The soil-transmitted nematode parasites, or geohelminths, are - called because they have a direct life cycle, which involves no intermediate hosts or vectors, and are transmitted by faecal contamination of soil, foodstuffs and water supplies. They all inhabit the intestine in their adult stages but most species also have tissue-migratoryjuvenile stages, so the disease manifestations they cause can therefore be both local and systemic. The geohelminths together present an enormous infection burden on humanity. Those which cause the most disease in humans are divided into three main groupings, Ascaris lumbricoides (the large roundworm), Trichuris trichiura (whipworm), and the blood-feeding hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus ), and this book concentrates on these. These intestinal parasites are highly prevalent worldwide, A. lumbricoides is estimated to infect 1471 million (over a quarter ofthe world's population), hookworms 1277 million, and T. trichiura 1049 million. The highly pathogenic Strongyloides species might also be classified as geohelminths, but they are not dealt with here because the understanding of their epidemiology, immunology and genetics has not advanced as rapidly as for the others. This is primarily because of the often covert nature of the infections, with consequent difficulties for analysis. If there is ever a second edition of this book, then there will hopefully be much to say about this infection.

Over the last few decades new data on the distribution, pathogenicity, diagnosis, treatment and control of trematode infections and diseases in man and animals, including zoonotic trematodiasis, have emerged from various geographical regions. These new data are compiled in this book together with existing information to fulfil the present need. Seven major trematode-induced disease groups, namely, schistosomiasis, paragonimiasis, fascioliasis and fasciolopsiasis, dicrocoeliasis and eurytremiasis, clonorchiasis and opisthorchiasis, paramphistomiasis, and diseases due to intestinal trematode infections are dealt with in this book. These diseases still rank as a major cause of morbidity and mortality - both in man and in livestock - mainly in the tropics, and contribute to the socio-economic problems. Many of these diseases are also zoonoses, some major and others potential. The intended readership of this treatise include postgraduate students of medical and veterinary parasitology, research workers as well as medical practitioners, veterinarians, tropical diseases specialists, veterinary public health specialists and teachers concerned with trematode infections and trematodiasis of man and animals.

This book presents the latest research in quantifying complex mixtures in the environment and analyzing their potential impact on human health. Many of the manuscripts reported in these proceedings represent the most up-to-date measurements of population exposures in Central and Eastern Europe. These studies are of value to health and environmental professionals around the world as they develop strategies for assessing exposures, remediating contaminated environments, and improving public health.

The automobile is one of the inventions that has made a decisive contribution to human mobility, and consequently it has become an inseparable part of modern human society. However, it is through this widespread use that its negative impacts on the environment have become so highly visible. Achievements in improving the ecological characteristics of the automobile are highly impressive: a modern car emits only a fraction of the amounts of noise and exhaust pollutants produced by its predecessors 30 years ago. The contributions to this book were written by experts, most of whom have been actively involved in the development of modern automobiles and their combustion engines for more than 30 years. They have participated in all phases of the ecological development of the automobile and summarize their experience and know-how in this book .

More than 30-year operational satellite data have already been used for monitoring land, ocean and atmosphere. These applications have contributed to improve sustainable economy, produce healthy environment and enhance human life. The Advanced Research Workshop sponsored by NATO and organized by the USA's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Ukrainian's Space Agency bring the scientists with the most mature research designed for practical use. The goals were to select those which is used for services today and identify the areas to expand research and services. Scientific and application results of the Workshop presented in this book can be used today in agriculture, forestry, water resources, healthy coastal life and fisheries, climate and land cover change, anthropogenic activities and others. The presented papers provide information on how to use operational satellites and in situ measurements for early detection of large-scale droughts, floods and fires, diagnose crop and pasture annual losses, predict periods with health/unhealthy vegetation based on such climate forcing events as ENSO, monitor air quality and geomagnetic activities, assess land cover trends in responce to global warming etc. The available satellite/ground information and method is currently warn with a lead time sufficient to respond, recover and protect.

Heavy metals can be emitted into environment by both natural and anthropogenic sources, mainly mining and industrial activity. Human exposure occurs through all environmental media. Infants are more susceptible to the adverse effects of exposure. Increasing attention is now being paid to the mental development of children exposed to heavy metals. The purpose of this book is to evaluate the existing knowledge on intellectual impairment in children exposed to heavy metals in their living environment and to identify the research needs in order to obtain a clearer picture of the situation in countries and regions at risk, in which the economy is closely related to metallurgy and heavy metals emission, and to recommend a strategy for human protection. In greater detail the main objectives could be formulated as follows: to review the principal sources of single, and complex mixtures of, heavy metal pollutants in the environment; to identify suitable methodology for chemical analyses in the environment and in humans; to evaluate the existing methods for measuring mental impairment, including their reliability and validity; to recommend a standard testing protocol to be used in future research; to assess the future role of environmental heavy metal pollution in countries and regions at risk and its effects on children's neurological development; to recommend a prevention strategy for protecting children's health and development.

