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Fall babies have greater asthma risk

NASHVILLE, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Children who are born four months before the height of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma, U.S. researchers suggest.

Study leader Dr. Tina V. Hartert of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and colleagues analyzed the medical records of more than 95,000 children and their mothers in Tennessee to determine whether date of birth in relationship to the peak in winter respiratory viruses posed a higher risk for developing early childhood asthma.

The study, scheduled to be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that while having clinically significant bronchiolitis at any age during infancy was associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma, the risk was greatest for autumn babies.

"Infant age at the winter virus peak following birth independently predicts asthma development, with the highest risk being for infants born approximately four months prior to the peak, which is represented by birth in the fall months in the Northern hemisphere," Hartert said in a statement. "Birth during this time conferred a nearly 30 percent increase in odds of developing asthma."

Hairspray exposure linked to birth defect

LONDON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A British study suggests males born to pregnant women exposed to hairspray at work are twice as likely as others to have the genital birth defect hypospadias.

Hypospadias is a birth defect of the male genitalia in which the urinary opening is displaced to the underside of the penis. It affects about one in 250 boys in Britain and the United States.

Researchers from Imperial College London, University College Cork and the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona said women have a two- to three-fold increased risk of having a son with hypospadias if they are exposed to hairspray in the workplace in their first trimester, Imperial College said in a release.

The study suggests hairspray and hypospadias may be linked because of chemicals in hairspray known as phthalates. The report said previous studies have proposed that phthalates may disrupt the hormonal systems in the body and affect reproductive development. Folic acid supplements appear to reduce the risk of hypospadias by 36 percent, researchers said.

The findings were published Friday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

DNA confirms remains of Copernicus

UPPSALA, Sweden, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- DNA from strands of hair found in a 16th century book confirm human remains uncovered in Poland belong to astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

Jerzy Gassowski, head of the Archeology and Anthropology Institute in Pultusk, Poland, announced the results of the DNA testing Thursday in a news conference.

Copernicus, who first formed the hypothesis that the sun was the center of the universe, died in 1543 at age 70. The remains were found buried inside Frombork Cathedral in northern Poland in 2005.

While researchers have long believed the skeleton was that of Copernicus, they could not be sure until the identity was confirmed using DNA found in a book housed in Sweden's Uppsala University, the Swedish newspaper The Local said.

"There has been a project working on Copernicus for some time," Marie Allen, a professor at Uppsala University, told the newspaper. "We tested pieces of bone and tooth from the site in Poland with the hair found at Uppsala. The pieces were tested twice, once in Sweden and once in Poland to ensure the accuracy of the results. The data collected confirmed that the skeleton found in 2005 is that of Copernicus."

Home pollution dangers unrecognized

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Nov. 21 (UPI) -- People are apt to equate pollution with large-scale contamination or industry, but pollution at home has been a blind spot, a U.S. study said.

Lead author Rebecca Gasior Altman, who conducted the study while at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said many are becoming more aware of lead in some toys, but women do not readily connect typical household products with personal exposure to chemicals and related adverse health effects.

"Pollution at home has been a blind spot for society. The study documents that an important shift occurs in how people understand environmental pollution, its sources and possible solutions as they learn about chemicals from everyday products that are detectable in urine samples and the household dust collecting under the sofa," Altman said in a statement.

The researchers interviewed 25 women, all of whom had participated in an earlier study, which tested for 89 environmental pollutants in 120 households. The study found about 20 target chemicals per home on average.

The new study found that nearly all the study participants chose to learn their personal results, but most women were surprised and puzzled at the number of contaminants detected.

The study, published in the December issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, found people who learned about chemicals in their homes and bodies were not alarmed, but eager to get more information.