Ambient Environmental Factors Research Articles

Sensory Responsive Environments: A Qualitative Study on Perceived Relationships between Outdoor Built Environments and Sensory Sensitivities

This qualitative study explored the perceived relationships between outdoor built environments and sensory sensitivities, focusing on autism, ADHD, and dyslexia. Thirty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who had lived experience with these focal groups. Through thematic analysis of their narratives, the study uncovered patterns highlighting the perceived relationships between designed landscapes and sensory sensitivities in neurodivergent individuals, encompassing both heightened sensitivity (hypersensitivity) and reduced sensitivity (hyposensitivity). Emergent themes included individual and personal factors, sensory affordances, the benefits of outdoor environments, ambient environmental factors, materiality, spatial design, navigating environments, pedestrian-centric transportation, sensorimotor movement, safety, refuge, human settlement types, social environments, and accessibility plus inclusion. Subthematic patterns within these larger thematic categories were also identified. Study participants revealed significant sensory barriers and sensorially supportive elements of designed outdoor environments, along with promising design interventions. The findings unveil the advantages of designing multi-sensory landscapes tailored to atypical sensory needs, emphasizing the importance of fostering inclusion by designing landscapes that reflect the communities they serve. This concept is encapsulated in the development of the Sensory Responsive Environments Framework (SREF), the emergent theoretical framework of this study.

The Environment and Headache: a Narrative Review.

In this narrative review, we summarize the peer-reviewed literature published between 2017 and 2022 that evaluated ambient environmental risk factors for primary headache disorders, which affect more than half of the population globally. Primary headache disorders include migraine, tension-type headache (TTH), and trigeminal and autonomic cephalalgias (TAC). We identified 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria via PubMed or Google Scholar. Seven studies (41%) relied on data from US populations. The remaining studies were conducted in China, Taiwan, Germany, Ghana, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Turkey. Air pollution was the most frequently assessed environmental risk factor. Most studies were cross-sectional and focused on all-cause or migraine headaches; one study included TTH, and none included TAC. Short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was not consistently associated with headache endpoints, but long-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with migraine headache prevalence and severity across multiple studies. Elevated ambient temperature, changes in weather, oil and gas well exposure, and less natural greenspace, but not noise pollution, were also associated with headache. No studies considered water pollution, metal exposure, ultrafine particulate matter, or wildfire smoke exposure. There is a need for ongoing research focused on headache and the environment. Study designs with the greatest explanatory power may include longitudinal studies that capture the episodic nature of headache and case-crossover analysis, which control for time-invariant individual-level confounders by design. There is also a clear need for research that considers comorbid psychiatric illness and socioeconomic position as powerful modifiers of the effect of the environment on headache.

Mechanisms and economics of a self-powered, automated, scalable solar PV surface cleaning system

PV module exposure to ambient environmental factors, such as dust deposits, have negative effects on the module's peak power (Pmax) and overall power conversion efficiency (η). In this study the ideal counter-acting force needed to remove adhered dust particles on PV modules is investigated. An automated self-cleaning system that uses fluid velocities to suspend adhered dust particles on the PV module surface at a reduced induced static charge induction is designed. The automated system produces lift and drag forces of 3.973 N and 4.563 N per square metre, respectively, which are strong enough to loosen stuck-on dust particles on solar PV surfaces. The model's net present value (NPV) of $ 2383.71 with a dynamic payback period of 1.95 years and profitability index of 1.78 indicate that the investment in the self-cleaning model is financially feasible even for small-scale installations.

