Increased Air Pollution Research Articles

Effects of Air Pollution on Disease Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life of Systemic Lupus Erythematous Patients: An Iranian Observational Longitudinal Study.

Air pollution is one of the environmental factors that influences the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases, followed by the development and spread of inflammation and increased oxidative damage. Only a few studies have been conducted on the impact of air pollution on disease activity in patients with lupus, which mostly have focused on PM2.5 particles. We longitudinally studied 50 patients with lupus bimonthly in a 6-month period in Mashhad, one of the polluted cities of Iran. Disease activity and quality of life were examined considering SLEDAI2K, SLEQOL, and VAS criteria. The outdoor air pollutant was measured by monitoring the average concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), some particles less than 10 and 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM <10, PM <2.5) and the level of temperature and humidity which were taken from the Meteorological Organization of Mashhad. Confounding factors such as medications were investigated by univariate and multivariate statistical analysis, specifically by GEE method. The possible relation among various factors to SLEDAI, SLEQOL and VAS by two different univariate and multivariate analyses were studied. Our analysis indicated that spring season, decreased temperature, increased air pollutants including (PM2.5, and NO2) and increased humidity increase SLEDAI2K. Furthermore, the percent of polluted days directly correlates with Anti-dsDNA and NO2 significantly increases SLEQOL. Based on our findings, air pollution (particularly NO2 and PM2.5) has affected at least some aspects of the disease and the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of lupus patients. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.

A New Macroscopic Traffic Flow Characterization Incorporating Traffic Emissions

Densely populated cities have led to increased traffic congestion and, consequently, increased greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Thus, it is important to develop traffic models to overcome congestion and increased air pollution. In the literature, traffic model characterizations rely predominantly on traffic dynamics and ignore traffic emissions. In this study, a new macroscopic model targeting traffic emissions and drivers’ presumption based on traffic emissions is proposed to overcome traffic congestion and pollution. The traffic emissions characterization was based on the CO2 data employed in the second traffic system. For the performance analysis, the results of the proposed and Zhang’s traffic models were compared. The results were obtained using the ROE technique to predict traffic evolution. The scheme was implemented in MATLAB. Compared with Zhang’s traffic model, the suggested traffic model based on emissions reflected traffic behavior more realistically.

Advanced models for respiratory disease and drug studies.

The global burden of respiratory diseases is enormous, with many millions of people suffering and dying prematurely every year. The global COVID-19 pandemic witnessed recently, along with increased air pollution and wildfire events, increases the urgency of identifying the most effective therapeutic measures to combat these diseases even further. Despite increasing expenditure and extensive collaborative efforts to identify and develop the most effective and safe treatments, the failure rates of drugs evaluated in human clinical trials are high. To reverse these trends and minimize the cost of drug development, ineffective drug candidates must be eliminated as early as possible by employing new, efficient, and accurate preclinical screening approaches. Animal models have been the mainstay of pulmonary research as they recapitulate the complex physiological processes, Multiorgan interplay, disease phenotypes of disease, and the pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs. Recently, the use of advanced culture technologies such as organoids and lung-on-a-chip models has gained increasing attention because of their potential to reproduce human diseased states and physiology, with clinically relevant responses to drugs and toxins. This review provides an overview of different animal models for studying respiratory diseases and evaluating drugs. We also highlight recent progress in cell culture technologies to advance integrated models and discuss current challenges and present future perspectives.

Nudging travellers to societally favourable routes: The impact of visual communication and emotional responses on decision making

