Environmental Research

After the initial outbreak in China, the diffusion in Italy of SARS-CoV-2 is exhibiting a clear regional trend with Northern areas being the most affected in terms of both frequency and severity of cases. Among multiple factors possibly involved in such geographical differences, a role has been hypothesized for atmospheric pollution. We provide additional evidence on the possible influence of air quality, particularly in terms of chronicity of exposure on the spread viral infection in Italian re...

BackgroundThe associations of PM2.5 mass and various adverse health outcomes have been widely investigated. However, fewer studies focused on the potential health impacts of PM2.5 components, especially for dementia and Alzheimers diseases (AD). MethodsWe constructed a nationwide population-based open cohort study among Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 or older during 2000-2018. This dataset was linked with the predicted levels of 15 PM2.5 components, including 5 major mass contributors (EC, OC, ...

BackgroundAn epidemic model based only on respiratory droplets and close contact could not fully explain the regional differences in the spread of the recent severe acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19 in Italy, which was fast and dramatic only in Lombardy and Po Valley. On March 16th 2020, we presented a Position Paper proposing a research hypothesis concerning the association between higher mortality rates due to COVID-19 observed in Northern Italy and the peaks of particulate matter concentrat...

The association between air pollution and adverse health outcomes has been extensively studied, and while oxidative stress in likely to be involved, the underlying mechanism(s) remain unclear. Recent studies propose environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) as the missing connection between air pollution and detrimental health impacts. However, the indoor environment is rarely considered in EPFR research. We measured EPFRs in household dust from two locations in Australia and investigated...

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) was used to analyze particulate matter (PM) in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, a densely populated urban area influenced by agricultural and industrial pollution. This study investigates PM concentration and composition during sugarcane harvest and non-harvest periods (2019-2020), accidentally coinciding with the COVID-19 lockdowns. SEM-EDS enabled the classification of PM by size (Dust, PM10, and PM2.5)...

The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly stopped the steady life and enhanced environmental quality. To apprehend the transmission of COVID-19 and the improvement of air quality, we have studied air quality indicators (PM2.5, PM10, AQI, and NO2), CO2 emission, and climate variables (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, and wind velocity) in the extremely polluted and densely populated Southeast Asian megacity Dhaka, Bangladesh from March to June 2020. The Kendall and Spearman correlations were ch...

Despite the substantial evidence on the health effects of short-term exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5), including increasing studies focusing on those from wildland fire smoke, the impacts of long-term wildland fire smoke PM2.5 exposure remain unclear. We investigated the association between long-term exposure to wildland fire smoke PM2.5 and non-accidental mortality and mortality from a wide range of specific causes in all 3,108 counties in the contiguous U.S., 2007-2020. Controlling f...

BackgroundThe novel human coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed more than 240,000 lives worldwide, causing tremendous public health, social, and economic damages. While the risk factors of COVID-19 are still under investigation, environmental factors, such as urban air pollution, may play an important role in increasing population susceptibility to COVID-19 pathogenesis. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional nationwide study using zero-inflated negative binomial models to est...

BackgroundEnvironmental factors, including air pollution, can strongly impact on spatio-temporal patterns of infectious diseases outbreak. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association and correlation between ambient air pollutants and case fatality rate (CFR) of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China. MethodsPublicly accessible data on COVID-19 average CFR were utilized in the data analysis. The ambient daily air pollutants including fine particulate matter (PM2.5), inhalab...

ObjectiveThis systematic review aims to synthesize current knowledge on Propylene Oxide (PO) in human exhaled breath, examining its presence across various biological matrices and exploring methodologies for its analysis. It seeks to elucidate the sources of PO in the human body and understand individual variability in detoxification processes. MethodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted across 12 databases and specialized repositories, spanning over 10,000 publications without langu...

Rapid urbanization in India is contributing to heightened poor air quality. Yet research on the impact of poor air on adverse birth outcomes (ABOs) especially in the public health aspect is less in India. This study investigates the influence of air quality on birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB). Utilizing data from the National Family Health Survey and satellite images, the study employs various statistical analyses and spatial models to elucidate the connection between in-utero exposure...

ObjectiveEpidemiological links between air pollution and adverse health outcomes are strong, but the mechanism(s) remain obscure. A newly recognised combustion by-product, environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), may be the missing link. EPFRs persist for extended periods of time in the environment, however very little is known about the presence of EPFRs inside homes where prolonged exposure is likely to occur. The objective of this study is to explore the presence of EPFRs in househol...

In previous communications, we have hypothesized the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 virus could be present on particulate matter (PM) during the spreading of the infection, consistently with evidence already available for other viruses. Here, we present the first results of the analyses that we have performed on 34 PM10 samples of outdoor/airborne PM10 from an industrial site of Bergamo Province, collected with two different air samplers over a continuous 3-weeks period, from February 21st to March...

There are large differences in premature mortality in the USA by racial/ethnic, education, rurality, and social vulnerability index groups. Using existing concentration-response functions, particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, population estimates at the tract level, and county-level mortality data, we estimated the degree to which these mortality discrepancies can be attributed to differences in exposure and susceptibility to PM2.5. We show that differences in mortality attributable to PM2....

BackgroundThe impact of short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) due to wildland fire smoke on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclear. We investigated the association between short-term exposure to wildfire smoke PM2.5 and Emergency Department (ED) visits for acute CVD in the Western United States from 2007 to 2018. MethodsED visits for primary or secondary diagnoses of atrial fibrillation (AF), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), stroke, and t...

Background and objectiveThe 2014 Hazelwood coalmine fire exposed residents in nearby Morwell to high concentrations of particulate matter <2{middle dot}5 {micro}m (PM2{middle dot}5) for approximately 6 weeks. This analysis aimed to evaluate the long-term impact on respiratory health. MethodsAdults from Morwell and the unexposed town of Sale completed validated respiratory questionnaires and performed spirometry, gas transfer and oscillometry 3{middle dot}5-4 years (Round 1) and 7{middle dot}3-7...

Long-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with changes in levels of several metabolites measured in the peripheral blood. However, most work has been conducted in ethnically homogenous populations. We studied the relationship between the plasma metabolome and long-term exposure to three air pollutants: particulate matter (PM) less than 2.5 {micro}m in aero diameter (PM2.5), PM less than 10 {micro}m in aero diameter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) among 107 participants of the Was...

BackgroundThe 2014 Hazelwood coal mine fire shrouded the town of Morwell in regional Victoria, Australia, in smoke for six weeks. Building on previous analyses, we explored linked survey and healthcare data to investigate longer-term effects of fire-related PM2.5 exposure on ambulance attendances, emergency department presentations, and hospital admissions. MethodsThe Hazelwood Health Study Adult Survey cohort data were combined with modelled air pollution data to estimate individual levels of ...

The co-occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in industrial environments poses complex toxicological risks that standard additive models fail to capture. This study elucidates a novel "metabolic blockade" mechanism wherein PFAS competitively inhibits the renal excretion of VOC metabolites, thereby amplifying neurotoxic burdens. Utilizing a Double Machine Learning (DML) framework on data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ...

Recent studies have linked air pollution to increased risk for behavioral problems during development, albeit with inconsistent findings. Additional longitudinal studies are needed that consider how emotional behaviors may be affected when exposure coincides with the transition to adolescence - a vulnerable time for developing mental health difficulties. This study examines how annual average PM2.5 and NO2 exposure at ages 9-10 years relates to internalizing and externalizing behaviors over a 2-...