medical School. "We perceived that our CPAP patients often looked better, or reported that they'd been told they looked better, after treatment. But no one has ever actually studied this."

They teamed with U-M plastic and reconstructive surgeon Steven Buchman, M.D., to use a precise face-measuring system called photogrammetry to take an array of images of the patients under identical conditions before CPAP and a few months after. Capable of measuring tiny differences in facial contours, the system helps surgeons plan operations and assess their impact.

"One of the breakthroughs in plastic surgery over the last decade has been our aim to get more objective in our outcomes," says Buchman. "The technology used in this study demonstrates the real relationship between how you look and how you really are doing, from a health perspective."

The research team also included longtime collaborators at the Michigan Tech Research Institute, led by signal analysis expert and engineer Joseph W. Burns, Ph.D., who developed a way to precisely map the colors of patients' facial skin before and after CPAP treatment.

The researchers also used a subjective test of appearance: 22 independent raters were asked to look at the photos, without knowing which were the "before" pictures and which the "after" pictures of each patient. The raters were asked to rank attractiveness, alertness and youthfulness – and to pick which picture they thought showed the patient after sleep apnea treatment.

Results show improvement

About two-thirds of the time, the raters stated that the patients in the post-treatment photos looked more alert, more youthful and more attractive. The raters also correctly identified the post-treatment photo two-thirds of the time.

Meanwhile, the objective measures of facial appearance showed that patients' foreheads were less puffy, and their faces were less red, after CPAP treatment. The redness reduction was especially visible in 16 patients who are Caucasian, and was associated with the independent raters' tendency to say a patient looked more alert in the post-treatment photo. The researchers also perceived, but did not have a way to measure, a reduction in forehead wrinkles after treatment.

However, the researchers note, they didn't see a big change in facial characteristics that popular lore associates with sleepiness. "We were surprised that our approach could not document any improvement, after treatment, in tendency to have dark blue circles or puffiness under the eyes," says Chervin. "Further research is needed, to assess facial changes in more patients, and over a longer period of CPAP treatment."

Chervin and his colleagues hope to continue to study the effect of sleep apnea treatment on many aspects of a person's life, including further research on appearance. "We want sleep to be on people's minds, and to educate them about the importance of getting enough sleep and getting attention for sleep disorders," he says.
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Carnival Cruises reaches pact to curb cruise ship air pollution in U.S. and Canada

Photo: Carnival

The Carnival Corporation has received the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada to implement a significant advancement in environmental technology designed to reduce air emissions from cruise ships and large marine vessels.

As part of today's announcement, Carnival has committed over $180 million for exhaust gas cleaning technology on 32 ships. These include vessels from Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Cunard that sail regularly within the North American Emission Control Area (ECA).

"This is a significant accomplishment as well as an important milestone for our company," said Carnival Corporation & plc CEO Arnold Donald. "Working together with the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada, we have developed a breakthrough solution for cleaner air that will set a new course in environmental protection for years to come."

Carnival has been a partner in the development of this technology and will take the lead in further refining both design and installation aspects on ships with a variety of engine configurations between now and mid-2016.

This new generation of so-called "scrubber technology" combines the removal of sulfur with the substantial reduction of particulate matter and black carbon. Once the exhaust gas cleaning technology is installed and fully operational on the various Carnival subsidiary ships, they will exceed ECA standards. The International Maritime Organization's MARPOL Annex VI places a cap on sulfur within ECAs at 1.0%, which took effect in North America in 2012. In 2015, the limit will be 0.1%.

Carnival's design combines two established technologies, which have been successfully used in power plants, factories and vehicles to clean - or scrub - the exhaust from high-sulfur fuel. For the first time this combination is being developed to accommodate restricted spaces on existing ships.

In addition to exceeding stricter air emission standards, Carnival's technology will help the company mitigate escalating fuel costs. The agreement in principle from the EPA and Coast Guard would enable an exemption for Carnival to use the fuel source that makes the most sense from an environmental and economic perspective. The agreement in principle is a requirement for the flag states of each Carnival subsidiary to grant permission for implementation.

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Chinese school trying to ease pollution fears with smartphone scan for parents

Source: Global Times

Those scanable bar codes you see on products and in advertisements are now being used in a Chinese school to keep parents up to date on the pollution levels in their children's classrooms.

