Recommendations for Preventing Possible Transmission of Al OS from Tears

Recommendations for Preventing Possible Trans­mission of Human T-Lymphotropic Virus Type Ill/ Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus from Tears

Quantifying the Importance of Interleukin-6 for Coronary Heart Disease

Bruce Neal discusses the implications of a new study that provides one of the most reliable estimates to date of the strength of association of interleukin-6 with coronary heart disease

The attentional boost effect and perceptual degradation: Assessing the influence of attention on recognition memory

Supplementary material The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg. 2022.1024498/full#supplementary-materialFunding Financial support for this study was provided by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant awarded to BM (RGPIN-2019-07021) and open access to the published study was supported by funds from Goethe Universitaet awarded to JO.Researchers have suggested that the recognition memory effects resulting from two separate attentional manipulations—attentional boost and perceptual degradation—may share a common cause; namely a transient up-regulation of attention at the time of encoding that leads to enhanced memory performance at the time of retrieval. Prior research has demonstrated that inducing two similar transient shifts of attention simultaneously produces redundant performance in memory. In the present study, we sought to evaluate the combined influence of the attentional boost and perceptual degradation on recognition memory. If these two effects share a common cause, then we ought to observe a redundancy in memory performance, such that these two factors interact. Yet, across four experiments we fail to observe such a redundancy in recognition memory. We evaluate these results using the limited resource model of attention and speculate on how combining transient shifts of attention may produce redundant memory performance in the one case, but non-redundant performance in the other case.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant awarded to BM (RGPIN-2019-07021)Open access to the published study was supported by funds from Goethe Universitae

Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

Scientific evidence indisputably demonstrates that lead poisoning causes permanent neurological damage and numerous co-morbidities for children and adults. Exposure to lead hazards irreversibly harms individuals and, left unchecked, can devastate communities into the future. In recognition of these threats, the President\u27s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) was established by Executive Order in 1997. The original Task Force created the first coordinated federal response to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the United States and set an ambitious ten-year timeline to achieve its goals of prevention, treatment, research, and progress management

Duty to Protect: Enhancing the Federal Framework to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning and Exposure to Environmental Harm

Scientific evidence indisputably demonstrates that lead poisoning causes permanent neurological damage and numerous co-morbidities for children and adults. Exposure to lead hazards irreversibly harms individuals and, left unchecked, can devastate communities into the future. In recognition of these threats, the President\u27s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children (Task Force) was established by Executive Order in 1997. The original Task Force created the first coordinated federal response to eliminate childhood lead poisoning in the United States and set an ambitious ten-year timeline to achieve its goals of prevention, treatment, research, and progress management. However, the most recent Task Force retreated from these bold goals. Rather than eliminating lead poisoning, in 2018 the Task Force sought merely to reduce it. This Article provides a comprehensive overview of the dangers of lead exposure, details the federal government\u27s evolving response to lead poisoning, and, for the first time, disseminates previously unpublished comments on Drafting a New Federal Strategy to Reduce Childhood Lead Exposures and Impacts, submitted to the Task Force in 2017, ahead of its most recent report. By providing these comments publicly, this Article creates a record of critical recommendations to the Task Force, provides best practices for the federal government\u27s response to lead poisoning, and encourages federal policymakers to take the necessary steps to meet the original goal of eradicating lead hazards and protecting children from lead poisoning

Health Justice Strategies to Eradicate Lead Poisoning: An Urgent Call to Safeguard Future Generations

Despite over a century of evidence that lead is a neurotoxin that causes irreparable harm, today, lead continues to pervade children\u27s environments and remains a constant threat to health and wellbeing. One in three homes across the United States housing children under the age of six has significant lead-based paint hazards that place occupants at risk of permanent neurological harm and lifelong poor health risks. Federal, state, and local governments must use a range of primary prevention strategies in order to fully eradicate the risks and protect children from lead poisoning. This Article provides a comprehensive examination of best practices for addressing lead poisoning and proposes urgent reform measures at the local and state levels. Successful interventions ultimately prioritize health justice strategies and rely on community ownership and cross-sector participation; dedicate significant resources and funding to completely eliminate lead in the environment; and prioritize primary prevention practices that identify lead-based paint hazards before children are exposed

Variability and Predictors of Urinary Bisphenol A Concentrations during Pregnancy

BackgroundPrenatal bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may be associated with developmental toxicity, but few studies have examined the variability and predictors of urinary BPA concentrations during pregnancy.ObjectiveOur goal was to estimate the variability and predictors of serial urinary BPA concentrations taken during pregnancy.MethodsWe measured BPA concentrations during pregnancy and at birth in three spot urine samples from 389 women. We calculated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to assess BPA variability and estimated associations between log10-transformed urinary BPA concentrations and demographic, occupational, dietary, and environmental factors, using mixed models.ResultsGeometric mean (GM) creatinine-standardized concentrations (micrograms per gram) were 1.7 (16 weeks), 2.0 (26 weeks), and 2.0 (birth). Creatinine-standardized BPA concentrations exhibited low reproducibility (ICC = 0.11). By occupation, cashiers had the highest BPA concentrations (GM: 2.8 μg/g). Consuming canned vegetables at least once a day was associated with higher BPA concentrations (GM = 2.3 μg/g) compared with those consuming no canned vegetables (GM = 1.6 μg/g). BPA concentrations did not vary by consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, canned fruit, or store-bought fresh and frozen fish. Urinary high-molecular-weight phthalate and serum tobacco smoke metabolite concentrations were positively associated with BPA concentrations.ConclusionsThese results suggest numerous sources of BPA exposure during pregnancy. Etiological studies may need to measure urinary BPA concentrations more than once during pregnancy and adjust for phthalates and tobacco smoke exposures

1Design of the Primary Prevention Parameters Evaluation (PREPARE) trial of implantablecardioverter defibrillators to reduce patient morbidity [NCT00279279]

BACKGROUND: Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) therapy has been proven to be beneficial and efficacious for the treatment of serious ventricular tachyarrhythmias in primary prevention patients. However, primary prevention patients appear to have a lower incidence of ventricular arrhythmias in comparison to secondary prevention patients and consequently likely experience a higher proportion of detections due to supraventricular arrhythmias. Recent trials have demonstrated that strategic and specific programming choices reduce the number of inappropriate shocks and that anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) is an effective alternative to shock therapy for many sustained ventricular arrhythmias. METHODS: The Primary Prevention Parameters Evaluation (PREPARE) study is a multi-center cohort study, evaluating the efficacy of a pre-specified strategic profile of VT/VF detection and therapy settings in 700 primary prevention patients in an effort to safely reduce the number of shock therapies delivered. The patients, both with and without cardiac resynchronization therapy, are compared to a well-qualified set (n = 691) of historical controls derived from the MIRACLE ICD and EMPIRIC trials. This manuscript describes the design of the PREPARE study. The study results, to be presented separately, will characterize the efficacy of this programming set (PREPARE) compared with physician-tailored programming (MIRACLE ICD and EMPIRIC)