As urbanisation increases, in many places, the transport system is suffering from problems that may affect large parts of the urban population, such as traffic congestion or increased air pollution. In both cases, a better distribution of traffic flows could contribute to establishing a more sustainable transport system, and to improve the situation from a societal point of view. In this paper, we use cartographic symbolisation for communicating favourability of route options for achieving a societal benefit. Since map symbols can evoke different emotional responses in the viewer, we investigate to which extent map symbols evoke positive and negative emotions and whether these influence route choice decision making. We created different cartographic visualisations and designed a user study that investigates the effectiveness and suitability of these different visualisation variants for influencing route choice based on two scenarios: traffic and air quality. Fourteen route maps were prepared using different map symbols to symbolise societally favourable and non-favourable route options. The results of this study show that map symbols can be used effectively for influencing route choice towards choosing the favourable route for the two tested scenarios. While visualisations that modify only lines were more effective in the traffic scenario, area symbol modifications were more effective for the air quality scenario. The symbolisation evoked a wide range of emotions in participants. While non-favourable routes mainly evoke negative emotions (particularly fear), favourable routes mainly evoked positive emotions (particularly contentment) or no emotions. The results further demonstrate that for some of the visualisation variants, emotions felt in response to the map visualisations contributed significantly to changing the route choice decisions in favour of the societally favourable route option. The findings of this research demonstrate the relationship between route choice behaviour and emotional responses elicited by map symbols.

Pregnancy intentions of young women in Canada in the era of climate change: a qualitative auto-photography study

BackgroundClimate change poses a global health risk through consequences such as sea level rise, wildfires, and increased air pollution. Children born today and in the future may be disproportionately affected by climate change. As a result, many young adults are rethinking having children. The impacts of the climate crisis on the decision-making of parents is an understudied area of research. This study aims to be one of the first to explore how climate change impacts the pregnancy intentions of young women in Canada and their perspectives towards childbearing.MethodsWe conducted auto-photography and qualitative interviews. Participants were recruited using social media, and were aged 18–25, nulliparous, assigned female at birth, and were either current or previous residents of British Columbia, Canada. We asked participants to take photos that responded to the question, “Show us how climate change impacts your decision to have a family,” then complete a virtual, one-on-one interview during which photo-elicitation was employed to guide conversation about participants’ decision-making related to childbearing and climate change. We subjected all transcribed interviews to qualitative thematic analysis.ResultsWe conducted in-depth interviews with seven participants who discussed a total of 33 photographs. Analysis of participants’ interviews and photographs identified themes of eco-anxiety, hesitancy towards having children, sense of loss, and a desire for systemic change. Participants experienced anxiety, grief, and loss when faced with thoughts of change associated with their environments. Climate change impacted all but two participants’ childbearing decision making, which was found to be interrelated with social-environmental factors, such as cost of living.ConclusionWe aimed to identify the ways in which climate change may impact youth decisions to have a family. Further research on this topic is needed to understand the prevalence of this phenomenon, and to build such considerations into climate action policy and family planning tools used among young people.

How does air pollution affect household energy expenditure: A micro-empirical study based on avoidance behavior

China is one of the world's most highly-pollutant countries, and over the last few years has experienced severe and persistent haze pollution. Exploring the effects of air pollution on household energy expenditure will provide a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the economic effects of environmental pollution. It is an important question but remains unanswered because of an estimation endogeneity. Household non-clean energy consumption would increase air pollution. A major challenge in estimates is how to accurately and cleanly identify the unwatched effect of air pollution given the endogeneity. Using the global satellite monitoring data and unique micro-household survey data, we try to construct an instrumental variable to identify the net effect of air pollution on Chinese household energy expenditure. We find that the increase in air pollution has a significantly positive effect on household energy expenditure. The results remain robust after a series of pivotal checks. Our findings highlight that stay-home-avoidance behaviors as a potential mechanism behind the energy-associated effects of air pollution on household energy expenditure. The well-educated, high-income, and urban households in southern China are more likely to engage in stay-home-avoidance behaviors. These findings can provide some useful policy enlightenments for the government in terms of environmental regulation and promotion of household clean energy.

Potential value of air: Effect of air pollution on retail store performance and customer behavior

AbstractExternal environmental factors can deeply shape customer behavior and contribute to uncertainty in retail operations. In this study, we use field data from a national fashion sporting goods retail chain to empirically study the effect on retail store performance from one important but underappreciated external environmental factor, air pollution; and investigate the potential mechanism of this air pollution's impact. We find that air pollution has an inverted U‐shaped effect on store traffic, which is attributed to a shift of customers between offline shopping and other activities with different air pollution exposure levels. The variation in store traffic caused by air pollution further leads to a U‐shaped relationship between air pollution and the retail conversion rate. In addition, air pollution can affect customer composition as well as the perceived utility of products, reflected by more men's wear and less sportswear sold in hazy weather. In view of the globally increasing air pollution problem, especially in the context of climate change, our findings highlight the importance and value of taking air pollution into account in operations and marketing management.

