BACKGROUND Despite accounting for approximately one fifth of all acute gastroenteritis illnesses, norovirus has received comparatively less attention than other infectious pathogens. With several candidate vaccines under development, characterizing the global economic burden of norovirus could help funders, policy makers, public health officials, and product developers determine how much attent...

Human-induced eutrophication degrades freshwater systems worldwide by reducing water quality and altering ecosystem structure and function. We compared current total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) concentrations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nutrient ecoregions with estimated reference conditions. In all nutrient ecoregions, current median TN and TP values for rivers and lakes...

Human-induced eutrophication degrades freshwater systems worldwide by reducing water quality and altering ecosystem structure and function. We compared current total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) concentrations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency nutrient ecoregions with estimated reference conditions. In all nutrient ecoregions, current median TN and TP values for rivers and lakes...

This study documents the costs of heroin addiction in the United States, both to the addict and society at large. Using a cost-of-illness approach, costs were estimated in four broad areas: medical care, lost productivity, crime, and social welfare. We estimate that the cost of heroin addiction in the United States was US$21.9 billion in 1996. Of these costs, productivity losses accounted for a...

With losses totaling $19 billion, the recordsetting 1993 flood is the second most costly weather-related disaster in the nation’s history after Hurricane Andrew with $30 billion (Changnon 2004). The physical, economic, and social impacts of that flood have continued to appear years after the event, and they have inspired investigations into regional flooding, the causes of major losses, and oth...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the health-related economic costs attributable to smoking in China for persons aged 35 and older in 2003 and in 2008 and to compare these costs with the respective results from 2000. METHODS A prevalence-based, disease-specific approach was used to estimate smoking-attributable direct and indirect economic costs. The primary data source was the 2003 and 2008 China Nation...

Exposure to elevated concentrations of surface ozone (O3) causes substantial reductions in the agricultural yields of many crops. As emissions of O3 precursors rise in many parts of the world over the next few decades, yield reductions from O3 exposure appear likely to increase the challenges of feeding a global population projected to grow from 6 to 9 billion between 2000 and 2050. This study ...

OBJECTIVE Diabetes is a highly prevalent condition that results in substantial morbidity and premature mortality. We investigated how diabetes-associated mortality, disability, early retirement, and work absenteeism impacts workforce participation. DATA SOURCE We used the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a national household sample of adults aged 51-61 in 1992, as a data source. STUDY DES...