In recent years, increasing attention and resources have been brought to bear on the relationship between the environment and congenital diseases. These diseases were previously thought to be mostly due to genetic causes. Even though the importance of genes as factors in causation is accepted, environmental factors seem to be implicated just as strongly. This book explores some further concepts that have arisen from more recent perceptions of environmental effects and their possible interactions with living systems. Amongst the topics discussed are:

-effects of prenatal exposure to toxic chemicals

-intra-uterine exposure to drugs

-effects of endocrine disrupters

-environmental risk and sex ratio in newborns

-surveillance of environmental impact

-research and policy

Discussion and presentation of old and novel ideas is targeted at developing a more holistic and united perception of the interaction between congenital diseases and the environment.

Transport and mobility are essential parts of the current organization of society. Complex activities are interwoven in such a way that problems occurring from the actual process of constant movement cannot be separated, as they are so tightly interconnected.

This book examines the health effects of transport and mobility by addressing the major issues related to the subject and analyzing their consequences. Thus not only are air pollution, noise, and sedentarism and its related endocrine problems discussed, but topics such as jet-lag, accidents and violent displacement are also addressed. The strength of this book over others in the field lies in its multidisciplinary approach to the issues by a number of experts in different scientific fields who are documenting the health effects of transport and mobility. Moreover, it enhances the understanding of the issues by integrating information from different geographical regions.

Audience: Presented in a comprehensive manner, this book is useful as both grassroots, background information and state-of-the art knowledge to a wide range of readers, including experts and non-experts alike, professionals in both environmental and health sciences, decision-makers, research scientists, journalists, and post-graduate students.

Awareness that many aspects of public health are influenced by climate is growing dramatically. Results presented at the Wengen conference make clear that the science and art of integrating climate knowledge into the control of climate sensitive diseases on a year to year time frame, as well as careful assessments of the potential impacts of climate change on health outcomes over longer time frames, is advancing rapidly. This book provides a snapshot of these emerging themes.

In Risk Analysis of Complex and Uncertain Systems acknowledged risk authority Tony Cox shows all risk practitioners how Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) can be used to improve risk management decisions and policies. It develops and illustrates QRA methods for complex and uncertain biological, engineering, and social systems - systems that have behaviors that are just too complex to be modeled accurately in detail with high confidence - and shows how they can be applied to applications including assessing and managing risks from chemical carcinogens, antibiotic resistance, mad cow disease, terrorist attacks, and accidental or deliberate failures in telecommunications network infrastructure. This book was written for a broad range of practitioners, including decision risk analysts, operations researchers and management scientists, quantitative policy analysts, economists, health and safety risk assessors, engineers, and modelers.

Nanotechnology is rapidly invading many aspects of modern society - from science, research and engineering to industrial and commercial applications and, inevitably, to man and his environment. One of the biggest challenges, therefore, is managing environmental, health and safety risks of nanomaterials. Yet, the information necessary to assess their long term effects is scarce. Systematic research into what potentially makes engineered nanomaterials hazardous, how this translates into risk, and how these can be managed will be vital and involves interdisciplinary collaboration.

The first International Symposium on Nanotechnology and Occupational Health, in 2004, brought together hygienists, manufacturers, toxicologists, materials scientists, regulators and researchers. It pointed the way to what needs to be done. The second International Symposium, 2005, Minneapolis, Minnesota, demonstrated the power and potential where there is a will: with nearly three times as many attendants, and with contributions from academics, industry, policymakers, non-government organizations and even lawyers, this second symposium established that, while there is international concern over how to ensure safe nanotech-workplaces, there is also progress being made in developing the required knowledge.

This volume, a reprint from a special issue of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, mainly draws from work presented at the 2005 symposium, diverse but united by the need for a holistic view of nanotechnology and risk.

Aimed at students taking a course on visual perception, this textbook considers what it means for a man, a monkey and a computer to perceive the world. After an introduction and a discussion of methods, the book deals with how the environment produces a physical effect, how the resulting "image" is processed by the brain or by computer algorithms in order to produce a perception of "something out there." It also discusses color, form, motion, distance, and also the sensing of three dimensionality, before dealing with visual perception and its role in awareness and consciousness. The book concludes with discussions of perceptual development, blindness, and visual disorders. Visual perception is by its very nature an interdisciplinary subject that requires a basic understanding of a range of topics from diverse fields, and this is a very readable guide to all students whether they come from a neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, robotics, or philosophy background.

