scholarly journals Influence of living in the same home on biomonitored levels of consumer product chemicals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin E. Dodson ◽  
R. Woodrow Setzer ◽  
John D. Spengler ◽  
Julia G. Brody ◽  
Ruthann A. Rudel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Products ◽  
Bayesian Regression ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Product Use ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Correlation Estimation ◽  
Silent Spring ◽  
The Us ◽  
Residual Contribution ◽  
Household Members

Abstract Background Individuals living in the same home may share exposures from direct contact with sources or indirectly through contamination of the home environment. Objective We investigated the influence of sharing a home on urine levels of ten phenolic chemicals present in some consumer products. Methods We used data from Silent Spring Institute’s Detox Me Action Kit (DMAK), a crowdsourced biomonitoring program in the US. Of the 726 DMAK participants, 185 lived in the same home with one or more other DMAK participants (n = 137 pairs, up to six participants in a home). The concentration distributions included values below the detection limit so we used statistical methods that account for left-censored data, including non-parametric correlation estimation and hierarchical Bayesian regression models. Results Concentrations were significantly positively correlated between pair-members sharing a home for nine of the ten chemicals. Concentrations of 2,5-dichlorophenol were the most strongly correlated between pair-members (tau = 0.46), followed by benzophenone-3 (tau = 0.31) and bisphenol A (tau = 0.21). The relative contribution of personal product use reported product use of other household members (up to 5 others), and the residual contribution from a shared household, including exposures not asked about, varied by chemical. Paraben concentrations were largely influenced by personal behaviors whereas dichlorophenol and bisphenol concentrations were largely influenced by shared home exposures not related to reported behaviors. Significance Measuring the influence of personal and household practices on biomonitoring exposures helps pinpoint major sources of exposure and highlights chemical-specific intervention strategies to reduce them.

Products Liability Law – Lessons from the Military and Industrial Contexts

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-322
Author(s):  
Nathan A. Schachtman
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
State Court ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Industrial Products ◽  
Products Liability ◽  
Product Use ◽  
Liability Law ◽  
Industrial Settings ◽  
The Military

AbstractThe policy bases for American products liability law have developed largely through a series of state court cases that involved products sold to ordinary consumers. These cases featured significant disparities between manufacturers and injured consumers in understanding latent risks from product use, and in their ability to avoid the risks and to absorb and to distribute the costs of the risks. The policy bases that appear cogent for consumer products fail to explain or justify the imposition of liability in many industrial settings, which involve military or industrial customers that are well aware of the products’ latent risks and that have moral, common law, statutory, and regulatory duties to ensure that the industrial products are used safely.

Allocation of Responsibility for Product Safety

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 435-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Laughery ◽  
David R. Lovvoll ◽  
Michael S. Wogalter
Keyword(s):  
Significant Interaction ◽  
User Study ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Product Safety ◽  
The Other ◽  
Product Use ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
High Hazard ◽  
The Mean

Three studies were carried out to explore how people allocate responsibility for safety during product use. In Study 1 29 consumer products were named and subjects apportioned safety responsibility to the manufacturer, the retailer, the user, and a potentially relevant organization not in the stream of commerce (e.g., FDA, CPSC, Underwriters Laboratories). The mean percent responsibility allocated to these four alternatives was 43%, 9%, 27% and 21% respectively. A significant interaction indicated that the allocation varied across products. In Study 2 safety responsibility for the same products was allocated to the manufacturer, retailer and user, but the “outside” organization was omitted. The mean percent allocated was 51%, 20% and 30% respectively. In this study, additional questions assessed various perceptions of the products and the subject's familiarity with the products. The results indicated that responsibility allocation was a function of perception of product hazardousness; the more hazardous a product is perceived to be, the more responsibility is allocated to the user. Study 3 investigated some of the attributes of high hazard products which are associated with various allocations of product safety. For high hazard products with open and obvious risks (chain saws, cutting torches), more responsibility was allocated to consumers as opposed to manufacturers. On the other hand, for those high hazard products with “hidden” risks (pesticides, antifreeze), manufacturers were typically allocated a much higher degree of responsibility.

