BACKGROUND Epidemiological studies have indicated that noise exposure is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the nature of the connection between noise exposure and T2DM remains to be explored. OBJECTIVES We explored whether and how noise exposure affects glucose homeostasis in mice as the initial step toward T2DM development. METHODS Male ICR mice...

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have identified detectable levels of neonicotinoids (neonics) in the environment, adverse effects of neonics in many species, including mammals, and pathways through which human exposure to neonics could occur, yet little is known about the human health effects of neonic exposure. OBJECTIVE In this systematic review, we sought to identify human population studies o...

BACKGROUND Cadmium exposure may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The only published longitudinal study on cadmium and incident cardiovascular disease was performed in American Indians with relatively high cadmium exposure. OBJECTIVES Our aim was to examine the association between blood cadmium at baseline and incident cardiovascular events in a population-based study of Swedish me...

BACKGROUND Despite the recent developments in physically and chemically based analysis of atmospheric particles, no models exist for resolving the spatial variability of pollen concentration at urban scale. OBJECTIVES We developed a land use regression (LUR) approach for predicting spatial fine-scale allergenic pollen concentrations in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland, and evaluated th...

BACKGROUND Novel in vitro methods are being developed to identify chemicals that may interfere with estrogen receptor (ER) signaling, but the results are difficult to put into biological context because of reliance on reference chemicals established using results from other in vitro assays and because of the lack of high-quality in vivo reference data. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation...

BACKGROUND There is a positive association between ambient fine particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) and incidence and mortality of lung cancer (LC), but few studies have assessed the relationship between ambient PM2.5 and LC among never smokers. OBJECTIVES We assessed the association between PM2.5 and risk of LC using the Adventist Health and Smog Study-2 (AHSMOG-2), a...

City tourism is one of the fastest growing travel segments worldwide [18] and the changing nature of city tourism becomes increasingly apparent in many cities. Facilitated by mobile access to information, tourists are increasingly seeking, finding and consuming ‘local experiences’ and the boundaries between tourists and residents become increasingly blurred.While the impact of the proliferation...

BACKGROUND Preeclampsia represents a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Although it is known that the placenta plays a central role in development of preeclampsia, investigation into the contribution of environmental toxicants to the risk of preeclampsia has been sparse. OBJECTIVES In the present study we examined the relationship between longitudinally measured urinar...

Thomas O. Crist* and Joseph A. Veech Department of Zoology and Ecology Program, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA Department of Biological Sciences, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80636, USA *Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Additive partitioning of species diversity is widely applicable to different kinds of sampling regimes at multiple spatial and tempor...

BACKGROUND Vegetation fires can release substantial quantities of fine particles (PM2.5), which are harmful to health. The fire smoke may be transported over long distances and can cause adverse health effects over wide areas. OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess annual mortality attributable to short-term exposures to vegetation fire-originated PM2.5 in different regions of Europe. METHODS PM2.5 e...