Background: Children must be recognized as a sensitive population based on having biological systems and organs in various stages of development. The processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of environmental contaminants within a child's body are considered less advanced than those of adults, making them more susceptible to disease outcomes following even small doses. C...

A biological mechanism by which exposure to environmental contaminants results in gene-specific CpG methylation patterning is currently unknown. We hypothesize that gene-specific CpG methylation is related to environmentally perturbed transcription factor occupancy. To test this hypothesis, a database of 396 genes with altered CpG methylation either in cord blood leukocytes or placental tissue ...

Male reproductive health has deteriorated considerably in the last few decades. Nutritional, socioeconomic, lifestyle and environmental factors (among others) have been attributed to compromising male reproductive health. In recent years, a large volume of evidence has accumulated that suggests that the trend of decreasing male fertility (in terms of sperm count, quality and other changes in ma...

Childhood lung diseases in the United States are on the rise. This is especially true for chronic respiratory diseases such as allergic asthma, where the incidence among children in polluted inner cities has reached epidemic proportions. We believe that the recent marked increase in the incidence of childhood asthma results from the convergence of six separate factors (three of which are charac...

UNLABELLED Disruptions to the microbiome can impact host health as can exposure to environmental contaminants. However, few studies have addressed how environmental contaminants impact the microbiome. We explored this question for frogs that breed in wetlands contaminated with fly ash, a by-product of coal combustion that is enriched in trace elements. We found differences in the bacterial comm...

Of global concern, environmental pollution adversely affects human health and socioeconomic development. The presence of environmental contaminants, especially bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens and their toxins as well as chemical substances, poses serious public health concerns. Nanoparticle-based biosensors are considered as potential tools for rapid, specific, and highly sensitive de...

Environmental factors greatly affect human health. Accordingly, environmental metrics are a key part of the community health information base. We review environmental metrics relevant to community health, including measurements of contaminants in environmental media, such as air, water, and food; measurements of contaminants in people (biomonitoring); measurements of features of the built envir...