systems biology new approaches to old environmental health problems系统生物学旧环境健康问题的新方法.pdfVIP

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2005, 2(1), 4–9 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 © 2005 by MDPI Systems Biology: New Approaches to Old Environmental Health Problems William A. Toscano1* and Kristen P. Oehlke2 1Div. of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA 2Minnesota Department of Health, Minneapolis MN 55440-9441, USA *Correspondence to Dr. William A. Toscano. E-mail: tosca001@ Received: 15 November 2004 / Accepted: 06 February 2005 / Published: 30 April 2005 Abstract: The environment plays a pivotal role as a human health determinant and presence of hazardous pollutants in the environment is often implicated in human disease. That pollutants cause human diseases however is often controversial because data connecting exposure to environmental hazards and human diseases are not well defined, except for some cancers and syndromes such as asthma. Understanding the complex nature of human- environment interactions and the role they play in determining the state of human health is one of the more compelling problems in public health. We are becoming more aware that the reductionist approach promulgated by current methods has not, and will not yield answers to the broad