Estimating the Public Health Impact from Introducing Tobacco-Free Nicotine Pouches Into the US

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N Lee ◽  
John S Fry ◽  
Tryggve Ljung
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Status ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Initiation Rate ◽  
Individual Parameter ◽  
Product Use ◽  
The Us ◽  
Current Product

Abstract BackgroundFor smokers not intending to quit, switching to a reduced-risk nicotine product should be healthier than continuing smoking. We estimate the health impact, over the period 2000-2050, of introducing into the US the nicotine pouch ZYN. ZYN’s toxicant profile and method of use is like that for Swedish snus, a product with known health effects much less than smoking. MethodsOur modelling approach is similar to others developed for estimating potential effects of new tobacco products. It starts with a simulated cohort of 100,000 individuals in the year 2000 subdivided by age, sex, and smoking status (including years since quitting). They are followed annually accounting for births, net immigrations, deaths and product use changes, with follow-up carried out in the Base Case (ZYN not introduced) and Modified Case (ZYN introduced). Using informed assumptions about initiation, quitting and switching rates, distributions of the population over time are then constructed for each Case, which are used to estimate product-related mortality based on assumptions about the relative risk according to product use. ResultsWhereas in both Base and Modified Cases, the prevalence of any current product use is predicted to decline from about 22% to 10% during follow-up, in the Modified Case about 25% of current users use ZYN by 2050, about a quarter being dual users and the rest ZYN-only users. Over the 50 years, deaths at ages 35-84 from product use among the 100,000 are estimated as 249 less in the Modified than the Base Case, equivalent to about 700,000 less deaths in the whole US. Sensitivity analyses varying individual parameter values confirm the benefits of switching to ZYN, which increase as either the switching rate to ZYN increases or the initiation rate of ZYN relative to smoking increases. Even assuming the reduction in excess mortality risk using ZYN use is 20% of that from smoking rather than the 3.5% assumed in the main analyses, the reduction in product-related deaths would still be 213, or about 600,000 in the US. ConclusionsAlthough such model-based estimates are subject to uncertainties, the results suggest that introducing ZYN could substantially reduce smoking-attributable deaths.

scholarly journals Adolescent Tobacco and Betel Nut Use in the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands: Evidence From Guam

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1058-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pallav Pokhrel ◽  
Francis Dalisay ◽  
Ian Pagano ◽  
Wayne Buente ◽  
Elizabeth Guerrero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Protective Factors ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Betel Nut ◽  
School Students ◽  
Product Use ◽  
The Us

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of, and the risk and protective factors associated with, tobacco product use among adolescents in Guam, a US-Affiliated Pacific Island (USAPI) territory. To examine disparities in risk and protective factors across indigenous and nonindigenous groups. Design: Quantitative; cross-sectional. Setting: Middle and high schools in Guam. Sample: The Global Youth Tobacco Survey sample included a representative sample of 2449 6th to 12th graders (71% response rate). Sample for the supplemental study included 670 middle school students (76% response rate across randomly selected classrooms). Measures: Self-reported measures of lifetime and past 30-day tobacco and betel nut use, social competence, resistance self-efficacy, risk perceptions, friend and family tobacco product use, and ease of access to tobacco products. Analysis: Multilevel logistic regression and analysis of covariance. Results: The prevalence rates of current cigarette, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarette use among middle school students were 8%, 8%, and 25%, respectively. Ability to resist social pressure to use tobacco/betel nut use was strongly associated with lower likelihood of tobacco (odds ratio [OR] = 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.68-0.84) and betel nut use (OR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.67-0.82). Indigenous Pacific Islanders scored significantly lower on protective and higher on risk factors. Conclusion: Tobacco product use rates among Guam middle school students appear to be 4 to 5 times higher than the US national average rates. There is an urgent need for developing tobacco and betel nut use prevention programs for USAPI youth that are tailored to the needs of indigenous Pacific Islanders.

scholarly journals Comparison of Culture- and Quantitative PCR-Based Indicators of Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater, Recycled Water, and Tap Water

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaqueline Rocha ◽  
Telma Fernandes ◽  
Maria V. Riquelme ◽  
Ni Zhu ◽  
Amy Pruden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance Genes ◽  
Fecal Coliforms ◽  
Future Application ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
The Us ◽  
Genes Encoding