A middle school in Yangpu district has posted the "QR codes" which parentscan scan with their smartphones.

The school put up the square bar codes as part of a pilot program that aims to assure parents that their children won't be breathing toxic fumes from classroom renovations.

Many schools renovate their interiors during summer and parents worry that the two-month period isn't long enough for the noxious fumes from some construction materials, which can contain carcinogens such as methylbenzene, to dissipate.

The QR codes, which can be scanned with most mobile devices, offer parents a simple way to check the air quality and other details about the renovations.

The pilot program is expected to eventually be implemented citywide, and could be expanded to places like hospitals, shopping malls and movie theaters.

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Researchers come up with artificial lung to remove carbon dioxide — from smokestacks

The amazingly efficient lungs of birds and the swim bladders of fish have become the inspiration for a new filtering system to remove carbon dioxide from electric power station smokestacks before the main greenhouse gas can billow into the atmosphere and contribute to global climate change.

With climate change now a major concern, many power plants rely on CO2 capture and sequestration methods to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking at a symposium, “CO2 Separation and Capture,” Aaron P. Esser-Kahn, Ph.D., said he envisions new CO2-capture units with arrays of tubes made from porous membranes fitted side-by-side, much like blood vessels in a natural lung. Once fabricated to be highly efficient and scalable to various sizes by repeating units, these units can then be “plugged” into power plants and vehicles, not unlike catalytic converters, he explained.

To capture the most CO2, the Esser-Kahn group from the University of California, Irvine, first had to figure out the best pattern to pack two sets of different-sized tubes –– one for waste emissions and the other a CO2-absorbing liquid –– into the unit. “The goal is to cram as much surface area into the smallest space possible,” said Esser-Kahn.

They studied the way blood vessels are packed in the avian lung and the fish swim bladder. Birds need to exchange CO2 for oxygen rapidly, as they burn a lot of energy in flight, while fish need to control the amount of gas in their swim bladder effectively to move up and down in the water. “We’re trying to learn from nature,” said Esser-Kahn, adding that the avian lung and fish swim bladder are biologically well-suited systems for exchanging gases.

But the blood vessels in the avian lung and fish swim bladder are packed in different patterns. The avian lung consists of a hexagonal pattern where three large tubes form the vertices of a triangle and a small tube sits in the gap, while the fish swim bladder has a squarer pattern where a large and small tube alternate between vertices of a square. It turned out that this tube-packing challenge is a well-studied mathematical problem with nine unique solutions, or patterns, Esser-Kahn said.

Now, scientists can conduct further research to improve CO2-capture units’ efficiencies by adjusting the sizes of the tubes, thicknesses of the tube walls and membrane materials that make up the tube walls. “Biological systems spent an incredible amount of time and effort moving towards optimization,” said Esser-Kahn. “What we have is the first step in a longer process.”

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Many COPD patients feel outlook is bleak; Researchers call for more education

(Source: Medwire News)

Researchers behind a global survey of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients say that more must be done to educate patients about the disease and what to do during exacerbations.

The team, led by Neil Barnes from the London Chest Hospital, UK, surveyed patients from 14 countries and found that many seemed to have low expectations around disease control and were unaware of the importance of responding quickly to exacerbations.

Furthermore, the study highlighted the impact of COPD on patient quality of life, with many reporting they took a limited outlook on the future and feared the illness would curtail their life expectancy.

“By highlighting the fears and concerns of COPD patients, many of whom are of working age with financial and familial responsibilities, the survey draws attention to the need for better patient education regarding the severity of the disease, the importance of prompt treatment of exacerbations, and the treatment and lifestyle options available,” Barnes and team write in BMC Pulmonary Medicine.

Their study involved survey responses from 2000 patients with COPD, chronic bronchitis, and/or emphysema, who were categorized according to Medical Research Council (MRC) breathlessness score: 1231 (62%) were grades 1 or 2 and 769 (38%) were grades 3–5.

The team found that despite heavy healthcare use during the preceding 12 months, 69% of patients thought that their COPD was well-controlled.

“This type of mismatch is not unusual, and has been widely reported in studies of both COPD and asthma patients, suggesting low levels of expectation,” the authors comment.

