Investigating Environmental Causes of Infertility
Because nearly half of the infertility in the United States is due to the male, and the amount of male infertility has been rising, sperm, along with its vulnerabilities, has become the subject of increased scientific interest. The NIEHS News (p. A132) describes research being conducted in the institute's Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology using heat shock proteins to study possible environmental causes of sterility.
Mad Cow Madness
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has caused panic in the nations where it has suddenly and unexpectedly turned up in humans. The Focus article (p. A134) explains what little is already known about this mysterious disease and looks at what information has yet to be uncovered before real progress can be made toward controlling the illness.
Shrunken Science
Once the size of a '70s console television, surface plasmon resonance sensing technology has now been shrunk into a palm-size unit that can be carried into the field. The Innovations article (p. A140) describes this technology in depth, and tells why the new, miniaturized units are a tremendous boon to the environmental, medical, manufacturing, and food industries.
Headaches from Cell Phones?
In a Commentary on p. 101, Frey contends that headaches associated with the use of hand-held cellular phones could be real. The frequencies, modulations, and incident energies used in earlier studies of microwave energy research and headaches are approximately the same as those now used in cellular phones. Low intensity microwave energy affects the blood-brain barrier and dopamine-opiates in the brain, and both systems are believed to be involved in headaches.
Federal Research on Endocrine Disruptors
A report by Reiter et al. (p. 105) summarizes the activities of the federal government in research on endocrine disruptors, and consists of a framework of research plans related to human and ecological health effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals, an inventory of the ongoing research, and identification of research gaps plus plans to coordinate efforts to respond to research needs.
Toxicology of Gasoline
A review of the toxicity of leaded and unleaded gasoline by Caprino and Togna (p. 115) is intended to improve risk assessment for humans and the environment. The authors highlight the difficulties inherent in determination of risk for products that consist of mixtures of toxic components such as benzene, toluene, xylenes, and multiple other compounds and additives.
Particles Induce Apoptosis in Human Lung Macrophages
Holian et al. (p. 127) report on an in vitro human lung macrophage system in which airborne particulate matter collected from American cities, Mt. Saint Helens, or residual oil fly ash caused changes indicative of toxicity, including apoptosis and immune reactivity. The authors suggest that if similar changes occur in vivo, the airborne particulates would result in lung inflammation and increases in pulmonary and cardiovascular disease.
EPA Predicts Arsenic Exposure at Superfund Sites
Walker and Griffin (p. 133) report that site-specific urinary arsenic measurements show reasonable agreement with predictive concentrations using the EPA's central tendency exposure model. The study summarizes the environmental arsenic, urinary arsenic, soil ingestion, and bioavailability studies used to report these conclusions.
Pulmonary Toxicity from Kuwaiti Oil Smoke
Lungs of hamsters were instilled with particles collected downwind from Kuwaiti oil fires by Brain et al. (p. 141) to determine the toxicity of the released pollutants. Indices of pulmonary inflammation suggest that cellular reactivity to the oil fire particulates were one- to twofold greater than that from American city urban air particulates. The authors suggest that the massive air pollution in Kuwait will require further long-term studies to fully assess the potential health effects.
Climate Change and Dengue Fever Potential
Models of global climate change were used by Patz et al. (p. 147) to estimate the potential for dengue fever epidemics in Bangkok, Suan Juan, Mexico City, Athens, and Philadelphia. Utilizing three separate general circulation models, projected temperature elevation by the year 2050 was 1.16°C, with related increases in potential seasonal transmission of disease in the five cities. For regions already at risk, the aggregate epidemic potential for dengue fever rose an average of 31-47%.
Kinetics of BaP in Catfish Intestines
Kleinow et al. (p. 155) used a catfish intestinal model to investigate benzo(a)pyrene metabolism. The data indicated that bioavailability, the level of biotransformation, and the metabolic profile of BaP-derived products entering the circulation from the intestine could be altered by dose and by pretreatment with cytochrome P4501A inducers.
Estrogenicity of Bisphenol A- Related Compounds
A class of endocrine disruptors that mimic estrogens is widely used in the plastics industry, namely the hydoxylated diphenylalkanes or bisphenols. Data reported by Perez et al. (p. 167) show that compounds with longer alkyl substituents at the bridging carbon between the two phenolic rings exhibit greater potency; the structural position of the hydroxyl group in the compounds is also an important determinant of estrogenicity.
Last Update: March 2, 1998
