Adverse health outcomes in early childhood (birth to 5 years) and ambient air pollutant exposures: a systematic review
AbstractAir pollution is a significant health threat around the world. Young children are a more vulnerable population. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organizations (WHO) guidelines may not adequately protect them. Given children ’s rapid growth, it is important to review studies, consider the weight of evidence, and identify knowledge gaps. Our purpose was to conduct a systematic literature review of epidemiological studies of adverse health outcomes not previously considered; specifically, we reviewed evidence for traffi c-related air pollution (TRAP) CO, NO2, SO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5 in childre...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 17, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Correction to: The environmental justice implications of the Paris low emission zone: a health and economic impact assessment
(Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health)
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 17, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Health risk assessment for particulate matter: application of AirQ+ model in the northern Caribbean region of Colombia
AbstractAir pollution is considered the world ’s most important environmental and public health risk. The annual exposure for particulate matter (PM) in the northern Caribbean region of Colombia between 2011 and 2019 was determined using PM records from 25 monitoring stations located within the area. The impact of exposure to particulate matt er was assessed through the updated Global Burden of Disease health risk functions using the AirQ+ model for mortality attributable to acute lower respiratory disease (in children ≤ 4 years); mortality in adults aged > 18 years old attributable to chronic obstructi...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 15, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Indoor air quality in day-care centres: a global review
AbstractA healthy indoor environment is critical for children due to the severe effect of poor indoor air quality (IAQ) on their overall well-being. Day-care centres (DCCs) are important indoor microenvironments for children apart from their homes. Therefore, monitoring IAQ in this microenvironment is vital because of the vulnerability of the occupants. This review gives a global overview of the predominant indoor chemical pollutant levels monitored in DCCs, compares their concentration with available regulations for IAQ, evaluates the sources and health risk effects of chemical pollutants and proposes strategies for enhan...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 15, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Evaluation on ventilation and traffic pollutant dispersion in asymmetric street canyons with void decks
This study quantitatively evaluat es the effects of void deck height and location on the canyon ventilation and pollutant dispersion in asymmetric street canyons with void decks, and the pollutant exposure risk level for pedestrians and street dwellers. Void decks introduce more fresh air, thereby greatly improving the ventilation p roperties of the asymmetric canyon. The air exchange rate (ACH: 147.9%, 270.9%) and net escape velocity (NEV*: 416.7%, 915.8%) of the step-up and step-down canyons with VDs (3 m high at full scale) at both buildings are higher than those of regular asymmetric canyons. Moreover, the mean dimen...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 13, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
An optimized hybrid deep learning model for PM2.5 and O3 concentration prediction
In this study, a hybrid deep air quality prediction model consisting of a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN), bidirectional long-term and short-term memory (BiLSTM), and a gated recurrent unit (GRU) is proposed to predict air quality pollutant concentrations. This model overcomes the limitations of a single model while taking advantages of its benefits. The BiLSTM neural network has more parameters and poor convergence performance, and the GRU has a poor ability to capture long-distance dependencies between features. Compared with the other three deep learning models, the CNN-BiLSTM-GRU model achieves bette...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 7, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Correction to: The Lagrangian Atmospheric Radionuclide Transport Model (ARTM) – development, description and sensitivity analysis
(Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health)
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 7, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Metals and organic species associated with fine and coarse aerosol particles in an electronic waste recycling plant
Abstract Wastes from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are disposed and dismantled in recycling plants where chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) is different from all the other working places. A first identification of airborne contaminants, associated with size-segregated particles in the fine (aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 µm) and coarse (aerodynamic diameter in the range 2.5–10 µm) fractions, sampled in two sectors of a WEEE facility, was performed. In the two areas of the plant, disassembly and shredding processes produced large amounts of dust, causing mass concentrations of airbor...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - February 6, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Uncertainty assessment of remote sensing- and ground-based methods to estimate wildfire emissions: a case study in Calabria region (Italy)
