Contemporary possibilities of reducing health damage caused by particulate matter air pollution

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Krakowiak ◽  
Jolanta Cembrzyńska
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Balanced Diet ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
High Concentrations

Particulate matter air pollution is one of global environmental threats and is considered by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be a direct cause of deteriorated health and living conditions. In Poland, air pollution exceeds the levels associated with the risk of acute and chronic health conditions many times a year. In order to protect public health, it is necessary to improve air quality by eliminating or reducing the emission of pollutants to acceptable levels. Individual exposure to particulate air pollution, especially during the periods of high concentrations, may be limited by taking appropriate measures such as staying indoors with windows closed, reducing the inflow of outdoor air, limiting outdoor exercise, especially near the sources of emissions. The growing number of public air quality alert systems helps raise awareness of the risk. Avoiding exposure to air pollution is particularly important for sensitive populations. Studies should be continued to investigate the mechanisms underlying the reduction of negative effects of air pollution on health by vitamin/antioxidant supplementation or balanced diet, as well as by using personal protective equipment (filter half masks) to develop appropriate guidelines for both the sensitive and general population. It is important to develop appropriate, individually tailored strategies for reducing harm related to particulate matter air pollution without abandoning healthy physical activity. Action taken individually by each person must be safe and bring appropriate health benefits.

scholarly journals Air Quality Index Prediction using Meteorological Data using Featured Based Weighted Xgboost

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11S) ◽  
pp. 1026-1029
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Air Quality Index ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pollutant Emission ◽  
Air Quality Prediction ◽  
Respirable Particulate

Over the recent years, air pollution or air contamination has become a concerning threat, being responsible for over 7 million deaths annually according to a survey conducted by “WHO”(World Health Organisation). The four air pollutants which are becoming a concerning threat to human health are namely respirable particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and sulphur dioxide. Hence to tackle this problem, efficient air quality prediction will enable us to foresee these undesirable changes made in the environment keeping the pollutant emission under check and control. Also inclusion of meteorological data for isolating the factors that contributes more to the Air Quality Index (AIQ) prediction is the need of the hour. A feature based weighted XGBoost model is built to predict the AIQ of Velachery, a fast developing commercial station in South India. The model resulted in low RMSE value when compared with other state of art techniques

scholarly journals Analysis of air pollution exposure in the area of Iasi county – a warning signal for lung health and the risk of developing COPD

Pneumologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-173
Author(s):  
Ioana Buculei ◽  
Mona-Elisabeta Dobrin ◽  
Anda Tesloianu ◽  
Cristina Vicol ◽  
Radu-Adrian Crișan Dabija ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
World Health ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
The World ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Air pollution is a major threat to public health, and the effects of pollution are perceived in all countries of the world, by all social categories, regardless of age. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has a growing prevalence worldwide and an increasing number of risk factors that exacerbate symptoms and accelerate disease progression. Exposure to air pollution is one of the less studied and less investigated risk factors for COPD. Depending on the size and chemical nature of the pollutant, it can overcome the defence mechanism of the respiratory system and enter the lung tissues, thus causing some respiratory diseases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that six major air pollutants have been identified, namely particulate matter (PM), ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead. The severe impact of PM exposure is demonstrated by the link between exposure to high concentrations of PM and certain severe diseases such as silicosis, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and COPD. In Iași County, Romania, air quality measurements are performed by six automatic air quality monitoring stations, and the data obtained are used to create annual reports and these are also available online. Due to the high concentrations of air pollutants, the city of Iași is one of the three topmost polluted cities in Romania. A future assessment on the impact of air pollution on the health of the inhabitants of these cities and the implementation of new methods to improve air quality is needed.

scholarly journals Effects of meteorological variables and holidays on the concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2, SO2, and CO in Tehran (2014-2018)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Hadei ◽  
Maryam Yarahmadi ◽  
Ahmad Jonidi Jafari ◽  
Mohsen Farhadi ◽  
Seyed Saeed Hashemi Nazari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Meteorological Parameters ◽  
Air Pollution Control ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Criteria Air Pollutants ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Autumn And Winter

