Numerous studies have reported weak but statistically significant acute health effects of particulate air pollution. The associations are observed at levels below the current U.S. standard of 150 micrograms/m3 (24 hr). Health effects include acute increased mortality from cardiopulmonary conditions and acute morbidity such as hospital admissions for related diseases. We reviewed recent epidemio...

New observational evidence of the trans-Pacific transport of Asian dust and its contribution to the ambient particulate matter (PM) levels in North America was revealed, based on the interannual variations between Asian dust storms and the ambient PM levels in western North America from year 2000 to 2006. A high correlation was found between them with an R2 value of 0.83. From analysis of the d...

Extreme particulate matter (PM) air pollution of January 2013 in China was found to be associated with an anomalous eastward extension of the Siberian High (SH). We developed a Siberian High position index (SHPI), which depicts the mean longitudinal position of the SH, as a new indicator of the large-scale circulation pattern that controls wintertime air quality in China. This SHPI explains 58 ...

BACKGROUND The positive matrix factorization is a powerful environmental analysis technique which has been successfully utilized to assess air-born particulate matter source contribution. The new version of this model (PMF5) has two additional estimation error methods and some other useful advantages compared to the previous versions. In the present study, the capability of PMF5 for identificat...

In many cities of the United States, measurements of ambient particulate matter air pollution (PM) are available only once every 6 days. Time-series studies conducted in these cities that investigate the relationship between mortality and PM are restricted to using a single day's PM as the measure of PM exposure. This is undesirable because current evidence suggests that the effects of PM on mo...

Particulate matter (PM) plays an important role in air pollution, especially in China. European and American researchers conducted several cohort-based studies to examine the potential relationship between PM and lung cancer and found a positive association between PM and lung cancer mortality. In contrast, the results regarding PM and lung cancer risk remain inconsistent. Most of the previous ...

The USEPA has proposed to regulate PM(coarse) (particulate matter 2.5 to 10 microm in diameter). Exceedance of the proposed National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM(coarse) is expected within the Columbia Plateau of the Pacific Northwest United States based on the high frequency of dust storms and the large contribution of crustal material to fugitive dust in the region. The objecti...

Studies requiring ambient exposure assessments invariably ask: How often should measurements be taken? Answer to such questions is dictated by budgetary considerations as well as spatial and temporal variability in the data. For example, do we obtain measurements during all seasons, all months within seasons, weeks within months and days within weeks? On one hand, we can obtain a one-time snaps...

Large amounts of solid waste are disposed in landfills and the potential of particulate matter (PM) emissions into the atmosphere is significant. Particulate matter emissions in landfills are the result of resuspension from the disposed waste and other activities such as mechanical recycling and composting, waste unloading and sorting, the process of coating residues and waste transport by truc...

This paper finds that a 10-μg/m3 increase in airborne particulate matter [particulate matter smaller than 10 μm (PM10)] reduces life expectancy by 0.64 years (95% confidence interval = 0.21-1.07). This estimate is derived from quasiexperimental variation in PM10 generated by China's Huai River Policy, which provides free or heavily subsidized coal for indoor heating during the winter to cities ...