Because of their ubiquitous nature and potential chronic health effects, nonpoint source (NPS) pollutants have become a focal point of attention by the general public, particularly regarding pollution of surface and subsurface drinking water sources. The NPS pollutants pose a technical problem because of the areal extent of their contamination that increases the complexity and sheer volume of d...

RATIONALE Little is known about the long-term effects of air pollution exposure and the root causes of asthma. We use exposure to intense air pollution from the 1952 Great Smog of London as a natural experiment to examine both issues. OBJECTIVES To determine whether exposure to extreme air pollution in utero or soon after birth affects asthma development later in life. METHODS This was a na...

Soil pollution by heavy metals is a major concern in agricultural area. Potential impact of heavy metals in agricultural soil on human health by accumulating in food chain demonstrated elsewhere. In this regard Mian-Ab plain as a major agricultural site of Khuzestan province considered for Arsenic, cadmium and lead concentration as the main potential toxic pollutants in soil. 50 topsoil samples...

The goal is to build up an inverse model capable of finding the release history of atmospheric pollution by using measured gas concentration data at just one location on the ground and identify the factors which affects the accuracy of the model predictions. The problem involves a non-steady point source of pollution at a known location in the atmosphere. This problem of finding the release rat...

The Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest and most biologically diverse estuary. It has provided a rich bounty of crabs, shellfish, and fish, and high quality recreational opportunities. However, the Bay living systems have been increasingly stressed over time by the pressures of growing populations—there are over 20 million people in the 166,534 km 2 mile watershed—industrial pollution, at...

OBJECTIVE To investigate reproducibility of outcomes for short-term associations between ambient air pollutants and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) hospitalisation in 2 urban populations. DESIGN Using a time-stratified design, we conducted independent case-crossover studies of AMI hospitalisation events over the period 1999-2010 in the geographically close and demographically similar cities...

In view of the extensive use of foraminifers for the pollution monitoring especially their unmatched utility in deciphering the temporal variation in the type and concentration of pollutants at a given location, the literature dealing with the application of foraminifers for pollution studies has been reviewed. The pollution monitoring through foraminifers started with attribution of peculiar f...

Lakes and marshes are valuable water resources and natural environments for the human beings, it is necessary to preserve and improve their water quality. Since experiencing severe pollution problems during the 1950s and 1960s, Japan has been strengthening its environmental policy. Regulations over the quality of water were enforced under the Water Pollution Control Law, resulting in the succes...

Different types of water bodies, including lakes, streams, and coastal marine waters, are often susceptible to fecal contamination from a range of point and nonpoint sources, and have been evaluated using fecal indicator microorganisms. The most commonly used fecal indicator is Escherichia coli, but traditional cultivation methods do not allow discrimination of the source of pollution. The use ...

Exposure to elevated air pollution levels can aggravate pollen allergy symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between airborne birch (Betula) pollen, urban air pollutants NO2, O3 and PM10 and their effects on antihistamine demand in Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden, 2006-2012. Further, the influence of large-scale weather pattern on pollen-/pollution-related risk, usin...