Rare earth element enrichments in beach sediments from Santa Rosalia mining region, Mexico: An index-based environmental approach.

Baseline data on concentration, fractionation, pollution level and ecological risk index for seventeen beach sediments from Santa Rosalia mining region of Baja California Sur, Mexico were assessed. Higher concentrations of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) (mean. 341.49 µg/g) indicated that it is higher than most of the mining regions around the world. Normalization pattern showed enrichment of Eu (>4) and calculated geochemical indices revealed that light and middle REEs are moderately polluted with most of the sampling points located closer to the river discharge. Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI) showed that Eu (20.2), Tb (20.88), and Lu (28.57) pose moderate ecological risk to the soil at selected stations (10, 11, 15 and 16) with a risk index value ranging from 245 to 359. Pearson's correlation matrix suggested that all REEs are highly correlated (r2 0.95) with each other having similar geochemical characteristics and indicating identical source due to continuous mining activity.

Psychological Distress and Hypertension: Results from the National Health Interview Survey for 2004-2013.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Psychological conditions are increasingly linked with cardiovascular disorders. We aimed to examine the association between psychological distress and hypertension. METHODS: We used data from the National Health Interview Survey for 2004-2013. Hypertension was self-reported and the 6-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale was used to assess psychological distress (a score ≥13 indicated distress). We used a logistic regression model to test the assumption that hypertension was associated with psychological distress. RESULTS: Among the study participants completing the survey (n = 288,784), 51% were female; the overall mean age (±SEM) was 35.3 ± 0.02 years and the mean body mass index was 27.5 ± 0.01. In the entire sample, the prevalence of psychological distress was 3.2%. The adjusted odds of reporting hypertension in psychologically distressed individuals was 1.53 (95% CI = 1.31-1.80, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that psychological distress is associated with higher odds of hypertension after adjusting for other risk factors for high blood pressure. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to elucidate the mechanisms by which stress increases hypertension risk.