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International 9th Conference on Children’s Health and the Environment Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jhp/article-pdf/8/19/180908/2337252/2156-9614-8_19_180908.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 ConferenceAbstracts proceedings All sessions presented at the 9th International Conference on Children’s Health and Environment 27–29 June 2018 Hoam Faculty House (Seoul National University), Seoul, Republic of Korea Presented by INCHES (International Network on Children’s Health and Safety) JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND POLLUTION environmental health are discussed in the The 9th INCHES (International international forum. Special attention is drawn to Network on Children’s Health, identify opportunities to maximize health benefits Environment and Safety) Conference for children. INCHES conference introduce a variety of themes to save children at risk and to provide insight in the field of science and policy Seoul • 27-29 June, 2018 interface. Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jhp/article-pdf/8/19/180908/2337252/2156-9614-8_19_180908.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 Theme: Saving the Children at Risk, Shaping Summary of overall organization-wide the Future Sustainability achieved results The International Network on Children’s Health, Overview Environment and Safety (INCHES) (http://www. All humans, including children, are influenced inchesnetwork.net) was founded at a workshop by various harmful environmental exposures. meeting before the 1st International Conference Children are not just small adults. Their organs on Children’s Environmental Health, August and metabolism are still developing and very 1998 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where the sensitive to a lot of external stressors. Damaging WHO, European Environmental Agency (EEA), US effects of pollutants are influential even before Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other birth. There are multiple environmental hazards organizations endorsed children’s environmental that threaten children’s health such as radiation, health as a global health issue. The WHO and air pollution, pesticides, and heavy metals. INCHES have been active partners for the last Some consumer products such as toys, home 18 years. items, and gardening items, can be harmful, and safe alternatives are needed. Moreover, indoor The Organisation pollution cannot be disregarded since the safety INCHES is a global network with the following of indoor environment is important for human goals: health. Climate change also affects the health of 1) Increase understanding of and accord on how children. environmental factors influence child health; 2) Create a global dissemination of research and These hazards may not be obvious when information on children’s environmental health; exposure is over a short period of time. However, 3) Educate and facilitate information exchange continuous harmful effects on developing on the best practices and policies in children’s organisms may lead to developmental and environmental health; delayed disorders or disturbed functions later 4) Identify information gaps and stimulate new in life. Therefore, it is our mission to protect research; and children as well as to promote their health and 5) Advocate for children’s environmental health environment for the future. in the intergovernmental arena. Shaping a sustainable future for children is the Some highlights of INCHES activities since its main theme for the 9th International Conference formation in 1998 include: on Children’s Health and the Environment, • There are now about 150 organizational which is organized by INCHES and Korean members, some of which are well Ministry of Environment on June 27-29, 2018 in structured, established and active as Seoul. The latest research findings in children’s S2 www.journalhealthpollution.org 180908 national NGOs interested in an intensified for the latest research findings in children’s international cooperation. environmental health. Specific attention has been • These organizations represent thousands devoted to identifying opportunities to minimize of individual members (most of them health childhood prenatal and postnatal exposure to professionals). environmental contaminants, to provide insight in the field of science and policy interface and • Excellent international contacts in the field Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jhp/article-pdf/8/19/180908/2337252/2156-9614-8_19_180908.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 to develop a greater awareness among health of children, environment and health in the professionals about children’s health. The intergovernmental, governmental and NGO abstracts that are published in the present issue circles. summarize the main research efforts reported at • Some official contacts in the field (relations this meeting. with WHO, EEA, membership in European Health and Environment Alliance Network, The Scientific Program International Society of Doctors for the The scientific program of the 9th INCHES Environment). Conference included more than150 lectures, • Several members in the medical scientific short oral presentations and posters presented community covering most aspects of by scientists from 28 countries covering a environmental health able and ready to give broad spectrum of topics. Abstracts of these foundation to the content of INCHES’ work. presentations appear in this issue of the journal. • Training programs in cooperation with The topics are related to: Environmental hazards several universities in many countries where to children (radiation, air pollution, pesticides, collaborative projects have been conducted. and heavy metals), developmental disorders, health promoting settings and policies, hazards • INCHES initiated several projects funded by and safe alternatives of consumer products (toys, the European Union. home items, and gardening items), information • INCHES organized or co-organized several for health care providers, children’s health and conferences on children’s environmental climate change, indoor air pollution, information health over the last two decades. and technology environment and birth cohort. • INCHES collaborates with similar networks in North America: the Children’s The following is a list of abstracts presented Environmental Health Network, International at the 9th INCHES (International Network of Society for Children’s Health and the Children’s Health, Environment and Safety) Environment and the Canadian Institute of Conference held on June 27-29, 2018 in Seoul, Child Health. Republic of Korea. Many topics will be addressed in the 9th Abstracts are presented in alphabetical order by International Conference on Children’s corresponding author last name. Environment and Health, which was organized by INCHES on 27-29 June 2018 in Seoul. Neither the conference organizers or the The conference is organized by INCHES and Journal of Health and Pollution can be held Korean Ministry of Environment. The meeting responsible for inaccuracies or errors in any has historically provided an international forum included abstracts. S3 180908 www.journalhealthpollution.org 18-0130 Airborne Formaldehyde Exacerbates Atopic Dermatitis in Children Kangmo Ahn1,2 (1) Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea (2) Environmental Health Center for Atopic Diseases, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/jhp/article-pdf/8/19/180908/2337252/2156-9614-8_19_180908.pdf by guest on 23 September 2021 Corresponding author: Kangmo Ahn Contact: Kangmo Ahn, Tel: +82-10-9933-3530, E-mail: [email protected] Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, frequently occurring in infants and young children. A variety of environmental factors are known to exacerbate AD symptoms. They include infections, inhalant and food allergens, psychological stress, temperature, humidity and air pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde. Methods Formaldehyde, one of the main indoor air pollutants, is flammable gas and is originated from many sources such as building materials and consumer products. In a single-blind study by Eberlein-König et al., exposure to formaldehyde on whole body for 4 hours increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in adults with AD, while exposure to room air did not. In our previous study, we stimulated the skin of right forearm with airborne formaldehyde in children with AD, and demonstrated an increase in TEWL and skin pH. These results suggest that exposure to airborne formaldehyde impairs the skin barrier function in AD. Results Recently, we demonstrated in NC/Nga mice with house dust mite-induced AD that epidermal thickness, the severity scores and mast cell degranulation was significantly increased. In addition, the exposure to airborne formaldehyde at 2 ppm caused abnormal processing of profilaggrin to filaggrin, and reduced the expression level of sodium hydrogen exchanger 1 (NHE1), a regulator of pH in the skin. In an experiment with NC/Nga mice, exposure to formaldehyde aggravated AD-like skin inflammation and upregulated mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-13, IL-17A, thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), interferon (IFN) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. Conclusions There is growing evidence that air pollution may act as an important environmental risk factor in aggravation of AD. Further research is needed to examine the role of air pollutants on AD. S4 www.journalhealthpollution.org 180908 18-0053 The Effect of Ambient