Numerous ecological problems are based on the disturbance of natural equilibrium of chemical elements which finally brings to pollution of major environmental components. Among pollutants, priority is given particularly to the heavy metals (HM). A complex investigation of pollution of territories with HM implies application of diverse methods that include the assessment of the state of major co...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Asthma is one of the most common respiratory diseases in the world. Research has shown that temporal increases in air pollution concentrations can aggravate asthma symptoms. The aim of this study was to assess whether individuals living in areas with higher air pollution concentrations responded differently to short-term temporal exposure to air pollution than those living i...

Light pollution and its consequences on ecosystems are increasing worldwide. Knowledge on the threshold levels of light pollution at which significant ecological impacts emerge and the size of dark refuges to maintain natural nocturnal processes is crucial to mitigate its negative consequences. Seabird fledglings are attracted by artificial lights when they leave their nest at night, causing hi...

background: hospital is a place to provide medical services. it is affected by noise pollution sources that can be associated with negative impacts on health and comfort status of the staff members and patients. the aim of this study was to measure noise levels in different wards of hospitals and to determine the irritation caused by noise among the hospital staff members in hamadan, iran. meth...

development of a green belt with suitable plant species around the source of emission can mitigate the atmospheric contamination. selection of such plant species are required to combat air pollution based on their tolerance level. present study was undertaken to evaluate the tolerance level of higher plants in east of esfahan city, iran, during 2011 in terms of assessing air pollution tolerance...

Urban China’s high levels of ambient air pollution both lowers quality of life and raises mortality risk. China’s wealthy have the purchasing power to purchase private products such as air filters that allows them to offset some of the pollution exposure risk. Using a unique data set of Internet purchases, we document that households invest more in masks and air filter products when ambient pol...

OBJECTIVES The city of Windsor is recognized to have poor air quality in comparison with other Canadian cities. However, relatively few studies have evaluated associations between day-to-day fluctuations in air pollution levels and respiratory health in Windsor. In this study, we examined associations between short-term changes in ambient air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits for a...

BACKGROUND Ocular mucosa is exposed constantly to the external environment, and chronic exposure to air pollution may affect the ocular surface. OBJECTIVE We assessed the effect of air pollution on the ocular surface by combining determinations of individual exposure and conjunctival impression cytology. METHODS A panel study was conducted with 29 volunteers recruited in two locations with ...

This article describes a Poisson regression model for time trends of mortality to detect the long-term effects of common levels of air pollution on lung cancer, in which the adjustment for cigarette smoking is not always necessary. The main hypothesis to be tested in the model is that if the long-term and common-level air pollution had an effect on lung cancer, the death rate from lung cancer c...

In this article, I review recent research showing that even relatively low levels of pollution can affect infants' health. This research attempts to go beyond documenting correlations by using sharp changes in pollution levels, carefully selecting control groups (including unexposed siblings as controls for exposed children), and considering behavioral responses to pollution such as maternal mo...