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Biomedical subjects

D Ozonoff

Publications and source records attributed to D Ozonoff.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Compliance with EPA guidelines for follow-up testing and mitigation after radon screening measurements.

A survey was taken of 314 individuals, 55 of whom had residences that exceeded the EPA action level of 148 Bq m-3 (4 pCi L-1) of radon as measured by a medical center radon testing service. The survey was designed to assess whether these individuals followed the 1986 EPA guidelines for follow-up testing and mitigation. The survey indicated 41% of respondents performed follow-up tests and 16% of the respondents performed some form of mitigation. Some respondents had performed mitigation after inadequate or no follow-up radon tests. There was a positive relationship between follow-up testing and mitigation and higher initial radon screening values.

Air Pollution, Indoor↗
PubMed1991

Trihalomethanes and maximum contaminant levels: the significance of inhalation and dermal exposures to chloroform in household water.

Our review of the literature on the importance of inhalation and dermal exposures to volatile organic compounds in household water relative to ingestion exposures sought to answer two questions. First, how well do the inhalation and dermal doses predicted by simple models, complex simulations, and measurements agree with one another? And second, what are the implications for the cancer risk from chloroform in household water? The literature yields a coherent and credible range of dose estimates: the ratio of lifetime inhalation dose to lifetime ingestion dose is probably in the range of approximately 0.6 to approximately 1.5, but may be as high as approximately 5.7; and the ratio of lifetime dermal dose to lifetime ingestion dose is probably about approximately 0.3, but may be as high as approximately 1.8. However, because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Cancer Potency Factor (CPF) for inhalation of chloroform is much higher than the CPF for ingestion, the ratios of incremental lifetime cancer risk from inhalation of chloroform to risk from ingestion are much larger than the corresponding ratios for dose. The incremental lifetime cancer risk from chloroform by all three pathways is probably approximately 9 to approximately 21 times the ingestion risk and may be as much as approximately 79 times the ingestion risk. As the EPA reviews the drinking water standard for total trihalomethanes, it is essential that the Agency take account of all exposure pathways in estimating cancer risk.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1991

Epidemiologic approaches to assessing human cancer risk from consuming aquatic food resources from chemically contaminated water.

Epidemiologic approaches to assessing human cancer risk from consuming fish from contaminated waters must confront the problems of long latency and rarity of the end point (cancer). The latency problem makes determination of diet history more difficult, while the low frequency of cancer as an end point reduces the statistical power of the study. These factors are discussed in relation to the study designs most commonly employed in epidemiology. It is suggested that the use of biomarkers for persistent chemicals may be useful to mitigate the difficulty of determining exposure, while the use of more prevalent and timely end points, such as carcinogen-DNA adducts or oncogene proteins, may make the latency and rarity problems more tractable.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Unusual lymphocyte subset distribution in some depressed patients.

Depression has been previously associated with immunologic dysfunction. The lymphocyte subsets of 10 patients with major depression were found to show a mean T4-T8 (helper-suppressor) ratio lower than that of controls, a difference attributable to increased numbers of suppressor cells in the depressed group. One possible cause of increased suppressor cells is prior or current viral infection.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A microcomputer-based vital records data base with interactive graphic assessment for states and localities.

Vital records data bases describe large populations over long periods of time, yet their organization and size often preclude or discourage their use. We constructed a microcomputer-based data base of all singleton births in Massachusetts, 1975-84. The original data were stored in 700,000 records, each 174 bytes long, occupying a total of over 120 megabytes (MB). By removing redundant information and unique identifiers, and packing the data, we store 21 fields of this information in a 16-byte record resulting in a data base of 11.1 MB, a saving of over 90 percent of disk space. By using programs written expressly for this data base, we can display a birth weight frequency plot of the entire data set in under 65 seconds on an IBM-compatible PC-AT. Comparable assessments in SAS-PC took over 105 minutes and in main frame SAS on an AS-9000 took over 37 CPU seconds. Implementing similar systems for state registries on births, deaths, cancers, and birth defects potentially offers investigators easy access to vast stores of information and would enable public health officials to produce timely reports, initiate a variety of surveillance activities, and respond rapidly to residents' inquiries about clusters and anomalous disease patterns.

Birth Certificates↗
PubMed1988

Science and persuasion: environmental disease in U.S. courts.

