Health Effects and Geochemistry of Arsenic

总体-项目摘要/摘要：砷（As）对水和含水层沉积物的污染是 与美国主要的公共卫生和环境缓解问题有关。目前，823 1739个美国超级基金网站的名单作为一个主要的污染物;此外，数百万美国居民不适当地 由于家庭井水中天然存在的砷而暴露。该提案包括两项生物医学 以及两个地球科学项目，旨在解决共同旨在减少As的关键问题 美国和孟加拉国暴露人群的暴露和毒性， 这将使美国和其他地方的居民受益。该提案建立在以下优势之上： 我们现有的对孟加拉国35,000名成年人的纵向队列研究， 受污染食物和水中低浓度砷暴露与事件的关系 心血管疾病（CVD）和非恶性肺病以及糖尿病的病例（和亚型） 糖尿病（DM）。此外，我们还将联合收割机和荟萃分析来自孟加拉国、中国台湾、中国（内 蒙古）和美国（AZ，CO，ND，OK，SD），以完善As暴露之间的剂量-反应关系 和CVD。我们建立了我们以前的观察结果，即：a）由于暴露与儿童的缺陷有关， 智力;和B）叶酸，一种B族维生素，促进成人As代谢和消除。我们建议 在孟加拉国8 - 10岁儿童中进行随机临床试验，以检验叶酸+B12 补充剂可以：a）降低血砷;和B）提高儿童认知能力。 我们以前的地球科学研究表明，在原地磁铁矿形成的基础上， 扩散屏障能够长期作为保留，我们建议进行实验室和实地研究， 优化和实施这一新的方法在美国地质调查局的科德角，马萨诸塞州和 超级基金网站在罗利，北卡罗来纳州。在孟加拉国，我们将量化地理和社会政治障碍， 通过分析在我们的主要研究领域积累的大量数据集来减少As暴露，我们将进行 一项随机对照试验，比较了克服其中一些问题的方法。与此同时，我们将继续 研究砷含量低的浅层和深层含水层对人类扰动的潜在脆弱性。 这些低As含水层对于减少我们的研究人群和整个国家的暴露至关重要。 在美国，我们将在与州和地方政府合作的成功基础上， 减少ME、NJ和MN依赖砷污染的家庭威尔斯水井的社区的砷暴露。我们将 我还将继续促进我们的科学家、利益相关者和政府之间的有效沟通 通过五项具体战略。最后，我们将继续培养下一代科学家， 学科和跨学科的技能，使他们能够改善那些谁居住在健康 这些环境可能使它们暴露于土壤、水和食物中的砷和其他污染物。

Overall - Project Summary/Abstract: The contamination of water and aquifer sediments with arsenic (As) is associated with major public health and environmental mitigation issues in the United States. At present, 823 of 1739 U.S. Superfund sites list As as a major contaminant; in addition millions of U.S. residents are unduly exposed due to naturally occurring As in their household well water. This proposal includes two biomedical and two geoscience projects that seek to address critically important issues that collectively aim to reduce As exposure and toxicity in exposed human populations in the U.S. and in Bangladesh, where much information can be learned that will benefit residents of the U.S. and elsewhere. The proposal builds on the strengths of our existing longitudinal cohort study of 35,000 adults in Bangladesh by examining dose-response relationships between As exposure (in the low-mid range) from contaminated food and water with incident cases (and sub-types) of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and non-malignant lung disease, as well as diabetes mellitus (DM). In addition, we will combine and meta-analyze data from Bangladesh, Taiwan, China (Inner Mongolia) and the U.S. (AZ, CO, ND, OK, SD) to refine the dose-response relationships between As exposure and CVD. We build off our previous observations that: a) As exposure is associated with deficits in child intelligence; and b) that folate, a B vitamin, facilitates As metabolism and elimination in adults. We propose to conduct a randomized clinical trial in 8-10 year old children in Bangladesh to test the hypothesis that folate+B12 supplementation can: a) lower blood As; and b) improve cognitive abilities in children. Building on our previous geoscience research which indicates that in situ magnetite formation forms a diffuse barrier capable of long-term As retention, we propose to conduct laboratory and field research to optimize and implement this new approach at a U.S. Geological Survey research site on Cape Cod, MA and a Superfund site in Raleigh, NC. In Bangladesh, we will quantify the geographic and socio-political barriers to reducing As exposure by analyzing the vast data sets accumulated in our main study area and we will conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing ways to overcome some of them. In parallel, we will continue to examine the potential vulnerability to human perturbations of shallow and deep aquifers that are low in As. These low As aquifers are crucial for reducing exposure to our study population and the country at large. In the U.S., we will build on our proven success of partnering with state and local governments to reduce As exposure in communities that rely on As-contaminated household wells in ME, NJ and MN. We will also continue to facilitate effective communication among our SRP scientists, stakeholders and government partners via five specific strategies. Finally, we will continue to train the next generation of scientists with disciplinary and inter-disciplinary skills that will enable them to improve the health of those who reside in environments that might expose them to As and other contaminants in soil, water and food.