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Frontiers in Public Health 2024With global climate change, the health impacts of cold spells and air pollution caused by PM are increasingly aggravated, especially in high-altitude areas, which are...
BACKGROUND
With global climate change, the health impacts of cold spells and air pollution caused by PM are increasingly aggravated, especially in high-altitude areas, which are particularly sensitive. Exploring their interactions is crucial for public health.
METHODS
We collected time-series data on meteorology, air pollution, and various causes of death in Xining. This study employed a time-stratified case-crossover design and conditional logistic regression models to explore the association between cold spells, PM exposure, and various causes of death, and to assess their interaction. We quantitatively analyzed the interaction using the relative excess odds due to interaction (REOI), attributable proportion due to interaction (AP), and synergy index (S). Moreover, we conducted stratified analyses by average altitude, sex, age, and educational level to identify potential vulnerable groups.
RESULTS
We found significant associations between cold spells, PM, and various causes of death, with noticeable effects on respiratory disease mortality and COPD mortality. We identified significant synergistic effects (REOI>0, AP > 0, S > 1) between cold spells and PM on various causes of death, which generally weakened with a stricter definition of cold spells and longer duration. It was estimated that up to 9.56% of non-accidental deaths could be attributed to concurrent exposure to cold spells and high-level PM. High-altitude areas, males, the older adults, and individuals with lower educational levels were more sensitive. The interaction mainly varied among age groups, indicating significant impacts and a synergistic action that increased mortality risk.
CONCLUSION
Our study found that in high-altitude areas, exposure to cold spells and PM significantly increased the mortality risk from specific diseases among the older adults, males, and those with lower educational levels, and there was an interaction between cold spells and PM. The results underscore the importance of reducing these exposures to protect public health.
Topics: Humans; Particulate Matter; Male; Altitude; Female; Cross-Over Studies; Middle Aged; Aged; Cold Temperature; Adult; Air Pollution; China; Environmental Exposure; Cause of Death; Air Pollutants; Young Adult; Adolescent; Mortality; Aged, 80 and over
PubMed: 38813422
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1414945 -
Heliyon May 2024One of the primary contributors to automobile exhaust pollution is the significant deviation between the actual and theoretical air-fuel ratios during transient...
One of the primary contributors to automobile exhaust pollution is the significant deviation between the actual and theoretical air-fuel ratios during transient conditions, leading to a decrease in the conversion efficiency of three-way catalytic converters. Therefore, it becomes imperative to enhance fuel economy, reduce pollutant emissions, and improve the accuracy of transient control over air-fuel ratio (AFR) in order to mitigate automobile exhaust pollution. In this study, we propose a Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control (LADRC) Hydrogen Doping Compensation Controller (HDC) to achieve precise control over the acceleration transient AFR of gasoline engines. By analyzing the dynamic effects of oil film and its impact on AFR, we establish a dynamic effect model for oil film and utilize hydrogen's exceptional auxiliary combustion characteristics as compensation for fuel loss. Comparative experimental results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can rapidly regulate the AFR close to its ideal value under three different transient conditions while exhibiting superior anti-interference capability and effectively enhancing fuel economy.
PubMed: 38813181
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30865 -
Heliyon May 2024Poor air quality in workplaces constitutes a great concern on human health as a good fraction of our time is spent at work. In Greece, very unique workplaces are the...
