Brian S. Schwartz at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene & Public Health, Baltimore, Md., will explore how lead absorption, genetics, social and behavioral factors, social context and blood pressure contribute to the racial and socioeconomic disparity in the decline in cognitive functioning that occurs in elderly people. The investigators propose to test a diverse sample of 900 subjects to see whether lead burden does indeed contribute to a more rapid decline in cognitive function.
Lawrence M. Schell at the State University of New York - Albany, New York, seeks to determine the relationship between exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and thyroid function and psychosocial measures in a population of Mohawk adolescents living along the St. Lawrence River in the Awkwesasne Nation in upstate New York. The results could be of value to populations that consume large amounts of fish, in which PCBs may accumulate.
John W. Frank at the University of California-Berkeley will examine the interaction of psychosocial and physical-ergonomic factors such as job category, job stress and socioeconomic status on the incidence of negative health outcomes in a population of healthcare workers. The outcomes include lost work time, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, overall quality of life, and injury-specific functional status.
Rosalind J. Wright at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., will study the role of physical environmental agents and psychosocial factors such as life stress in the increasing incidence of childhood asthma, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged children in inner city areas. The investigators hypothesize that stress experienced prenatally and during infancy and early childhood has significant potential to modify immune function and, hence, the dev
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Contact: John Peterson
919-541-7860
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
3-Jan-2001