Potential new health risk from lead in used consumer products purchased in the United States

The lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, both enacted in 2008, were intended to protect children from exposure to lead by setting federal limits on lead content. Neither of these federal actions, however, addresses a newly recognized pathway of exposure to lead from the use of used consumer products in the home. In the study described in this article, the authors purchased 28 used consumer items in the United States in 2004 and analyzed them for lead content using X-ray fluorescence technology. Nineteen of the items exceeded the federal standards for lead. The amount of lead in the items ranged from 745 parts per million (ppm) to 428,525 ppm. The authors' research shows that such items, which are easily purchased throughout the U.S., may contain surface lead concentrations in amounts greater than 700 times current federal limits. This article reveals an ongoing public health threat involved in exposure to lead that is not addressed by current laws or regulations. Addressing the risk involved in this threat requires continued research, public education, and targeted regulatory action.Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Environmental Health, December 2010, (Volume 73, Number 5, pp 8-12), a publication of the National Environmental Health Association, www.neha.org.KEYWORDS: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Lead, United States, Collectibles, Exposure to lead, LRRP, CPSIA, Consumer products, Antiques, Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rul

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study

Background To date, few data on paediatric COVID-19 have been published, and most reports originate from China. This study aimed to capture key data on children and adolescents with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection across Europe to inform physicians and health-care service planning during the ongoing pandemic. Methods This multicentre cohort study involved 82 participating health-care institutions across 25 European countries, using a well established research network—the Paediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (ptbnet)—that mainly comprises paediatric infectious diseases specialists and paediatric pulmonologists. We included all individuals aged 18 years or younger with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, detected at any anatomical site by RT-PCR, between April 1 and April 24, 2020, during the initial peak of the European COVID-19 pandemic. We explored factors associated with need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission and initiation of drug treatment for COVID-19 using univariable analysis, and applied multivariable logistic regression with backwards stepwise analysis to further explore those factors significantly associated with ICU admission. Findings 582 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included, with a median age of 5·0 years (IQR 0·5–12·0) and a sex ratio of 1·15 males per female. 145 (25%) had pre-existing medical conditions. 363 (62%) individuals were admitted to hospital. 48 (8%) individuals required ICU admission, 25 (4%) mechanical ventilation (median duration 7 days, IQR 2–11, range 1–34), 19 (3%) inotropic support, and one (<1%) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Significant risk factors for requiring ICU admission in multivariable analyses were being younger than 1 month (odds ratio 5·06, 95% CI 1·72–14·87; p=0·0035), male sex (2·12, 1·06–4·21; p=0·033), pre-existing medical conditions (3·27, 1·67–6·42; p=0·0015), and presence of lower respiratory tract infection signs or symptoms at presentation (10·46, 5·16–21·23; p<0·0001). The most frequently used drug with antiviral activity was hydroxychloroquine (40 [7%] patients), followed by remdesivir (17 [3%] patients), lopinavir–ritonavir (six [1%] patients), and oseltamivir (three [1%] patients). Immunomodulatory medication used included corticosteroids (22 [4%] patients), intravenous immunoglobulin (seven [1%] patients), tocilizumab (four [1%] patients), anakinra (three [1%] patients), and siltuximab (one [<1%] patient). Four children died (case-fatality rate 0·69%, 95% CI 0·20–1·82); at study end, the remaining 578 were alive and only 25 (4%) were still symptomatic or requiring respiratory support. Interpretation COVID-19 is generally a mild disease in children, including infants. However, a small proportion develop severe disease requiring ICU admission and prolonged ventilation, although fatal outcome is overall rare. The data also reflect the current uncertainties regarding specific treatment options, highlighting that additional data on antiviral and immunomodulatory drugs are urgently needed. Funding ptbnet is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM 48PA3604, PARK COUNTY, WYOMING

The analysis here of 19 obsidian artifacts from 48PA3604 in Wyoming is dominated by Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone Volcanic Field obsidian as in previous projects in the region, with two artifacts produced from the Malad, Idaho source (see cover image and Table 1 and Figure 1).&nbsp; One artifact is produced from an, as yet, unlocated source that was not in the Skinner/Shackley North American obsidian source database

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE EAST RANKIN VALLEY, BARRY M. GOLDWATER AIR FORCE RANGE, SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA

The analysis here of 18 obsidian artifacts from various sites in the east Rankin Valley on the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range (BMGR) yields a source provenance typical of various periods on the range, dominated by one of the two chemical groups of Sauceda Mountains, with Los Vidrios, and Los Sitios del Agua present in the minority (Martynec et al. 2011; Shackley 2005, 2012, 2014; Shackley and Tucker 2001)

SOURCE PROVENANCE OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM CRYSTAL CAVE (39LA504) WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

The results of the x-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) here of 148 obsidian artifacts from Late Archaic contexts at Crystal Cave (39LA504), western South Dakota indicates procurement of three major prehistoric obsidian sources in western Wyoming (Obsidian Cliff) and eastern Idaho (Bear Gulch and Malad; see Tables 1 and 2 and Figures 1 and 2 here). These sources are common in Great Plains and Rocky Mountain sites (Hughes 2007; see discussion)

AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM THREE SITES NEAR THE JUNCTION OF INTERSTATE HIGHWAY 40 AND NEW MEXICO STATE HIGHWAY 6, CENTRAL NEW MEXICO

As you suspected, the artifacts from these three sites were produced from one of the Mount Taylor sources, or one of the three major sources in the Jemez Mountains (Tables 1 and 2)

AN ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS OF OBSIDIAN ARTIFACTS FROM FOUR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN SOUTHEASTER NNEW MEXICO

The source provenance of the artifacts is dominated by Jemez Mountains sources(Table 1and Figure1; see Shackley 2016). Cerro Toledo Rhyolite obsidianis available as secondary deposits in Rio Grande Quaternary alluviumat least to Las Cruces, but Valles Rhyolite (Cerro del Medio) has not been found south of Albuquerque, and only as a few small diameter samples(Church 2000; Shackley 2005, 2013, 2020)