While bicyclists and other active travelers obtain health benefits from increased physical activity, they also risk uptake of traffic-related air pollution. But pollution uptake by urban bicyclists is not well understood due to a lack of direct measurements and insufficient analysis of the determinants of exposure and ventilation (breathing). This knowledge gap impedes pollution-conscious transportation planning, design, and health impact assessment. The research presented in this dissertation generates new connections between transportation system characteristics and pollution uptake by bicyclists. The primary research questions are: 1) how do urban bicyclists' intake and uptake of air pollution vary with roadway and travel characteristics and 2) to what extent can transportation-related strategies reduce uptake. Breath biomarkers are used to measure absorbed doses of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This research is the first application of breath biomarkers to travelers and the first uptake measurements of any pollutant to include roadway-level covariates. Novel methods to collect and integrate bicycle, rider, traffic, and environmental data are also introduced. Bicyclist exposure concentrations, exhaled breath concentrations, respiratory physiology, and travel characteristics were collected on a wide range of facilities in Portland, Oregon. High-resolution trajectory and pollution data were then integrated with roadway and traffic data. Models of exposure, ventilation, and uptake of VOCs were estimated from the on-road data. Important new quantifications in the models include the effects of average daily traffic (ADT) on multi-pollutant exposure, the lagged effect of on-road workload on ventilation, and the effects of exposure and ventilation on absorbed VOCs. Estimated models are applied to situations of interest to travelers and transportation professionals. Sample applications include the inhalation dose effects of road grade, cruising speed choice, stops, and detouring to parallel low-traffic facilities. In addition, dose-minimizing routing behavior is compared with revealed routing preferences in the literature. Finally, findings from this research and the literature are distilled so that they can be incorporated into bicycle network design guidelines.

Mobile source emissions are a major contributor to global and local air pollution. Governments and regulatory agencies have been increasing the stringency of regulations in the transportation sector for the last ten years to help curb transportation sector air pollution. The need for regulations has been emphasized by scientific research on the impacts from ambient pollution, especially research on the effect of particulate matter on human health. The particulate emissions from diesel vehicles, diesel particulate matter (DPM) is considered a known or probable carcinogen in various countries and increased exposure to DPM is linked to increased cardiovascular health problems in humans. The toxicity of vehicle emissions and diesel particulate emissions in particular, in conjunction with an increased awareness of potential petroleum fuel shortages, international conflict over petroleum fuel sources and climate change science, have all contributed to the increase of biodiesel use as an additive to or replacement for petroleum fuel. The goal of this research is to determine how this increased use of biodiesel in the particular emission testing setup impacts urban air quality. To determine if biodiesel use contributes to a health or climate benefit, both the size range and general composition were investigated using a comprehensive comparison of the particulate component of the emissions in real time. The emissions from various biodiesel and diesel mixtures from a common diesel passenger vehicle were measured with a cavity ring-down transmissometer (CRDT) coupled with a condensation particle counter, a SMPS, a nephelometer, NOx, CO, CO2, and O3 measurements. From these data, key emission factors for several biodiesel and diesel fuel mixtures were developed. This approach reduces sampling artifacts and allows for the determination of optical properties, particle number concentration, and size distributions, along with several important gas phase species' concentrations. Findings indicate that biodiesel additions to diesel fuel do not necessarily have an air quality benefit for particulate emissions in this emission testing scenario. The often cited linear decrease in particulate emissions with increasing biodiesel content was not observed. Mixtures with half diesel and half biodiesel tended to have the highest particulate emissions in all size ranges. Mixtures with more than 50% biodiesel had slightly lower calculated mass for light absorbing carbon, but this reduction in mass is most likely a result of a shift in the size of the emission particles to a smaller size range, not a reduction in the total number of particles. Evaluation of the extensive optical properties from this experimental set-up indicates that biodiesel additions to diesel fuel has an impact on emission particle extinction in both visible and near-IR wavelengths. The B99 mixture had the smallest emission factor for extinction at 532 nm and at 1064 nm. For the extinction at 532 nm, the trend was not linear and the emission factor peaked at the B50 mixture. Results from intensive properties indicate that emissions from B5 and B25 mixtures have Ångström exponents close to 1, typical for black carbon emissions. The mixtures with a larger fraction of biodiesel have Ångström exponent values closer to 2, indicating more absorbing organic matter and/or smaller particle size in the emissions. Additional experimental testing should be completed to determine the application of these results and emission factors to other diesel vehicles or types of diesel and biodiesel fuel mixtures.

