effect

Research today does not come cheaply - especially when projects have involved extensive and prolonged data collection and analysis around substances which are difficult to identify, costly to quantify and whose behaviour is poorly understood. This Report on Disinfection By-Products (DBPs) is a good example. Furthermore, it talks about carcinogenicity, it concerns drinking water and it looks at an ever increasing number of familiar and newly identified DBPs.

To quote directly from the Report: Risks projected from epidemiological studies of chlorinated drinking water and risks projected from toxicological studies in animals are quite different, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Results of epidemiological studies identify a high level of risk from bladder cancer and to a lesser extent, colon cancer in humans consuming chlorinated drinking water (as many as 10,000 cases per year). In contrast, among the DBPs that have been selected for toxicological studies, risk has been identified for liver, kidney and colon cancer, but collectively at much lower levels of estimated risk than for epidemiological studies.

The difficulty arises because the epidemiological studies available cannot establish causality, in part because no bladder carcinogen has been found in toxicological studies of chlorination by-products. On the other hand, only a handful of the by-products produced in chlorination have been studied toxicologically. Thus, the basis of this difference is the critical question related to whether or not chlorination of drinking water needs to be substantially modified or discontinued as a method of disinfecting drinking water.

Included in this Report is a new updated review of DBPs, a synopsis of occurrence and available toxicological data with a notable increase in the sophistication of the available data over material previously published. To assist readers, a chapter is provided to facilitate a better understanding of how the decision-making process for establishing safe levels for chemicals has changed in recent years, especially with regard to carcinogens and of the use of epidemiological data. Also included are chapters devoted to both practical considerations for water treatment plant operators and ways to communicate effectively with the water consuming public about drinking water issues. - Reviewer - Australian Water Association

This book is unique because its not just a book that gives a straight chronological view of the history of filmmaking. From Scholastic Voyages of Discovery series, in this book there are a set of stickers that you place throughout the book. Flip books, fold outs, transparencies, this book is a treat for anyone that enjoys films or for the beginner who is looking to learn the craft. Unfortunately this book is currently out of print, but its a fairly recent book so perhaps finding it will not be difficult. Not for the knowledgeable in film art who might be expecting new information. This book is designed for the beginner.

I bought this book because House Beautiful books always have gorgeous photographs, and I was hoping to learn more about lighting techniques. I am very satisfied with the former, but unhappy with the latter. For each picture they give a lighting tip, and describe the picture. However, the tips are very general, you could figure them out for yourself, and are therefore, not very informative. And, if you look at the picture you don't need the description they give. The only reason I give this book four stars is for the pictures. They are beautiful and do show different forms of light in various situations. If you like the magazine, you will like the style of the rooms shown in the book. However, if you want to learn lighting techniques, i.e. how to set up task lighting versus accent lighting, I suggest you find another book.

I find this book an outstanding introduction to issues related to human impact on weather and climate. Authors elected to divide the discussion into three main parts, dictated primarily by the scale of perturbation. The first part deals with some of the most striking examples of controlled human impact on weather: modification of clouds, hail suppression and modification of tropical cyclones. The presentation is clear, with many interesting historical and technical details and is inspirational for people interested in cloud processes. The second part shows that humankind modified already weather and climate at local and regional scale. Such human impacts are: anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and gases, urban induced changes in precipitation and weather, and impacts caused by land use. Authors did a good job is showing that regional scale atmospheric perturbations are by far the most intense and have clear fingerprints in observations as well as in numerical models. Finally, the third part has a broad presentation of human impact on global climate. This is well illustrated with climatic effects of anthropogenic aerosols, possible nuclear winter scenarios, and with the greenhouse theory. I think students as well as a broad spectrum of readers interested in Earth sciences will benefit from reading this book.

this book is the best i've read about him yet. when i bought this book i didn't even look at the price. i loved how it was so detailed in every acpect of his life. if i could recommend a book to a wonderfuly influenced scince student i would recommend this book.

The Jupiter Effect The Planet As Triggers of Devastating Earthquakes by John R. Gribben and Stephen H. Plagemann with a foreward by Isaac Asimov

Forward by Isaac Asimov: Once the province of astrologers and soothsayers, earthquake prediciton has recently become an urgent pursuit of modern science. Earthquakes are the most devastating natural phenomena know to man and for centuries scientists have sought to explain how and why they occur.

Montgomery's book is centered on the notion that we are failing to learn from history when it comes to the Pacific salmon crisis. In England, eastern North America, and now the Pacific Northwest, human actions that inevitably destroy the "king of fish" have been repeated. Overfishing, blocking salmon from their spawning habitat, and causing the deterioration of habitat quality through pollution, land clearing, and simplification of the river are the culprits. Montgomery also tells why hatcheries are not the solution and never have been. He closes with a clear and, to me, indisputable analysis of what we must do to preserve and recover this most amazing of creatures. The book is quite accessible to a layperson; you don't need a scientific background, or even any knowledge of the problems facing Pacific salmon, in order to enjoy and learn from the book.

