The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(06)69665-7.pdf

Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals

Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. In: Mary Jane West-Eberhard, Editor, Oxford University Press (2003) Pp. xi+794. Price $50.00 paper.

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78102/1/WHO_HSE_PHE_IHE_2013.1_eng.pdf

State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals - 2012

Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance.

Nervous system dysfunction among workers with long-term exposure to manganese

BACKGROUND: Addressing vulnerability to heat-related mortality is a necessary step in the development of policies dictated by heat action plans. We aimed to provide a systematic assessment of the epidemiologic evidence regarding vulnerability to heat-related mortality. METHODS: Studies assessing the association between high ambient temperature or heat waves and mortality among different subgroups and published between January 1980 and August 2014 were selected. Estimates of association for all the included subgroups were extracted. We assessed the presence of heterogeneous effects between subgroups conducting Cochran Q tests. We conducted random effect meta-analyses of ratios of relative risks (RRR) for high ambient temperature studies. We performed random effects meta-regression analyses to investigate factors associated with the magnitude of the RRR. RESULTS: Sixty-one studies were included. Using the Cochran Q test, we consistently found evidence of vulnerability for the elderly ages \textgreater85 years. We found a pooled RRR of 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.97, 1.01) for male sex, 1.02 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.03) for age \textgreater65 years, 1.04 (95% CI = 1.02, 1.07) for age \textgreater75 years, 1.03 (95% CI = 1.01, 1.05) for low individual socioeconomic status (SES), and 1.01 (95% CI = 0.99, 1.02) for low ecologic SES. CONCLUSIONS: We found strongest evidence of heat-related vulnerability for the elderly ages \textgreater65 and \textgreater75 years and low SES groups (at the individual level). Studies are needed to clarify if other subgroups (e.g., children, people living alone) are also vulnerable to heat to inform public health programs

/pdf/review-article-vulnerability-to-heat-related-mortality-a-sc38j0scux.pdf

Review Article: Vulnerability to Heat-related Mortality: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression Analysis.

Background: Little attention has been paid to how heat-related health effects vary with the micro-urban variation of outdoor temperatures. This study explored whether people located in micro-urban heat islands are at higher risk of mortality during hot summer days. Methods: Data used included (1) daily mortality for Montreal (Canada) for June–August 1990–2003, (2) daily mean ambient outdoor temperatures at the local international airport and (3) two thermal surface images (Landsat satellites, infrared wavelengths). A city-wide temperature versus daily mortality function was established on the basis of a case-crossover design; this function was stratified according to the surface temperature at decedents’ place of death. Results: The risk of death on warm summer days in areas with higher surface temperatures was greater than in areas with lower surface temperatures. Conclusions: This study suggests that measures aimed at reducing the temperature in micro-urban heat islands (eg, urban greening activities) may reduce the health impact of hot temperatures. Further studies are needed to document the variation of heat-related risks within cities and to evaluate the health benefits of measures aimed at reducing the temperature in micro-urban heat islands.

https://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/63/8/659.full.pdf

Variation of daily warm season mortality as a function of micro-urban heat islands

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides, and mercury are global environmental contaminants that can disrupt the endocrine system in animals and humans. However, there is little evidence that they can interfere with endocrine status in pregnant women and neonates at low levels of exposure. The aim of this study was to examine thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy and in cord blood in relation to blood concentrations of organochlorine compounds (OCs) and Hg in healthy women recruited during pregnancy. We found a significant negative correlation between maternal total triiodothyronine levels and three non-coplanar congeners (PCB-138, PCB-153, and PCB-180), three pesticides (p,p -DDE, cis-nanochlor, and hexachlorobenzene), and inorganic Hg independently, without any other changes in thyroid status. No significant relationships were observed between OCs and cord serum thyroid hormones. Cord serum free thyroxin was negatively correlated with inorganic Hg. These results suggest that at even low levels of exposure, persistent environmental contaminants can interfere with thyroid status during pregnancy.

http://www.acpo.org.br/biblioteca/03_interferentes_hormonais/thyroid_hormones_environmental_exposure_organochlorine.pdf

Thyroid hormones in pregnancy in relation to environmental exposure to organochlorine compounds and mercury.

Objectives
This review assessed the confounding effect of one traffic-related exposure (noise or air pollutants) on the association between the other exposure and cardiovascular outcomes.

/pdf/cardiovascular-health-traffic-related-air-pollution-and-17eep5rx0a.pdf

Audrey Smargiassi

Papers

Nervous system dysfunction among workers with long-term exposure to manganese

Review Article: Vulnerability to Heat-related Mortality: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression Analysis.

Variation of daily warm season mortality as a function of micro-urban heat islands

Thyroid hormones in pregnancy in relation to environmental exposure to organochlorine compounds and mercury.

Cardiovascular health, traffic-related air pollution and noise: are associations mutually confounded? A systematic review