No description available.

Australia is experiencing widespread ecosystem degradation, including dryland salinity, erosion and vegetation loss. Approximately 1 million hectares (5.5%) of the south-west agricultural zone of Western Australia is affected by dryland salinity and is predicted to rise to 5.4 million hectares by 2050. Such degradation is associated with many environmental outcomes that may impact on human health, including a decrease in primary productivity, an increase in the number of invasive species, a decrease in the number of large trees, overall decrease in biodiversity, and an increase in dust production. The resulting degradation affects not only farm production but also farm values. This study examines the effects of such severe and widespread environmental degradation on the physical and mental health of residents. Western Australia has an extensive medical record database which links individual health records for all hospital admissions, cancer cases, births and deaths. For the 15 diseases examined in this project, the study area of the south west of Western Australia (excluding the capital city of Perth) contained 1,570,985 morbidity records and 27,627 mortality records for the 15 diseases examined in a population of approximately 460,000. Environmental data were obtained from the Western Australian Department of Agriculture?s soil and landscape mapping database. A spatial Bayesian framework was used to examine associations between these disease and environmental variables. The Bayesian model detected the confounding variables of socio-economic status and proportion of the population identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. With the inclusion of these confounders in the model, associations were found between environmental degradation (including dryland salinity) and several diseases with known environmentally-mediated triggers, including asthma, ischaemic heart disease, suicide and depression. However, once records of individuals who had been diagnosed with coexistent depression were removed from the analysis, the effect of dryland salinity was no longer statistically detectable for asthma, ischaemic heart disease or suicide, although the effects of socio-economic status and size of the Aboriginal population remained. The spatial component of this study showed an association between land degradation and human health. These results indicated that such processes are driving the degree of psychological ill-health in these populations, although it remains uncertain whether this 4 is secondary to overall coexisting rural poverty or some other environmental mechanism. To further investigate this complex issue an instrument designed to measure mental health problems in rural communities was developed. Components of the survey included possible triggers for mental health, including environmental factors. The interview was administered in a pilot study through a telephone survey of a small number of farmers in South-Western Australia. Using logistic regression a significant association between the mental health of male farmers and dryland salinity was detected. However, the sample size of the survey was too small to detect any statistically significant associations between dryland salinity and the mental health of women. The results of this study indicate that dryland salinity, as with other examples of ecosystem degradation, is associated with an increased burden of human disease.

There is evidence that athermal radiofrequency radiation can alter Heat Shock Protein (HSP) expression or protein phosphorylation, or alter MAP kinase signalling. Effects of long-term exposure in brain tissue due to repeated HSP perturbation (eg an inhibition of apoptosis) have been hypothesised (French et al, 2001). This study aimed to investigate the RNA expression profile (12,000 genes) and HSP family protein expression levels after either acute 1-hour or chronic 4-day intermittent exposures to simulated GSM radiation in a human primary fibroblast model. The results found minimal or no effects of GSM. Flasks were exposed to 900 MHz (217 Hz modulation) at 0.18 W/kg SAR within a Transverse Electromagnetic Mode chamber (TEM cell). Cultures rested for 2 hours before exposures. Affymetrix U95A microarray analysis of a single pilot set of experiments showed that about 40 genes were reported as upregulated &gt=2.5 fold in each condition. There was no evidence of altered expression of any MAPK-associated genes. Target genes reported in both conditions (CBFA2T1, ZNF148, ITGA1), and genes altered in one condition (CCS, PLEC1, BIRC5), and marginally altered HSP72 were selected for PCR analysis. No other members of the HSP family were altered. In three replicate experiments assayed by real-time PCR, six genes were either unchanged or showed randomly variable expression. However HSP72 RNA showed possible consistent slight upregulation of 1.37 +/- 0.21 in the chronic condition. Western immunoblots of HSP-60, -70, -72 and -V90 proteins showed no significant changes 5 hours after exposure. In preliminary studies using a serum starvation protocol, ERK-1 phosphorylation was unaltered after 5 or 30 minutes GSM (single experiments). When flasks were transiently cooled, ERK-1 phosphorylation was increased 20 minutes later, indicating a source of artefact in some protocols. An inflammatory challenge experiment with a low-dose of the cytokine IL-1???? found that acute GSM exposure post-challenge inhibited NF????B-mediated GRO???? induction by 1.5 fold (2 experiments). Preconditioning with mild heat induces transient inhibition of both NF????B signalling and apoptosis. Other studies indicate that EMF exposures similarly evoke cytoprotection. It is suggested that GSM evoked cytoprotective signalling in this inflammatory model.