The influence of ambient environmental factors on breakthrough Cancer pain: insights from remote health home monitoring and a proposed data analytic approach

BackgroundBreakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) is primarily managed at home and can stem from physical exertion and emotional distress triggers. Beyond these triggers, the impact of ambient environment on pain occurrence and intensity has not been investigated. This study explores the impact of environmental factors on the frequency and severity of breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) in the home context from the perspective of patients with advanced cancer and their primary family caregiver.MethodsA health monitoring system was deployed in the homes of patient and family caregiver dyads to collect self-reported pain events and contextual environmental data (light, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, ambient noise.) Correlation analysis examined the relationship between environmental factors with: 1) individually reported pain episodes and 2) overall pain trends in a 24-hour time window. Machine learning models were developed to explore how environmental factors may predict BTCP episodes.ResultsVariability in correlation strength between environmental variables and pain reports among dyads was found. Light and noise show moderate association (r = 0.50–0.70) in 66% of total deployments. The strongest correlation for individual pain events involved barometric pressure (r = 0.90); for pain trends over 24-hours the strongest correlations involved humidity (r = 0.84) and barometric pressure (r = 0.83). Machine learning achieved 70% BTCP prediction accuracy.ConclusionOur study provides insights into the role of ambient environmental factors in BTCP and offers novel opportunities to inform personalized pain management strategies, remotely support patients and their caregivers in self-symptom management. This research provides preliminary evidence of the impact of ambient environmental factors on BTCP in the home setting. We utilized real-world data and correlation analysis to provide an understanding of the relationship between environmental factors and cancer pain which may be helpful to others engaged in similar work.

PatchRLNet: A Framework Combining a Vision Transformer and Reinforcement Learning for The Separation of a PTFE Emulsion and Paraffin

During the production of a PolyTetraFluoroEthylene(PTFE) emulsion, it is crucial to detect the separation between the PTFE emulsion and liquid paraffin in order to purify the PTFE emulsion and facilitate subsequent polymerization. However, the current practice heavily relies on visual inspections conducted by on-site personnel, resulting in not only low efficiency and accuracy, but also posing potential threats to personnel safety. The incorporation of artificial intelligence for the automated detection of paraffin separation holds the promise of significantly improving detection accuracy and mitigating potential risks to personnel. Thus, we propose an automated detection framework named PatchRLNet, which leverages a combination of a vision transformer and reinforcement learning. Reinforcement learning is integrated into the embedding layer of the vision transformer in PatchRLNet, providing attention scores for each patch. This strategic integration compels the model to allocate greater attention to the essential features of the target, effectively filtering out ambient environmental factors and background noise. Building upon this foundation, we introduce a multimodal integration mechanism to further enhance the prediction accuracy of the model. To validate the efficacy of our proposed framework, we conducted performance testing using authentic data from China’s largest PTFE material production base. The results are compelling, demonstrating that the framework achieved an impressive accuracy rate of over 99% on the test set. This underscores its significant practical application value. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first instance of automated detection applied to the separation of the PTFE emulsion and paraffin.

SAT447 Gaps In Care: Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals And Metabolic Disease Management Guidelines

Abstract Disclosure: M. Obeid: None. A. Majid: None. R.M. Sargis: None. In recent decades, global rates of obesity, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have increased substantially, imposing significant morbidity and mortality on patients and severe economic strain on healthcare systems. Discussions of modifiable risk factors responsible for metabolic dysfunction have classically centered upon the role of excess energy intake and insufficient energy expenditure. Consequently, clinical practice guidelines have largely focused upon these factors when addressing disease risk and treatment. In recent years, however, new metabolic risk factors have emerged, including exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because exposure to EDCs is potentially modifiable through individual action and/or public policy, we sought to understand how practice guidelines for metabolic disorders have incorporated this new knowledge into clinical care. To accomplish this, we searched PubMed for the years 2007 to 2022 for European, Asian, and American clinical practice guidelines related to obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty, dyslipidemia, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. Each guideline was then searched by two reviewers for 83 terms related to environmental factors linked to metabolic dysfunction. Environment-related statements were then adjudicated by three reviewers for relevance. Select guidelines for non-metabolic disorders linked to environmental factors were similarly reviewed for comparison, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and obstetrics/gynecology guidelines. In total, 68 guidelines and statements were systematically reviewed. While environmental risk reduction was partially addressed in COPD, asthma, and cardiovascular guidelines, those focused on obesity, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease did not address the contribution of EDCs or other ambient environmental factors. Across all guidelines only air pollution received substantive attention, leaving other EDCs nearly entirely neglected. A clear but inadequately considered component of the social and structural determinants of health, environmental exposures have emerged as modifiable risk factors for multiple metabolic disorders. While further work is needed, future clinical practice guidelines should incorporate clinical interventions, research initiatives, and policy recommendations to address the impact of poor environments on human metabolic health. Presentation: Saturday, June 17, 2023

