Air Pollution and Unhappiness Correlated, Study of Europeans Shows

Researchers in Canada have found a correlation between air pollution and people's happiness. Their deep analysis, reported in the latest issue of the International Journal of Green Economics, suggests that air pollution may lead to unhappiness while the converse is also true, the unhappier the citizens of a country the more air pollution.

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Reduction in Air Pollution from Wood Stoves Associated With Significantly Reduced Risk of Death

Male deaths from all-causes, but particularly cardiovascular and respiratory disease, could be significantly reduced with a decrease in biomass smoke (smoke produced by domestic cooking and heating and woodland fires), a paper published January 8 on the British Medical Journal website suggests.

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Commuter traffic poses greater dangers to children in poor neighbourhoods, study finds

A new McMaster study suggests children are at greater risk of being hit by vehicles driving through their neighbourhood than from drivers who live nearby, posing particular dangers in poorer, downtown areas where traffic levels tend to be highest.

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Asia air pollution deaths to rise, environment group says

Air pollution in Asia, which already kills at least 800,000 people each year, will likely lead to even higher death rates as the region's air quality worsens, an environmental group warned Wednesday.

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Answer to Mongolia pollution is blowing in the wind

Mongolia's economic boom has been built on the vast coal reserves that lie under its seemingly endless steppes, but it is turning to wind to power itself and fight the pollution that chokes Ulan Bator.

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Declining Air Pollution Levels Continue to Improve Life Expectancy in U.S.

A new study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found an association between reductions in fine particulate matter and improved life expectancy in 545 counties in the U.S. from 2000 to 2007. It is the largest study to date to find beneficial effects to public health of continuing to reduce air pollution levels in the U.S.

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Integrating science and policy to address the impacts of air pollution

An article in this week's Science magazine by Dr Stefan Reis of the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK) and colleagues from six countries examines how science and policy address air pollution effects on human health and ecosystems, and climate change in Europe.

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Autism Risk for Developing Children Exposed to Air Pollution: Infant Brain May Be Affected by Air Quality

Research conducted by University of Southern California (USC) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles scientists demonstrates that polluted air -- whether regional pollution or coming from local traffic sources -- is associated with autism.

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Bad air means bad news for seniors' brainpower

Living in areas of high air pollution can lead to decreased cognitive function in older adults, according to new research presented in San Diego at The Gerontological Society of America's (GSA) 65th Annual Scientific Meeting.

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Near-roadway air pollution a major contributor to asthma in Los Angeles County, USC research finds

State policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have maximum health benefits if coupled with policies to reduce near-roadway exposure, study says.

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Gestational exposure to urban air pollution linked to vitamin D deficiency in newborns

New study highlights potential importance of vitamin D supplementation in pregnant women

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A third of urban Europeans exposed to polluted air: EU

Nearly a third of Europe's urban population is exposed to air particles that breach European Union limits, an official report said Monday.

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"Green walls" against air pollution

Planting vegetation along streets in the city might reduce air pollution better than assumed so far, that is by up to 30 percent instead of one to two percent. This finding was made by Dr. Thomas Pugh, now working at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and his colleagues from the universities of Birmingham and Lancaster. The scientists published their results in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.

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Wind concentrates pollutants with unexpected order in an urban environment

Cities – with their concrete canyons, isolated greenery, and congested traffic – create seemingly chaotic and often powerful wind patterns known as urban flows. Carried on these winds are a variety of environmental hazards, including exhaust particles, diesel fumes, chemical residues, ozone, and the simple dust and dander produced by dense populations.

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Air Pollution Linked with Stillbirth Risk

Air pollution has been linked to a number of breathing problems, mainly in developing countries, and now a new preliminary study looking at pollution levels in New Jersey has found an increased risk of stillbirths among women exposed to specific pollutants.

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Oxid uhelnatý je škodlivé role ve srdečního rytmu nalezeno

The way that even low levels of carbon monoxide can be fatal, by disrupting the heart's rhythm, has been unravelled by researchers in Leeds.

