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Environmental Toxins
Published in Gia Merlo, Kathy Berra, Lifestyle Nursing, 2023
Exposure to particulate matter has been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Elliot et al., 2020). As with ground level ozone, air pollution associated with PM may interfere with a person’s ability to participate in regular physical activities. Physical activity is a strong modifiable factor associated with cardiovascular disease risk. During outdoor physical activities, increased respiration may increase air pollution dose, potentially attenuating the benefits of physical activity on cardiovascular disease (Elliot et al., 2020).
Naturopathic Medicine and the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2022
Research shows that reductions in particulate matter exposure over a few years lower cardiovascular mortality rates.116 Although many of us live in urban centers and are exposed to ever-increasing levels of particulate matter and air pollution, we can reduce our risk of CVD by reducing exposure. The best way to reduce our exposure to toxins is avoidance of them in the first place. Additionally, we can support the body’s detoxification pathways by helping mobilize and eliminate toxins that have been stored. Working in concert together, the organ systems are able to effectively remove toxins that we accumulate through the air, water, and soil.
Community and environment as determinants of health
Published in Ben Y.F. Fong, Martin C.S. Wong, The Routledge Handbook of Public Health and the Community, 2021
Thomas Man-chi Dao, Bean S.N. Fu
PM2.5 and ozone are the primary sources of ambient air pollutants. PM2.5 refers to particulate matter suspended in the air, which is 2.5 microns or less. The common sources of PM2.5 include factory chimneys, coal-fired power plants, equipment and vehicles using fossil fuel. Since PM2.5 is small enough to penetrate deep down the lungs, it is associated with the decline in lung function, increased susceptibility to pneumonia, development and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, and, more seriously, lung cancer. Apart from the airway, PM2.5 can penetrate the blood vessels. It induces chronic inflammation and subsequently speeds up atherosclerosis. Heavy chronic exposure to PM2.5 is therefore associated with increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases with an observed dose-response relationship (Pun et al., 2017; Samoli et al., 2003).
Persistent changes in expression of genes involved in inflammation and fibrosis in the lungs of rats exposed to airborne lunar dust
Published in Inhalation Toxicology, 2023
Ye Zhang, Michael Story, Samrawit Yeshitla, Xiaoyu Wang, Robert R. Scully, Corey Theriot, Honglu Wu, Valerie E. Ryder, Chiu-wing Lam
The Moon is covered by a thick layer of fine lunar dust (LD). During the Apollo missions, LD that adhered to the spacesuits of crewmembers was carried into the Apollo Lunar Modules and subsequently into the Commend Modules (CMs). On the return journeys, the microgravity environment caused some of the dust to dislodge and contaminate the breathing atmosphere of the CMs. As John Young, the commander of Apollo 16, noted, “…our feet and hands and our arms were all full of dust” (Wagner 2006). Some astronauts reported eye and throat irritation from exposures to LD (Wagner 2006). A flight surgeon experienced respiratory symptoms after inhaling some LD while unpacking spacesuits from stowage; this surgeon’s symptoms got progressively worse during additional exposures to LD after 2 subsequent missions (Scheuring et al. 2008). On Earth, occupational exposures to excessive amounts of respirable mineral particles, such as crystalline silica (SiO2), coal, and construction-related dusts, could pose major health threats to industrial workers. Environmental exposures to fine airborne particulate matter (PM2.5) over safety limits for prolong periods could pose a major health concern to general populations (Sanderson 1986; CDC 2022; EPA 2022).
Effect of subchronic exposure to ambient fine and ultrafine particles on rat motor activity and ex vivo striatal dopaminergic transmission
Published in Inhalation Toxicology, 2023
María-de-los-Angeles Andrade-Oliva, Yazmín Debray-García, Guadalupe-Elide Morales-Figueroa, Juan Escamilla-Sánchez, Omar Amador-Muñoz, Raúl V. Díaz-Godoy, Michael Kleinman, Benjamín Florán, José-Antonio Arias-Montaño, Andrea De Vizcaya-Ruiz
Environmental particle pollution is a persistent problem that has a serious negative impact on human health. Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds with variable temporal and spatial compositions. Fine particles (FP, aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm; also referred to as PM2.5) are the main components of the mass of inhalable particles in the air, while ultrafine particles (UFP, aerodynamic diameter ≤0.1 μm) are more numerous and exhibit greater surface area as well as higher reactivity, toxicity, and ability to penetrate deeper into the respiratory tract. Both FP and UFP elicit oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in the peripheral and central nervous systems in a size-dependent manner (Gillespie et al. 2013; Guerra et al. 2013; Aztatzi-Aguilar et al. 2015).
The association between air pollution and childhood asthma: United States, 2010–2015
Published in Journal of Asthma, 2022
Eric M. Connor, Benjamin Zablotsky
Annual county-level PM2.5 values from the contiguous United States are attained via a combination of air quality monitoring stations and modeled PM2.5 values, while PM2.5 measurements from Hawaii and Alaska only come from air quality monitoring stations (as they were not part of the Tracking Network between 2010 and 2015). All Hawaii and Alaska counties were assigned the same state-averaged value (calculated from all available monitors within the state) for a given year. PM2.5 are atmospheric particulates with a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (μm). The ambient air pollution measurement dataset was scaled into quartiles to provide sufficient power to view meaningful effects between differing annual average levels of PM2.5 in µg/m3 (< 8.11, 8.11–9.50, 9.51–10.59, ≥ 10.60).