Detecting the Kauai source beacon with ocean observatories innitiative hydrophones

In March of 2023, a sound source off the coast of Kauai began regularly transmitting a 75 Hz signal into the ocean, six times a day, every fourth day. The regular transmission of this signal allows for the long-term measurements of ocean basin scale temperature changes using the technique of acoustic tomography, as well as further investigations of long-distance acoustic propagation. The Ocean Observatory Initiative (OOI) has, as part of its suite of oceanographic sensors, 11 hydrophones that are continually recording ambient sound. These hydrophones are in various diverse environments in the north-east pacific including bottom mounted in shallow environments, deep environments, on top of seamounts, and moored at 200 m below the ocean surface. In this talk, we present preliminary results of acoustic propagation modeling and data analysis towards receiving the Kauai signal with the OOI hydrophones. The diverse environments of the hydrophones allow us to investigate how different levels of ambient sound and environmental factors, such as proximity to the sound channel affect the ability to detect a positive reception of the Kauai source across the ocean basin. [Work supported by ONR.]

Fine-Grained Earth Observation Data Facilitate the Accurate Measurements of People’s Momentary Exposure to Ambient Environmental Factors

Fine-Grained Earth Observation Data Facilitate the Accurate Measurements of People’s Momentary Exposure to Ambient Environmental Factors

Improving assessments of coastal ecosystems – Adjusting coastal fish indicators to variation in ambient environmental factors

The application of ecological indictors for assessing the environmental status of ecosystems play an important role for effective management. However, natural variability may limit the indicators’ ability to provide relevant information about anthropogenic pressures and guide management action. Coastal fish species are not only a resource for commercial and recreational fisheries but also key ecosystem components in the Baltic Sea, and is therefore used as management objectives within the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. A challenge, however, is that the distribution and abundance of coastal fish populations in Baltic Sea is also influenced by spatial and temporal variation in ambient environmental factors. Here, using 16 years of monitoring data, over a latitudinal range of 56 – 66°N along the Swedish Baltic Sea coast, we evaluated the effect of variability in water temperature and depth, and wave exposure for three indicators of environmental status assessment in the Baltic Sea: Abundance of perch, Abundance of Cyprinids, and Abundance of Piscivores. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) revealed an overall positive linear relationship between water temperature for all indicators, and overall negative linear relationships to depth and wave exposure. When adjusting indicator values using the parameter estimates from the GLMM models, the variability and 95 % confidence interval for all three indicators were reduced. The adjustment, however, did not have a strong impact on the assessment of the ecological state of the indicator. Our results suggest that adjusting coastal fish indicators to variation in local ambient environmental factors will increase their precision, and hence, the confidence in the assessment of environmental status.

Investigation of modal parameters of a 600-m-tall skyscraper based on two-year-long structural health monitoring data and five typhoons measurements

On the basis of two-year-long structural health monitoring data, this paper investigates the structural dynamic properties of a 600-m-high supertall building installed with an active tuned mass damper (ATMD) system. The long-term modal parameters such as natural frequencies and damping ratios of the monitored skyscraper are first determined by the stochastic subspace identification approach, and the results generally agree well with those obtained by the finite element method and forced vibration tests. The statistical analysis of the modal parameters indicates that the natural frequencies follow the normal distribution, while the damping ratios fit well with the Gumbel distribution. In addition, the two-year-long variations of the modal parameters with ambient environmental factors are investigated and it is found that both the ambient temperature and humidity have limited effects on the modal parameters of the skyscraper. Moreover, the impacts of the ATMD system on the modal parameters are explored based on the field measurements during five typhoons. The analyzed results demonstrate that the active damper system had significant effects on the modal parameters of the fundamental sway modes, while it had marginal influences on these of higher modes. This study aims to enhance the understanding of structural dynamic properties of supertall buildings and provide useful information for their wind-resistant design.

