(Press-News.org) By global standards, health risks caused by environmental factors are low in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), new studies by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers show.
In an effort to keep those risks low, Emiratis are working with UNC public health researchers to find ways now to avoid problems in the future.
What's more, researchers and officials believe their approach could be used to address similar issues in other rapidly developing nations and regions.
The Middle Eastern nation is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, moving in the past 40 years from a largely nomadic, desert population to a modern country with busy cities, big business and an expanding population.
But modernization can also bring changes that may affect people's health. For instance, ambient air pollution can cause or exacerbate asthma and contamination of drinking water and seafood supplies can contribute to various illnesses, including cancer.
In 2008, officials established the United Arab Emirates Environmental Health Project, funded by the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi and headed by researchers in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. The project is a multipart endeavor that includes quantitative risk assessment, risk ranking and what officials describe as the most ambitious environmental epidemiological study ever conducted in the country. The results will help leaders make informed decisions on future policy priorities and actions.
"The goal was to assess and prioritize strategies to reduce the pollution-related health risks being made inevitable by growth and development," said Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Ph.D., the project's principal investigator and UNC assistant professor of environmental sciences and engineering. "This is believed to be the first time a nation has commissioned a comprehensive model of the national burden of disease from environmental health risks. They are taking a long-term perspective in a world too often focused on short-term thinking."
The results of how MacDonald Gibson and her team from UNC, UAE University and The Rand Corporation, a global public policy research institution, identified and prioritized the risks were published online today (Feb. 22) in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The research team prepared quantitative risk estimates and then worked with dozens of stakeholders, including leaders of businesses, government agencies, health-care facilities and universities. Fifty-six stakeholders submitted rankings of 14 risk factors in order of priority. They almost unanimously agreed that outdoor air pollution is the greatest risk. Most stakeholders also ranked indoor air pollution as the second most important risk and occupational exposures in industry as third.
There was disagreement on some issues. For example, risk from water pollution was ranked second most important by five stakeholders and least important by four. Those who ranked it least important stressed the nation's drinking water is highly treated with advanced desalination systems and that many people drink bottled water.
Investigators also helped develop a national strategy and action plan, which identified 216 potential initiatives to mitigate health risks. They also developed key performance indicators to measure progress in each risk area. For example, an indicator for indoor air quality would be the percentage of public buildings that enforce indoor smoking bans.
MacDonald Gibson said officials with the World Health Organization's Centre for Environmental Health Activities in Amman, Jordan, which provided project oversight, have said the framework may be a model for similar endeavors in the Middle East and other regions around the world.
Zeinab S. Farah, Ph.D., an independent consultant based in Abu Dhabi and London, was a co-author of the study.
Two other studies from the project also appeared in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. One reported results from a study of the health effects of six air pollutants found in homes. Homes with measurable sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were twice as likely to report doctor-diagnosed asthma. Also, people living in homes where incense was burned daily (44 percent of households in the study) were twice as likely to report headaches, forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating as those in homes where incense was burned once a week or less. The third study explored cultural differences and the ways the international teams bridged those differences to forge strong, long-lasting relationships.
###
Media note: MacDonald Gibson can be reached at (919) 966-7892 or jackie.macdonald@unc.edu.
Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, ramona_dubose@unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596, patric_lane@unc.edu
Reports identify, prioritize environmental health risks in fast-growing United Arab Emirates
2012-02-23
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Surprising diversity at a synapse hints at complex diversity of neural circuitry
2012-02-23
MADISON – A new study reveals a dazzling degree of biological diversity in an unexpected place – a single neural connection in the body wall of flies.
The finding, reported in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, raises several interesting questions about the importance of structure in the nervous system and the evolution of neural wiring.
"We know almost nothing about the evolution of the nervous system, although we know it has to happen – behaviors change, complexity changes, there is the addition of new neurons, formation ...
New melanoma drug nearly doubles survival in majority of patients
2012-02-23
Investigators from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) and 12 other centers in the United States and Australia have found that a new drug for patients with metastatic melanoma nearly doubled median overall survival.
More than half of patients who were treated with the novel drug vemurafenib, known commercially as Zelboraf, responded to treatment and experienced an impressive median overall survival of nearly 16 months – far longer than the typical survival of just six to 10 months for most patients whose melanoma has spread beyond the initial tumor site.