The U.S. system for determining liability for environmental disease requires plaintiffs to demonstrate that the defendant was the legal cause of their illnesses. The determination of cause takes place in an adversary setting. Both sides in the dispute present evidence about causation to a lay judge or jury, who is responsible for deciding whether the defendant is legally responsible. In injury cases this generally means providing evidence of a specific, concrete event or condition that gave rise to the plaintiff's harm. Environmental disease usually presents a very different picture, one in which there is considerable uncertainty about the relationship between exposure to toxic substances and the plaintiff's disease. Scientific evidence about this uncertain link is often an essential part of the case. The reliance on scientific evidence appears to present almost insurmountable problems of proof of causation to the plaintiff. The law requires the plaintiff to demonstrate that, without the defendant's action, the harm would not have occurred. This strict requirement appears incompatible with the substantial scientific uncertainty about the cause of many environmental diseases. A second attribute of legal causation is that it is based on common experience, and is easily understood by lay citizens who are likely to be the final arbiters of causation. Scientific explanations of environmental disease causation, on the other hand, may not draw on common experience and may not have the intuitive appeal necessary to convince a lay decision-maker. Because scientific evidence of causation is difficult for a lay judge or jury to understand, and because of the adversary use of experts with very different opinions about causation, it might be expected that plaintiffs would have a great deal of difficulty demonstrating causation in environmental liability cases. However, the U.S. legal system appears to have accommodated to the plaintiff's difficulty in meeting the formal burden of persuasion. The courts allow juries considerable leeway in using their own experience and beliefs to determine causation, as long as there is some scientific evidence to support the plaintiff's contention. The U.S. environmental disease liability system has been criticized by some for plaintiffs' difficulty in proving causation and by others because plaintiffs can win cases without evidence that would be convincing to a scientist.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid↗
PubMed1987

Health problems reported by residents of a neighborhood contaminated by a hazardous waste facility.

A symptom prevalence survey was conducted of a neighborhood exposed to airborne hazardous wastes. Residents' responses were compared to those of a nearby control population. The results revealed that the exposed group had more self-reported complaints referable to the respiratory system (wheezing, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, persistent colds, coughs), constitutional complaints (always fatigued, bowel dysfunction), and irregular heart beat. When the effect of a documented irritant source in a small portion of the control population was removed, the exposed group also complained more often of irritation of the eyes and nose. There was a biological gradient for several of these effects. Efforts to eliminate the influence of confounding and recall bias are discussed. The results suggest either that the general population reacts to chemicals at levels much lower than the available occupational literature would indicate or that the effects are more long lasting than previously thought.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Leukemias and blood dyscrasias following exposure to chlordane and heptachlor.

We present 25 new cases of blood dyscrasia, including leukemias, production defects, and thrombocytopenic purpura, generally following home termite treatment with the chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides chlordane and heptachlor (C/H). These newly reported cases are consistent with 34 previously published case reports associating blood dyscrasias with C/H exposure. Additionally, the newly reported leukemias are consistent with epidemiologic evidence of excess risk of leukemia and other cancers in C/H-exposed populations and with the carcinogenic action of C/H in animals. The importance of case reports in warning of the association of blood dyscrasias to C/H exposure is emphasized. Until the voluntary halt in production in July 1987, millions of homes in the United States were treated with chlordane and heptachlor for termites even though their agricultural uses were phased out in 1978, largely on the grounds of "imminent hazard" because of carcinogenicity. In view of the recognized myelotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and other chronic toxic effects of these pesticides, a national program for monitoring all homes treated is urgently needed to detect persistent contamination.

Anemia, Aplastic↗
PubMed1982

Medical aspects of the hazardous waste problem.

Although no one knows exactly how much toxic material continues to be released into our environment, most observers believe the amount is substantial. In the last few years, in the state of Massachusetts alone, 22 communities have had their municipal water supplies seriously compromised by chemical contamination, (1) causing alarm and dismay among water users. Nation-wide, public concern has reached the point that in some opinion polls, hazardous waste ranks second only behind inflation as a cause of serious worry. Despite widespread anxiety, shared by public health officials, few studies have shown conclusive evidence of health consequences from toxic materials in the environment. Even in the case of such gross contamination as in the Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, New York, health effects have been difficult to establish. (2) This is partly due to intrusion of the adversary process in cases where liability is involved; it is also a result, however, of inherent technical problems that plague any determination of health hazard. This paper reviews some of these problems, considers some current risk assessment approaches, and touches on medicolegal and regulatory aspects of the hazardous waste problem.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1979

Recombinant DNA research: the scope and limits of regulation.

The paper provides an overview of public policy issues pertaining to the use of gene-splicing (recombinant DNA [deoxyribonucleic acid]) techniques in research and for industrial applications. Included is a discussion of the regulatory framework at the federal and institutional levels. The principal limitation of the current federal guidelines is its failure to provide mandatory coverage for private sector activities. Four municipalities and two states have passed their own legislation to remedy the situation. These enactments and their tie-in to the public health sector are examined.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed1975

Disagreements in chest roentgen interpretation.

Each of 100 chest radiographs selected randomly from a hospital population were read by five experienced radiologists. The films were rich in abnormal findings. Disagreement analysis was performed considering the entire content of the interpretation. The disagreements were graded by a panel as to type (false negative, false positive, and indeterminate) and significance. The overall repeatability of the panel's performance was 75 percent. Forty-one percent of the reports contained potentially significant errors and 56 percent indeterminate disagreements. Among all errors 78 percent were false negatives and 22 percent were false positives. The error rate varied among readers. An average of 25 percent of important findings were omitted by an individual reader. An association between specific abnormalities and the types of disagreement was found.

Diagnostic Errors↗