988-P: Higher Environmental Pollution Burden Scores Associate with Lower Insulin Sensitivity in Minority Children with Overweight and Obesity

Background: Epidemiological evidence in children suggests that environmental pollution, such as ambient and traffic air pollution exposure, is associated with type 2 diabetes risk; however cumulative exposure to various environmental pollutants has not been well examined. The objective of this study was to determine if cumulative measures of environmental pollutants were associated with insulin sensitivity (SI) , acute insulin response (AIR) and disposition index (DI) in minority children. Methods: Participants (N=135, Mage = 14.4 ± 2.9 years; 59% male; 57% Latinx and 43% Black) had a 13-time point frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test. Glucose and insulin values were used in minimal modelling (MinMod Millennium) for determination of SI, AIR, and DI. Self-reported mailing addresses were geocoded to identify census tract number and associated pollution burden scores (1-10) derived by CalEnviroScreen 3.0 (CES 3.0) . Multivariable linear regression was used to test relationships while considering for age, ethnicity, sex, and total body fat percentage (by DEXA) . Due to positive skewness, SI, AIR and DI were natural log transformed. Results: Higher pollution burden score was associated with lower lnSI, after adjusting for covariates (β= -0.150, 95%CI= -0.280, -0.020, p=0.024) . There was a positive, but non-significant association with pollution burden score and lnAIR (β= 0.114, 95%CI= -0.006, 2.35, p=0.063) . An inverse, but non-significant, association was observed between pollution burden scores and lnDI (β= -0.34, 95%CI= -.140, 0.71, p=0.518) . Conclusion: Using a publicly available environmental pollution risk score, we show that high environmental pollution exposures associated with lower SI, but not AIR or DI. Our findings provide further evidence of the link between ambient environmental factors and type 2 diabetes risk. Disclosure K.Barragan: None. M.Weigensberg: None. C.M.Toledo-corral: None. Funding NIH P60MD00254

Effect of polyethylene microplastics and acid rain on the agricultural soil ecosystem in Southern China

The increasing microplastics (MPs) pollution and continuous acid rain coincide in many areas of the world. However, how MPs interact with acid rain is still unclear. Herein, we conducted a microcosm experiment to decipher the combined effect of polyethylene (PE) MPs (1%, 5%, and 10%) and acid rain (pH 4.0) on the agricultural soil ecosystem of Southern China, in which edaphic property, microbial community, enzymatic activity and CO2 emission were investigated. The results showed that PE MPs significantly decreased soil water retention and nitrate nitrogen content regardless of acid rain. Soil total nitrogen significantly decreased under the co-exposure of 10% PE MPs and acid rain. However, PE MPs did not alter soil microbial biomass, i.e., the content of microbial biomass carbon, total phospholipid fatty acids, with or without acid rain. 10% PE MPs and acid rain treatment significantly increased the activity of catalase and soil CO2 emission. PE MPs addition did not affect the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil CO2 emission regardless of acid rain. These findings suggest that MPs may interact with acid rain to affect soil ecosystems, thus underscoring the necessity to consider the interaction between MPs and ambient environmental factors when exploring the impact of MPs on the soil biodiversity and function.

Effects of Temperature, Relative Humidity, and Carbon Dioxide Concentration on Growth and Glucosinolate Content of Kale Grown in a Plant Factory.

