New Tool for Estimating People’s Total Exposure to Potentially Harmful Chemicals Is Developed

A novel metric that estimates our “burden,” or cumulative exposure, to a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals that we encounter in everyday life with potentially adverse health impacts, has been created by a team of researchers at Mount Sinai.

Prenatal Exposure to Chemicals in Consumer and Industrial Products Is Associated With Rising Liver Disease in Children

The growing incidence of a potentially cancer-causing liver disease in children is associated with prenatal exposure to several endocrine-disrupting chemicals, Mount Sinai researchers report.

In Utero Exposure to Tiny Pollution Particles in the Air Is Linked to Asthma in Preschoolers, Study Shows

Women who were highly exposed to ultra-fine particles in air pollution during their pregnancy were more likely to have children who developed asthma, according to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in May. This is the first time asthma has been linked with prenatal exposure to this type of air pollution, which is named for its tiny size and which is not regulated or routinely monitored in the United States.

MicroRNA Testing of Healthy Children Could Provide a Window on Heart and Kidney Health Later in Life

Molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) that are measurable in urine have been identified by researchers at Mount Sinai as predictors of both heart and kidney health in children without disease. The epidemiological study of Mexican children was published in February in the journal Epigenomics.

New Theory Sheds Light on How the Environment Influences Human Health

Researchers at Mount Sinai have proposed a groundbreaking new way to study the interaction between complex biological systems in the body and the environment. Their theory suggests the existence of “biodynamic interfaces,” an intermediate entity between the two realms, as opposed to conventional approaches that analyze individual aspects of the interaction between the environment and humans in isolation, according to a paper published in BioEssays in October.