Environmental Chemistry is a relatively young science. Interest in this subject, however, is growing very rapidly and, although no agreement has been reached as yet about the exact content and limits of this interdisciplinary discipline, there appears to be increasing interest in seeing environmental topics which are based on chemistry embodied in this subject. One of the first objectives of Environ mental Chemistry must be the study of the environment and of natural chemical processes which occur in the environment. A major purpose of this series on Environmental Chemistry, therefore, is to present a reasonably uniform view of various aspects of the chemistry of the environment and chemical reactions occurring in the environment. The industrial activities of man have given a new dimension to Environ mental Chemistry. We have now synthesized and described over five million chemical compounds and chemical industry produces about hundred and fifty million tons of synthetic chemicals annually. We ship billions of tons of oil per year and through mining operations and other geophysical modifications, large quantities of inorganic and organic materials are released from their natural deposits. Cities and metropolitan areas of up to 15 million inhabitants produce large quantities of waste in relatively small and confined areas. Much of the chemical products and waste products of modern society are released into the environment either during production, storage, transport, use or ultimate disposal. These released materials participate in natural cycles and reactions and frequently lead to interference and disturbance of natural systems."

With parasitic diseases increasing worldwide it s vitally important that radiologists in particular stay up to date with developments. In this brilliantly useful volume, the authors cover the imaging findings for parasitic diseases that can affect the human body using modern imaging equipments. Every chapter consists of a short description of causative agent, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and imaging findings with illustrative examples of parasitic diseases."

This book reviews recent trends and developments in the study of the impact that the environment has on human reproduction. It thoroughly examines these issues, using the most modern techniques and methods available, to analyze the manner in which both male and female fertility can be affected and assessed. Coverage examines such diverse factors as toxic environmental contaminants, air pollution, and exposure to medical drugs.

Pathology of Asbestos-Associated Diseases integrates the newest research and advances in its discussion of asbestos-induced diseases. Organized in 13 chapters, the book begins with background information on the mineralogy of asbestos, occupation and environmental exposure to asbestos, and asbestosis. A detailed discussion on mesothelioma includes a historical background, addresses etiologic considerations and epidemiology, pathologic features, differential diagnosis and treatment and prognosis. Guidelines for assessing and identifying asbestos-associated carcinomas of the lung, including histopathology and differential diagnosis, are discussed. The text also addresses the explosion of research in the area of molecular biology and the abundance of information bearing on the mechanisms by which asbestos causes disease. Chapters also cover cytopathology and experimental models of asbestos-related diseases. The diseases associated with asbestos have significant medico-legal implications, and there are two chapters dedicated to addressing the issue. More than 190 illustrations complement the text. An invaluable reference for the pathologist, pulmonologist, radiologist, and occupational medical practitioner interested in asbestos-related disease as well as malpractice attorneys needing an understanding of asbestos, the diseases it induces, prognosis and clinical implications.

This book grew out of an effort to salvage a potentially useful idea for greatly simplifying traditional quantitative risk assessments of the human health consequences of using antibiotics in food animals. In 2001, the United States FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) (FDA-CVM, 2001) published a risk assessment model for potential adverse human health consequences of using a certain class of antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, to treat flocks of chickens with fatal respiratory disease caused by infectious bacteria. CVM's concern was that fluoroquinolones are also used in human medicine, raising the possibility that fluoroquinolone-resistant strains of bacteria selected by use of fluoroquinolones in chickens might infect humans and then prove resistant to treatment with human medicines in the same class of antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin. As a foundation for its risk assessment model, CVM proposed a dramatically simple approach that skipped many of the steps in traditional risk assessment. The basic idea was to assume that human health risks were directly proportional to some suitably defined exposure metric. In symbols: Risk = K x Exposure, where "Exposure" would be defined in terms of a metric such as total production of chicken contaminated with fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria that might cause human illnesses, and "Risk" would describe the expected number of cases per year of human illness due to fluoroquinolone-resistant bacterial infections caused by chicken and treated with fluoroquinolones."

The International Section on Machine and System Safety was founded in 1975 to deal with questions on occupational risks in this ?eld at the inter- tional level. It is a member of the Special Commission on Prevention of the International Social Security Association (ISSA). The Special Commission is a body within ISSA that focuses on work-related risks. It has 11 inter- tional Sections as members. ISSA was founded in 1927 with its headquarters in Geneva. It is working worldwide in over 150 countries with nearly 370 member institutions from all ?elds of social security. TheSection on Machine and System Safety, when it was founded, had its focus on machine safety, particularly on the ma- facturing of safe machinery, on assisting developing countries to be able to buy safe used machinery, and on delivering clear operating instructions. Our members and partners are: * institutions for safety and health at work; * insurance companies dealing with work-related risks; * research institutions; and * various enterprises, e.g. manufacturers, importers and users of machines and systems/installations. We thus bring together the experiences of our members and partners. The role of the operators soon grew in importance, and their capability for ha- ling machinery became an important factor for the safety and success of enterprises. The growing importance and complexity of handling different man-machine-environment situations created new challenges and led to - larging the Section's tasks to machine and system safety.