The growth of plants and their glucosinolate content largely depend on the cultivation environment; however, there are limited reports on the optimization of ambient environmental factors for kale grown in plant factories. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of temperature, relative humidity, and the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration on kale growth and glucosinolate content in different growth stages of cultivation in a plant factory. Kale was grown under different temperatures (14, 17, 20, 23, and 26 °C), relative humidities (45, 55, 65, 75, and 85%), and CO2 concentrations (400, 700, 1000, 1300, and 1600 ppm) in a plant factory. Two and four weeks after transplantation, leaf samples were collected to evaluate the physical growth and glucosinolate contents. The statistical significance of the treatment effects was determined by two-way analysis of variance, and Duncan’s multiple range test was used to compare the means. A correlation matrix was constructed to show possible linear trends among the dependent variables. The observed optimal temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 range for growth (20–23 °C, 85%, and 700–1000 ppm) and total glucosinolate content (14–17 °C, 55–75%, and 1300–1600 ppm) were different. Furthermore, the glucosinolate content in kale decreased with the increase of temperature and relative humidity levels, and increased with the increase of CO2 concentration. Most of the physical growth variables showed strong positive correlations with each other but negative correlations with glucosinolate components. The findings of this study could be used by growers to maintain optimum environmental conditions for the better growth and production of glucosinolate-rich kale leaves in protected cultivation facilities.

Parkinson disease risks: correctly identifying environmental factors for a chronic disease.

Parkinson disease (PD) is now the world's fastest growing brain disease; however, the factors underlying this rise are unclear. The past 25 years has witnessed a vast expansion in our understanding of the genetics of PD, but few individuals with PD carry one of the major known genetic risk factors. Environmental factors, including individual (e.g., medications) and ambient (e.g., pollutants), may contribute to this rise. In this issue of the JCI, Sasane et al. examined the risk of PD associated with medications commonly used to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy. In contrast with previous studies, certain α1 receptor antagonists failed to lower PD risk. Rather, the commonly used comparator drug, tamsulosin, increased PD risk. This finding highlights the importance of selecting comparator groups to correctly identify risk factors. Future studies to address the rise of PD with emphasis on both individual as well as the understudied ambient environmental factors are warranted.

Clarifying Water Column Respiration and Sedimentary Oxygen Respiration Under Oxygen Depletion Off the Changjiang Estuary and Adjacent East China Sea

The Changjiang Estuary and its adjacent East China Sea are among the largest coastal hypoxic sites in the world. The oxygen depletion in the near-bottom waters (e.g., meters above the seabed) off the Changjiang Estuary is caused by water column respiration (WCR) and sedimentary oxygen respiration (SOR). It is essential to quantify the contributions of WCR and SOR to total apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) to understand the occurrence of hypoxia off the Changjiang Estuary. In this work, we analyzed the δ18O and O2/Ar values of marine dissolved gas samples collected during a field investigation in July 2018. We observed that the δ18O values of dissolved oxygen in near-bottom waters ranged from 1.039 to 8.457‰ (vs. air), generally higher than those of surface waters (−5.366 to 2.336‰). For all the sub-pycnocline samples, the δ18O values were negatively related to O2 concentrations (r2 = 0.97), indicating apparent fractionation of δ18O during oxygen depletion in the water column. Based on two independent isotope fractionation models that quantified the isotopic distillation of dissolved oxygen concentration and its δ18O, the mean contributions of WCR and SOR to total near-bottom AOU were calculated as 53 and 47%, respectively. Beneath the pycnocline, the WCR contribution to the total AOU varied from 24 to 69%, and the SOR contribution varied from 31 to 76%. The pooled samples beneath both the pycnocline and upper mixed layer indicated that WCR contributions (%) to total AOU increased with increasing AOU (μmol/L), whereas SOR% – AOU had the reverse trend. We propose that the WCR% and SOR% contributions to the total AOU of the sub-pycnocline waters are dynamic, not stationary, with changes in ambient environmental factors. Under hypoxic conditions, we observed that up to 70% of the total AOU was contributed by WCR, indicating that WCR is the major oxygen consumption mechanism under hypoxia; that is, WCR plays a vital role in driving the dissolved oxygen to become hypoxic off the Changjiang Estuary.

