Exposure to particulate matter before and after birth linked to heightened allergic rhinitis risk

 

BMJ :Exposure to the air pollutant fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) before and after birth is linked to a heightened risk of childhood allergic rhinitis, finds research published online in the journal Thorax.

Air pollution may lead to dementia in older women

USC: Tiny particles that pollute the air — the kind that come mainly from power plants and automobiles — may greatly increase the chance of dementia, including dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease, according to USC-led research. Scientists and engineers found that older women who live in places with fine particulate matter exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard are 81 percent more at risk for global cognitive decline and 92 percent more likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s.

Globe-trotting pollutants raise some cancer risks four times higher than predicted

Oregon: A new way of looking at how pollutants ride through the atmosphere has quadrupled the estimate of global lung cancer risk from a pollutant caused by combustion, to a level that is now double the allowable limit recommended by the World Health Organization. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition online, showed that tiny floating particles can grow semi-solid around pollutants, allowing them to last longer and travel much farther than what previous global climate models predicted.

Scientists Are Building a Drone to Protect Us from Air Pollution

Columbia: Since joining the Mailman School this fall as Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Markus Hilpert has already accomplished an impressive feat: his research team is the first approved by Columbia University to use unmanned aerial vehicles—a.k.a. drones—for scientific research in the U.S. Hilpert and collaborators at the School of Engineering and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are building a research platform for a remote control multirotor helicopter to measure pollution spewing from industrial smokestacks. Once complete, the drone will ascend up to 400 feet to collect samples for later analysis in a lab.

Air pollution linked to blood vessel damage in healthy young adults

American Heart Association:

• Air pollution was associated with blood vessel damage among young, healthy adults.
• These findings suggest that healthcare providers should consider the cardiovascular effects of air pollution on all patients, not just those who are ill or elderly.

Fine particulate matter air pollution may be associated with blood vessel damage and inflammation among young, healthy adults, according to new research in Circulation Research, an American Heart Association journal.

Air Pollution and Exercise: What are the Health Effects?

Georgia: Roby Greenwald, an environmental health researcher at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, studies how air pollution affects health. One of his current projects is focused on physically active people in metro Atlanta, including high school football players and track team members, as well as adults who enjoy Ultimate Frisbee. Like many active people, they often exercise in smoggy weather or in parks or school fields near high-traffic areas.