OBJECTIVES To evaluate serum hyaluronate concentrations relative to air pollution, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and respiratory health in Japanese school children. METHODS Respiratory symptoms and serum IgE concentrations were examined in 1037 school children living in four communities in Japan with differing levels of air pollution. Serum hyaluronate concentrations were assayed in 230 ...

Marine pollution is ubiquitous, and is one of the key factors influencing contemporary marine biodiversity worldwide. To protect marine biodiversity, how do we surveil, document and predict the shortand long-term impacts of pollutants on atrisk species? Modern genomics tools offer high-throughput, information-rich and increasingly cost-effective approaches for characterizing biological response...

BACKGROUND Air pollution has been associated with respiratory health effects. There is little direct evidence that reductions in air pollution related to abatement policies lead to actual improvement in respiratory health. We assessed whether a reduction in (traffic policy-related) air pollution concentrations was associated with changes in respiratory health. METHODS Air pollution concentrat...

OBJECTIVE Environmental air pollution has become a leading health concern especially in the developing countries with more urbanization, industrialization and rapidly growing population. Prolonged exposure to air pollution is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of environmental air pollution on progression of cardiovascular problems. M...

BACKGROUND In the past 25 years, China has experienced remarkable economic growth and rapid agricultural-to-industrial and rural-to-urban transitions. As a consequence, China now faces many daunting environmental challenges that are significantly affecting human health and quality of life, including indoor and outdoor air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, loss of agricultural land, and...

Air pollution is becoming a major health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. In support of this observation, the World Health Organization estimates that every year, 2.4 million people die because of the effects of air pollution on health. Mitigation strategies such as changes in diesel engine technology could result in fewer premature mortalities, as suggested by the US Environm...

The pollution haven hypothesis suggests that unilateral environmental regulation could cause adverse “competitiveness” impacts on domestic manufacturers as they lose market share to foreign competitors and relocate production activity – and emissions – to unregulated economies. This is particularly troubling in the case of mitigating climate change, a global pollution externality, where there a...

Environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology have been losing support, resources, and recognition at universities for many years. What are the possible causes of this process? A first problem may be that the need for research and teaching in environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology is no longer seen because chemical pollution problems are considered as largely solved. Second, environmental chemis...

Strong epidemiological evidence links prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and outcomes including low birth weight, intrauterine growth restriction, and preterm birth.1,2 A new study finds evidence that the association between prenatal air pollution exposure and reduced birth weight may be mediated in part by a decline in the mitochondrial content of the placenta. During pregnancy, the pl...

4.2 Acid Deposition Acid rain was first identified in the 19th century, when English pharmacist Robert Angus Smith measured high acidity levels in rain falling over industrial regions of England and much lower levels in less-polluted areas near the coast. However, this pattern did not receive sustained attention until biologists began to notice sharp declines in fish populations in lakes in Nor...