Season-stratified effects of meteorological factors on childhood asthma in Shanghai, China

ObjectivesThere has been increasing interest in identifying the adverse effects of ambient environmental factors on asthma exacerbations (AE), but season-stratified effects of meteorological factors on childhood asthma remain unclear. We explored the season-stratified effects of meteorological factors on childhood AE in Shanghai, China. MethodsPoisson generalized linear regression model combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to examine the lagged and nonlinear effects of meteorological factors on childhood AE after adjustment for putative confounders. We also performed a season-stratified analysis to determine whether the season modified the relationship between meteorological factors and childhood AE. ResultsThere were 23,103 emergency department visits (EDVs) for childhood AE, including 15,466 boys and 7637 girls during 2008–2017. Most meteorological factors (e.g., temperature, diurnal temperature range (DTR), relative humidity (RH) and wind speed (WS)) were significantly associated with EDVs for childhood AE, even after adjustment for the confounding effects of air pollutants. In the whole year, extreme cold, moderate heat, higher DTR, lower RH and WS increased the relative risk (RR) for childhood AE. In the cold season, lower RH and wind speed increased the risks of childhood AE (RRlag0-28 for the 5th percentile (p5) of RH: 9.744, 95% CI: 3.567, 26.616; RRlag0-28 for the p5 of wind speed: 10.671, 95% CI: 1.096, 103.879). In the warm season, higher temperature and DTR, lower RH and WS increased the RR for childhood AE (RRlag0-5 for the p95 of temperature: 1.871, 95% CI: 1.246, 2.810; RRlag0-2 for the p95 of DTR: 1.146, 95% CI: 1.010, 1.300; RRlag0-5 for the p5 of RH: 1.931, 95% CI: 1.191, 3.128; RRlag0-2 for the p5 of WS: 1.311, 95% CI: 1.005, 1.709). ConclusionsExtreme meteorological factors appeared to be triggers of EDVs for childhood AE in Shanghai and the effects modified by season. These findings provide evidence for developing season-specific and tailored strategies to prevent and control childhood AE.

Changes of water, sediment, and intestinal bacterial communities in Penaeus japonicus cultivation and their impacts on shrimp physiological health

More and more studies have revealed a close relationship between gut microbial community and human health. However, the mechanism why changes in gut microflora structures affect shrimp health status remains unclear. In this study, we compared the differences of bacterial communities among intestine, water, and sediment collected from mariculture ponds of Penaeus japonicus in the early (30 days) and late (90 days) stage. Simultaneously, the relationship between bacterial communities and water quality indexes as well as shrimp physiological indexes was analyzed, respectively. The results showed that relative abundances of intestinal dominant phyla changed along with rearing times. And according to non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), bacterial communities of shrimp gut had a closer relationship with the water library. By analyzing the relationship between water quality indexes and shrimp pond flora, it was shown that total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen contents probably had the biggest impacts on bacterial communities of water, so did temperature and chemical oxygen demand on microbial communities of sediments and shrimp intestines. By analyzing the relationship between the dominant genus and physiological health indicators of shrimp, it was found that unidentified_Mitochondria, Photobacterium, and Acinetobacter were more closely associated with shrimp physiological health indicators such as total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase activity, antibacterial activity, lysozyme activity, and agglutinating activity. Overall, these results suggested that intestinal microbiota of Penaeus japonicus has certain connections to ambient microflorae, environmental factors, and shrimp health status. These findings may be conducive to disease prevention and control by regulating gut and ambient microflorae in shrimp farming.