An Overview on Fungal Diseases in Angiospermic Plants

The main objective of this review study is to examine various fungal diseases on angiospermic plants which lower plant productivity and worsen the financial situation of flowers. Angiospermic flora are the most useful and marketable plants, employed for the majority of purposes, contributing to a better environment and spreading positive energy, but these flowering plants are presently damaged by unfavourable environmental conditions. The occurrence of fungal infection suppresses the beauty, growth, production and commercial values of flowers and also affect the living beings by increasing air pollution due to the infected plants. Fungicides, chemicals and molecular techniques are already in used to enhances the yield of crops and growth of plants, but still more research needs to be conducted to find the way for increasing the yield and preventing the plants more.

Can urban spatial structure adjustment mitigate air pollution effect of economic agglomeration? New evidence from the Yangtze River Delta region, China

With rapid urbanization, the economic agglomeration within cities is associated with severe air pollution. Urban spatial structure adjustment has been recognized as an effective strategy for improving air quality. However, the research on how to mitigate air pollution originating from economic agglomeration through urban spatial structure adjustment is unclear. Therefore, based on panel data for municipal cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region during 2008-2018, this study empirically tests the transmission mechanisms among economic agglomeration, urban spatial structure, and air pollution. We use the combination of the social network analysis (SNA) and two-stage least squares (2SLS) methods to verify the effect of economic agglomeration on air pollution. Economic agglomeration's indirect effect on air pollution through urban spatial structure is further tested using mediating effect model and cross-section comparisons. When exploiting an exogenous order rank of node city importance for instrument variable (IV), our finding shows that increasing economic agglomeration by 10% increases air pollution by 12%. In addition, in market forces, monocentricity brings about economic agglomeration's pollution effect, while polycentricity leads to agglomeration's environmental benefits improvement. However, a government-led exogenous polycentricity greatly mitigates economic agglomeration's pollution effect, while in cities with monocentricity, agglomeration slightly increases air pollution. Compared with market power, our paper stresses government intervention in promoting urban spatial structure in terms of polycentric development could be more helpful for improving agglomeration's environmental benefits in China's YRD region.

Proinflammatory polarization of monocytes by particulate air pollutants is mediated by induction of trained immunity in pediatric asthma.

The impact of exposure to air pollutants, such as fine particulate matter (PM), on the immune system and its consequences on pediatric asthma, are not well understood. We investigated whether ambient levels of fine PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 microns (PM2.5 ) are associated with alterations in circulating monocytes in children with or without asthma. Monocyte phenotyping was performed by cytometry time-of-flight (CyTOF). Cytokines were measured using cytometric bead array and Luminex assay. ChIP-Seq was utilized to address histone modifications in monocytes. Increased exposure to ambient PM2.5 was linked to specific monocyte subtypes, particularly in children with asthma. Mechanistically, we hypothesized that innate trained immunity is evoked by a primary exposure to fine PM and accounts for an enhanced inflammatory response after secondary stimulation in vitro. We determined that the trained immunity was induced in circulating monocytes by fine particulate pollutants, and it was characterized by the upregulation of proinflammatory mediators, such as TNF, IL-6, and IL-8, upon stimulation with house dust mite or lipopolysaccharide. This phenotype was epigenetically controlled by enhanced H3K27ac marks in circulating monocytes. The specific alterations of monocytes after ambient pollution exposure suggest a possible prognostic immune signature for pediatric asthma, and pollution-induced trained immunity may provide a potential therapeutic target for asthmatic children living in areas with increased air pollution.

Activation of epithelial and inflammatory pathways in adolescent elite athletes exposed to intense exercise and air pollution

RationaleParticipation in high-intensity exercise in early life might act as stressor to the airway barrier.ObjectivesTo investigate the effect of intense exercise and associated exposure to air pollution on the airway...