Poor air quality in workplaces constitutes a great concern on human health as a good fraction of our time is spent at work. In Greece, very unique workplaces are the street corner kiosks, which are freestanding boxes placed on sidewalks next to city streets and vehicular traffic, where one can find many consumer goods. As such, its employees are exposed to both outdoor and indoor air pollutants. Very few studies have examined the occupational exposure of kiosk workers to air pollutants, and thus the magnitude of this unique indoor and outdoor exposure remains unknown. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the levels of indoor and outdoor particulate matter (PM and PM), ultrafine particles (UFPs) and black carbon (BC) in different kiosks located in Athens, Greece, in urban-traffic and urban-background environments. Continuous measurements of the above-mentioned pollutants were carried out on a 24-h basis over 7 consecutive days at three kiosks from September to October 2019. Indoor PM concentrations in the urban kiosk ranged from 19.0 to 44.0 μg/m, PM values ranged from 14.0 to 33.0 μg/m, whereas BC concentrations ranged from 1.2 to 7.0 μg/m and UFPs from almost 9.5 to 47.0 × 10 pt/cm. Outdoor PM and PM measurements ranged from 29.0 to 59.0 μg/m and from 22.0 to 39.0 μg/m, respectively. BC outdoor concentrations ranged from 1.1 to 2.2 μg/m. The mean hazard quotient (HQ) for PM (4.9) and PM (4.7) among all participants was >1. The health risk of exposure to PM and PM was found to be at moderate hazard levels, although in some cases we observed HQ values higher than 10 due to high PM and PM concentrations in the kiosks. Overall our study indicates that people working at kiosks can be exposed to very high concentrations on particulate pollution depending on a number of factors including the traffic that strongly depends on location and the time of the day.
PubMed: 38813153
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31340 -
Frontiers in Big Data 2024plant is a complex system that is sensible to environmental factors such as water supply, pH, temperature, light, radiation, impurities, and nutrient availability. It...
plant is a complex system that is sensible to environmental factors such as water supply, pH, temperature, light, radiation, impurities, and nutrient availability. It can be used as a biomonitor for environmental changes; however, the bioassays are time-consuming and have a strong human interference factor that might change the result depending on who is performing the analysis. We have developed computer vision models to study color variations from clone 4430 plant stamen hair cells, which can be stressed due to air pollution and soil contamination. The study introduces a novel dataset, Trad-204, comprising single-cell images from clone 4430, captured during the stamen-hair mutation bioassay (Trad-SHM). The dataset contain images from two experiments, one focusing on air pollution by particulate matter and another based on soil contaminated by diesel oil. Both experiments were carried out in Curitiba, Brazil, between 2020 and 2023. The images represent single cells with different shapes, sizes, and colors, reflecting the plant's responses to environmental stressors. An automatic classification task was developed to distinguishing between blue and pink cells, and the study explores both a baseline model and three artificial neural network (ANN) architectures, namely, TinyVGG, VGG-16, and ResNet34. revealed sensibility to both air particulate matter concentration and diesel oil in soil. The results indicate that Residual Network architecture outperforms the other models in terms of accuracy on both training and testing sets. The dataset and findings contribute to the understanding of plant cell responses to environmental stress and provide valuable resources for further research in automated image analysis of plant cells. Discussion highlights the impact of turgor pressure on cell shape and the potential implications for plant physiology. The comparison between ANN architectures aligns with previous research, emphasizing the superior performance of ResNet models in image classification tasks. Artificial intelligence identification of pink cells improves the counting accuracy, thus avoiding human errors due to different color perceptions, fatigue, or inattention, in addition to facilitating and speeding up the analysis process. Overall, the study offers insights into plant cell dynamics and provides a foundation for future investigations like cells morphology change. This research corroborates that biomonitoring should be considered as an important tool for political actions, being a relevant issue in risk assessment and the development of new public policies relating to the environment.
PubMed: 38812700
DOI: 10.3389/fdata.2024.1384240 -
Scientific Reports May 2024Eutrophication is a main threat to continental aquatic ecosystems. Prevention and amelioration actions have been taken under the assumption of a stable climate, which...
Eutrophication is a main threat to continental aquatic ecosystems. Prevention and amelioration actions have been taken under the assumption of a stable climate, which needs reconsideration. Here, we show that reduced precipitation can bring a lake ecosystem to a more productive regime even with a decline in nutrient external load. By analyzing time series of several decades in the largest lake of the Iberian Peninsula, we found autocorrelated changes in the variance of state variables (i.e., chlorophyll and oxygen) indicative of a transient situation towards a new ecosystem regime. Indeed, exceptional planktonic diatom blooms have occurred during the last few years, and the sediment record shows a shift in phytoplankton composition and an increase in nutrient retention. Reduced precipitation almost doubled the water residence time in the lake, enhancing the relevance of internal processes. This study demonstrates that ecological quality targets for aquatic ecosystems must be tailored to the changing climatic conditions for appropriate stewardship.