This is a "press the blue button" book where you will hear a kitten meow. Even my cat was impressed and tried to press the blue button to make the book talk to him...to our amusement. Children who are learning about baby animals will enjoy the silly antics of a little meow as he runs into trouble at every turn. First a pink feather catches his attention: "Look, a pink feather! I'm going to catch it." says the cat. On each page this adorable cat knocks over something. First a bag of groceries, then a flower pot...ooops, that was a basket of clean laundry. Finally he ends up in a whole box of feathers. The sturdy pages will last a long time and it claims to be nontoxic. I assume that means kids can nibble on the pages. For very young children...

A collection of in-depth essays on the interaction of light with living organisms. Ensminger includes enough careful explanation to make the work approachable and rewarding to the non-specialist. Beware of the book length as 34% is made up of appendices, a glossary and notes to pages.

When I first happened upon this book a little over three years ago, I thought I was just going to have a short, interesting read. Little did I know that this book would change how I looked at medicine and bring me back to something I had detached myself from since I started University. I had always been interested in medicine since I was quite young, however for quite a number of reasons I just did not see myself in this role. I also assumed that medicine was not as interdisciplinary as I had hoped, but this book quickly changed my inaccurate assumptions.
Dr. Schwartz boldly introduces his work by making the claim that in the next fifty years, genetic intervention will shift the present focus of medicine (in the United States) from repairing and maintenance therapies to preventing the onset of disease. Dr. Schwartz is hopeful that medical care in 50 years will be more effective, less expensive and will rely less on resource-intensive procedures. While I remain skeptical about such a utopian prospect, I can quickly see why he has such enthusiasm regarding the massive changes which is currently uprooting traditional medicine. Dr. Schwartz is not only a physician; he also is a professor, a former chair of the department of medicine at Tufts University, President of the American Society of Nephrology and Principal advisor to the health Sciences Program at the Rand Corporation. He is both is a practitioner of medicine as well as an administrator and policy maker, who views the onset of this utopia from two unique perspectives; as a Doctor where the practice of medicine will change from merely treating symptoms, as well as maintaining clients' levels of health, to that of an administrator who views the this new paradigm as one which will eliminate the sky rocking cost of care in patients which is only increasing. While I find Dr. Schwartz a little over-enthused about this new revolution in medicine, other parts of his work are really interesting, even if only from a historical as well as political viewpoint.
Dr. Schwartz starts his examination with the birth as well growth of big medicine. Following World War II, scientists and government leaders became increasingly supportive of medical research which could yield dramatic results, such as the Manhattan Project had years earlier. It was out of this examination that they believed that the "American people were ready to harness some of the nation's growing economic muscle in the fight against disease". One of the main supporters of this program was actually a wealthy and successful woman named Mary Lasker, who along with her husband helped establish a coalition of public and private leaders who placed medical research funding on the national political agenda. Mary Lasker was also the individual who was responsible for the transformation of the American Cancer Society from a relatively insignificant support organization into a bulging source of money for medical research.
I emphasize this aspect of the work because the steady streams of medical discoveries which spring from research centers such as NIH as well as the nations medical schools and research laboratories is dependant upon this foundation which was established by a few private interests. The world of medicine as we know it today did not change until federal government began to bankroll the nation's biomedical research effort. In 1950, Congress had provided the NIH with the resources which helped build the new facility in Bethesda, MD.
Medical care quickly shifted from the dark ages into dramatic advances which saw the development of technologies such as the artificial kidney, new imaging technologies, hip and other joint replacement, and cardiac pacemakers which unfortunately were only available for those who can afford them. It was not until 1972 that a new provision was added to the social security act entitling every patient, rich or poor to free dialysis. It also was not until the advent of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 that many of the poor, under serviced as well as elderly gained 'equal' access to care. While Healthcare has 'reformed' somewhat since the mid-sixties, much of what is currently practiced in current medicine evolved from this period after the mid- seventies Revolutions in other areas of science, such as the discovery of DNA contributed greatly to medicine as well as the development of noninvasive technologies such as CT, MRI, as well as ultrasound, which have opened doors that allowed the practice of medicine to evolve from its origins. Transplantations are now possible, as well in vitro fertilization, and the 'gamma' knife which have greatly improved care. Most importantly Dr. Schwartz outlines all the major discoveries in modern medicine from the 1950's onward, and touches upon the motivations of governments as well as managed care plans, and how this constantly maintains the growth of this area, even to the point of bankruptcy.
Although policies are discussed in much more detail in Dr. Schwartz's book which I have been unable to even touch upon here, "Life without Disease" presents the history and evolution of medicine from its humble origins with three unique viewpoints, that of the policy makers, the physicians, and ultimately the patients who have come utilize their developments. One interesting question still remains for me however - if life without disease were truly possible, where would this current system of medicine find itself, and where would this leave physicians, researchers and insurance companies?