Promoting favorable routes through visual communication: a design study for creating ‘Social’ route maps for the case of air pollution

ABSTRACT This paper presents an approach for promoting routes that reduce exposure of road users to areas that should be temporarily avoided due to traffic related or environmental reasons. At the same time, routes that are already heavily polluted should be avoided, in order to reduce the pollution and distribute it more equally in the environment. In this research, we present a design study for creating route maps that intend to visually communicate favorability of route options to the traveler, in the case of increased air pollution. Our proposed method recommends routes that are calculated as the shortest path while minimizing the current concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) along the route. Based on a dynamic distribution of traffic flows, our system recommends routes that are not necessarily the shortest or fastest (i.e. individually efficient), but rather the options that avoid areas with particularly high air pollution, while prioritizing other, not so polluted areas; and thus are beneficial to individual and public health (socially favorable). We propose seven different visualization variants for representing line and areal objects in a route map that visualize route options based on pollution levels. A user survey showed that while for most of the variants the symbology has been rated as intuitive, visual attractiveness and suitability for communicating pollution information seems to be limited to less complex visualizations that primarily use variations in color. The focus of the paper is to develop design options to optimally communicate favorable routes by designing different cartographic visualization techniques.

The importance of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria to increase air pollution tolerance index (APTI) in the plants of green belt to control dust hazards.

Dust causes adverse effects on the physiological and biochemical characteristics of plants and limits their use in the development of the green belt. Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) is an important tool to screen out plants, based on their tolerance or sensitivity level to different air pollutants. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two plant growth-promoting bacterial strains (Zhihengliuella halotolerans SB and Bacillus pumilus HR) and their combination as a biological solution on APTI of three desert plant species of Seidlitzia rosmarinus, Haloxylon aphyllum and Nitraria schoberi under dust stress (0 and 1.5 g m-2 30 days-1). Dust caused a significant decrease of 21% and 19%, respectively, in the total chlorophyll of N. schoberi and S. rosmarinus, an 8% decrease in leaf relative water content, a 7% decrease in the APTI of N. schoberi, and a decrease of 26 and 17% in protein content of H. aphyllum and N. schoberi, respectively. However, Z. halotolerans SB increased the amount of total chlorophyll in H. aphyllum and S. rosmarinus by 236% and 21%, respectively, and the amount of ascorbic acid by 75% and 67% in H. aphyllum and N. schoberi, respectively. B. pumilus HR also increased the leaf relative water content in H. aphyllum and N. schoberi by 10% and 15%, respectively. The inoculation with B. pumilus HR, Z. halotolerans SB and the combination of these two isolates decreased the activity of peroxidase by 70%, 51%, and 36%, respectively, in N. schoberi, and 62%, 89%, and 25% in S. rosmarinus, respectively. These bacterial strains also increased the concentration of protein in all three desert plants. Under dust stress, H. aphyllum had a higher APTI than the other two species. Z. halotolerans SB, which had been isolated from S. rosmarinus, was more effective than B. pumilus HR in alleviating the effects of dust stress on this plant. Therefore, it was concluded that plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria can be effective at improving the mechanisms of plant tolerance to air pollution in the green belt.

Estimasi Emisi Kendaraan Ringan pada Ruas Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan Kota Makassar

Population growth is increasingly demanding economic growth accompanied by the need for transportation as facilities of movement person and goods. The increase of transport it is not balanced with the right policies will cause various problems appertain the increasing number of motorized vehicles that has an impact on the environment, namely increasing air pollution. Exhaust emissions from motorized vehicles originating from fossil fuels make impact the environment. Various studies on transportation models have been developed by many researchers, various transportation models can also estimate emissions from motorized vehicles included MOVES and IVEM. The aim of this study is to analyze whether there are differences between the results of the emission estimation model in the MOVES and IVEM programs. The method used is using a driving cycle, where the vehicle is tracking on the highway using GPS second per second. Tracking is carried out on the Perintis Kemerdekaan road with a starting point of KM 7.75 to the end point of KM 13.12 as well as for the opposite direction. Tracking done at peak hours of 7-10 am, 11-14 noon, and 11-14 afternoon. The results showed that the concentration of Nox emissions was higher in the MOVES model data analysis than the IVEM model, as the CO emission concentration in the morning and evening was higher in the MOVES model and the CO emission concentration during the day was higher in the IVEM model. Statistically with the t test, the result is 0.13 where the result of the CO concentration for the MOVES and IVEM models are the same and for the t test the NOx concentration is 0.008 that the results of the analysis of the IVEM and MOVES models for NOx are not the same.