Standardized methods are needed to support monitoring of antibiotic resistance in environmental samples. Culture-based methods target species of human-health relevance, while the direct quantification of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) measures the antibiotic resistance potential in the microbial community. This study compared measurements of tetracycline-, sulphonamide-, and cefotaxime-resistant presumptive total and fecal coliforms and presumptive enterococci versus a suite of ARGs quantified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) across waste-, recycled-, tap-, and freshwater. Cross-laboratory comparison of results involved measurements on samples collected and analysed in the US and Portugal. The same DNA extracts analysed in the US and Portugal produced comparable qPCR results (variation <28%), except for blaOXA-1 gene (0%–57%). Presumptive total and fecal coliforms and cefotaxime-resistant total coliforms strongly correlated with blaCTX-M and intI1 (0.725 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.762; p < 0.0001). Further, presumptive total and fecal coliforms correlated with the Escherichia coli-specific biomarkers, gadAB, and uidA, suggesting that both methods captured fecal-sourced bacteria. The genes encoding resistance to sulphonamides (sul1 and sul2) were the most abundant, followed by genes encoding resistance to tetracyclines (tet(A) and tet(O)) and β-lactams (blaOXA-1 and, blaCTX-M), which was in agreement with the culture-based enumerations. The findings can help inform future application of methods being considered for international antibiotic resistance surveillance in the environment.

Research productivity in neurosurgery: trends in globalization, scientific focus, and funding

2011 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1262-1272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason S. Hauptman ◽  
Daniel S. Chow ◽  
Neil A. Martin ◽  
Michael W. Itagaki
Keyword(s):  
Case Reports ◽  
Bibliometric Study ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
Review Articles ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
Relative Decline ◽  
Nih Funding

Object While research is important for the survival, growth, and expansion of neurosurgery, little work has been done to quantify the status and trends of neurosurgical publications. The purpose of this bibliometric study was to quantitatively analyze trends in neurosurgical publications, including changes in worldwide productivity, study methodology, subspecialty topic, and funding. Methods This was a retrospective bibliometric study using MEDLINE to record all publications between 1996 and 2009 by first authors affiliated with neurosurgical departments. Country of origin, MEDLINE-defined methodology, study topic, and funding sources (for US articles) were recorded. Linear regression was used to derive growth rates. Results Total articles numbered 53,425 during the study period, with leading global contributors including the US with 16,943 articles (31.7%) and Japan with 10,802 articles (20.2%). Countries demonstrating rapid growth in productivity included China (121.9 ± 9.98%/year, p < 0.001), South Korea (50.5 ± 4.7%/year, p < 0.001), India (19.4 ± 1.8%/year, p < 0.001), and Turkey (25.3 ± 2.8%/year, p < 0.001). While general research articles, case reports, and review articles have shown steady growth since 1996, clinical trials and randomized controlled trials have declined to 2004 levels. The greatest overall subspecialty growth was seen in spine surgery. Regarding funding, relative contribution of National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded publications decreased from 30.2% (290 of 959) to 22.5% (356 of 1229) between 1996 and 2009. Conclusions Neurosurgical publications demonstrate continued increases in productivity as well as in global expansion, although US contributions remain dominant. Two challenges that the neurosurgical community is facing include the preponderance of case reports and review articles and the relative decline in NIH funding for US neurosurgical publications, as productivity has outpaced government financial support.

scholarly journals A quantitative genetic analysis of fitness and its components in Drosophila melanogaster

1986 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudy F. C. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Quantitative Characters ◽  
Quantitative Genetic ◽  
Bristle Number ◽  
Metric Traits ◽  
Average Fitness

SummaryForty-one third chromosomes extracted from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster were assessed for net fitness and for the quantitative characters viability, net fertility, female productivity, male weight, abdominal bristle number, and sternopleural bristle number. Net homozygous and heterozygous fitness of the third chromosomes was estimated by competition against a marked balancer third chromosome. Average fitness of the homozygous lines relative to wild-type heterozygotes was 0·13, indicating substantial inbreeding depression for net fitness. All significant correlations of quantitative characters with fitness and with each other were high and positive. Homozygous fitness is strongly correlated with net fertility, viability, and female productivity, moderately associated with male weight, and not significantly associated with bristle traits. The combination of metric traits which best predicts homozygous fitness is the simple multiple of viability and female productivity. Heterozygous fitness is not correlated with homozygous fitness; furthermore, the relative contribution of metric traits to fitness in a heterozygous population is likely to be different from that deduced from homozygous lines. These observations are consistent with a model of genetic variation for fitness in natural populations caused by segregation of rare deleterious recessive alleles.

