Spring

Accurate predictions of full shift noise exposures in the construction trades would allow employers to determine which employees should be enrolled in a hearing conservation program and use hearing protection before they are exposed.

Occupational accidents and injuries are incidents that occur while working or doing activities related to work. There are several impacts such as pain, suffering, absence, death and economic consequences. In Thailand, injuries comprised a significant part of first three major causes of deaths.

Malignant Mesothlioma (MM) is an uncommon tumor; only about 3000 cases are diagnosed annually in the United States. Epidemiological studies have consistently confirmed that the pre-eminent risk factor for the development of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos in a variety of occupational and environmental settings.

The consumption of microbiologically contaminated food products in the United States results in a large number of otherwise preventable illnesses and deaths. Monetary losses from food borne diseases are significant and impact the economy in the form of decreased worker productivity and product recalls.

Hearing loss is a disabling chronic health problem. In addition to the direct costs of disability and worker productivity, there are many other aspects of a person’s life that are affected. It has been demonstrated that people with hearing loss are less satisfied with their lives, lose independence, and have relational problems because of their decreased ability to communicate.

Training can improve safety in occupational settings. Pesticides represent an occupational hazard to a large number of workers in agriculture. Many of the affected workers in the Pacific Northwest come from or relate to Spanish-speaking, migrant communities. Literacy, language and cultural issues may affect their ability to fully engage in English-only pesticide safety training.

Vietnam, a developing country, work-related injuries have steadily been increasing since 1995. Occupational now is recognized as a significant public health problem. However, there is no integrated data system that can thoroughly describe the situation of work-related injuries in Vietnam today.

Rationale: Refractory brick manufacturing releases large amounts of crystalline silica dust into the work environment due to the use of silica containing materials such as kaolin clay and rock. Workers working in this industry are potentially exposed to silica dust and consequently at high risk for development of silicosis.

Decompression illness (DCI) is a known risk of SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving, however this risk has not been well described in children.

El Proyecto Bienestar (The Well-Being Project) is a community-based research project that is concerned with environmental justice. El Proyecto Bienestar’s primary goal is to improve the health and well-being of Hispanic agricultural workers and their families in Yakima Valley, Washington.

The Medical Board is an administrative process whereby Soldiers with a medical disability are evaluated to determine fitness for duty. This cohort study attempted to better understand the role of personal motivation and its association with retention in the Army. We postulated that personal motivation is positively correlated with retention.

Fitt’s Law is commonly used to model motor performance in computer pointing devices. Using Labview software, this research developed a series of omni-directional pointing task to collect, characterize and evaluate computer mouse operation based on Fitts’ Law.

Occupational exposure to multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the use of spray guns is widespread in the wood-finishing industry. VOCs in exhaled breath used as abiological sample for exposure have been shown to correlate with ambient air concentrations.

The overall goal of this project was to evaluate the bioterrorism response plans of local first responder and support agencies relative to the fictitious activation of the Bio Detection System (BDS) in the United States Postal Service (USPS) Seattle Processing and Distribution Center.

Diesel engine exhaust is a source of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in diameter that contributes to air pollution. Epidemiologic studies have found associations between health effects and diesel exhaust (DE) exposures, but the mechanisms of toxicity are still unclear.

We hypothesized that women carrying particular polymorphisms in DNA double strand break repair (DSB) genes would be more susceptible to breast cancer, particularly when exposed to ionizing radiation, a DNA DSB inducing agent.

Agricultural workers in the state of Washington must deal with numerous hazards in their daily work ranging from threats of falling off of ladders to turning over tractors. While these incidents are usually one-time accidents, many field workers are exposed daily to numerous types of pesticides.

The extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and 5 (ERK5) play critical roles in diverse cellular processes and have been shown to be modulated by multiple environmental toxicants.

Introduction: Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter air pollution (particulate matter less than 2.5 um in diameter, or PM2.5) has been associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in several large epidemiologic studies, but the mechanisms remain unclear.

As populations within the United States have grown and expanded into formerly low population density agricultural areas, pesticide application practices have caused increasing concern over the health of those living in nearby communities, particularly for children.

In 2005, a key informant survey conducted by researchers with the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety & Health (PNASH) Center identified a clinician pesticide training gap.

Studies from a hospital setting have suggested that static charges on some surfaces may attract bacteria in excess of normal sedimentation or diffusion, perhaps contributing to the occurrence of nosocomial infections. Bacteria can accumulate significant static charge during aerosolization.

Soldiers serving in Iraq are exposed to a variety of environmental hazards which they often cannot avoid and frequently lack personal protective equipment for. Sixteen percent of soldiers are currently reporting environmental exposure concerns in post deployment health screening.

Asthma is a chronic disease hat can severely burden the quality of life of an asthmatic and their family. Burden includes medical costs, activity limitation, trips to the emergency room or hospital, missed school and work days, and poor health status. The economic impact of asthma is high for public heath systems, worker compensation systems, Medicaid/Medicare, and industry.

Different inbred rat strains vary widely in their genetic susceptibility to spontaneous and carcinogen-induced mammary carcinogenesis.

Hearing protection devices are commonly used to prevent occupational noise-induced hearing loss. There is a large body of research on hearing protection use in industry, and much of it relies on worker’ self-reported use of hearing protection.

Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most common occupational disease in the United States with greater than 9 million workers exposed to noise levels that could induce hearing loss. Greater than 95% of U.S. Army aviators fly helicopters, placing them at risk of NIHL due to the generally open environment of the aircraft, with cockpit noise levels reaching 105 dB.

As residential areas grow and expand into once solely agricultural areas, pesticide application practices that result in pesticide drift or the deposition of a pesticide off taret are causing concern over the health of those living in nearby communities, particularly high risk populations like children.

Rapid progress has been made in the development of molecular methods for detection of pathogens of public health significance. However, applicability to environmental samples remain limited due to difficulty in recovery and concentration of these pathogens from environmental media.

UV disinfection is a promising treatment technology to comply with recent US EPA rules (Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule and Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule). UV is highly effective against chlorine-resistant microorganisms Crytosproidium and Giardia and has low potential to form disinfection byproducts.