Long term spatiotemporal trends and health risk assessment of remotely sensed PM2.5 concentrations in Nigeria

PM2.5 is an important indicator reflecting air quality variations. Currently, environmental pollution related issues have become more severe that significantly threaten human health. The current study is an attempt to analyze the spatio-dynamic characteristics of PM2.5 in Nigeria based on the directional distribution and trend clustering analysis from 2001 to 2019. The results indicated that PM2.5 concentration increased in most of the Nigerian states, particularly in mid-northern and southern states. The lowest PM2.5 concentration in Nigeria is even beyond the interim target-1 (35 μg/m3) of the WHO. During the study period, the average PM2.5 concentration increased at a growth rate of 0.2 μg/m3/yr from 69 μg/m3 to 81 μg/m3. The growth rate varied from region to region. Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Yobe, and Zamfara experienced the fastest growth rate of 0.9 μg/m3/yr with 77.9 μg/m3 mean concentration. The median center of the national average PM2.5 moved toward the north indicating the highest PM2.5 concentration in northern states. The Saharan desert dust is the dominant source of PM2.5 in northern areas. Moreover, agricultural practices and deforestation activities along with low rainfall increase desertification and air pollution in these regions. Health risks increased in most of the mid-northern and southern states. The extent of ultra-high health risk (UHR) areas corresponding to the 8×104−7.3×106 μg⋅person/m3 increased from 1.5% to 2.8%. Mainly Kano, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Osun, Ekiti, southeastern Kwara, Kogi, Enugu, Anambra, Northeastern Imo, Abia, River, Delta, northeastern Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Abuja, Northern Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, central Sokoto, northeastern Zamfara, central Borno, central Adamawa, and northwestern Plateau are under UHR areas.

The Impact of Social Determinants and Air Pollution on Healthcare Disparities in Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps.

Multiple factors affect healthcare disparities in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with and without nasal polyps. These factors include access to care, economic burdens to treatment, and differences in air pollution and air quality. In this paper, we will discuss how socioeconomic status, race, and air pollution burden influence healthcare disparities in the diagnosis and treatment outcomes of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). A literature search was performed via PubMed for articles related to CRSwNP, healthcare disparities, race, socioeconomic status, and air pollution in September 2022. Original studies from 2016 to 2022, landmark articles, and systematic reviews were included. We summarized these articles to cohesively discuss factors contributing to healthcare disparities in CRSwNP. Literary search produced 35 articles. Individual factors such as socioeconomic status, race, and air pollution influence CRSwNP severity and treatment outcomes. Correlations were noted with socioeconomic status, race, and air pollution exposure and CRS severity and post-surgical outcomes. Air pollution exposure was also associated with histopathologic changes in CRSwNP. Lack of access to care was a notable contributor to healthcare disparities in CRS. Healthcare disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of CRSwNP differentially affect racial minorities and individuals of lower socioeconomic status. Increased air pollution exposure in areas of lower socioeconomic status is a compounding factor. Clinician advocacy for greater healthcare access and reductions in environmental exposures for patients, among other societal changes, may help improve disparities.

Has land resource misallocation increased air pollution in Chinese cities?

As a fundamental production factor of economic development, rational land allocation is relevant to economic development and a significant factor affecting urban air pollution. This study analyzes 284 cities in China to investigate the impact of land resource misallocation on air pollution and the underlying mechanisms. The relevant findings are fourfold. First, land resource misallocation increases urban air pollution. Second, land resource misallocation inhibits technological innovation, government technology investment, and foreign direct investment, increasing local air pollution. Third, the impact of land resource misallocation on air pollution is affected by heterogeneous conditions, including geographic region, city type, and city size. Finally, based on the air pollution caused by land resource misallocation, local governments should optimize the land supply structure and improve technological innovation and environmental investment.