Background Climate variation has affected diverse physical and biological systems worldwide. Population health is one of the most important impacts of climate variation. Although the impact of climate variation on infectious diseases has been of significant concern recently, the relationship between climate variation and infectious diseases, including vector-borne diseases and enteric infections, needs greater clarification. Australia is grappling with developing politically acceptable responses to global warming. In China, few studies have been conducted to examine the effect of climate variation, including global warming, on population health. As residents of developing countries may suffer more from climate change compared with people living in more developed countries, this thesis has significance for both countries. Aims This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of climate variation on population health, and to provide scientific evidence for policy makers, researchers, public health practitioners and local communities in the development of public health strategies at an early stage, in order to prevent or reduce future risks associated with ongoing climate change. The objectives of this study include: (1) to quantify the association between climate variation and selected vectorborne diseases and enteric infections in different climatic regions in Australia and China; (2) to project the future burden of selected vector-borne diseases and enteric infections based on climate change scenarios in different climatic regions in Australia and China. Methods This ecological study has two components. The first uses time-series analyses to quantify the relationship between meteorological variables and infectious diseases, whereas the second projects the burden of selected infectious diseases using future climate and population scenarios. Temperate and subtropical climatic zones in both Australia and China were selected as the primary study areas, and a study of an Australian tropical region was also conducted. Study of Australia’s temperate zones was conducted in Adelaide, South Australia, as well as the Murray River region in that State. The study of China’s temperate zone was carried out in Jinan, Shandong Province. Subtropical studies were conducted in Baoan, Guangdong Province, China, and Brisbane in Queensland, whilst research for the tropics centred on Townsville, also in Queensland, Australia. The selected infectious diseases - one vector-borne disease and one enteric infection in each country - are Ross River Virus (RRV) infection and salmonellosis in Australia, and malaria and bacillary dysentery in China. Study periods vary from eight to sixteen years (depending upon the availability of data). Climate data, infectious disease surveillance data and demographic data were collected from local authorities. Data analyses conducted in the ecological studies include Spearman correlation analysis, time-series adjusted Poisson regression and the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model with consideration of lag effects, seasonality, long-term trends, and autocorrelation, on a weekly or monthly basis depending on data availability, and Hockey Sticky model to detect potential threshold temperatures. In the burden of disease component, analyses include the calculation of an indicator of the burden of disease - Years Lost due to Disabilities (YLDs) - and use scenario-based models to project YLDs for the selected diseases in 2030 and 2050 in Australia and 2020 and 2050 in China respectively. The projections consider both different scenarios of projected temperature and future population change. Results Relationship between climate variation and selected infectious diseases In all the study regions in Australia, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall and humidity are all significantly related to the number of RRV infections, with lag effects varying from 0 to 3 months. Additionally, high tides in the two seaside regions with tropical (Townsville) or subtropical (Brisbane) climates, and river flow in the temperate region (Murray River region), are related to the number of cases without any lag effects. A potential 1°C increase in maximum or minimum temperature may cause 4%~23% extra cases of RRV infection in the temperate region, 5~8% in the subtropical region, and 6%~15% in the tropical region. Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, humidity and air pressure are significantly related to malaria cases in the temperate city Jinan and subtropical city Baoan in China, with a lag effect range of 0 to 1 month. An association between rainfall and malaria cases was not detected in either region. A potential 1°C increase in maximum or minimum temperature may lead to 4%~15% extra malaria cases in the temperate region, and 12%-18% in the tropical region in China. Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall and humidity are all significantly related to the number of salmonellosis cases in the three study cities in Australia, with lag effects varying from 0 to 1 month. A potential 1°C increase in maximum or minimum temperature may cause 6%~19% extra salmonellosis cases in the temperate region (Adelaide), 5%~10% in the subtropical region (Brisbane), and 4%~15% in the tropical region (Townsville). The thresholds for the effects of maximum and minimum temperatures are 20ºC and 12ºC respectively in Adelaide. No threshold temperatures are detected in Townsville and Brisbane. Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, humidity, air pressure and rainfall are significantly related to bacillary dysentery cases in the temperate city Jinan and subtropical city Baoan in China, with the lag effect range of 0 to 2 months. A potential 1°C increase in maximum or minimum temperature may cause 7%~15% extra bacillary dysentery cases in the temperate region and 10% ~ 19% in the subtropical region in China. The thresholds for the effects of maximum and minimum temperatures on bacillary dysentery are 17ºC and 8ºC respectively in Jinan. No threshold temperatures are detected in Baoan. Projection of YLDs from target diseases In Australia, considering both climatic and population scenarios, if other factors remain constant, compared with the YLDs observed in 2000, the YLDs for salmonellosis might increase by up to 48% by 2030, and nearly double by 2050 in South Australia, while the YLDs might double by 2030 and increase by up to 143% by 2050 in Brisbane, Queensland. The YLDs for RRV infection might increase by up to 66% by 2030, and nearly double by 2050 in South Australia. They might increase by up to 61% by 2030 and double by 2050 in Brisbane, Queensland. In China, considering both climatic and population scenarios, if other factors remain constant, compared with the YLDs observed in 2000, the YLDs for bacillary dysentery might double by 2020 and triple by 2050 in both Jinan and Baoan. The YLDs for malaria might increase by up to 108% by 2020 and nearly triple by 2050 in Jinan, the temperate city, and increase by up to 144% by 2020 and nearly triple by 2050 in Baoan, the subtropical city. Conclusions 1. Both maximum and minimum temperatures are important in the transmission of vector-borne diseases in various climatic regions in both Australia and China. River flow or high tides may also play an important role in the transmission of such diseases. 2. Both maximum and minimum temperatures play an important role in the transmission of enteric infections in various climatic regions in both Australia and China, with a threshold temperature detected in the temperate regions but not in subtropical and tropical regions. 3. The effects of rainfall and relative humidity on selected infectious diseases vary in different study areas in Australia and China. 4. The burden of temperature-related infectious diseases may greatly increase in the future if there is no effective preventive intervention. Public health implications 1. Implication for health practice • Public health practitioners, together with relevant government organisations, should monitor trends in infectious diseases, as well as other relevant indexes, such as vectors, pathogens, and water and food safety. They should advise policy makers of the potential risks associated with climate change and develop public health strategies to prevent and reduce the impact of infectious disease associated with such change. • Doctors and other clinical practitioners should be prepared and supported in the provision of health care for any expected extra cases associated with climate variation and should play an important role in relevant health education on climate change. • Community participation is of significance to adapt to and mitigate the risk of climate change on population health. Community involvement helps to deliver programmes which more accurately target local needs. Therefore, community should be involved in the partnerships of climate change as early as possible. • Relevant education programs on the potential health impact of climate change should be conducted by government at all levels for different stakeholders, including industries, governments, communities, clinicians and researchers. • Advocacy for adapting to and mitigating climate change should be a longstanding public health activity. 2. Implication for researchers • The main task for researchers is to identify the independent contribution made by key climatic variables and whether there are exposure thresholds for infectious disease transmission. Further studies should include various infectious diseases in different climatic regions. • Developing countries and rural regions are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change so more research should be conducted for people living in those regions. • Studies using summary measures that combine prevalence of disease, quality of life and life expectancy, such as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), to assess the burden of disease due to climate change is necessary to assist in decision making. • More research should be conducted on the assessment of adaptive strategies and mitigation to future climate change. 