Tag: Department of Environmental Health
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Nation & World
No cookie-cutter fixes on air pollution
A Nobel Prize-winning chemist has called for additional research into the air pollution blanketing the world’s megacities, saying that solutions found in the developed world’s cities are not likely to apply in other places.
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Nation & World
Quality and quantity of key crops changing
Changing environmental conditions around the globe caused by human activity could negatively impact the health of millions of people by altering the amount and quality of key crops, according to two new studies from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
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Nation & World
Dangerous heat
New research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that seemingly small changes in summer temperature swings may shorten life expectancy for elderly people with chronic medical conditions, and could result in thousands of additional deaths each year.
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Nation & World
Tracking nanoparticles
Using a real-time imaging system, scientists have tracked a group of near-infrared fluorescent nanoparticles from the airspaces of the lungs into the body and out again, providing a description of the characteristics and behavior of the particles that could be used in developing therapeutic agents to treat pulmonary disease.
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Nation & World
Dust from Asia invades North America
On the dustiest days in the western United States, 40 percent of the grime blows in from Asia. And fine particles can travel all the way around the world from…
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Nation & World
Mold, mold everywhere
Mold has attacked what remains of New Orleans, engulfing the city in slime. Typically, clean indoor environments show mold spore concentrations of less than 1,000 per cubic meter of air.…
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Nation & World
Holding their breath for the breathless
Two researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) got the idea of studying free divers to get information that would help them help the breathless to breathe better.…
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Nation & World
Walking improves cognitive functions in older women
In a study, elderly women who engaged in the most activity — for example, walking at least 6 hours per week — had a 20 percent decrease in risk of…
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Nation & World
Climate, asthma connected, according to research
Christine Rogers, a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health, measures particulates – pollen grains and fungal spores – in outdoor air and correlates levels with asthma events.…
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Nation & World
Researcher studies effects of terrorist attacks on office workers near WTC site
Since 1971, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has conducted 1,200 investigations into indoor air. Last fall, the agency undertook an investigation unlike all the others. Aided by…
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Nation & World
Professor honored for ongoing environmental research
Harvard Professor Jack Spengler and MIT professor Mario Molina shared the $250,000 Heinz award, which recognized the independent bodies of work by Spengler and Molina, although coincidentally the researchers are…
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Nation & World
Replacing joints early may be better than waiting for some osteoarthritis sufferers
In a study, scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Toronto Western Hospital followed the progress of patients who opted to have joint replacement surgery. They found that those…
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Nation & World
Study of phthalate exposure in humans finds association with sperm DNA damage
Phthalates are a class of compounds used to hold color and scent in many cosmetics and personal care items such as soaps, detergents, skin preparations and aftershave lotions, and they…
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Nation & World
Boston bike messengers experience very high injury rate
Bike couriers have become as a much a part of the urban landscape as sky-scrapers and traffic-clogged streets. Boston messengers collectively make between 3,000 and 4,000 deliveries on a given…
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Nation & World
Battling toxic molds
Molds are found in all kinds of environments. Estimates of the number of kinds of molds range from tens of thousands to more than 300,000, with more than 1,000 species…
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Nation & World
Maternal history influences risk of asthma in children exposed to cats
Recent studies have gathered evidence that cat exposure during infancy can be protective against asthma. Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital confirmed these findings in all but one situation: when…
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Nation & World
Maternal bone lead levels pose toxic prenatal risk
Although much attention has been paid to public health efforts to reduce lead exposure in children between the ages of six months and five years, when environmental lead exposures (such…
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Nation & World
Harvard researchers take aim at asthma
Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in America, afflicting about 15 million people and causing 5,000 deaths annually, according to the National Institutes of Health. Asthma rates…
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Nation & World
Student investigates investing in Mother Earth
Managers of “green” mutual investment funds seek to invest their clients’ money in socially responsible and environmentally friendly companies. But those managers, and individual investors, are often hampered by a…
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Nation & World
Breathing new life into asthma therapy
Asthma attacks have lasting effects because the lungs’ most delicate airways can become scarred. This makes future attacks all the worse. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have looked at what…
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Nation & World
Marine science expert monitoring Boston Harbor pollution
Harvard researcher James Shine is currently researching pollutants in the sediment of Boston Harbor and other harbors. He is crafting criteria for the Environmental Protection Agency that would measure pollution…
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Nation & World
Environmental health researcher studies lead poisoning in India
Lead is a naturally occurring toxic element, and exposure poses a serious threat to children whose neurological systems are still developing. Some children suffer from brain damage, poor motor skills…
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Nation & World
Workers in buildings with less fresh air more likely to call in sick
Donald Milton, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, hypothesized that the nature of the air that employees breathe affects how often…