scholarly journals Impact of Microplastics and Nanoplastics on Human Health

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxine Swee-Li Yee ◽  
Ling-Wei Hii ◽  
Chin King Looi ◽  
Wei-Meng Lim ◽  
Shew-Fung Wong ◽  
...  

Plastics have enormous impacts to every aspect of daily life including technology, medicine and treatments, and domestic appliances. Most of the used plastics are thrown away by consumers after a single use, which has become a huge environmental problem as they will end up in landfill, oceans and other waterways. These plastics are discarded in vast numbers each day, and the breaking down of the plastics from micro- to nano-sizes has led to worries about how toxic these plastics are to the environment and humans. While, there are several earlier studies reported the effects of micro- and nano-plastics have on the environment, there is scant research into their impact on the human body at subcellular or molecular levels. In particular, the potential of how nano-plastics move through the gut, lungs and skin epithelia in causing systemic exposure has not been examined thoroughly. This review explores thoroughly on how nanoplastics are created, how they behave/breakdown within the environment, levels of toxicity and pollution of these nanoplastics, and the possible health impacts on humans, as well as suggestions for additional research. This paper aims to inspire future studies into core elements of micro- and nano-plastics, the biological reactions caused by their specific and unusual qualities.

2013 ◽  
Vol 816-817 ◽  
pp. 1193-1196
Author(s):  
Ming Hua Wei ◽  
Qiao Ling Zhou ◽  
Jin Gui Zheng

In daily life, the nutrients taken from the food of the human body are often insufficient or surplus, which has a negative impact on human health and waste of agricultural nutrients as well. There is some catering software that can guide people about the intake of the nutrients at home and abroad, but they can only realize the analysis function, that is, tell the user that the nutrients intake is inadequate or exceed the standard. The optimal allocation system of the edible agricultural products' nutrition-functional components is introduced in this paper. It can make the real-time intervention during the users ordering process, adjust diet structure of the user, introduce in detail the process of database and consumption model construction, and gives the flow chart of the system and the hand-held terminal interface.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1361
Author(s):  
Scott L. Goodrick

The Atmosphere Special Issue “Special Issue Air Quality and Smoke Management” explores our ability to simulate wildland fire smoke events and the potential to link such modeling to future studies of human health impacts [...]


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Lopes ◽  
Fabrício William Ávila ◽  
Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme

ABSTRACT Selenium (Se) is an important element that was discovered in 1817, and since the 1960s, it has been regarded as an essential micronutrient for both animals and humans, playing among other functions a relevant role in the antioxidant system of mammals. Inadequate blood Se levels in the human body is a well-known concern in many parts of the world. This malnutrition problem is often due to Se-poor diet, probably as a result of the low Se availability in soils where crops are growing. Nowadays, it is known that not only the total content, but also the inorganic and organic forms of Se contained in foods are important for human nutrition. However, paradoxically some regions of the world present high Se levels in soils causing several functional disorders and diseases in people who live in seleniferous areas. As essential micronutrient, Se should be supplied in controlled amounts to avoid harmful effects. Therefore, taking into account the importance of the soils as a way to ensure the adequate Se supply for the population, this review has dealt with Se behavior in soil environment (e.g., Se forms and adsorption and desorption reactions) and its relevance for the human health. As a final message, the further understanding of Se behavior in soils to predict its availability for crops in different systems will be a significant approach in future studies to establish forms and safe doses of Se to be added in fertilizers. Agronomic and genetic biofortification of staple crops with Se has been suggested as an important tool to improve Se intake by population in Se-poor sites.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramazan Akçan ◽  
Halit Canberk Aydogan ◽  
Mahmut Şerif Yıldırım ◽  
Burak Taştekin ◽  
Necdet Sağlam