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the concentrations   of PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2, SO2, and CO in Tehran during March 2014-March 2018, and evaluate the effects of holidays and meteorological parameters on   the air pollution levels.   Materials and methods: Hourly concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2, SO2, and CO in different air quality monitors of Tehran were acquired. The data from each air quality monitored were validated, and only high-quality monitors were included in this study.   Results: The 4-year averages of PM10, PM2.5, O3, NO2, SO2, and CO concen-trations were 88.74 (µg/m3), 31.02 (µg/m3), 34.87 (ppb), 71.01 (ppb), 20.04   (ppb), and 3.78 (ppm), respectively. Higher concentrations of PM10 and O3 were observed during summer. In case of PM2.5 and CO, autumn and winter concentrations were higher than those in springer and summer. Lower concen-trations of PM10 and NO2 in Fridays were observed comparing to other days of week. Ozone had high concentrations in Fridays as the weekend in Iran. Except for O3, all of the pollutants had higher concentrations in the working days, comparing to those in any type of vacation days. Concentrations of all pollutants rather that SO2 and O3 in Nowruz holidays were statistically lower than those in the working days. By controlling for the effects of meteorologi-cal variables, our results showed that the air pollution control policies and ac-tions have been not effective for particulate matter.   Conclusion: These results determines the time periods in which the concen-trations of criteria air pollutants are high. This can be very useful for an-nouncing alarms for citizens, and designing the air pollution control plans. In addition, more effective actions should be designed and implemented for reducing ambient levels of particulate matter.

scholarly journals Visibility Driven Perception and Regulation of Air Pollution in Hong Kong, 1968–2020

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Peter Brimblecombe
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Pollutant Concentrations ◽  
The Media ◽  
Rural Sites

Visibility is a perceptible indicator of air pollution, so it is hardly surprising that it has been used to promote the regulation of air pollutants. In Hong Kong, poor visibility associated with air pollution has been linked with changes in tourist choices and health outcomes. Much research is available to examine the early deterioration of visibility in the city, and especially its relation to particulate sulfate. The period 2004–2012 saw especially poor visibility in Hong Kong and coincided with a time when pollutant levels were high. There is a reasonable correlation (multiple r2 = 0.57) between the monthly hours of low visibility (<8 km) and PM10, NO2, SO2, and O3 concentrations from the late 1990s. Visibility can thus be justified as a route to perceiving air pollution. Over the last decade, visibility has improved and average pollutant concentrations have declined in Hong Kong. The changing health risk from individual pollutants parallels their concentration trends: the risk from NO2 and particulate matter at urban sites has declined, but there have been increases in the health risks from ozone as its concentrations have risen across the region, although this is dominated by concentration increases at more rural sites. Since 2004, the frequency of search terms such as visibility, air pollution, and haze on Google has decreased in line with improved visibility. Despite positive changes to Hong Kong’s air quality, typically, the media representation and public perception see the situation as growing more severe, possibly because attention focuses on the air quality objectives in Hong Kong being less stringent than World Health Organisation guidelines. Policymakers increasingly need to account for the perceptions of stakeholders and acknowledge that these are not necessarily bound to measurements from monitoring networks. Improvements in air quality are hard won, but conveying the nature of such improvements to the public can be an additional struggle.

scholarly journals Using Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer Aerosol Mixture Properties for Air Quality Assessment in Mongolia

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith Franklin ◽  
Khang Chau ◽  
Olga Kalashnikova ◽  
Michael Garay ◽  
Temuulen Enebish ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Capital City ◽  
World Health ◽  
Dust Particles ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Pm 2.5 ◽  
Pm 10

Ulaanbaatar (UB), the capital city of Mongolia, has extremely poor wintertime air quality with fine particulate matter concentrations frequently exceeding 500 μg/m3, over 20 times the daily maximum guideline set by the World Health Organization. Intensive use of sulfur-rich coal for heating and cooking coupled with an atmospheric inversion amplified by the mid-continental Siberian anticyclone drive these high levels of air pollution. Ground-based air quality monitoring in Mongolia is sparse, making use of satellite observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) instrumental for characterizing air pollution in the region. We harnessed data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Version 23 (V23) aerosol product, which provides total column AOD and component-particle optical properties for 74 different aerosol mixtures at 4.4 km spatial resolution globally. To test the performance of the V23 product over Mongolia, we compared values of MISR AOD with spatially and temporally matched AOD from the Dalanzadgad AERONET site and find good agreement (correlation r = 0.845, and root-mean-square deviation RMSD = 0.071). Over UB, exploratory principal component analysis indicates that the 74 MISR AOD mixture profiles consisted primarily of small, spherical, non-absorbing aerosols in the wintertime, and contributions from medium and large dust particles in the summertime. Comparing several machine learning methods for relating the 74 MISR mixtures to ground-level pollutants, including particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.5 μm ( PM 2.5 ) and 10 μm ( PM 10 ), as well as sulfur dioxide ( SO 2 ), a proxy for sulfate particles, we find that Support Vector Machine regression consistently has the highest predictive performance with median test R 2 for PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and SO 2 equal to 0.461, 0.063, and 0.508, respectively. These results indicate that the high-dimensional MISR AOD mixture set can provide reliable predictions of air pollution and can distinguish dominant particle types in the UB region.

