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STAYING
HEALTHY IN AN |
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According to the most recent studies of the World Health Organization, hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are employed and/or live in environments that are unhealthy or unsafe. An estimated 160 million new cases of work-related diseases occur yearly; among them are respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, hearing loss, musculoskeletal and reproductive disorders, and mental and neurological illnesses. Environmental dangers are a serious problem not only for the individual whose health is at risk but for all of us: with 4% of the world’s gross national product lost as a result of work-related disease and injury, occupational hazards have an immediate and direct impact on national and world economies. While chemicals, pollution, and industrial waste can negatively affect us all, the damages wrought by a class of hazards called teratogens are particularly tragic. Substances identified as teratogens can affect unborn children during gestation and cause lifelong illness, severe birth defects, miscarriage, and stillbirth. Illegal drugs, prescription drugs, infections, radiation, alcohol, and household cleaners can also be teratogens. Because of these hidden dangers, researchers are working diligently to learn more about the effects of the maternal environment on human fetal development. Why
do some people who are exposed to environmental hazards develop serious
illnesses while others remain perfectly healthy? The question of individual susceptibility has been a subject
of fascination since long before our modern understanding of human genetics.
Now, with scientists having recently declared “victory” in decoding
the human genome, it might be tempting to hope that we will soon easily be able
to determine which characteristics and diseases are hereditary and which are the
result of environmental influences. However, the more researchers learn about
the structure of human DNA, the more complicated the relationship between
genetics and the environment appears to be.
In other words, an “either/or” model of disease origin is a profound oversimplification. In reality, we are learning more and more about models like susceptibility genes, which influence (but do not absolutely determine) the risk for diseases and disorders through their complex interactions with bio-logical and environmental factors. In tonight’s session, we will take a close look at how scientists are using the latest research to uncover crucial information about the con-nections between our bodies, our health, and the world in which we live. |
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Professor
of Biostatistics
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Dr.
Marsh received his B.S. degree in mathematics (cum laude) in 1973 from
the University of Pittsburgh and his M.S. (Hyg.) and Ph.D. degrees in
biostatistics in 1974 and 1977 from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School
of Public Health. In addition to
performing his own research, Dr. Marsh teaches graduate-level courses in applied
biostatistics, sampling theory, and meta-analysis.
Within the Graduate School of Public Health, he has also helped to
establish and direct the Biostatistical Consulting Laboratory and directs the
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Data Tapes Program. Dr. Marsh directs occupational epidemiologic studies
to investigate the long-term health effects of exposure to such agents as
man-made mineral fibers, formaldehyde, acrylamide, acrylonitrile, arsenic,
petrochemicals, aromatic amines, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, he conducts environmental epidemiologic studies
of communities exposed to industrial pollutants or to hazardous waste site
materials and is involved in basic methodological research related to
longitudinal data analysis and quantitative risk assessment.
Dr. Marsh also directs programs of biostatistical support for the health
outcome research and quality improvement areas of large health maintenance
organizations and for the occupational and environmental health areas of
corporate trade organizations. Dr. Marsh has more than 140 publications in the areas
of biostatistics, occupational and environmental epidemiology, quantitative risk
assessment, and statistical computing and holds positions on several
governmental, academic, and corporate scientific advisory committees.
He is the senior author of the computer software package OCMAP
(Occupational Cohort Mortality Analysis Program), which is used as a standard
analytic tool by more than 140 domestic and 40 foreign institutions involved in
occupational health research. Dr.
