International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 14, Issue 2

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading strain Q8 was isolated from oilfield produced water. According to the analysis of a biochemical test, 16S rRNA gene, house-keeping genes and DNA–DNA hybridization, strain Q8 was assigned to a novel...

Hypermethylation of specific gene promoters is an important mechanism of carcinogenesis. A high frequency of promoter methylation of PAX1 and ZNF582 genes has been detected in cervical cancer. In the present study, we investigated the methylation sta...

Given the rapid rate of global spread and consequently healthcare costs related to influenza, surveillance plays an important role in monitoring the emerging pandemics in China. However, the characteristics of influenza in Southeast of China haven’t...

Background: Previous studies indicated that measurement of sleep only by duration and quality may be biased. This study aimed to investigate the interactive association of self-reported sleep duration, quality and shift-work schedule with hypertensio...

The lack of a detailed landslide inventory makes research on the vulnerability of people to landslides highly limited. In this paper, the authors collect information on the landslides that have caused casualties in China, and established the Landslid...

Left ventricular remodeling is an essential risk factor contributing to the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (CHF). Basigin (BSG) promotes cardiovascular inflammation and myocardial remodeling processes by induction of extracellular matrix metal...

People spend the majority of their time indoors and therefore the quality of indoor air is worthy of investigation; indoor air quality is affected by indoor sources of pollutants and from pollutants entering buildings from outdoors. In this study, un...

In the mosquito midgut, luminal pH regulation and cellular ion transport processes are important for the digestion of food and maintenance of cellular homeostasis. pH regulation in the mosquito gut is affected by the vectorial movement of the princip...

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is linked to hypertension among African American youth. Optimistic bias influences behavior of youth causing them to underestimate their susceptibility to negative health outcomes. This study exp...

Universal salt iodization (USI) has been implemented for two decades in China. It is crucial to periodically monitor iodine status in the most vulnerable population, such as pregnant women. A cross-sectional study was carried out in an evidence-prove...

Background: There is little evidence about how to improve outcomes for high-risk young people, of whom Indigenous young people are disproportionately represented, due to few evaluation studies of interventions. One way to increase the evidence is to...

Chronic absenteeism is associated with poorer academic performance and higher attrition in kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) schools. In prior research, students who were chronically absent generally had fewer employment opportunities and worse healt...

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is defined as a process of contracting products, services, and works with the least possible damage to the environment during their life cycle. In order to improve the knowledge about GPP, a study of the use of environm...

Excessive electronic screen-based activities have been found to be associated with negative outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalences and patterns of smart device activities and the purposes and perceived outcomes related to...

Certain filamentous fungi produce mycotoxins that contaminate food. Mycotoxin contamination of crops is highly influenced by environmental conditions and is already affected by global warming, where there is a succession of mycotoxigenic fungi toward...

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has affected life at least since the first life forms moved out of the seas and crawled onto the land. Therefore, one might assume that evolution has adapted to natural UV radiation. However, evolution is mostly concerned w...

There is insufficient empirical evidence on the correlates of health care utilization of irregular migrants currently living in Turkey. The aim of this study was to identify individual level determinants associated with health service and medication...

The benefit of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in smoking cessation remains controversial. Recently, e-cigarettes have been gaining popularity in Japan, without evidence of efficacy on quitting cigarettes. We conducted an online survey to collec...

Complex traffic situations and high driving workload are the leading contributing factors to traffic crashes. There is a strong correlation between driving performance and driving workload, such as visual workload from traffic signs on highway off-ra...

Unhealthy lifestyle characteristics such as low physical activity (PA) and high plasma glucose levels (PGLs) may lead to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate (i) the level of physical acti...

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is an efficient vector for the transmission of Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses, causing major epidemics and a significant social and economic burden throughout the tropics and subtropics. The primary means of preventi...

While homicide perpetrated by juveniles is a relatively rare occurrence, between 2010 and 2014, approximately 7%–8% of all murders involved a juvenile offender. Unfortunately, few studies have prospectively examined the predictors of homicide offendi...

The objective of present study was to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from several sources (fuels, traffic, landfills, coffee roasting, a street-food laboratory, building work, indoor use of incense and candles, a dental laboratory...

This study examined the impact of four variables pertaining to the use of e-cigarettes (e-cigs) on cravings for tobacco cigarettes and for e-cigs after an overnight abstinence period. The four variables were the nicotine level, the sensorimotor compo...

Background: Sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) have been identified as a major public health problem closely related to adolescent obesity. We aimed to estimate the prevalences of SRBD and snoring in adolescents in Changchun City, Northeastern...

Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) is a risk factor for both adolescents’ sleep quality and mental health. It is important to examine the potential negative health effects of PMPU exposure. This study aims to evaluate PMPU and its association with m...

Indoor temperature is relevant with regard to mortality and heat-related self-perceived health problems. The aim of this study was to describe the association between indoor temperature and physical performance in older adults. Eighty-one older adult...

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pose serious threats to human health. Increasing attention has been paid to POPs to protect the environment and prevent disease. Humans are exposed to POPs through diet (the major route), inhaling air and dust and...

Tetrahymena pyriformis, a freshwater protozoan, is common in aquatic systems. Arsenic detoxification through biotransformation by T. pyriformis is important but poorly understood. Arsenic metabolic pathways (including cellular accumulation, effluxion...

Background: Though increasing evidence supports association between gaseous air pollution and stroke, it remains unclear whether the effects differ in season, sex and age. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of gaseous air pollution...

Walking is the most common form of physical activity amongst older adults. Older adults’ walking behaviors have been linked to objective and perceived neighborhood and street-level environmental attributes, such as pavement quality and mixed land use...

Background: Particulate matter pollution has become a growing health concern over the past few decades globally. The problem is especially evident in China, where particulate matter levels prior to 2013 are publically unavailable. We conducted a syst...

Previous studies have reported mixed findings on the relationship between park proximity and recreational physical activity (PA), which could be explained by park quality and the surrounding neighborhood environment. We examined whether park quality...

Many households in low- and middle-income countries cook with inefficient biomass-burning stoves, which cause high levels of household air pollution and threaten long-term health. Although clean stoves and fuels are available, uptake and consistent u...

Background: The link between body weight status and spinal diseases has been suggested by a number of cross-sectional and cohort studies with a limited range of patient populations. No population-representative samples have been used to examine the l...

The main purpose of the current article is to introduce a framework of the complexity of childhood obesity based on the family environment. A conceptual model that quantifies the relationships and interactions among parental socioeconomic status, fam...

Background: Childhood obesity is a critical health issue, both currently and for the foreseeable future. To prevent obesity, behavior changes are essential. Smartphones can be a good tool, as the number of child smartphone users is rapidly increasing...

Research shows potential effects of floods on intestinal infections. Baise, a city in Guangxi Province (China) had experienced several floods between 2004 and 2012 due to heavy and constant precipitation. This study aimed to examine the relationship...

This study was designed to examine the effects of ambient heat on firefighters’ physical task performance, and physiological and perceptual responses when sleep restricted during simulated wildfire conditions. Thirty firefighters were randomly alloca...

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), particularly mycolactone producing mycobacteria (MPM), are bacteria found in aquatic environments causing skin diseases in humans like Buruli ulcer (BU). Although the causative agent for BU, Mycobacterium ulcerans...

To estimate human exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), risk assessors often assume 95%–100% bioavailability in their models. However, recent research suggests that assuming all, or most, of the ingested mercury (Hg) is absorbed into systemic circulation...

Background: Lipoma preferred partner (LPP) and T-cell activation Rho GTPase activating protein (TAGAP) polymorphisms might influence the susceptibility to celiac disease. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis by identifying relevant studies to esti...

Background: Falls present a major challenge to active aging, but the relationship between neighborhood factors and falls is poorly understood. This study examined the relationship between fall events and neighborhood factors, including neighborhood s...

This paper describes the development of a new artificial turf surrogate surface (ATSS) sampler for use in the measurement of mercury (Hg) dry deposition. In contrast to many existing surrogate surface designs, the ATSS utilizes a three-dimensional de...

Background: Older adults in rural areas have unique transportation barriers to accessing medical care, which include a lack of mass transit options and considerable distances to health-related services. This study contrasts non-emergency medical tran...

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) has been associated with various health outcomes, including skin cancers, vitamin D insufficiency, and multiple sclerosis. Measurement of UVR has been difficult, traditionally relying on subject recall. We investigated tre...

The increasing health costs of and the risks factors associated with obesity are well documented. From this perspective, it is important that the propensity of individuals towards obesity is analyzed. This paper uses longitudinal data from the Househ...

Background: Air pollution has been demonstrated to be a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases worldwide. This study examines the relationship between the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) and patient...

Abstract: Tobacco use is one of the behavioral risk factors for chronic diseases. The aim of the study was to investigate smoking prevalence in chronically ill residents and their smoking behavior in western rural China, to identify factors associate...

An underrepresentation of stakeholder perspectives within urban health research arguably limits our understanding of what is a multi-dimensional and complex relationship between the built environment and health. By engaging a wide range of stakeholde...