scholarly journals Five-Year Analysis of Air Pollution in Istanbul Including Also the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilüfer Aykaç ◽  
Pınar Pazarlı Bostan ◽  
Sabri Serhan Olcay ◽  
Berker Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxide ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
World Health ◽  
Limit Values ◽  
Public Data ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

INTRODUCTION: Particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and nitrogen oxide compounds are the main air pollutants. The purpose of this research is to analyze the five-year air quality of Istanbul and examine the effect of movement restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic on pollutants. METHODS: The public data of the National Air Quality Observation Network has been utilized. The research has been conducted based on the five-year daily averages of PM10, NO2, and NOx pollutants for Istanbul between 2016 - 2020. The data of stations which measured for 75% and more throughout the year has been used. The effect of lockdowns enforced due to COVID-19 was revealed by comparing data of pollutants from April and May of 2020 to the same period in 2019. RESULTS: There were 12 stations between 2016 – 2018, and 39 stations in 2019 and 2020 which measured particulate matter and nitrogen oxide compounds. Only 9 stations reached the standard of measuring pollution for 75% and more throughout the year. The PM10, NO2, and NOx levels measured by all the 9 stations between 2016 - 2020 are above the limit values set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The lockdowns in 2020 have not been helping improvements in air pollution issue. However, there have been regressions of 33.4%, 59.6%, and 52.6% in the overall average particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and nitrogen dioxide concentrations during the lockdowns between 23-26 of April, 1-3 of May, and 23-26 of May, respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The air pollution issue in Istanbul has not improved in a meaningful and significant manner for the last five years. There is a significant deficiency in measuring traffic pollution. It has been found that two days long lockdowns and physical movement restrictions due to COVID-19 have significantly contributed to a significant regression in the overall concentration of air pollutants.

scholarly journals Air Quality Monitoring and Effect of Particulate Air Pollution on Respiratory Health in the population of Raiganj, West Bengal, India.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debraj Mukhopadhyay ◽  
J. Swaminathan ◽  
Arun Sharma ◽  
Soham Basu
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Small Town ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Quality Monitoring ◽  
World Health ◽  
Air Quality Monitoring ◽  
Short Term

Abstract According to The World Health Organization (WHO) reports air pollution from particulate matter (PM), which ranks 13th highest worldwide in terms of mortality, causes about 800,000 premature deaths a year. However several finding demonstrated that the correlation is stronger than initially believed and much more complex. PM is an air emission component composed of very minute, acid, organic compounds, metals, and particulate soil or dust-containing fragments or fluid droplets. PM is classified by size and remains the most reliable part of the air pollution linked to human disease. The processes of systemic inflammation, overt and indirect coagulation activation and direct translocation to systemic circulation are expected to lead PM to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Data on the cardiovascular system that show a PM effect are strong. The coronary incident and death rates of communities exposed to long-term exposure to PM was considerably higher. The rate of coronary incidents within days of the emission high is raised subtly by short-term acute exposures. The results are not as good for PM's cortical disease effects, although some data and related pathways indicate a smaller outcome. Exposure of PM is also an aggravation of respiratory diseases. During more research in order to understand the implications for disadvantaged populations in structure, chemistry, and PM, the prevalent evidence suggests that PM exposure results in a minor but substantial rise in human morbidity and mortality. The use of air conditioning and filters for particulate matter decreased internal heating and cooking combustion and smoking stoppage will minimize the indoor PM exposure. These basic improvements could be useful to individual patients in both short-term and long-term cardiovascular and respiratory symptoms. However there is very limited data available on the status of air pollution in non metropolitan cities and even less in small towns across the country. Raiganj is a small town across the country. Raiganj is a small town and the district head quarter of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal. It is located at N25.6266428, E87.8012599 coordinates. To the best of our knowledge, no air quality monitoring is being done in this town. Neither any study has been conducted on the residents of this town to find out the effect of air pollution on their health. In this study we examine the overall effects of a series of new air quality regulations that have differentially affected air quality in Raiganj, relative to its outlying areas.

scholarly journals Spatial Analysis (Measurements at Heights of 10 m and 20 m above Ground Level) of the Concentrations of Particulate Matter (PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0) and Gaseous Pollutants (H2S) on the University Campus: A Case Study