Marsh is also developer of the Mortality and Population Data System (MPDS), a
repository and retrieval system for NCHS and U.S. Census Bureau data, which is
regularly accessed by scores of domestic occupational and environmental health
researchers. |
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Professor
and Vice-Chair, Department of Obstetrics,
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Dr. Crombleholme did his undergraduate work at Fordham College in the Bronx, New York, and received his M.D. from the State University of New York College of Medicine at the Health Science Center at Brooklyn. He then interned at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, and served his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After completing a two-year fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Dr. Crombleholme joined the faculty of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SUNY at Brooklyn. In 1982 he took a position on the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco, based at San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Crombleholme came to the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1992. He is based at Magee-Womens Hospital, where he is currently professor and vice-chair of the department. He also serves as director of the residency program in obstetrics and gynecology at Magee-Womens Hospital, where his principal role is in the supervision and instruction of residents working in the high-risk obstetrics clinic and the general obstetrics/gynecology clinics in the Ambulatory Care Center as well as on the inpatient service in labor and delivery. Dr. Crombleholme’s clinical and research interests have been in the area of high-risk obstetrics, particularly infectious complications in obstetrics relating to alterations in vaginal micro-flora in pregnancy, preterm premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, and bacterial and viral infections in pregnancy. |
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Professor
of Human Genetics |
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Dr. Ferrell is a professor in the Department of Human Genetics, Graduate School of Public Health. A native of Meridian, Mississippi, he received his B.S. degree in chemistry in 1966 from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. He then served as a research assistant at the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his doctoral degree in biochemistry in 1970. Dr. Ferrell continued his education as a U.S. Public Health Service Trainee in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School, eventually serving the same department as a research associate before moving on to professorial positions at the University of Texas in Houston. Dr. Ferrell came to the University of Pittsburgh in 1984. For the past 25 years, Dr. Ferrell’s research has focused on the occurrence, nature, and distribution of genetic variation in the human population. These studies include the characterization of rare mutations that cause specific diseases such as cataracts and cancer in individuals and families and common (polymorphic) variation that influences susceptibility to common diseases like coronary artery disease and hypertension in the general population. His current work includes the study of the interaction of genetic variation and commonly recommended lifestyle interventions like diet and exercise in determining risk for common diseases. These studies have led to more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and are supported by the National Institutes of Health. |
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Environmental
Health http://www.nsc.org/ehc.htm http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/wot/wot.html Multiple
Chemical Sensitivity http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/multiplechemicalsensitivities/ http://www.crossroads.nsc.org/ Lead
Poisoning http://www.nsc.org/ehc/lead.htm: This is the site of the Lead Poisoning Prevention Outreach Program, a project of the National Safety Council’s Environmental Health Center. Program activities for this year are primarily targeted to minority and underserved populations. The site includes alerts to items that may pose a lead poison risk. Prevention
of Birth Defects http://www.motherisk.org http://www.icbd.org/link.htm Occupational
Health http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/cxcx3.html http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/ http://www.scorecard.org/ |
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Before
We Are Born: Essentials of
Embryology and Birth Defects. Keith L. Moore et al.
W.B. Saunders & Co., 1998. Benedictin
and Birth Defects: The Challenges
of Mass Toxic Substances Litigation. Michael
D. Green. University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1998. Catalog
of Teratogenic Agents. Thomas H. Shepard.
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Clean
House, Clean Planet: Manual to Free
Your Home of 14 Common Hazardous Household Products. Karen Logan. Simon
& Schuster Trade, 1996. Cutting
Green Tape: Pollutants,
Environmental Regulation and the Law. Richard L. Stroup and
Roger E. Meiners, Eds. Transaction
Publishers, 1999. Drugs
and Birth Defects. Nancy Shniderman and Sue
Hurwitz. The Rosen Publishing
Group, Inc., 1995. Environmental
Hazards: Assessing Risk and
Reducing Disaster.
Keith Smith. Routledge, 2000. Global
Change and Environmental Hazards: Is
the World Becoming More Disastrous? Jerry
T. Mitchell, Susan L. Cutter. Association
of American Geographers, 1997. Hazards
of the Job: From Industrial Disease
to Environmental Health Science. Christopher
C. Sellers. University of North
Carolina Press, 1999. The Healthy
Home Handbook: How to Rid Your Home
of Pollutants and Safety Hazards. John
Warde. Crown Publishing Group,
1997. The
Healthy Home Kit: Inspecting for
Environmental Hazards, Working with Professionals to Avoid Risks Cleaning Up
Radon, Lead, Asbestos and More! Ingrid
Ritchie, Stephen J. Martin. Dearborn
Financial Publishing, Inc., 1994. The
Home Environmental Sourcebook: 50
Environmental Hazards to Avoid When Buying, Selling or Maintaining a Home. Andrew N. Davis, Paul Schaffman.
Henry Holt & Company, Inc., 1996. Monitoring
for Health Hazards at Work. Indira Ashton, F.S. Gill.
Blackwell Science, Inc., 1999. Physical
and Biological Hazards of the Workplace. Peter
H. Wald, with Gregg Stave. Wiley,
John & Sons, Inc., 1997. Physical
Hazards of the Workplace. Larry R. Collins, Thomas
B. Scheid. Lewis Publishers, 1999. Reproductive
Hazards of the Workplace. Linda M. Frazier, with
Marvin Hage. Wiley, John &
Sons, Inc., 1999. Toxics
A to Z: A Guide to Everyday
Pollution Hazards.
John Harte et al. University of California Press, 1991. Toxic
Circles: Environmental Hazards from
the Workplace into the Community. Helen
E. Sheehan and Richard P. Wedeen, Eds. Rutgers
University Press, 1993. Uncertain
Hazards: Environmental Activists
and Scientific Proof. Sylvia Noble Tesh.
Cornell University Press, 2000. |
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