Guest Editorial Outdoor air pollution is one of China's most serious environmental problems. Coal is still the major source of energy, constituting about 75% of all energy sources. Consequently, air pollution in China predominantly consists of coal smoke, with suspended particulate matter (PM) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2) as the principal air pollutants. In large cities, however, with the rapid in...

An important aspect of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a greater emphasis on reducing the health impacts from ambient air pollution in developing countries. Meanwhile, the burden of human disease attributable to ambient air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa is growing, yet estimates of its impact on the region are possibly underestimated due to a lack of air quality monitoring, a ...

Artificial neural network (ANN) is a commonly used approach to estimate or forecast air pollution levels, which are usually assessed by the concentrations of air contaminants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and suspended particulate matters (PMs) in the atmosphere of the concerned areas. Even through ANN can accurately estimate air pollution levels they are num...

Indoor air pollution caused by the indoor burning of solid biomass fuels has been associated with Acute Respiratory Infections such as pneumonia amongst children of less than five years of age. Behavioural change interventions have been identified as a potential strategy to reduce child indoor air pollution exposure, yet very little is known about the impact of behavioural change interventions ...

This commentary addresses some of the diverse questions of current interest with regard to the health effects of air pollution, including exposure-response relationships, toxicity of inhaled particles and risks to health, multipollutant mixtures, traffic-related pollution, accountability research, and issues with susceptibility and vulnerability. It considers the challenges posed to researchers...

Human and animal toxicology has had a profound impact on our historical and current understanding of air pollution health effects. Early animal toxicological studies of air pollution had distinctively military or workplace themes. With the discovery that ambient air pollution episodes led to excess illness and death, there became an emergence of toxicological studies that focused on industrial ...

background and objective: bioaerosols are particles of microbes, viruses and derivatives; they exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and can be measured with different air samplers. the purpose of this study is the determination of bacterial aerosol in the air of hospitals and the determination of contaminated areas for disinfection proceedings by hospital health care teams, by selecting ...

It has long been appreciated that fine particulate air pollution contributes to the pathology of respiratory disease and cancer.1,2 The more elusive link to cardiovascular disease, however, has been recognized only in the last decade. Epidemiological1–5 and experimental laboratory6 evidence has been mounting that supports the postulate that elevated concentrations of particulate air pollution c...

The recent air pollution trend, as well as the factors that contribute to the air quality, were reviewed in the Klang Valley since it has undergone rapid development over the years. The overall quality of air in the Klang Valley was moderate for 66% of the days throughout the year of 2009 while only 5% of the days were classified at the unhealthy level. Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur were among the...

Active travel (cycling, walking) is beneficial for the health due to increased physical activity (PA). However, active travel may increase the intake of air pollution, leading to negative health consequences. We examined the risk-benefit balance between active travel related PA and exposure to air pollution across a range of air pollution and PA scenarios. The health effects of active travel an...