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Robert Cichowicz ◽  
Maciej Dobrzański
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Hydrogen Sulfide ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Leeward Side ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Above Ground Level ◽  
High Concentrations

Spatial analysis of the distribution of particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, PM1.0, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas pollution was performed in the area around a university library building. The reasons for the subject matter were reports related to the perceptible odor characteristic of hydrogen sulfide and a general poor assessment of air quality by employees and students. Due to the area of analysis, it was decided to perform measurements at two heights, 10 m and 20 m above ground level, using measuring equipment attached to a DJI Matrice 600 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The aim of the measurements was air quality assessment and investigate the convergence of the theory of air flow around the building with the spatial distribution of air pollutants. Considerable differences of up to 63% were observed in the concentrations of pollutants measured around the building, especially between opposite sides, depending on the direction of the wind. To explain these differences, the theory of aerodynamics was applied to visualize the probable airflow in the direction of the wind. A strong convergence was observed between the aerodynamic model and the spatial distribution of pollutants. This was evidenced by the high concentrations of dust in the areas of strong turbulence at the edges of the building and on the leeward side. The accumulation of pollutants was also clearly noticeable in these locations. A high concentration of H2S was recorded around the library building on the side of the car park. On the other hand, the air turbulence around the building dispersed the gas pollution, causing the concentration of H2S to drop on the leeward side. It was confirmed that in some analyzed areas the permissible concentration of H2S was exceeded.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Association between Air Pollution and Daily Mortality in the Capital of the Green Lungs of Poland–Population-Based Study with 2,953,000 Person-Years of Follow-Up

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 2351
Author(s):  
Łukasz Kuźma ◽  
Krzysztof Struniawski ◽  
Szymon Pogorzelski ◽  
Hanna Bachórzewska-Gajewska ◽  
Sławomir Dobrzycki
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
World Health ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Daily Mortality ◽  
Male Population ◽  
The Impact

(1) Introduction: air pollution is considered to be one of the main risk factors for public health. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of approximately 500,000 citizens of the European Union (EU), including almost 5000 inhabitants of Poland every year. (2) Purpose: to assess the gender differences in the impact of air pollution on the mortality in the population of the city of Bialystok—the capital of the Green Lungs of Poland. (3) Materials and Methods: based on the data from the Central Statistical Office, the number—and causes of death—of Białystok residents in the period 2008–2017 were analyzed. The study utilized the data recorded by the Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection station and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management during the analysis period. Time series regression with Poisson distribution was used in statistical analysis. (4) Results: A total of 34,005 deaths had been recorded, in which women accounted for 47.5%. The proportion of cardiovascular-related deaths was 48% (n = 16,370). An increase of SO2 concentration by 1-µg/m3 (relative risk (RR) 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.12; p = 0.005) and a 10 °C decrease of temperature (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.005) were related to an increase in the number of daily deaths. No gender differences in the impact of air pollution on mortality were observed. In the analysis of the subgroup of cardiovascular deaths, the main pollutant that was found to have an effect on daily mortality was particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5); the RR for 10-µg/m3 increase of PM2.5 was 1.07 (95% CI 1.02–1.12; p = 0.01), and this effect was noted only in the male population. (5) Conclusions: air quality and atmospheric conditions had an impact on the mortality of Bialystok residents. The main air pollutant that influenced the mortality rate was SO2, and there were no gender differences in the impact of this pollutant. In the male population, an increased exposure to PM2.5 concentration was associated with significantly higher cardiovascular mortality. These findings suggest that improving air quality, in particular, even with lower SO2 levels than currently allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, may benefit public health. Further studies on this topic are needed, but our results bring questions whether the recommendations concerning acceptable concentrations of air pollutants should be stricter, or is there a safe concentration of SO2 in the air at all.

“Air pollution arrested not imprisoned”: The impact of laws invoked on Covid-19 city lockdowns

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Mensah Aboagye ◽  
◽  
Nana Osei Owusu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

Air pollution continues to be an environmental problem that poses a lot of health risks to the young and aged. Developed countries have invested heavily to curb this environmental problem, causing severe threats to human lives, yet the results do not look convincing. In developing countries, the situation is difficult than they can imagine, resulting in governments borrowing to fight what looks like a lost battle [1-3]. The in-depth study of this environmental menace - air pollution, suggests that the government enacts stringent measures to help fight this battle. This is because air pollution has natural (volcanic eruption) and anthropogenic (human activities) causes. In December 2019, the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak was soon declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) [4]. Majority of countries have had their share of the impact of this outbreak. Many countries resorted to city lockdown to strictly control the movement of people and economic activities as recommended by WHO.

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