Reporting back environmental exposure data and free choice learning.

Reporting data back to study participants is increasingly being integrated into exposure and biomonitoring studies. Informal science learning opportunities are valuable in environmental health literacy efforts and report back efforts are filling an important gap in these efforts. Using the University of Arizona's Metals Exposure Study in Homes, this commentary reflects on how community-engaged exposure assessment studies, partnered with data report back efforts are providing a new informal education setting and stimulating free-choice learning. Participants are capitalizing on participating in research and leveraging their research experience to meet personal and community environmental health literacy goals. Observations from report back activities conducted in a mining community support the idea that reporting back biomonitoring data reinforces free-choice learning and this activity can lead to improvements in environmental health literacy. By linking the field of informal science education to the environmental health literacy concepts, this commentary demonstrates how reporting data back to participants is tapping into what an individual is intrinsically motivated to learn and how these efforts are successfully responding to community-identified education and research needs

Analyzing Patterns of Community Interest at a Legacy Mining Waste Site to Assess and Inform Environmental Health Literacy Efforts

Understanding a community’s concerns and infor-mational needs is crucial to conducting and improving envi-ronmental health research and literacy initiatives. We hypoth-esized that analysis of community inquiries over time at alegacy mining site would be an effective method for assessingenvironmental health literacy efforts and determining whethercommunity concerns were thoroughly addressed. Through aqualitative analysis, we determined community concerns atthe time of being listed as a Superfund site. We analyzedhow community concerns changed from this starting pointover the subsequent years, and whether: (1) communicationmaterials produced by the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency and other media were aligned with community con-cerns; and (2) these changes demonstrated a progression of thecommunity’s understanding resulting from community in-volvement and engaged research efforts. We observed thatwhen the Superfund site was first listed, community memberswere most concerned with USEPA management, remediation,site-specific issues, health effects, and environmental monitor-ing efforts related to air/dust and water. Over the next 5 years,community inquiries shifted significantly to include exposureassessment and reduction methods and issues unrelated to thesite, particularly the local public water supply and home watertreatment systems. Such documentation of community inqui-ries over time at contaminated sites is a novel method to assessenvironmental health literacy efforts and determine whethercommunity concerns were thoroughly addressed.12 month embargo; published online: 21 July 2015This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

A distributed geospatial approach to describe community characteristics for multisite studies

Understanding place-based contributors to health requires geographically and culturally diverse study populations, but sharing location data is a significant challenge to multisite studies. Here, we describe a standardized and reproducible method to perform geospatial analyses for multisite studies. Using census tract-level information, we created software for geocoding and geospatial data linkage that was distributed to a consortium of birth cohorts located throughout the USA. Individual sites performed geospatial linkages and returned tract-level information for 8810 children to a central site for analyses. Our generalizable approach demonstrates the feasibility of geospatial analyses across study sites to promote collaborative translational research

What a mix! Volatile organic compounds and worker exposure in small business beauty salons in Tucson, Arizona

IntroductionSmall business beauty salons have volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their workplace air. VOCs are present as ingredients in beauty or hair products. They may also form because of chemical reactions, where thermal-styling elements accelerate the volatilization of these compounds. Uncertainties remain about the relationship between air pollutant concentrations and the variety of beauty salon activities in a work shift. Investigating these associations can help determine high-risk services, associated products, and at-risk workers.MethodsIn this exploratory study, female community health workers recruited beauty salons from target zip codes in predominately Latino neighborhoods, including primarily Spanish-speaking small businesses. We collected salon chemical inventories, business characteristics, and participant activity logs to understand how chemicals and activities influence the total and specific VOC concentrations. We sampled personal total VOCs and specific VOCs from the same shop during the participant work shift. We also measured personal total VOCs for four work shifts per shop.ResultsA linear mixed effects model of log VOCs on the fixed effect of activity and the random effects of salon and shift within the salon showed that the variance between salons explains over half (55%) of the total variance and is 4.1 times bigger than for shifts within salons. Summa canisters detected 31 specific VOCs, and hazard scores ranged between 0 and 4.3. 2-Propanol (isopropyl alcohol) was the only VOC detected in all shifts of all salons.DiscussionIn this study, differences in VOC measurements were primarily between salons. These differences may result from differences in ventilation, services rendered, and product lines applied

Community-level characteristics and environmental factors of child respiratory illnesses in Southern Arizona

Abstract Background Lower respiratory illnesses (LRIs) and asthma are common diseases in children 0.05). Conclusions Our study revealed complex, multi-factorial associations between predictors and outcomes. Findings indicate that many rural areas with lower SES have distinct factors for childhood respiratory diseases that require further investigation. County-wide differences in maternal characteristics or agricultural land uses (not tested here) may also play a role in Pima County residence protecting against hospitalizations, when compared to Maricopa County. By better understanding this and other relationships, more focused public health interventions at the community level could be developed to reduce and better control these diseases in children <5 years, who are more physiologically vulnerable

Estimating the Relationships Between Early-Life Air Pollution Exposures and Wheezing From Birth Into Adulthood

