			Home About us Contact

Outdoor Activities (outdoor + activity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	60%

Selected Abstracts

Chronic radiation exposure in the Rivne-Polissia region of Ukraine: Implications for birth defects

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
Kelsey Needham Dancause
Objectives: The health effects of chronic low-dose radiation exposure remains a controversial question. Monitoring after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine suggested that chronic low-dose radiation exposure was not linked to cancer mortality among the general population. However, elevated rates of birth defects in contaminated compared to uncontaminated regions suggest that exposure to radiation in utero might impact development and that chronic radiation exposure might represent an underestimated risk to human health. Methods: We sought to determine current radiation exposure routes in Rivne-Polissia, a region of Ukraine contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. This represents a first step toward comprehensive studies of the effects of chronic radiation exposure on human health. We designed and administered a dietary and activity survey to 344 women in Polissia. We assessed types and sources of food consumed, types of outdoor activities, and alcohol intake. Results: Alcohol intake was low and alone does not account for the observed high rates of birth defects. Wild foods, especially mushrooms and berries, and locally produced foods, especially milk related, were major radiation exposure routes. Additionally, women were exposed to radiation through inhalation while burning grasses and potato vines in fields, and wood for cooking and heating. Conclusions: Twenty four years after the Chernobyl accident, women continue to be chronically exposed to low-dose radiation at levels exceeding current recommendations. This might contribute (especially synergistically with alcohol consumption and micronutrient deficiencies) to higher prevalence of birth defects in areas of Ukraine with high levels of radiation contamination compared to uncontaminated areas. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 22:667,674, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

UV Exposition During Typical Lifestyle Behavior in an Urban Environment

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Alois W. Schmalwieser
In this study the personal exposure to solar UV radiation in an urban environment was measured. Lifestyle in an urban environment is characterized by staying indoors during most of the day. Furthermore, the ambient UV radiation is mitigated by shadowing by buildings. The aim of the study was to find out activities which may contribute to UV-induced health risk in a low exposure environment. Exposure was measured during typical outdoor activities: shopping, walking, sitting in a sidewalk café, cycling, sightseeing and at an open-air pool (solar elevation: 10°,70°). Measurements were taken with an optoelectronic device which was fixed on the chest. Besides the UV Index we used the sun burn time (SBT) for risk assessments. Generalization of our results was made by calculating ratios of personal exposure to the ambient UV radiation. UV exposure was by far the highest when our study subject stayed at the swimming pool. The SBT was around 30 min for melano-compromised skin type. For all other activities, except shopping, the SBT range up to 1 h. With respect to photodamage we found that at high solar elevation (>45°) photoprotective measures should be applied for certain activities even within a city. [source]

Study of UV Radiation Dose Received by the Spanish Population

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007
Gonzalo Gurrea
Excess exposure to UV radiation can affect our health by causing sunburn, skin cancer, etc. It is therefore useful to determine the UV dosage received by people as a way of protecting them from the possible negative effects that this kind of radiation can cause. In this work, the personal outdoor percentage, which shows the time spent in outdoor activities, as well as personal UV doses, has been calculated by means of global UV radiation on a horizontal plane. A database of average daily UVB radiation on the horizontal plane given by the National Institute of Meteorology has been used. In this work we evaluate the standard erythema dose of the Spanish population throughout the year. [source]

017 Evaluation of the ,NASA' garment for children with xeroderma pigmentosum

PHOTODERMATOLOGY, PHOTOIMMUNOLOGY & PHOTOMEDICINE, Issue 2 2002
R.M. Sayre
In the early 1990s NASA scientists developed a UV protective garment resembling a space suit for children afflicted with xeroderma pigmentosum. This garment together with gloves and face shield is able to protect the child allowing outdoor activities. We have examined all components of the garment within the framework of testing procedures developed for UV protective clothes and fabrics. The result is the garment developed more than 10 years ago meets today's standards for UV protective garments. Since photosensitive individuals, in general, may be affected by non-erythemogenic wavelengths, clothing for these patients require strategies not obvious for sunburn protection of normal individuals. These needs will be examined and recommendations made. [source]

Vietnam's Civilizing Process and the Retreat from the Street: A Turtle's Eye View From Ho Chi Minh City

CITY & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2009
ERIK HARMS
Abstract This paper documents the closing down of street life at the Turtle Lake café district in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once a bustling area of outdoor activity where patrons would sit in outdoor cafés and turn their gaze towards the public activity of the street, the area has recently been cleared of street side cafés. Instead of looking outward toward the street, patrons now sit indoors in high-end cafes with darkened windows, their gazes directed inwards in a fashion that turns their backs on the street. The new direction of their gaze is linked to both state and popular language about the desire to build a new form of "urban civilization." In this paper, I show how the language of civilization, coupled with a new spatialized dialectic of seeing, shows a convergence between the disciplinary goals of the late socialist Vietnamese state and the interests of an emerging propertied class in urban Ho Chi Minh City. The logic of "civilization" thus unifies agendas heretofore seen as mutually opposed. [source]