This is an essential portable handbook on bioterrorism and disaster medicine. Its practical and comprehensive text features chapters pertinent to bioterrorism, infectious disease, microbiology, virology, public health, epidemiology, and disaster medicine. It will serve as a practical guide for situation-specific disasters; recognize what injuries or illnesses to expect; provide proactive guidelines to define specific diseases; and give a guide of appropriate personnel protective equipment during these large-scale emergencies. It is an essential companion to those either interested or currently working in any of the aforementioned fields.

This book is devoted to the problems of oxidation chemical reactions and addresses bimodal reaction sequences. Chemical reactions of oxidation, occurring under certain conditions and in multicomponent systems are complex processes. The process of the oxidation essentially changes in the presence and contact of the solid substances with reactants. The role of solid substances and the appearance of this phenomenon in oxidation reaction are discussed. The reader will understand the "driving forces" of this phenomenon and apply it in practice. Written for chemists, physicists, biologists and engineers working in the domain of oxidation reactions. Key Selling Features: Covers the historical background, modern state of the art, and perspectives in investigations of the coupling between heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions Discusses the feasible pathways of the coupling of heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions in oxidation in man-made and natural chemical systems Addresses the abundance, peculiarities and mechanisms of the bimodal reaction sequences in oxidation with dioxygen in recent decades Discusses the existence of the bimodal reaction sequences in chemical systems investigations in atmospheric chemistry and heterogeneous photocatalysis Presented in a simple concise style, accessible for both specialists and non-specialists

The quality of food is such a live issue at the moment that this title is an essential tool for researchers in a variety of disciplines. It provides a review of the key features of trace elements in soils, plants and the food web on which human beings survive. The authors' intention is to summarize up-to-date interdisciplinary data for the concise presentation of our understanding of trace-element transfer in the chain from soil to man.

At last a second edition of this hugely important text that reflects the progress and experience gained in the last decade and aims at providing background and training material for a new generation of risk assessors. The authors offer an introduction to risk assessment of chemicals as well as basic background information on sources, emissions, distribution and fate processes for the estimation of exposure of plant and animal species in the environment and humans exposed via the environment, consumer products, and at the workplace. The coverage describes the basic principles and methods of risk assessment within their legislative frameworks (EU, USA, Japan and Canada).

From the time questions about the impact of wireless technology on public health were first raised in 1993 through the present, Wireless Technology Research, LLC (WTR) has been the largest independent surveillance and research program trying to identify and solve human health problems associated with wireless phones. In 1995 at the University "La Sapienza" of Rome, WTR sponsored the first comprehensive forum for the discussion of these issues. Papers from the 1995 State of the Science Colloquium were collected andpublished in Volume I ofthis series, Wireless Phones andHealth: Scientific Progress. This second volume assembles papers presented at WTR's Second State of the Science Colloquium in Long Beach, CA, in June 1999; it contains the most comprehensive research on the public health impact of wireless phones to date. The operating words for the proper understanding of these data are science and public health. Science is a tool for making public health decisions, but the framework in which we are operating is truly that of public health. We are looking for problems that have to do with wireless technology. We are trying to decide how this technology impacts on the public for one purpose and one purpose alone, and that purpose is to solve problems that are identified. I would like to challenge you, the reader, to suspend your parochial orientation as you consider these latest findings.

Radionuclides produced by past nuclear weapon test explosions comprise the largest source of anthropogenic radioactivity released into the earth's atmosphere to date. This volume presents data and models about the fate of the released radionuclides and their possible effects on human health. It is divided into the following three parts:
- Source Term Studies;
- Dose Reconstruction;
- Ecological and Health Effects,
and comprises both Western and formerly secret Soviet research studies, illuminates past and current research.

This standard work on contaminated site management covers the whole chain of steps involved in dealing with contaminated sites, from site investigation to remediation. An important focus throughout the book is on Risk Assessment. In addition, the book includes chapters on characterisation of natural and urban soils, bioavailability, natural attenuation, policy and stakeholder viewpoints and Brownfields. Typically, the book includes in-depth theories on soil contamination, along with offering possibilities for practical applications. More than sixty of the world 's top experts from Europe, the USA, Australia and Canada have contributed to this book. The twenty-five chapters in this book offer relevant information for experienced scientists, students, consultants and regulators, as well as for new players in contaminated site management