scholarly journals Are Sansevieria trifasciata better for airborne particulate matter removal dead or alive?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Yuan Lee ◽  
Samuel Lai ◽  
Swee Yang Low
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Airborne Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Airborne Particulate ◽  
Biological Mechanisms ◽  
Enclosed Space ◽  
Pm Removal ◽  
Physical Mechanics

Particulate matter (PM) is a common air pollutant linked to many human deaths and illnesses worldwide. Once emitted in the air, PM is most effectively removed by plants in phytoremediation. While the physical mechanics and factors of phytoremediation have been well-studied, there has been little attention regarding its biological mechanisms. In this empirical study, we measure the net effect of biological processes in Sansevieria trifasciata on its ability to remove PM from an enclosed space by comparing the time taken for PM to decrease in enclosures containing living specimens versus dried and pressed specimens. Our results show that live specimens are in fact worse at removing PM from their enclosures as compared to dried and pressed specimens. This suggests that biological processes can be detrimental to PM removal for some plants species.

scholarly journals Cardiopulmonary Health Effects of Airborne Particulate Matter: Correlating Animal Toxicology to Human Epidemiology

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 954-961 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent E. Pinkerton ◽  
Chao-Yin Chen ◽  
Savannah M. Mack ◽  
Priya Upadhyay ◽  
Ching-Wen Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Airborne Particulate Matter ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Airborne Particulate ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Toxicological Studies

The effects of particulate matter (PM) on cardiopulmonary health have been studied extensively over the past three decades. Particulate matter is the primary criteria air pollutant most commonly associated with adverse health effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The mechanisms by which PM exerts its effects are thought to be due to a variety of factors which may include, but are not limited to, concentration, duration of exposure, and age of exposed persons. Adverse effects of PM are strongly driven by their physicochemical properties, sites of deposition, and interactions with cells of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. The direct translocation of particles, as well as neural and local inflammatory events, are primary drivers for the observed cardiopulmonary health effects. In this review, toxicological studies in animals, and clinical and epidemiological studies in humans are examined to demonstrate the importance of using all three approaches to better define potential mechanisms driving health outcomes upon exposure to airborne PM of diverse physicochemical compositions.

scholarly journals The Impact of Bushfire Smoke on Cattle—A Review

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 848
Author(s):  
Benjamin Eid ◽  
David Beggs ◽  
Peter Mansell
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Prolonged Exposure ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Airborne Particulate Matter ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Airborne Particulate ◽  
Primary Mechanism ◽  
Background Mortality ◽  
Fire Front ◽  
The Impact

In 2019–2020, a particularly bad bushfire season in Australia resulted in cattle being exposed to prolonged periods of smoke haze and reduced air quality. Bushfire smoke contains many harmful pollutants, and impacts on regions far from the fire front, with smoke haze persisting for weeks. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the major components of bushfire smoke known to have a negative impact on human health. However, little has been reported about the potential effects that bushfire smoke has on cattle exposed to smoke haze for extended periods. We explored the current literature to investigate evidence for likely effects on cattle from prolonged exposure to smoke generated from bushfires in Australia. We conducted a search for papers related to the impacts of smoke on cattle. Initial searching returned no relevant articles through either CAB Direct or PubMed databases, whilst Google Scholar provided a small number of results. The search was then expanded to look at two sub-questions: the type of pollution that is found in bushfire smoke, and the reported effects of both humans and cattle being exposed to these types of pollutants. The primary mechanism for damage due to bushfire smoke is due to small airborne particulate matter (PM). Although evidence demonstrates that PM from bushfire smoke has a measurable impact on both human mortality and cardiorespiratory morbidities, there is little evidence regarding the impact of chronic bushfire smoke exposure in cattle. We hypothesize that cattle are not severely affected by chronic exposure to smoke haze, as evidenced by the lack of reports. This may be because cattle do not tend to suffer from the co-morbidities that, in the human population, seem to be made worse by smoke and pollution. Further, small changes to background mortality rates or transient morbidity may also go unreported.

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