This study highlights a reliable agreement of time evolution of Burned Areas (R2 = 0.87), but an overestimation of their extent by satellite compared to ground observations (approximately + 18%). Nevertheless, satellite data systematically underestimated Dry Matter and emissions by forest and grassland wildfires (ranging between -66% and -97%). Furthermore, detailed informati on on land cover allowed assessing the vegetation parameters uncertainties on ground-based emission inventory. The Mass Available Fuel values, which are constantly modified by wildfires, and land use changes, and not frequently updated, showed no...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 27, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Prenatal exposure to ambient particle radioactivity and fetal growth in Eastern Massachusetts
AbstractThe radioactive component of particulate matter (PM), particle radioactivity (PR), can continue to emit radiation after inhalation. While PR has been associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, no studies have examined the association with fetal growth. Our retrospective cohort included singleton pregnancies that underwent obstetric ultrasounds at an academic medical center in Massachusetts from 2011 through 2016. PR was represented by particle gross β-activity estimated from an ensemble model and was assigned based on residential zip code. We considered the cumulative (conception until date of fetal growth ...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 27, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Environmental pollution in North-Eastern Italy and its influence on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: time series modelling and analysis using visibility graphs
AbstractThe impact on human health from environmental pollution is receiving increasing attention. In the case of respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the relationship is now well documented. However, few studies have been carried out in areas with low population density and low industrial production, such as the province of Belluno (North-Eastern Italy). The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of exposure to certain pollutants on the temporal dynamics of hospital admissions for COPD in the province of Belluno. Daily air pollution concentration, humidity, precipitations, and tem...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 25, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
BTEX proportions as an indicator of benzene hotspots and dispersion tends in cities where sea and land breezes dominate
Abstract There are certain spatial configurations in cities that generate areas with reduced ventilation where, consequently, air pollution can reach hazardous levels. Although urban forms have already been flagged as a factor affecting air pollution, its role in the accumulation of volatile organic compounds has not been extensively evaluated with field measurements. In order to investigate the effect of urban morphology on air pollution levels, we measured the concentration of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) in 44 different city sites, using Radiello ® diffusive passive samplers during a 1-week camp...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 20, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Probabilistic human health risk assessment and contributions to ozone and SOA formation potentials associated with BTEX and formaldehyde emissions in a tropical city (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)
AbstractThe BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) and formaldehyde (FA) have harmful impacts on human health and are also important precursors of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Thus, the objective of this study was to perform a human health risk assessment considering the lifetime carcinogenic (LCR) and non-carcinogenic (as hazard quotient (HQ)) risks for 3 different age groups associated with exposure to BTEX and FA by inhalation using a probabilistic approach with Monte Carlo simulation, as well as to evaluate the contributions of these compounds to ozone formation potenti...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 19, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Light absorption properties of black carbon and brown carbon emitted from biomass combustion at the typical rural cooking stoves in Bangladesh
AbstractUnderstanding and improving inventories regarding the optical characteristics of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols is critical due to their effect on local and regional climate. The optical properties of aerosol particles collected during the combustion of nine different biomasses at the typical rural cooking stove in Bangladesh were examined in the laboratory setting. The absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) values were found between 1.05 and 5.45, which indicated that the presence of both brown carbon (BrC) and black carbon (BC)–rich aerosols was from biomass-burning emission. On average, BrC contributed ab...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 18, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Association between short-term exposure to PM and cardiovascular mortality in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis
AbstractGiven the limited evidence on the effect of particulate matter (PM) on health in Middle Eastern countries and especially Iran, this study aimed to systematically review all the studies on the relationship between short-term exposure to PM and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality in Iranian cities. We searched three databases of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science in February 2022. The data required for the meta-analysis were extracted from the articles. Four sets of the meta-analysis were performed, including PM10-total CVD mortality, PM10-ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality, PM2.5-total CVD mortality, and PM2.5-IHD mo...
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - January 18, 2023 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