Bacterial community colonization on tire microplastics in typical urban water environments and associated impacting factors

Only limited information is available on bacterial communities’ dynamics on tire microplastics in urban water environments. This study exploited 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing to characterize bacterial communities on tire microplastics, using three different tire brands and tire sizes, in two typical urban water environments, including an influent pond of constructed wetland (CW) and its subsequent effluent into a landscape river (LR) during three different periods, namely, 1 month, 3 and 6 months. Results showed that the abundance of bacterial colonization on tire microplastics will increase over time. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes were the dominant bacteria at a phylum level, although they exhibited dynamic changes. At a genus level, the identifiable bacteria found in tire microplastics was generally the common bacteria in wastewater discharge, such as Aquabacterium and Denitratisoma. Additionally, alpha diversity showed no significant differences in bacterial communities at the same locations. While beta diversity showed that the bacterial communities on the tire microplastics in the two locations was different. BugBase revealed that tire microplastics could support pathogenic bacteria in urban water environments. PICRUSt (Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States) indicated that the abundance of microorganisms associated with metabolism and degradation increased with time. Moreover, the ambient environmental factors were the main influencing factors of bacterial communities on tire microplastics. Herein, the contribution rate of nutrient salts (NO2-N, NO3-N, NH4-N, CODcr) was approximately 63%, and that of environmental physical factors of T and pH was 50%. While physicochemical factors, including particle size, contact angle, element content only had a slight impact. Accordingly, tire microplastics, as an emerging environmental pollutant, can act as carries for bacterial colonization and propagation, particularly harmful microorganisms. Therefore, the obtained findings can provide new insight into potential risks of harmful microorganisms that colonize tire microplastics in urban water environments.

Study on the correlation between soil microbial diversity and ambient environmental factors influencing the safflower distribution in Xinjiang.

The effects of soil microbial properties and physiographical factors on safflower distributions in the main safflower plantations of Xinjiang province in China were studied. Thisstudymay help determine the basis of the environmental factors for evaluating the geoherbalism of this medicinal plant. The soil microbial biodiversity in the bulk soil and rhizosphere of safflower at different growth stages and from different sampling plots were characterized by analyzing the environmental DNAs in the samples. With general primers targeting the 16S ribosomal DNA for bacteria and the internal transcribed spacer 1gene for fungi, the studywas performed using marker gene amplification coupled with Illumina HiSeq high-throughput sequencing technologies. Correlation analysis and a distance-based redundancy analysis were performed to determine the dominant factors affecting the distribution of the microorganism in safflower soils. A total of 16517 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained from all the 108 soil samples of nine safflower sampling plots. At the phylum level, 48 phyla have been identified with Actinobacteria (32.9%) and proteobacteria (28.7%) being predominant. For fungi, 8746 OTUs wereobtained, which belonged to seven phyla with Ascomycota overwhelmingly superior in relative abundance. A significant positive correlation was found between soil microbe quantity and ASL (above sea level). Safflower was sensitive to changes in elevation, growing more abundantly in the mountainous regions at heights of around 1,200 m above sea level. It is concluded that the dominant factors affecting the distribution of microorganisms in safflower soils were soil moisture, available N, and ASL.

Indoor Environmental Factors and Acute Respiratory Illness in a Prospective Cohort of Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Ambient environmental factors have been associated with respiratory infections in ecological studies, but few studies have explored the impact of indoor environmental factors in detail. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of indoor environment on the risk of acute respiratory illness (ARI) in a subtropical city. A prospective cohort study was conducted in 285 community-dwelling older adults from December 2016 through May 2019. Individual household indoor environment data and ARI incidence were continuously collected. A time-stratified case-crossover analysis was conducted to estimate the excess risk of ARI associated with per-unit increase of daily mean indoor temperature, relative humidity, and absolute humidity (AH). In total, 168 episodes of ARI were reported with an average risk of 36.8% per year. We observed a negative association of ARI with indoor AH up to 5 lag days in cool seasons, with a 6-day cumulative excess risk estimate of -9.0% (95% confidence interval, -15.9% to -1.5%). Negative associations between household temperature or relative humidity and ARI were less consistent across warm and cool seasons. Lower indoor AH in household was associated with a higher risk of ARI in the community-dwelling older adults in Hong Kong during cold seasons.