The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
Visakhapatnam, May 19: Noted lawyer and environmentalist, Mr S. Niroop, has suggested that an epidemiology test should be conducted in the city to test the intensity of the pollution that has been affecting the people. The test is conducted by the World Health Organisation on the request of the state …
Epidemiological studies link organophosphorus pesticide (OP) exposures to asthma, and we have shown that the OPs chlorpyrifos, diazinon and parathion cause airway hyperreactivity in guinea pigs 24 hr after a single subcutaneous injection. OP-induced airway hyperreactivity involves M2 muscarinic receptor dysfunction on airway nerves independent of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition, but …
Comprehensive, longitudinal field studies that monitor both disease and vector populations for dengue viruses are urgently needed as a pre-requisite for developing locally adaptable prevention programs or to appropriately test and license new vaccines. The authors report the results from such a study spanning 5 years in the Amazonian city …
One challenge in assessing the health effects of human exposure to air pollution in epidemiologic studies is the lack of widespread historical air pollutant monitoring data to characterize past exposure levels. Davis et al. (p. 614) developed an alternative model of exposure based on the hypothesis that economic activity predicts …
Use of environmentally persistent polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants has been reduced because of concerns about health effects, but potential health effects of organophosphate (OP) flame retardants used as alternatives to PBDEs have not been extensively investigated, despite evidence of widespread human exposure. Meeker and Stapleton (p. 318) measured …
It has been proposed that formaldehyde may influence the risk or severity of asthma through irritant effects by stimulating allergic responses (when linked with endogenous proteins) or by inhibiting bronchodilation, but findings of observational studies of childhood asthma and formaldehyde have been inconsistent. McGwin et al. conducted a systematic review …
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified occupational exposure as a painter as being carcinogenic to humans based on a comprehensive review published in 1989. Guha et al. (p. 303) extend the previous review with a quantitative meta-analysis of occupation as a painter and lung cancer based on …
Motor vehicles are a significant source of urban air pollution and are increasingly important contributors of anthropogenic carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As awareness of the potential health effects of air pollutants has grown, many countries have implemented more stringent emissions controls and made steady progress in reducing the …
Atrazine and other corn herbicides are routinely detected in drinking water. Two studies on potential association of atrazine with small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and preterm birth prevalence found inconsistent results. Moreover, these studies did not control for individual-level potential confounders. This retrospective cohort study evaluated whether atrazine in drinking water is associated …
The aim of this study was to review epidemiologic evidence, provide summary risk estimates of the association between exposure to chlorination disinfection by-products (DBPs) and congenital anomalies, and provide recommendations for future studies.
There is growing interest in disentangling the health effects of spatially clustered social and physical environmental exposures and in exploring potential synergies among them, with particular attention directed to the combined effects of psychosocial stress and air pollution. Both exposures may be elevated in lower-income urban communities, and it has …
Hypotheses about the genesis of novel H1N1 influenza (the pandemic strain of swine flu) range far and wide. Some public health and epidemiology experts are taking a fresh look at concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) , which they say provide ideal conditions that facilitate the mutation of viral pathogens into …
Much of the so-called problems in the polio eradication programme in India pointed out by Rajib Dasgupta (EPW, 20 June 2009) have been known for years. At the same time, the article is silent about several critical issues. It is necessary to take cognisance of the larger political economy of …
Cardiovascular diseases have emerged as an important health problem in India. High blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor and better control can lead to prevention of 300,000 of the 1.5 million annual deaths from cardiovascular diseases in India. Epidemiological studies demonstrate that prevalence of hypertension is increasing rapidly …
The construction of dams in Africa is often associated with adverse malaria impacts in surrounding communities. However, the degree and nature of these impacts are rarely quantified and the feasibility of environmental control measures (e.g.,manipulation of reservoir water levels) to mitigate malaria impacts has not been previously investigated in Africa. …
It provides the oldest skeletal evidence of leprosy a museum in Pune has a collection of thousands of bones and skeletons excavated in India. Among them is a 4,000 year old skeleton of a man believed to be 37 years when he died. This skeleton was found buried at Balathal, …
Cardiovascular risk factors start early, track through the young age and manifest in middle age in most societies. The authors conducted epidemiological studies to determine prevalence and age-specific trends in cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent and young urban Asian Indians.
In the context of growing recognition of health as a vital component of human capital and the need for evolving sustainable health care system (HCS), an epidemiologic study was conducted in an area in rural AP in 2006. The empirical results show a higher level of sickness than at the …