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Green plants reduce city street pollution up to eight times more than previously believed

Trees, bushes and other greenery growing in the concrete-and-glass canyons of cities can reduce levels of two of the most worrisome air pollutants by eight times more than previously believed, a new study has found. A report on the research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

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Asthma Linked to Congested Highways: Those Living Near Heavily Traveled Interstate Have Higher Rates of Disease

Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, found that living near a heavily congested highway correlates with a higher presence of asthma.

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Today's Environment Influences Behavior Generations Later: Chemical Exposure Raises Descendants' Sensitivity to Stress

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Washington State University have seen an increased reaction to stress in animals whose ancestors were exposed to an environmental compound generations earlier.

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Prenatal Pollution Exposure Dangerous for Children With Asthma

The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma.

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Air Pollution Level Changes in Beijing Linked With Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Disease

During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, changes in air pollution were associated with changes in biomarkers of systemic inflammation and thrombosis (formation of blood clot) as well as measures of cardiovascular physiology in healthy young persons, according to a study in the May 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on Global Health.

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Lead Dust Is Linked to Violence, Study Suggests

Childhood exposure to lead dust has been linked to lasting physical and behavioral effects, and now lead dust from vehicles using leaded gasoline has been linked to instances of aggravated assault two decades after exposure, says Tulane toxicologist Howard W. Mielke.

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Air Pollution from Trucks and Low-Quality Heating Oil May Explain Childhood Asthma Hot Spots

Where a child lives can greatly affect his or her risk for asthma. According to a new study by scientists at Columbia University, neighborhood differences in rates of childhood asthma may be explained by varying levels of air pollution from trucks and residential heating oil.

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Prenatal exposure to combustion-related pollutants and anxiety, attention problems in young children

Mothers' exposure during pregnancy to a class of air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) can lead to behavioral problems in their children. PAH are released to air during incomplete combustion of fossil fuel such as diesel, gasoline, coal, and other organic material.

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Study shows air emissions near fracking sites may impact health

In a new study, researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health have shown that air pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing or fracking may contribute to acute and chronic health problems for those living near natural gas drilling sites.

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Could Air Pollution Be Making Us Fat?

A hypothesis proposes that rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere may be contributing to obesity.

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Better models needed to track atmospheric pollution's impact on health, climate

The past decade has witnessed a significant growth in Asian air pollution, causing a great concern for air quality and climate. If government policy makers hope to contain the problem, they will need increased research and better computer models of black carbon and other aerosol pollutants, also known as atmospheric brown cloud (ABC), according to University of Iowa engineering professor Gregory Carmichael.

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Short-term exposure to most major air pollutants associated with increased risk of heart attack

Short-term exposure (for up to 7 days) to all major air pollutants, with the exception of ozone, is significantly associated with an increased risk of heart attack, according to a review and meta-analysis of previous studies appearing in the February 15 issue of JAMA.

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Asthma rate and costs from traffic-related air pollution are much higher than once believed

A research team led by University of Massachusetts Amherst resource economist Sylvia Brandt, with colleagues in California and Switzerland, have revised the cost burden sharply upward for childhood asthma and for the first time include the number of cases attributable to air pollution, in a study released this week in the early online version of the European Respiratory Journal.

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First Link Between Potentially Toxic PFCs in Office Air and in Office Workers' Blood

 In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists are reporting that the indoor air in offices is an important source of worker exposure to potentially toxic substances released by carpeting, furniture, paint and other items. Their report, which documents a link between levels of these so-called polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in office air and in the blood of workers, appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

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Study finds air pollution linked to diabetes and hypertension in African-American women

-The incidence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension increases with cumulative levels of exposure to nitrogen oxides, according to a new study led by researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University.

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Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Low Childhood IQ

Prenatal exposure to pervasive air pollutants may adversely affect a child's intelligence by preschool, researchers reported today.

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Air Pollution Linked to Learning and Memory Problems, Depression

Long-term exposure to air pollution can lead to physical changes in the brain, as well as learning and memory problems and even depression, new research in mice suggests.

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