Overall, 62% of patients in MRC 1 or 2 grades and 80% of patients in MRC grades 3 to 5 had experienced an exacerbation in the previous 12 months, with 52% of patients in the latter group requiring hospitalization.

However, 27% of patients did not contact their healthcare service during exacerbation, taking actions such as cutting down on smoking, resting, or increasing medication dosage instead. And, less than 60% said that they would take immediate action in response to an exacerbation.

Patients reported that COPD and exacerbations affected their quality of life and their ability to commit to future events, with 77% worried about their long-term health. Additionally, 38% of MRC 1 and 2 patients said they feared premature death due to COPD, as did 59% of MRC 3 to 5 patients.

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Study to examine ultrafine particle pollution being spewed by plants that burn wood waste

 (Source: Peninsula Daily News)

A $516,232 state grant will be used to determine how much dangerous fine particle pollution is being spewed by biomass cogeneration plants such as those run by paper mills in Washington State.

The two-year study, which will begin in October and is funded by the state Department of Ecology, could have national significance as one of the first of its kind to delve into ultrafine particle pollution generated by burning biomass, or wood waste, said Odelle Hadley, senior air monitoring specialist with the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, or ORCAA.

Hadley said the study will be conducted in part in reaction to citizen concerns about ultrafine particles and ORCAA’s inability to monitor its emissions.

Ultrafine particles are known to cause health problems and are more insidious than larger particles because they are so tiny, ORCAA said.

“Smaller particles penetrate deeper into lungs, heart and even brain to cause more health damage,” according to ORCAA’s description of the ultrafine particle study at http://tinyurl.com/ngahbwr.

Port Angeles-based Nippon Paper Industries USA, which manufactures newsprint for newspapers, including the Peninsula Daily News, and telephone-book paper, is completing construction on an $85 million biomass cogeneration plant expansion that will produce 20 megawatts beginning in October.

Port Townsend Paper Corp.’s $55 million, 24-megawatt biomass cogeneration expansion has been delayed until 2014 or 2015 after a state Court of Appeals ruling that sent a suit filed by five environmental groups to the state Supreme Court.

ORCAA regulates and enforces air quality issues in Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Mason, Pacific and Thurston counties.

The agency’s light-based monitoring equipment cannot distinguish between pollution particles that are 2.5 microns and those of 0.1 micron or less, known as ultrafine particles.

ORCAA will oversee the study, which will be conducted by University of Washington professor Daniel Jaffe and associate professor Joel Thornton, who will be assisted by university students.

“It does provide an opportunity to extrapolate our findings to national and even international levels because biomass-cogeneration power is certainly being looked at in a number of areas in the U.S. and Europe,” Thornton said.

Their equipment will include mobile monitors that will take measurements while being driven around in a van.

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OSHA announces proposed rule to protect workers exposed to crystalline silica; thousands currently affected

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration have proposed a rule aimed at curbing lung cancer, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and kidney disease in America's workers.

The proposal seeks to lower worker exposure to crystalline silica, which kills hundreds of workers and sickens thousands more each year.

"Exposure to silica can be deadly, and limiting that exposure is essential," said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "Every year, exposed workers not only lose their ability to work, but also to breathe. This proposal is expected to prevent thousands of deaths from silicosis-an incurable and progressive disease-as well as lung cancer, other respiratory diseases and kidney disease. We're looking forward to public comment on the proposal."

Once the full effects of the rule are realized, OSHA estimates that the proposed rule would result in saving nearly 700 lives per year and prevent 1,600 new cases of silicosis annually.


Exposure to airborne silica dust occurs in operations involving cutting, sawing, drilling and crushing of concrete, brick, block and other stone products and in operations using sand products, such as in glass manufacturing, foundries and sand blasting.

"The proposed rule uses common sense measures that will protect workers' lives and lungs-like keeping the material wet so dust doesn't become airborne," added Michaels. "It is designed to give employers flexibility in selecting ways to meet the standard."

The agency currently enforces 40-year-old permissible exposure limits (PELs) for crystalline silica in general industry, construction and shipyards that are outdated, inconsistent between industries and do not adequately protect worker health. The proposed rule brings protections into the 21st century.

