Preterm Birth and Metal Mixture Exposure among Pregnant Women from the Navajo Birth Cohort Study.

"We thank B. Pacheco, Navajo Area Indian Health Service, and P.L. 638 laboratory staff for processing biological samples for analysis, as well as J. Ong and E. O’Donald for biomonitoring data management and quality control. The Navajo Birth Cohort Study (NBCS) team involved in this phase of this ongoing project included (in alphabetical order) Q. Anderson*, L. Barton, D. Begay*, F. Begay*, M.G. Begay*, N. Begay*, P. Begay*, M. Benally*, B. Brown*, C. Burnette, M. Cajero, C. Chavez, L. Crank*, R. Du, D. Duarte, E. Erdei, A. Ettinger, M. Francisco*, L. Kear, C.J. Laselute*, L. Lasiloo, J. Lewis (primary investigator), L. Luo, D. MacKenzie, C. Miller, A. Muneta*, T. Nez*, S. Nozadi, E. O’Donald, J. Ong, B. Pacheco, S. Ramone*, J. Rogers*, Carolyn W. Roman, A. Rondon*, D. Sam*, M. Samuel*, A. Sanders*, C. Shuey, B. Smith, C. Swindal, M. Tapaha*, R. Thompson*, D. Tsinnijinnie*, M. Tsosie*, S. Tsosie*, C. Vining*, J. Watson*, and M. Welch* (*indicates a Navajo team member). We extend additional thanks to the University of New Mexico Community Environmental Health Program, the Navajo Nation Department of Health, and the Southwest Research and Information Center for providing additional support critical for completion of this research. Additional thanks to G. Shakirova, N. Hilliard, R. Hunt, R. Williams, and S. Sullivan Cigan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Environmental Health, and A. Baer, M. McMichael, D. Mercado Saldivia, and D. Stukes of the Battelle Memorial Institute, as well as J.Y.F. Sam of the Oak Ridge Institute of Standards and Education for performing the total elemental testing on these biological samples. We also thank P.G. Olive of the Battelle Memorial Institute for testing urine samples for creatinine. This work was supported by grants or awards from the National Institutes of Health Office of the Director (UG3/UH3OD023344), the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (1P50 ES026102 and 1P42 ES025589), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (P50 MD015706), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (83615701), and the CDC (U01 TS000135-05), all to J.L. as the principal award recipient. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of any funding agencies."