Visualizing and assessing the 15-minute city facility configuration of city region A study on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration

The desire for a more liveable, highly interconnected and people-oriented city is driving a surge of interest in the ’15-minute city’, an intuitive, adaptable and popular vision of urban living that already takes place around the world. Elements of the 15-minute city have helped to manage urban life effectively globally by offering a way to build on positive changes to boost local economies and deliver lasting health, well-being, equity and climate benefits. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold and health concerns remain paramount, the strategy are already supporting cities towards recovery. As an important engine of global urbanization, the future development of China’s cities is threatened by increasing air pollution, traffic congestion, social inequalities and other pressures. In May 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China released The Standard of Spatial Planning Guidance Community Life Unity to offer technique support for future 15-minute city construction. Taking a 15-minute walking distance as the space scale, the Guidance configures various functions and facilities required for basic living of residents, ad provides a construction reference for healthy, energetic and low-carbon lifestyle, which satisfies urban residents’ yearning for a better life. Furthermore, the Guidance offers a detailed spatial assessment framework of 15-minute city facilities deployment including a variety of parameters. Based on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, this paper evaluates the integrated performance of 13 cities in the Agglomeration by using the framework of the Guidance for visualizing and exploring facilities’ POIs on POI-type semantic space. The compare of 15-minute community construction between different cities is rendered as a “mode map” by POI counts on various types, providing a vivid information delivery method for urban planners and POI-related urban studies and applications.

Applying green urbanism during spatial urban transformation: a schematic plan, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Applying green urbanism in Nasr City during ongoing spatial urban transformation in Cairo, particularly in east Cairo, is the main concern of this paper. This paper also investigates spatial urban development that has been launched in Cairo since the 1970s and its expected impact on contemporary districts, particularly Nasr City. It is hypothesized that Nasr City is facing different stages of deterioration, as a result of ongoing spatial urban development toward new satellites and communities, mainly, to east Cairo. Cairo, in fact, had experienced various spatial expansions and developments since its founding. Consequently, Cairo’s old districts, including Old Cairo, Shubra, Khedavy Cairo, Azhar, Abasia, Helwan, etc., suffered diverse degrees of deterioration, especially environmental impact. Within this context, Nasr City is also expected to experience the same evolution and, in turn, deterioration that old districts in Cairo had been experiencing. Deterioration might include increase air pollution rates, high population and building densities, informal housing, low building quality due to lake of maintenance, land-use interface, etc. Therefore, the investigation includes the Greater Cairo urban development policy, particularly, new satellites and communities adjacent to Nasr City, such as New Cairo, Al-Shrouq and Bader cities, and the New Administrative Capital. The development policy analysis will be explored along with the spatial urban transformation to define the urban and environmental issues that may arise in Nasr City. Finally, the assessment of the potentials and constraints of Nasr City development will be conducted to outline A schematic plan for achieving green urbanism in Nasr City.

Global Impacts of Climate Policy and Trade Agreements on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

To limit increasing air pollution and fossil- energy production, several environmental and climate agreements have been established globally. In addition, trade agreements could also serve to achieve climate-mitigation goals, through a trade policy with environmental regulation. By removing tariffs and harmonizing standards on environmentally friendly products and eliminating distortionary subsidies on fossil-energy production, climate change can be mitigated. The objective of the research is to explore the effects of economic growth, international trade agreements and climate conventions on greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2019, at the global level. As an econometric method, an air-pollution function is estimated by panel-regression models. The results confirm that global climate agreements have a significant, but only small, mitigating impact on global greenhouse-gas emissions. The results supported the inverted-U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve. In contrast, the environmental impacts of free-trade agreements had ambiguous results on emissions, as the members of the World Trade Organization contributed to the decrease in air pollution, while countries that signed the regional trade agreements were unable to limit emissions.