Non-carcinogenic effects of inorganic arsenic

This review will focus primarily on ohe effects of the inorganic arsenicals (arsenate and arsenite forms) that are present in drinking water. They are acutely toxic to both humans and animals, an effect that may be related to their bioavailibility. In humans, arsenicals have been reported to cause dermatitis and mucous membrane irritation upon exposure. They have also been reported to cause skin lesions and peripheral neurotoxicity in smelter workers and in patients treated with Fowler's Solution. When humans are exposed to arsenic in drinking water, effects such as hyperkeratosis, electromyographic abnormalities and vascular effects have been reported. In experimental animals, arsenic has been demonstrated to affect the liver and kidneys. In mice, arsenic has also been reported to decrease the animal's resistance to certain viral infections. The arsenite (+3) and arsenate (+5) forms have different modes of action. Arsenite binds to sulphhydryl groups and has been reported to inhibit over 100 different enzymes, while the arsenate can substitute for phosphate in various high energy intermediates, resulting in arsenolysis. In addition, when arsenate is reduced to arsenite in the body, it can also cause toxicity as that species.     

Efficiency of energy delivery systems: II. Estimating energy costs of capital equipment

Procedures are developed and summarized that allow the calculation of the energy required to manufacture and install capital equipment, such as the material needed for a coalfired power plant. Three methods are available, each with certain strengths and weaknessess The first uses both literature value and national manufacturing statistics, the second uses a previously developed technique that disaggregates energy use according to how much each industry buys from all other industries, and the third technique is based on the average national relation between energy use and dollar flow. The most important differences between estimates of energy use by the different techniques relates to the inclusion or exclusion of labor and indirect expenditures rather than to differences in the data bases of the three techniques.     

Rethinking the contribution of indigenous management in small-scale water provision among selected rural communities in Cameroon

This paper describes the pro-active role of rural communities in negotiating livelihood and sustenance through the improvement of some of their local water sources. It discusses the strategies put in place to ensure the availability of water, one of the worlds scarcest natural resources. Despite some external assistance, local communities are increasingly shouldering the responsibility of ensuring the availability of water through self-reliant efforts. These attempts are being undermined by a high incidence of waterborne and water-related diseases, which are impacting on health, and hygiene and other health care delivery systems. The management of potable water is proving to be a herculean task for most communities after the departure of funding partners. To guarantee the proper maintenance of pipe borne water schemes, communities are rethinking their strategies as they grapple with difficulties to put in place viable techniques for sustainability of water supply schemes.Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Effect on fatality risk of changing from secondary to primary seat belt enforcement

BACKGROUND: Most seat belt use laws originally passed in the United States contained language restricting enforcement to drivers already stopped for some other reason. States that have since removed this secondary enforcement restriction have reported increased seat belt use. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the effect of these law changes on driver fatality rates. METHOD: Trends in passenger vehicle driver death rates per billion miles traveled were compared for 10 states that changed from secondary to primary seat belt enforcement and 14 states that remained with secondary enforcement. RESULTS: After accounting for possible economic effects and other general time trends, the change from secondary to primary enforcement was found to reduce annual passenger vehicle driver death rates by an estimated 7% (95% confidence limits 3.0-10.9). CONCLUSION: The majority of U.S. states still have secondary enforcement laws. If these remaining secondary laws were amended, an estimated 696 deaths per year could be prevented.     

Associations between grab sample and integrated radon measurements in dwellings in Maine and Texas

Radon concentrations were measured in several locations in each of approximately 100 dwellings in central Maine and in Houston, TX. Integrated samples were taken during the heating (or cooling) seasons with commercially available passive alpha track devices, while grab samples were taken at the time of integrated sampler deployment. It was found that both indoor and outdoor measurements in both areas were distributed log normally, and that the geometric mean of indoor measurements in Maine was three times higher than that of corresponding measurements in the Houston area. It was also noted that the mean of the indoor grab sample measurements was not significantly different from the mean of the indoor integrated measurements, and that the degree of correlation between the grab samples and a given indoor integrated sample was nearly as good as between integrated samples taken at different living area locations.