Background/aim: Use of nanomaterials in the healthcare applications increases in parallel to technological developments. It is frequently utilized in diagnostic procedures, medications and in therapeutic implementations. Nanomaterials take place among key components of medical implants, which might be responsible for certain toxic effects on human health at nano-level. In this review, nanotoxicological effects, toxicity determination of nanobiomaterials used in human body and their effects on human health are discussed. Material and Method: A detailed review of related literature was performed and evaluated as per nanomaterials and medical implants. Results and Conclusion: The nanotoxic effects of the materials applied to human body and the determination of its toxicity are important. Determination of toxicity for each nanomaterial requires a detailed and multifactorial assessment considering the properties of these materials. There are limited studies in the literature regarding the toxic effects of nanomaterials used in medical implants. Although these implants are potentially biocompatible and biodegradable, it is highly important to discuss nanotoxicological characteristics of medical implant.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1333-1342
Author(s):  
Núria Boix Rodríguez ◽  
Marco Marconi ◽  
Claudio Favi ◽  
Giovanni Formentini

AbstractFace masks are currently considered essential devices that people must wear today and in the near future, until the COVID-19 pandemic will be completely defeated through specific medicines and vaccines. Such devices are generally made of thermoplastic polymers, as polypropylene and polyethylene and are single use products. Even if in this period the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, the world society should not completely forget the environmental problem that are causing more and more obvious climate changes with correlated damages to ecosystems and human health. Despite the well-known correlation among anti-COVID protective equipment (or more generally medical devices) and environmental issues, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-design-based studies in this field is very scarce. The present study aims to derive the most important environmental criticalities of such products, by using LCA and product circularity indicators of five different common masks. The final aim is to provide eco-design guidelines, useful to design new face masks by preventing negative impact on the environment.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155982762110081
Author(s):  
Neha Pathak ◽  
Amanda McKinney

Global environmental degradation and climate change threaten the foundation of human health and well-being. In a confluence of crises, the accelerating pace of climate change and other environmental disruptions pose an additional, preventable danger to a global population that is both aging and carrying a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Climate change and environmental disruption function as “threat multipliers,” especially for those with NCDs, worsening the potential health impacts on those with suboptimal health. At the same time, these environmental factors threaten the basic pillars of health and prevention, increasing the risk of developing chronic disease. In the face of these threats, the core competencies of lifestyle medicine (LM) present crucial opportunities to mitigate climate change and human health impacts while also allowing individuals and communities to build resilience. LM health professionals are uniquely positioned to coach patients toward climate-healthy behavior changes that heal both people and the planet.


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Francesca Milazzo ◽  
Francesco Spina

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify the human health impacts of soy-biodiesel production with the aim to discuss about its environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The integrated use of two current approaches, risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), has allowed improvement of the potentialities of both in obtaining a more complete analysis. The implementation of a life cycle indicator for the assessment of the impacts on the human health, integrating the features of both approaches, is the main focus of this paper. Findings – It has been found that, although the biodiesel is a green fuel, it has some criticalities in its life cycle, which cannot be disregarded. In fact, even if biodiesel is essentially a clean fuel there are some phases, prior to the industrial phase, that can cause negative effects on human health and ecosystems. Practical implications – Results suggest some measures which can be adopted to substantially reduce human health impacts. Further alternative could be analysed in future to gain more insight about the use of biodiesel fuels. Originality/value – The estimation of the impacts of a process producing biodiesel has been made by using a novel approach. The novelty is associated with the calculation of the impacts on human health by using the transfer factors applied in RA. The use of such factors, properly modified in order to estimate the impacts on a wider scale than a site-dimension, allows defining a holistic approach, as LCA and RA are used as complete units but at the same time can be related to each other.


Author(s):  
Rohit Rastogi ◽  
Mamta Saxena ◽  
Mayank Gupta ◽  
Akshit Rajan Rastogi ◽  
Pradeep Kumar ◽  
...  

From ancient times, humans are striving for being healthy and to live with mental peace with family and society. In the previous centuries also, some manmade and mostly natural disasters have disturbed the pace of human life. There have been times when the whole human race has been in terror, danger, and utmost worry. The electrical gadgets also have made the human life comfortable, but also machines have dominated its consciousness. The stress, aggression, depression, and many more issues are also showing presence in all our lives. The chapter is a trial to establish the effect of yagna and mantra science over human calmness and its effect on human health irrespective to gender and age. The article also elaborates the effect of Sanskrit sound and mantra chanting on emission of radiations from electronic gadgets. It also presents the effect of spiritual practices on the human body and soul after the terror, stress, grief created due to COVID-19.


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