Topics: Lakes; Ecosystem; Phytoplankton; Nutrients; Eutrophication; Rain; Chlorophyll; Climate Change; Diatoms; Spain
PubMed: 38811751
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62810-9 -
Occupational and Environmental Medicine May 2024Increasing epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests that particle exposure is an environmental risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, only a...
OBJECTIVES
Increasing epidemiological and experimental evidence suggests that particle exposure is an environmental risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, only a few case-control studies have investigated this association in an occupational setting. Hence, our objective was to investigate associations between particle exposure and CKD in a large cohort of Swedish construction workers.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective cohort study in the Swedish Construction Workers' Cohort, recruited 1971-1993 (n=286 089). A job-exposure matrix was used to identify workers exposed to nine different particulate exposures, which were combined into three main categories (inorganic dust and fumes, wood dust and fibres). Incident CKD and start of renal replacement therapy (RRT) were obtained from validated national registries until 2021 and analysed using adjusted Cox proportional hazards models.
RESULTS
Exposure to inorganic dust and fumes was associated with an increased risk of CKD and RRT during working age (adjusted HR for CKD at age <65 years 1.15, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.26). The elevated risk did not persist after retirement age. Exposure to cement dust, concrete dust and diesel exhaust was associated with CKD. Elevated HRs were also found for quartz dust and welding fumes.
CONCLUSIONS
Workers exposed to inorganic particles seem to be at elevated risk of CKD and RRT. Our results are in line with previous evidence of renal effects of ambient air pollution and warrant further efforts to reduce occupational and ambient particle exposure.
PubMed: 38811167
DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2023-109371 -
Redox Biology May 2024Intracellular redox homeostasis in the airway epithelium is closely regulated through adaptive signaling and metabolic pathways. However, inhalational exposure to...
Intracellular redox homeostasis in the airway epithelium is closely regulated through adaptive signaling and metabolic pathways. However, inhalational exposure to xenobiotic stressors such as secondary organic aerosols (SOA) can alter intracellular redox homeostasis. Isoprene hydroxy hydroperoxide (ISOPOOH), a ubiquitous volatile organic compound derived from the atmospheric photooxidation of biogenic isoprene, is a major contributor to SOA. We have previously demonstrated that exposure of human airway epithelial cells (HAEC) to ISOPOOH induces oxidative stress through multiple mechanisms including lipid peroxidation, glutathione oxidation, and alterations of glycolytic metabolism. Using dimedone-based reagents and copper catalyzed azo-alkynyl cycloaddition to tag intracellular protein thiol oxidation, we demonstrate that exposure of HAEC to micromolar levels of ISOPOOH induces reversible oxidation of cysteinyl thiols in multiple intracellular proteins, including GAPDH, that was accompanied by a dose-dependent loss of GAPDH enzymatic activity. These results demonstrate that ISOPOOH induces an oxidative modification of intracellular proteins that results in loss of GAPDH activity, which ultimately impacts the dynamic regulation of the intracellular redox homeostatic landscape in HAEC.
PubMed: 38810423
DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103199 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jun 2024Improving urban air quality is a pressing challenge in the Global South. A key source of air pollution is the informal burning of household waste. Reducing informal...
Improving urban air quality is a pressing challenge in the Global South. A key source of air pollution is the informal burning of household waste. Reducing informal burning requires governments to develop formal systems for waste disposal and for residents to adopt new disposal behaviors. Using a randomized experiment, we show that social competitions between pairs of neighborhoods in Nansana municipality, Uganda, galvanized leadership and inspired collective action to reduce informal burning. All 44 neighborhoods in the study received a public health campaign, while 22 treated neighborhoods were paired and competed to reduce waste burning over an 8-mo period. Treated neighborhoods showed a 24 percent reduction (95% CI: 11 to 35 percent) in waste burning relative to control neighborhoods at the end of the competition period. There is no evidence that treated neighborhoods experienced a rebound in waste burning several months after the competitions. Community leaders reported greater effort in coordinating residents and more pride in their neighborhood when assigned to the competition treatment. These results suggest that creating focal points for leadership and collective action can be an effective and low-cost strategy to address policy problems that require broad participation and costly behavior change.