Half of children in the United States experience wheezing incidents before their 6th birthday, and while most outgrow this condition, those who do not are at increased risk for irreversible decrements in lung function and development of asthma. During early life, lungs are more susceptible to environmental insults, however, findings on the association between ambient air pollution exposures in this time and wheezing outcomes are mixed, and effects on later wheezing outcomes have only been studied to age 11. To better understand these relationships, I took advantage of respiratory health data from the Tucson Children’s Respiratory Study (TCRS), one of the oldest on-going, prospective respiratory birth cohorts in the world, with 32 years of follow-up data (enrolled from 1980-1984, n=1246). I also utilized air pollution measures from two independent, spatially-representative air pollution studies in the Tucson, AZ area, the Pima County Workers Study (1987-1991) and the Tucson Air Pollution Study (2015-2016), to build and validate land use regression (LUR) models for NO2, NOx, PM2.5, and PM10, and then estimate exposures for TCRS participants at birth and age 6. Air pollution measurements from the Pima County Workers and Tucson Air Pollution Studies were well below ambient air quality standards, and concentrations decreased between the study periods, owing to regulations and controls enacted during this time. More sampling sites better characterized the relationships among predictors and pollutant concentrations, as shown by external validation, while the opposite was shown by internal validation. Decreased external validation capacity of LUR models can attenuate the effect of estimated air pollution exposures in health models. Despite relatively low concentrations of pollutants, PM2.5 exposures at birth significantly increased the risk of having wheezing in the first 3 years of life, which has been associated with reduced lung function and later development of asthma. Children born to mothers <25 years of age were more susceptible to NO2 and NOx exposures at birth for wheezing by age 3. NO2 exposures at birth also increased the risk of more frequent wheezing from age 8-32 years. Further reducing ambient concentrations of these pollutants through regulations or emissions controls could reduce the risk of these outcomes and future, long-term respiratory health implications.Release after 05/15/202

Home Water Treatment Habits and Effectiveness in a Rural Arizona Community

Drinking water quality in the United States (US) is among the safest in the world. However, many residents, often in rural areas, rely on unregulated private wells or small municipal utilities for water needs. These utilities may violate the Safe Drinking Water Act contaminant guidelines, often because they lack the required financial resources. Residents may use alternative water sources or install a home water treatment system. Despite increased home water treatment adoption, few studies have examined their use and effectiveness in the US. Our study addresses this knowledge gap by examining home water treatment in a rural Arizona community. Water samples were analyzed for metal(loid)s, and home treatment and demographic data were recorded in 31 homes. Approximately 42% of homes treated their water. Independent of source water quality, residents with higher income (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.25; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] (1.00–1.64)) and education levels (OR = 1.49; 95%CI (1.12–2.12)) were more likely to treat their water. Some contaminant concentrations were effectively reduced with treatment, while some were not. We conclude that increased educational outreach on contaminant testing and treatment, especially to rural areas with endemic water contamination, would result in a greater public health impact

Sampling Low Air Pollution Concentrations at a Neighborhood Scale in a Desert U.S. Metropolis with Volatile Weather Patterns

Background: Neighborhood-scale air pollution sampling methods have been used in a range of settings but not in low air pollution airsheds with extreme weather events such as volatile precipitation patterns and extreme summer heat and aridity&mdash;all of which will become increasingly common with climate change. The desert U.S. metropolis of Tucson, AZ, has historically low air pollution and a climate marked by volatile weather, presenting a unique opportunity. Methods: We adapted neighborhood-scale air pollution sampling methods to measure ambient NO2, NOx, and PM2.5 and PM10 in Tucson, AZ. Results: The air pollution concentrations in this location were well below regulatory guidelines and those of other locations using the same methods. While NO2 and NOx were reliably measured, PM2.5 measurements were moderately correlated with those from a collocated reference monitor (r = 0.41, p = 0.13), potentially because of a combination of differences in inlet heights, oversampling of acutely high PM2.5 events, and/or pump operation beyond temperature specifications. Conclusion: As the climate changes, sampling methods should be reevaluated for accuracy and precision, especially those that do not operate continuously. This is even more critical for low-pollution airsheds, as studies on low air pollution concentrations will help determine how such ambient exposures relate to health outcomes

Estimating the Relationships Between Early-Life Air Pollution Exposures and Wheezing from Birth into Adulthood

Half of children in the United States experience wheezing incidents before their 6th birthday, and while most outgrow this condition, those who do not are at increased risk for irreversible decrements in lung function and development of asthma. During early life, lungs are more susceptible to environmental insults, however, findings on the association between ambient air pollution exposures in this time and wheezing outcomes are mixed, and effects on later wheezing outcomes have only been studied to age 11. To better understand these relationships, I took advantage of respiratory health data from the Tucson Children’s Respiratory Study (TCRS), one of the oldest on-going, prospective respiratory birth cohorts in the world, with 32 years of follow-up data (enrolled from 1980-1984, n=1246). I also utilized air pollution measures from two independent, spatially-representative air pollution studies in the Tucson, AZ area, the Pima County Workers Study (1987-1991) and the Tucson Air Pollution Study (2015-2016), to build and validate land use regression (LUR) models for NO2, NOx, PM2.5, and PM10, and then estimate exposures for TCRS participants at birth and age 6. Air pollution measurements from the Pima County Workers and Tucson Air Pollution Studies were well below ambient air quality standards, and concentrations decreased between the study periods, owing to regulations and controls enacted during this time. More sampling sites better characterized the relationships among predictors and pollutant concentrations, as shown by external validation, while the opposite was shown by internal validation. Decreased external validation capacity of LUR models can attenuate the effect of estimated air pollution exposures in health models. Despite relatively low concentrations of pollutants, PM2.5 exposures at birth significantly increased the risk of having wheezing in the first 3 years of life, which has been associated with reduced lung function and later development of asthma. Children born to mothers <25 years of age were more susceptible to NO2 and NOx exposures at birth for wheezing by age 3. NO2 exposures at birth also increased the risk of more frequent wheezing from age 8-32 years. Further reducing ambient concentrations of these pollutants through regulations or emissions controls could reduce the risk of these outcomes and future, long-term respiratory health implications