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The rapid urbanization of the developing world has important consequences for human health. Although several authorities have called for better research on the relationships between urbanicity and health, most researchers still use a poor measurement of urbanicity, the urban--rural dichotomy. Our goal was to construct a scale of urbanicity using community level data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. We used established scale development methods to validate the new measure and tested its performance against the dichotomy. The new scale illustrated misclassification by the urban-rural dichotomy, and was able to detect differences in urbanicity, both between communities and across time, that were not apparent before. Furthermore, using a continuous measure of urbanicity allowed for better illustrations of the relationships between urbanicity and health. The new scale is a better measure of urbanicity than the traditionally used urban-rural dichotomy. Keywords: Philippines; Urbanicity; Health; Scale development; Methodology

Blood pressure is studied in epidemiological and anthropological research as if each person has a single unique value. However, blood pressure is a fluctuating physiological function with significant intraday variability. This paper discusses and describes the methodology and basic concepts of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring as it has been employed to assess blood pressure variability in the continuously changing microenvironments of Western urban settings. Across urban microenvironments, blood pressures, on average, are highest while people are at work and are lowest during sleep. Blood pressure is further affected by emotional state and activity (which differ between men and women), the season of the year (winter and summer), and occupation. Differences in daily blood pressure variation also occur between ethnic groups (black versus white). The review also considers whether salt intake and other behavioral factors affect daily blood pressure variation. Finally, the review explores the use of ambulatory pressure monitoring for genetic studies. Before we can conclude that a varying physiological function like blood pressure helps individuals to adapt to changing daily environments, blood pressure must be studied under all daily conditions. if future human populations must adapt to the urban environment, then ambulatory blood pressure technology may be one tool that physical anthropologists can use to elucidate the direction of human evolution.

Background: Half the world's population lives in urban areas. It is therefore important to identify characteristics of the built environment that are beneficial to human health. Urban greenness has been associated with improvements in a diverse range of health conditions, including birth outcomes; however, few studies have attempted to distinguish potential effects of greenness from those of other spatially correlated exposures related to the built environment. Objectives: We aimed to investigate associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes and evaluate the influence of spatially correlated built environment factors on these associations. Methods: We examined associations between residential greenness [measured using satellitederived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 100 m of study participants' homes] and birth outcomes in a cohort of 64,705 singleton births (from 1999--2002) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We also evaluated associations after adjusting for spatially correlated built environmental factors that may influence birth outcomes, including exposure to air pollution and noise, neighborhood walkability, and distance to the nearest park. Results: An interquartile increase in greenness (0.1 in residential NDVI) was associated with higher term birth weight (20.6 g; 95% CI: 16.5, 24.7) and decreases in the likelihood of small for gestational age, very preterm (< 30 weeks), and moderately preterm (30--36 weeks) birth. Associations were robust to adjustment for air pollution and noise exposures, neighborhood walkability, and park proximity. Conclusions: Increased residential greenness was associated with beneficial birth outcomes in this population-based cohort. These associations did not change after adjusting for other spatially correlated built environment factors, suggesting that alternative pathways (e.g., psychosocial and psychological mechanisms) may underlie associations between residential greenness and birth outcomes. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1308049, Introduction More than half of the world's population now live in urban environments, and it has been estimated that by 2050 this number will grow to 60% (approximately 6.4 billion [...]

BACKGROUND: Air pollution epidemiologic studies, often conducted in large metropolitan areas because of proximity to regulatory monitors, are limited in their ability to examine potential associations between air pollution exposures and health effects in rural locations. METHODS: Using a time-stratified case-crossover framework, we examined associations between asthma emergency department (ED) visits in North Carolina (2006-2008), collected by a surveillance system, and short-term ozone ([O.sub.3]) exposures using predicted concentrations from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. We estimated associations by county groupings based on four urbanicity classifications (representative of county size and urban proximity) and county health. RESULTS: [O.sub.3] was associated with asthma ED visits in all-year and warm season (April-October) analyses [odds ratio (OR) = 1.019; 95% CI: 0.998, 1.040; OR = 1.020; 95% CI: 0.997, 1.044, respectively, for a 20-ppb increase in lag 0-2 days [O.sub.3]]. The association was strongest in Less Urbanized counties, with no evidence of a positive association in Rural counties. Associations were similar when adjusted for fine particulate matter in copollutant models. Associations were stronger for children (5-17 years of age) compared with other age groups, and for individuals living in counties identified with poorer health status compared with counties that had the highest health rankings, although estimated associations for these subgroups had larger uncertainty. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between short-term [O.sub.3] exposures and asthma ED visits differed by overall county health and urbanicity, with stronger associations in Less Urbanized counties, and no positive association in Rural counties. Results also suggest that children are at increased risk of [O.sub.3]-related respiratory effects. Environ Health Perspect 122: 506-512; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1306940, Introduction Experimental and epidemiologic studies have consistently demonstrated respiratory effects due to short-term ozone ([O.sub.3]) exposures [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2013a]. As part of this evidence, multiple epidemiologic studies [...]