Results ...
Scripps Research scientists create potent molecules aimed at treating muscular dystrophy
2012-02-23
JUPITER, FL, February 22, 2012 – While RNA is an appealing drug target, small molecules that can actually affect its function have rarely been found. But now scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have for the first time designed a series of small molecules that act against an RNA defect directly responsible for the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy.
In two related studies published recently in online-before-print editions of Journal of the American Chemical Society and ACS Chemical Biology, the scientists show that these ...
Phobia's effect on perception of feared object allows fear to persist
2012-02-23
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The more afraid a person is of a spider, the bigger that individual perceives the spider to be, new research suggests.
In the context of a fear of spiders, this warped perception doesn't necessarily interfere with daily living. But for individuals who are afraid of needles, for example, the conviction that needles are larger than they really are could lead people who fear injections to avoid getting the health care they need.
A better understanding of how a phobia affects the perception of feared objects can help clinicians design more effective treatments ...
News articles linking alcohol to crimes or accidents increase support for liquor law enforcement
2012-02-23
NEWS ARTICLES LINKING ALCOHOL TO CRIMES OR ACCIDENTS INCREASE SUPPORT FOR LIQUOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Reading a newspaper article about the role alcohol played in an injury accident or violent crime makes people more supportive of enforcing alcohol laws, a new study suggests.
Researchers had participants read actual news reports, randomly selected from newspapers across the United States, about violent crimes and various accidental injuries – half of which were edited to mention the role of alcohol and half of which were edited not to make such mention.
Those ...
PawnUp.com Online Pawn Shop Now Accepts High-End Notebooks and Tablets
2012-02-23
PawnUp.com's management has made a decision to include high-end laptops and tablets to its list of accepted items for pawn loans and sales in their online pawn shop. This decision is based on the company's commitment to continue widening the range of items it accepts in order to help more people get cash fast from a reliable source.
Today, there are many people that purchase the most cutting-edge electronic devices on a regular basis, right after they become available on the market. At the same time, it makes most of the previously purchased items outdated - usually, ...
Virtual colonoscopy effective screening tool for adults over 65
2012-02-23
OAK BROOK, Ill. – Computed tomography (CT) colonography can be used as a primary screening tool for colorectal cancer in adults over the age of 65, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.
Some previous medical studies have found no significant difference in the diagnostic accuracy of CT colonography, also known as "virtual colonoscopy," and traditional optical colonoscopy. This study looks at whether both exams are as effective for adults over 65 as they are for adults between 50 and 65 years of age.
In the study, C. Daniel Johnson, M.D., ...
CT colonography shown to be comparable to standard colonoscopy
2012-02-23
Philadelphia (Feb. 23, 2012) — Computerized tomographic (CT) colonography (CTC), also known as virtual colonoscopy, is comparable to standard colonoscopy in its ability to accurately detect cancer and precancerous polyps in people ages 65 and older, according to a paper published online today in Radiology. This is consistent with results of the ACRIN National CT colonography Trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008, which demonstrated CT colonography can serve as a primary colorectal cancer screening option for adults ages 50 and older, but did ...
Colon Cancer Alliance and American College of Radiology demand Medicare cover virtual colonoscopy
2012-02-23
In response to a study published online Feb. 23 in Radiology which showed that virtual colonoscopies are comparably affective to standard colonoscopy at detecting colorectal cancer and precancerous polyps in adults ages 65 and older, the Colon Cancer Alliance and the American College of Radiology released a joint statement demanding Medicare cover seniors for screening virtual colonoscopies — also known as CT colonography.
"The minimal invasiveness and lower cost of CT colonography can attract more seniors to be screened if Medicare will cover them for the exam. Many ...
A unique on-off switch for hormone production
2012-02-23
After we sense a threat, our brain center responsible for responding goes into gear, setting off a chain of biochemical reactions leading to the release of cortisol from the adrenal glands.
Dr. Gil Levkowitz and his team in the Molecular Cell Biology Department have now revealed a new kind of ON-OFF switch in the brain for regulating the production of a main biochemical signal from the brain that stimulates cortisol release in the body. This finding, which was recently published in Neuron, may be relevant to research into a number of stress-related neurological disorders. ...