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Mystery teen neurological illness followed up by Erin Brockovich meets resistance

Famous environmental activist Erin Brockovich’s team faced resistance as they tried to test the area around an upstate New York school for clues to a case involving more than a dozen teens plagued by mysterious Tourette's-like symptoms and seizures. One neurologist who has seen most of the affected girls has diagnosed their illness as psychological in origin, but some parents and members of the community have disputed that diagnosis.

30 Jan 2012

Global Health Frontline News examines clean cookstove efforts in Tanzania

Global Health Frontline News (GHFN) reports on efforts to produce and provide clean cookstoves to people in Tanzania.

30 Jan 2012

Scientists develop new way to create electromagnetic T-rays for medical scanners

Scientists have developed a new way to create electromagnetic Terahertz (THz) waves or T-rays - the technology behind full-body security scanners. The researchers behind the study, published recently in the journal Nature Photonics, say their new stronger and more efficient continuous wave T-rays could be used to make better medical scanning gadgets and may one day lead to innovations similar to the 'tricorder' scanner used in Star Trek.

21 Jan 2012

New research highlights and offers solutions for a nitrogen-soaked world

The nitrogen cycle has been profoundly altered by human activities, and that in turn is affecting human health, air and water quality, and biodiversity in the U.S., according to a multi-disciplinary team of scientists writing in the 15th publication of the Ecological Society of America's Issues in Ecology.

18 Jan 2012

Interdisciplinary panel reviews U.S. nitrogen pollution trends, risks and mitigation strategies

Nitrogen is both an essential nutrient and a pollutant, a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion and a fertilizer that feeds billions, a benefit and a hazard, depending on form, location, and quantity. Agriculture, industry and transportation have spread nitrogen liberally around the planet, say sixteen scientists in the latest edition of ESA's Issues in Ecology series, "Excess Nitrogen in the U.S. Environment: Trends, Risks, and Solutions," with complex and interrelated consequences for ecological communities and our dependence upon the resources they provide, as well as human health.

17 Jan 2012

New research reveals legacy of lead from old inner city roads a major source of airborne contamination

An international research study published last week in the journal Atmospheric Environment has found that re-suspended roadside soil dust is a major source of atmospheric lead in old inner city areas.

15 Jan 2012

IUPUI launches Institute for Mathematical Modeling and Computational Science

The School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has launched the Institute for Mathematical Modeling and Computational Science, an interdisciplinary endeavor dedicated to solving perplexing problems in such diverse fields as medicine, the environment, and computer science. iM2CS's parallel mission is to train a new generation to identify and solve the scientific issues with which they will be faced.

11 Jan 2012

Incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension increases with exposure to NOx

The incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension increases with cumulative levels of exposure to nitrogen oxides, according to a new study led by researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University.

6 Jan 2012

Report provides expanded review of six new EPA air quality regulations

A report by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health provides an expanded review of six new air quality regulations proposed or recently adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's.

22 Dec 2011

Household washing machines seem to be a major source of microplastic pollution

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions" podcast series discusses the discovery that household washing machines seem to be a major source of so-called "microplastic" pollution -- bits of polyester and acrylic smaller than the head of a pin -- that researchers now have detected on ocean shorelines worldwide.

22 Dec 2011

BU professor to study incidence of hypertension, diabetes and asthma in African American women

Patricia F. Coogan, ScD, an associate professor of epidemiology at Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC), recently was awarded funding for two grants from the National Institutes of Health.

21 Dec 2011

EPA rule to help protect kids' brain from autism

SafeMinds sees a brighter future after the implementation of long-overdue EPA regulation of hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. Less mercury means its potent neurotoxic effects are less likely to harm childhood development.

16 Dec 2011

Increased temperatures can shorten gestation time and lead to stillbirth

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) world-first research has found a link between increases in temperature and the incidence of stillbirth and shorter pregnancies.

16 Dec 2011

UV rays help prevent spread of chickenpox

Ultraviolet rays help prevent the spread of chickenpox, meaning people in milder climates are more at risk of catching the disease, according to new research. The discovery could lead to new ways of preventing chickenpox and its more severe relative, shingles.

16 Dec 2011

HDE and DEP exposure can lead to development of asthma

A study conducted by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has found that diesel exhaust particulates (DEP) and house dust extract (HDE) causes pulmonary inflammation that aggravates asthma.

15 Dec 2011

Nighttime-lights imagery can pinpoint disease hotspots

Normally used to spot where people live, satellite images of nighttime lights can help keep tabs on the diseases festering among them, too, according to new research.

9 Dec 2011

Exposure to smoke decreases lung function in firefighters

After monitoring firefighters working at prescribed burns in the southeastern U.S., University of Georgia researchers found that lung function decreased with successive days of exposure to smoke and other particulate matter.

8 Dec 2011

New alveoli continue to be formed as lungs grow

A ground-breaking international study into the ways lungs grow and develop has challenged existing medical understanding that our lungs are completely formed by the age of three.

7 Dec 2011

International trade agreements need to help save water globally: UNESCO

With greater water scarcity in some regions and increasing global demand for high quality water, international trade agreements need to help save water globally. This was the main conclusion of a special report, published by the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.

6 Dec 2011

Dust storms have adverse effect on hospital EDs for COPD

A new study published in the journal Respirology reveals that dust storms have an adverse effect on emergency hospital admission for chronic lung disease, often known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

6 Dec 2011