Breast cancer incidence is higher in urban areas and industrialized countries, rather than in less developed ones [1]. The etiology is probably multifactorial and lifestyle and environmental factors account for 73% of cases [2]. The present study analyzes the eventual relationship between environmental pollutants exposure and population density and the risk of developing breast cancer. It conce...

A major challenge in traffic-related air pollution exposure studies is the lack of information regarding pollutant exposure characterization. Air quality modeling can provide spatially and temporally varying exposure estimates for examining relationships between traffic-related air pollutants and adverse health outcomes. A hybrid air quality modeling approach was used to estimate exposure to tr...

In recent decades, clinicians and scientists have witnessed a significant increase in the prevalence of allergic rhinitis and asthma. The factors underlying this phenomenon are clearly complex; however, this rapid increase in the burden of atopic disease has occurred in parallel with rapid industrialization and urbanization in many parts of the world. Consequently, more people are exposed to ai...

Quantifying human exposure to air pollutants is a challenging task. Ambient concentrations of air pollutants at potentially harmful levels are ubiquitous in urban areas and subject to high spatial and temporal variability. At the same time, every individual has unique activity-patterns. Exposure results from multifaceted relationships and interactions between environmental and human systems, ad...

Green roofs are used increasingly to alleviate peaks of water discharge into the sewage systems in urban areas. Surface runoff from roofs contain pollutants from dry and wet deposition, and green roofs offer a possibility to reduce the amounts of pollutants in the water discharged from roofs by degradation and filtering. These pollutants would otherwise enter wastewater treatments plants and ul...

Background: There is increasing evidence for a possible association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the use of biomass fuels for cooking and heating in developing countries. Data on the prevalence of COPD and objective measurements of indoor pollution from biomass fuel have not been widely available from China. A study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of COP...

BACKGROUND There is increasing evidence for a possible association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the use of biomass fuels for cooking and heating in developing countries. Data on the prevalence of COPD and objective measurements of indoor pollution from biomass fuel have not been widely available from China. A study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of COPD...

OBJECTIVES To better understand the burden of air pollution on deaths, we examined the effects of air pollutants on years of life lost (YLL) in Beijing, China. DESIGN Retrospective regression analysis using daily time series. SETTING 8 urban districts in Beijing, China. PARTICIPANTS 80 515 deaths (48 802 male, 31 713 female) recorded by the Beijing death classification system during 2004-...

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is a World Heritage Area and contains extensive areas of coral reef, seagrass meadows and fisheries resources. From adjacent catchments, numerous rivers discharge pollutants from agricultural, urban, mining and industrial activity. Pollutant sources have been identified and include suspended sediment from erosion in cattle grazing areas; nitrate from fertiliser appl...