3. Implication for policies • Public and preventive health strategies that consider local climatic conditions and their impact on vector and food borne diseases are important in reducing such impact due to climate change in the future. • The extra health burden that may be caused by future climate change may have a great impact on the currently overloaded public health system in both developed and developing countries. Long-term planning about health resource allocation, infrastructure establishment, and relevant response mechanisms should be developed at relevant government levels. • Effective prevention and intervention strategies will be possible only if the efforts of relevant sectors, including governments, communities, industries, research institutions, clinical professionals and individuals, have coordinated responses. • International and regional collaborations are necessary to address this global issue. In addition, strategies of an international dimension should be translated into regional and local actions. This is extremely important to developing countries such as China and India. • Sustainable development policies with consideration given to reducing green house gases and environmental degradation need immediate action which will benefit future generations. Health priorities should include the prevention of climate change. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1290777 / Thesis(Ph.D.)-- School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2007

Background Over the past three decades, social relationships have been shown to have important effects upon health. However, many different definitions and aspects of social relationships have been considered in the various studies, making comparison of findings difficult. Furthermore, the effects of social relationships upon different health outcomes have rarely been investigated within the same cohort of older people. In addition, there is a paucity of information concerning the effects of social relationships upon health of older Australians. Aim This thesis aims to investigate the effects of the structural aspects of social relationships – that is, social networks – on health among older Australians. The three specific health outcomes considered in this thesis were disability, residential care use and death. The specific aims of the thesis were to: 1. Develop a measurement model of social networks. 2. Examine the effects of total and specific social networks upon disability. 3. Determine the effects of total and specific social networks upon use of residential care. 4. Investigate the effects of total and specific social networks upon survival. An additional aim was to determine if there were threshold effects of social networks on the three specific health outcomes. Methods The study drew on six waves of data from 1477 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing. A range of statistical techniques, including binary and multinomial logistic regression and survival analysis, were used in the analysis of the data. Propensity score adjustment was used to control for the effects of a broad range of covariates that encompassed sociodemographic, health, psychological and lifestyle characteristics of participants. Results A measurement model with social networks for children, relatives, friends and confidants was validated using confirmatory factor analysis. A variable that measured total social networks was also derived. Better social networks with relatives were protective against developing mobility disability over the nine year follow-up period (odds ratio (OR) 0.77; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.62 – 0.96). A similar result was found for Nagi disability (OR 0.76; 95%CI 0.62 – 0.93). Other specific social networks did not have significant effects on either measure of disability. There were no significant effects of social networks on use of low-level residential care overall. There was a significant effect of social networks with confidants and total social networks, such that participants in the upper category of social networks with confidants appeared to be protected against use of high-level residential care (OR 0.53; 95%CI 0.35 – 0.81) compared to participants in the lower category of confidants social networks. Similarly, participants in the upper category for total social networks appeared to be protected against use of high-level residential care (OR 0.68; 95%CI 0.46 – 0.99). In terms of mortality, better social networks with confidants and with friends appeared to be protective against death during the decade following the Wave 1 interview. The hazard ratio (HR) for participants in the upper category for confidants was 0.74 (95%CI 0.63-0.88) compared to participants in the lower category. For friends networks, the analogous HR was 0.75 (95%CI 0.63-0.89). Better total social networks also appeared to be protective against death over the 10 years of follow-up (HR 0.83; 95%CI 0.70- 0.99). There were few significant effects of social networks with children on the three health outcomes considered. There was little evidence of threshold effects of the specific social networks on the health outcomes. Discussion There are important and differing effects of specific social networks on the three health outcomes of disability, residential care and mortality that were considered in this thesis. Policymakers may need to reconsider whether specific kinds of social relationships, beyond spouses and children, have been given adequate weight in current policy frameworks that address the health of older people. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1321011 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mathematical Sciences, 2008