Topics: Uganda; Humans; Air Pollution; Refuse Disposal; Leadership
PubMed: 38805276
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2319712121 -
JAMA Network Open May 2024Growing evidence associates air pollution exposure with various psychiatric disorders. However, the importance of early-life (eg, prenatal) air pollution exposure to...
IMPORTANCE
Growing evidence associates air pollution exposure with various psychiatric disorders. However, the importance of early-life (eg, prenatal) air pollution exposure to mental health during youth is poorly understood, and few longitudinal studies have investigated the association of noise pollution with youth mental health.
OBJECTIVES
To examine the longitudinal associations of air and noise pollution exposure in pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence with psychotic experiences, depression, and anxiety in youths from ages 13 to 24 years.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
This cohort study used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort founded in 1991 through 1993 in Southwest England, United Kingdom. The cohort includes over 14 000 infants with due dates between April 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992, who were subsequently followed up into adulthood. Data were analyzed October 29, 2021, to March 11, 2024.
EXPOSURES
A novel linkage (completed in 2020) was performed to link high-resolution (100 m2) estimates of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter under 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and noise pollution to home addresses from pregnancy to 12 years of age.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Psychotic experiences, depression, and anxiety were measured at ages 13, 18, and 24 years. Logistic regression models controlled for key individual-, family-, and area-level confounders.
RESULTS
This cohort study included 9065 participants who had any mental health data, of whom (with sample size varying by parameter) 51.4% (4657 of 9051) were female, 19.5% (1544 of 7910) reported psychotic experiences, 11.4% (947 of 8344) reported depression, and 9.7% (811 of 8398) reported anxiety. Mean (SD) age at follow-up was 24.5 (0.8) years. After covariate adjustment, IQR increases (0.72 μg/m3) in PM2.5 levels during pregnancy (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.11 [95% CI, 1.04-1.19]; P = .002) and during childhood (AOR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.00-1.10]; P = .04) were associated with elevated odds for psychotic experiences. Pregnancy PM2.5 exposure was also associated with depression (AOR, 1.10 [95% CI, 1.02-1.18]; P = .01). Higher noise pollution exposure in childhood (AOR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.03-1.38]; P = .02) and adolescence (AOR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.02-1.45]; P = .03) was associated with elevated odds for anxiety.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
In this longitudinal cohort study, early-life air and noise pollution exposure were prospectively associated with 3 common mental health problems from adolescence to young adulthood. There was a degree of specificity in terms of pollutant-timing-outcome associations. Interventions to reduce air and noise pollution exposure (eg, clean air zones) could potentially improve population mental health. Replication using quasi-experimental designs is now needed to shed further light on the underlying causes of these associations.
Topics: Humans; Female; Adolescent; Male; Young Adult; Air Pollution; Longitudinal Studies; Environmental Exposure; Pregnancy; Noise; Anxiety; Depression; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Mental Health; Particulate Matter; England; Child; Cohort Studies
PubMed: 38805229
DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.12169 -
Heliyon May 2024Coking was regarded as a predominant source of air pollution. Despite the adoption of more environmentally friendly equipment, whether the coking enterprises in the...
Coking was regarded as a predominant source of air pollution. Despite the adoption of more environmentally friendly equipment, whether the coking enterprises in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region are still causing regional air pollution is worthy of study, which is essential for the control of coking enterprises in this area. To improve the prediction accuracy of large-scale air pollutant distribution, the air particle distribution in the BTH region was simulated via land use regression (LUR) combined with Bayesian maximum entropy (BME); then, the distribution was correlated with the exhaust gas emitted from coking enterprises. Results indicated that the R of the "LUR + BME" method reached 0.95, higher than 0.82 using LUR alone. The air quality distribution presented a pattern of "low in the northern mountains and high in the southern plains", similar to the distribution of coking enterprises in BTH region. A significant correlation was found between exhaust emissions from coking enterprises and air quality in the BTH region, confirming the contribution of coking emissions to air pollution in this region, and the necessity to continue the strict control on coking enterprises in BTH area.
PubMed: 38803864
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31359