scholarly journals Correlates of tobacco product initiation among youth and adults in the USA: findings from the PATH Study Waves 1–3 (2013–2016)

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. s191-s202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin A Kasza ◽  
Kathryn C Edwards ◽  
Zhiqun Tang ◽  
Cassandra A Stanton ◽  
Eva Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
Health Study ◽  
Product Use ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Tobacco Initiation

ObjectiveTo report on demographic and tobacco product use correlates of tobacco product initiation (cigarettes, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), cigars, hookah and smokeless tobacco) among the US population.DesignData were from the first three waves (2013–2016) of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort study of US youth (aged 12–17 years) and adults (aged 18+ years). Never users of at least one type of tobacco product at Wave 1 (W1, 2013/14) or Wave 2 (W2, 2014/15) were included (n=12 987 youth; n=25 116 adults). Generalised estimating equations were used to evaluate the association between demographic and tobacco product use characteristics at baseline, and tobacco product initiation at follow-up (ever, past 30 day (P30D), frequent (use on 20 or more of thepast 30 days)) over two 1-year periods (W1–W2 and W2–Wave 3).ResultsYouth aged 15–17 years were more likely than youth aged 12–14 years and adults aged 18–24 years were more likely than older adults to initiate P30D tobacco use across products; non-heterosexuals were more likely than heterosexuals to initiate P30D cigarette and ENDS use. Older adults were more likely than young adults, and males were more likely than females, to be frequent users of ENDS on initiation. Ever use of another tobacco product predicted P30D initiation of each tobacco product.DiscussionOther tobacco product use and age predict P30D tobacco initiation across products whereas associations with other demographic characteristics vary by product. Continued contemporary evaluation of initiation rates within the changing tobacco product marketplace is important.

Estimating Dynamic State Preferences from United Nations Voting Data

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 430-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Bailey ◽  
Anton Strezhnev ◽  
Erik Voeten
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Dynamic State ◽  
Democratic Peace ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Policy Shifts

United Nations (UN) General Assembly votes have become the standard data source for measures of states preferences over foreign policy. Most papers use dyadic indicators of voting similarity between states. We propose a dynamic ordinal spatial model to estimate state ideal points from 1946 to 2012 on a single dimension that reflects state positions toward the US-led liberal order. We use information about the content of the UN’s agenda to make estimates comparable across time. Compared to existing measures, our estimates better separate signal from noise in identifying foreign policy shifts, have greater face validity, allow for better intertemporal comparisons, are less sensitive to shifts in the UN’ agenda, and are strongly correlated with measures of liberalism. We show that the choice of preference measures affects conclusions about the democratic peace.

scholarly journals Enhancing Patient Compliance for Usage of Laundry Detergents Free of Dyes and Perfumes: Potential Impact of Better Cleaning Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary B Johnson ◽  
Elaine Cella ◽  
Amanda Pessler ◽  
Dan B Dillard ◽  
Andy Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Patient Compliance ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Laundry Detergent ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Sensitive Skin ◽  
Laundry Detergents ◽  
Cleaning Performance ◽  
The Us ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Reported Data

Sensitive skin, an often self-reported condition, is characterized by an unpleasant sensory experience to a variety of consumer products. Certain ingredients in consumer products, such fragrances and dyes, are believed to exacerbate skin sensitivities. Due to an increased prevalence of people reporting sensitive skin, a variety of consumer products are formulated for people with this condition. A segment of commercially marketed laundry detergents, commonly known as free detergents, have been formulated without dyes and perfumes to accommodate skin sensitivities. In the US and Canada respectively, 80% and 97% of dermatologist recommend the use of free detergents for their patients with sensitive skin. However, consumers have expressed dissatisfaction with free detergents, with 39% reporting they are not satisfied with their free detergent’s cleaning performance. When people switch from the leading free laundry detergent, they will switch to a non-free detergent 60% of the time, going against dermatologist recommendations and potentially further aggravating their skin sensitivities. Recently, a survey of US households with sensitive skin showed that 98.8% said that they would be more likely to consistently use a detergent that cleans better. Herein are reported data showing Tide Pods Free & Gentle outperformed other free detergents in cleaning across a wide variety of laundry stains and in SEM visual analysis of soil residues on fibers.  It is postulated that the better cleaning detergent may help drive patient compliance with dermatologist recommendations for usage of a free detergent for their patients with sensitive skin.

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