A study to evaluate the level of hospital preparedness to respond to a bioterrorist attack such as smallpox or anthrax, in the western United States (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) was conducted from May to September 2000. A survey questionnaire was mailed to 300 randomly selected hospitals. A telephone survey followed. The data examined the population served, licensed bed capacity, median income of the population served, the geographic location, and the type of facility served. The findings from the 177 hospitals that answered the survey showed that only 28.8% of them had a specific plan in place in the event of a bioterrorist attack to their communities. More hospitals with large bed capacity serving large populations had plans to respond to the event of a bioterrorist attack than those hospitals with small bed capacity, usually serving small rural communities. Although the comparison of hospitals in each of the six western states showed no statistically significant difference between the number of hospitals with a plan to respond to a biological threat, hospitals in California showed the largest percentage of specific plans addressing biological events, followed by hospitals in the state of Washington. When the type of facility was considered, private hospitals more often developed a plan due to high-density population through their area than non-private hospitals, which indicates that bioterrorism plans may be developed when the funds are available. The most frequent answer given for not developing a plan was lack of adequate funding. Findings indicated a need for additional resources directed to hospitals, especially in rural areas. Because this study was conducted before the tragic terrorism events occurred in the United States in the fall of 2001, it may be considered a benchmark for future readiness evaluations of the response to the impact of those events in the Western states. / Graduation date: 2004

The objectives of this study were to provide a comprehensive review of the risks and benefits of using adulticides to reduce risk of mosquito-borne disease (particularly West Nile Virus) transmission to humans, as well as to decrease annoyance from nuisance mosquitoes. The study was designed with two major research components, including: 1) an extensive literature review to determine the efficacy of adulticide use, the adverse effects of adulticide use, the impact of mosquitoes on community livability, and the risks and benefits of pesticide use in controlling mosquitoes; and 2) interviews with selected vector districts in seven states to determine effective and ineffective practices in mosquito management. This study has demonstrated that an integrated mosquito management program may be beneficial in reducing risk of disease transmission and mosquito annoyance when performed appropriately. The contribution of adulticiding to reducing mosquito-borne disease transmission, however, is unknown. Research is needed to: 1) further assess the ecological and human impacts of adulticides using the dose and exposure rates realistic to an adulticide program; 2) gain an understanding of the human and ecological impacts of aggregate and cumulative exposures to pesticides, especially for special populations, such as children; and 3) determine the contribution of adulticiding in interrupting or reducing the enzootic amplification of arboviruses, as well as the transmission of WNV to humans. / Graduation date: 2004

We investigated the relationship between calcium and protein intake and bone loss over a one-year period in 99 early postmenopausal women (1-36 months) aged 51.3 �� 0.31 years. Bone mineral density (g/cm��) of the left hip (total hip, femoral neck, greater trochanter) and lumbar spine (L1-L4) as well as body composition were assessed using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Dietary intake of calcium and protein was assessed using a 100-item Block Food Frequency Questionnaire. A physical activity questionnaire was also completed by the subjects to estimate energy expenditure. Paired t-tests revealed that there were no significant differences between baseline and month 12 physical characteristics except for percent fat which increased from 31.99 �� 0.60% to 32.44 �� 0.61% (p=.009). At month 12, bone mineral density decreased significantly at the femoral neck (-0.97 �� 0.31%) and total hip (-0.55 �� 0.24%). The average calcium, protein and calcium to protein ratio intake for the group was 1129.88 �� 46.22mg/day, 57.88 �� 1.93g/day and 20.10 �� 0.71m/g, respectively. Partial correlation analyses showed no significant relationships between change in bone mineral density and average intakes for calcium, protein, or the calcium to protein ratio. After adjusting for hormone replacement status, lean body mass and months post menopause, analysis of covariance revealed that there were no significant differences between groups when intakes of calcium, protein and the calcium to protein ratio were separated into "above recommended" and "below recommended" categories (above or below 1000/1500mg/day, 50g/day, 20:1 mg/g/day, respectively). Our results suggest that consuming adequate amounts of calcium and protein does not appear to significantly slow bone loss after 12 months in early postmenopausal women. / Graduation date: 2003