OSHA rulemaking relies heavily on input from the public and the agency will conduct extensive engagement to garner feedback from the public through both written and oral comments. OSHA will accept public comments on the proposed rule for 90 days following publication in the Federal Register, followed by public hearings. Once public hearings conclude, members of the public who filed a notice of intention to appear can then submit additional post-hearing comments. Additional information on the proposed rule, including a video; procedures for submitting comments and the public hearings can be found at www.osha.gov/silica.


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Twitter and privacy: 1-in-5 tweets divulge user location

A new study from USC researchers sampled more than 15 million tweets, showing that some Twitter users may be inadvertently revealing their location through updates on the social media channel.

The study, which appears in the current issue of the International Journal of Geoinformatics, provides important factual data for a growing national conversation about online privacy and third-party commercial or government use of geo-tagged information.

"I'm a pretty private person, and I wish others would be more cautious with the types of information they share," said lead author Chris Weidemann, a graduate student in the Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) online master's program at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. "There are all sorts of information that can be gleaned from things outside of the tweet itself."

Twitter has approximately 500 million active users, who are expected to tweet 72 billion times in 2013. Reports have shown that about 6 percent of users opt-in to allow the platform to broadcast their location with every tweet.

But that's only part of the footprint Twitter users leave, and even users who have not opted-in for location tagging may be inadvertently revealing where they are, the study shows.

To get a fuller sense of what publicly accessible data might reveal about Twitter users, Weidemann developed an application called Twitter2GIS, to analyze the metadata collected by Twitter, including details about the user's hometown, time zone and language.

The data, generated by Twitter users and available through Twitter's application programming interface (API) and Google's Geocoding API, was then processed by a software program, which mapped and analyzed the data, searching for trends.

During the one-week sampling period of the study, roughly 20 percent of the tweets collected showed the user's location to an accuracy of street level or better.

Many Twitter users divulged their physical location directly through active location monitoring or GPS coordinates. But another 2.2 percent of all tweets – equating to about 4.4 million tweets a day – provided so-called "ambient" location data, where the user might not be aware that they are divulging their location.

"The downside is that mining this kind of information can also provide opportunities for criminal misuse of data," Weidemann said. "My intent is to educate social media users and inform the public about their privacy. This research has been fun...And a little scary."

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Red cedars show that Clean Air Act is reducing pollution, improving forests

Ecologists studying centuries-old eastern red cedar trees in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia say the trees are recovering from decades of sulfur pollution and acid rain.

The research team spent four years studying the trees which are in an area downwind of the Ohio River Valley coal power plants. The area experienced high amounts of acidic pollution -- caused by sulfur dioxide emissions -- in the 20th century.

By studying more than 100 years of eastern red cedar tree rings, the scientists found that the trees have improved in growth and physiology in the decades since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970.

"There is a clear shift in the growth, reflecting the impact of key environmental legislation," says Jesse Nippert, associate professor of biology at Kansas State University.

Researchers analyzed tree rings back to the early 1900s, when sulfur dioxide deposition throughout the Ohio River Valley began to increase. They were able to compare the trees' growth patterns and changes in physiology to changes in atmospheric chemistry during the 20th century. Results showed that despite increased carbon dioxide -- which tends to increase plant growth -- tree growth and physiology declined for the majority of the 20th century when acidic pollution was high.

But scientists noticed a dramatic change around 1980, 10 years after the Clean Air Act was enacted.

"Our data clearly shows a break point in 1982, where the entire growth patterns of the trees in this forest started on a different trajectory," Nippert said. "It took 10 years for that landmark environmental legislation to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions, but it eventually did. When it did, we saw an entire ecosystem recover from years of acidic pollution."

Another interesting finding from the tree ring analysis: Results from the Great Depression era in the 1930s were very similar to the results from post-1980. Because of the suppressed economy during the Great Depression, coal power plants were less productive and the Ohio River Valley had reduced fossil fuel emissions. Similar to the post-1980 data, data from the 1930s showed improved tree growth and physiology.

"It's kind of interesting that those two very important periods in our history match up perfectly in terms of the responses seen throughout this whole forest ecosystem," Nippert said.

The findings appear in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, or PNAS, in the article "Evidence of recovery of Juniperus virginiana trees from sulfur pollution after the Clean Air Act." 

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