Reviews on Environmental Health最新文献

Lead is an environmental hazard; even small elevations in blood lead level can cause serious negative health effects in children, including irreversible impacts such as learning difficulties, attention disorders, and behavioral issues. Previous research has shown that some groups are at higher risk for lead poisoning including racial/ethnic minorities, those with low economic status, and immigrants, especially refugees. This systematic review explores recent literature studying disparities in lead poisoning in refugee children. Search terms were chosen with the assistance of a medical librarian, and two independent reviewers assessed articles using a PICOS criteria (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Study Design) following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRIMSA-P) guidelines, a set of evidence-based minimum standards for reporting in systematic reviews. 321 article titles were reviewed, 61 abstracts screened, and 17 methods sections reviewed, ultimately including 13 studies. The studies found a high prevalence of elevated blood lead level among refugee populations when compared to reference populations. Both pre-migration and post-migration factors were identified as contributors to the disparity, and associations were identified between elevated blood lead levels and factors such as country of origin, age, and other health variables. Health providers and resettlement workers should be aware of these disparities and related factors. Testing, care, education and consistent follow-up should be provided.

Florida's environments are suitable reservoirs for many disease-causing agents. Pathogens and toxins in Florida waterways have the potential to infect mosquito vectors, animals, and human hosts. Through a scoping review of the scientific literature published between 1999 and 2022, we examined the presence of water-related pathogens, toxins, and toxin-producers in the Florida environment and the potential risk factors for human exposure. Nineteen databases were searched using keywords relating to the waterborne, water-based toxins, and water-related vector-borne diseases which are reportable to the Florida Department of Health. Of the 10,439 results, 84 titles were included in the final qualitative analysis. The resulting titles included environmental samples of water, mosquitoes, algae, sand, soil/sediment, air, food, biofilm, and other media. Many of the waterborne, water-related vector-borne, and water-based toxins and toxin-producers of public health and veterinary importance from our search were found to be present in Florida environments. Interactions with Florida waterways can expose humans and animals to disease and toxins due to nearby human and/or animal activity, proximal animal or human waste, failing or inadequate water and/or sanitation, weather patterns, environmental events, and seasonality, contaminated food items, preference of agent for environmental media, high-risk populations, urban development and population movement, and unregulated and unsafe environmental activities. A One Health approach will be imperative to maintaining healthy waterways and shared environments throughout the state to protect the health of humans, animals, and our ecosystems.

Objectives: Health care workers (HCWs) are exposed to needle needles daily. Despite individual studies, there is no statistics on the prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries (NSIs) have been reported. This study was performed to determine the prevalence and causes of unreported NSIs among HCWs.

Content: In present systematic review and meta-analysis study, three international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed) were searched from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018. The random model was used to determine the prevalence of unreported needle stick among HCWs.

Summary and outlook: Forty-one studies performed on 19,635 health care workers entered the final stage. Based-on random effect model, pooled prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries was 59.9% (95% CI: 52.0, 67.7; I2=98.9%). The most common cause of unreported NSIs was: They were not worried about NSIs (n=12). The high prevalence of unreported needle sticks injuries indicates the urgency and necessity of paying attention to strategies to improve reporting among health workers.

The 'alarm clock' for human beings in the era of climate medicine has rung. Original diseases have appeared, that could not be explained and attributed to common causes, which are suggested to be linked to global warming and environmental factors. Such an indolent disease is the chronic kidney disease of unknown cause (CKDu), introduced also as Mesoamerican or Uddanam nephropathy. Scientists equate the climate impact on kidneys with the canary in the coal mine; coal miners used to carry caged canaries with them, so that if poisonous gases, such as methane or carbon monoxide leaked into the mine-shaft, the gases would kill the canary before killing the miners; similarly, kidneys are injured before devastating and lethal complications occur in humans. In some regions of Central America, the deaths due to chronic kidney disease increased by 177% with a death toll being as high as over 20,000. It was first documented in animals that periodic heat and dehydration have a major role in causing chronic kidney disease. Based on that observation, it is advocated that young male agricultural workers in Central America and South Asia, develop renal disease by getting exposed to extreme heat repeatedly. The clinico-pathological characteristics of this type of kidney injury, do not belong to an existing classification, even though a form of tubulo-interstitial renal disease has been proposed. In this review, we will discuss about CKDu, its epidemiology and pathophysiological mechanisms, clinical presentation and diagnostic biomarkers and examine potential therapeutic options.

Carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are ubiquitous in our daily lives because of the outstanding physicochemical properties. CNMs play curial parts in industrial and medical fields, however, the risks of CNMs exposure to human health are still not fully understood. In view of, it is becoming extremely difficult to ignore the existence of the toxicity of CNMs. With the increasing exploitation of CNMs, it's necessary to evaluate the potential impact of these materials on human health. In recent years, more and more researches have shown that CNMs are contributed to the cancer formation and metastasis after long-term exposure through epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSCs) which is associated with cancer progression and invasion. This review discusses CNMs properties and applications in industrial and medical fields, adverse effects on human health, especially the induction of tumor initiation and metastasis through EMT and CSCs procedure.

Human exposure to a hot environment may result in various heat-related illnesses (HRIs), which range in severity from mild and moderate forms to life-threatening heatstroke. The Hajj is one of the largest annual mass gatherings globally and has historically been associated with HRIs. Hajj attracts over two million Muslim pilgrims from more than 180 countries to the holy city of Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Several modifiable and non-modifiable factors render Hajj pilgrims at increased risk of developing HRIs during Hajj. These include characteristics of the Hajj, its location, population, and rituals, as well as pilgrims' knowledge of HRIs and their attitude and behavior. Makkah is characterized by a hot desert climate and fluctuating levels of relative humidity. Pilgrims are very diverse ethnically and geographically, with different adaptations to heat. Significant proportions of the Hajj population are elderly, obese, and with low levels of fitness. In addition, many have underlying health conditions and are on multiple medications that can interfere with thermoregulation. Other factors are inherent in the Hajj and its activities, including crowding, physically demanding outdoor rituals, and a high frequency of infection and febrile illness. Pilgrims generally lack awareness of HRIs, and their uptake of preventive measures is variable. In addition, many engage in hazardous behaviors that increase their risk of HRIs. These include performing rituals during the peak sunshine hours with no sun protection and with suboptimal sleep, nutrition, and hydration, while neglecting treatment for their chronic conditions. HRIs preventive plans for Hajj should incorporate measures to address the aforementioned factors to reduce the burden of these illnesses in future Hajj seasons. Lessons from the Hajj can be used to inform policy making and HRIs preventive measures in the general population worldwide.

In this letter, we present some comments related to Pall's publication, in which Pall states that the electric field disappears after a few centimeters and that the magnetic field continues progressing within the studied material.

Exposure to hazardous air pollutants is identified as most obvious premature mortality factors in the world. Numerous epidemiological studies have estimated exposure to air pollutants may cause pulmonary toxicity and the incidence of respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis and asthma. The currently research was performed to evaluation the association between gaseous pollutants and lung function in healthy adults. Articles related to this study were selected from researches of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. A total of 2,644 articles were retrieved and 39 records were reviewed after removing duplicates and excluding irrelevant studies. The result of this systematic review indicated that there is some evidence on decreasing lung function with exposure to gaseous air pollutants (NO₂, SO₂, and O₃) which can have negative effects on human health. Although according to the evidence changes in lung function are mostly linked to the exposure to environmental pollutants including CO, O₃, NO₂ and SO₂, the results should be interpreted with caution considering some following issues discussed in this review. Therefore, further studies are required considering well-designed studies in large scales to strengthen the evidence.