Environment, pregnancy complications, and omics
Moshe Hod, Vincenzo Berghella, Mary E. D'Alton, Gian Carlo Di Renzo, Eduard Gratacós, Vassilios Fanos in New Technologies and Perinatal Medicine, 2019
Air pollutants include substances such as carbon-monoxide (CO), organic gases, particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2); these may result from natural sources such as volcanoes, fire, plants, and lightning, and from anthropogenic sources such as combustion, transportation vehicles, power generation, industrial activity, and domestic heating (5). More than 30,000 pollutants have shown association with clinical effects. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards for six major air pollutants, which are followed for assessing the degree of air pollution. These include carbon monoxide (CO), lead, NO2, ozone (O3), PM, and sulfur dioxide; together, they are referred to as the criteria air pollutants (6).
Delivering Urban Health through Urban Planning and Design
Igor Vojnovic, Amber L. Pearson, Gershim Asiki, Geoffrey DeVerteuil, Adriana Allen in Handbook of Global Urban Health, 2019
The risks for human health are also reaching crisis point. With concentration of human activities and movement in cities, urban air pollution has become a key issue. It is the world’s single largest environmental health risk, with 7 million deaths attributable to the joint effects of household and ambient air pollution in 2012 (WHO 2014). Particulate matter, carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide emissions and other pollutants also cause a range of serious health problems (stroke, lung and heart disease, cancer, asthma). Increased life expectancy means people are statistically more exposed to chronic conditions (lung and heart disease, cancer, diabetes, mental illness, asthma) and can become more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution and other environmental stressors or extreme weather events such as heatwaves and cold spells.
Managing chemical hazards *
Jamie Bartram, Rachel Baum, Peter A. Coclanis, David M. Gute, David Kay, Stéphanie McFadyen, Katherine Pond, William Robertson, Michael J. Rouse in Routledge Handbook of Water and Health, 2015
For settings in which new water supplies are being considered, an inventory of potential contamination sources in the catchment area of each supply should be conducted. The types of pollutants originating from each potential source should be cataloged. Ideally, schematics or maps will be drawn indicating potential pollution sources. Then, data on the pollutant mass released by each source and chemical and geological characteristics describing its potential to be transported into the water source will be gathered. Figure 25.2 and Table 25.6 show the results of a pollution source inventory for a small water supply well in Gaston County, North Carolina.15 From information on these sources combined with hydrogeologic characteristics of the well and properties of each potential chemical pollutant, the researchers conducting this inventory were able to rank the sources and accompanying pollutants using a method similar to the dimensionless risk index approach described above. The importance of inventorying potential chemical pollution sources cannot be overstated, as illustrated by the catastrophic failure to consider arsenic as a potential pollution source in programs to develop alternative water sources for Bangladesh (described earlier in this chapter).
Influences of environmental exposures on individuals living with cystic fibrosis
Published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 2020
Rhonda Szczesniak, Jessica L. Rice, Cole Brokamp, Patrick Ryan, Teresa Pestian, Yizhao Ni, Eleni-Rosalina Andrinopoulou, Ruth H. Keogh, Emrah Gecili, Rui Huang, John P. Clancy, Joseph M. Collaco
Outdoor air pollution is a complex mixture of solid and gaseous compounds including coarse, fine, and ultrafine particles (PM10, PM2.5, UFP, respectively), ozone, oxides of nitrogen, and other toxicants. Major sources of outdoor air pollutants include industrial processes, biomass burning, and traffic. In contrast to other respiratory diseases, the evidence that outdoor air pollution influences CF morbidity is limited, but suggests that lung function, acquisition of respiratory pathogens, and exacerbation frequency are all impacted [20]. Potential mechanisms may include increased airway inflammation, increased oxidative stress, and possibly decreased microbial clearance [21–24]. Unlike asthma, there are few studies of the short-term effects of outdoor air pollution on exacerbation risk to inform CF patients regarding their outdoor exposure on poor air quality days as discussed below.
Markers involved in proinflammatory effects by environmental toxicants
Published in Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 2020
Vesna Smiljevska-Ristovska, Arita Sabriu-Haxhijaha, Trpe Ristoski, Frosina Kosharkoska-Spasovska, Ljupcho Krstanoski, Jasmina Dimitrova-Shumkovska
It is accepted that environmental pollutants are associated with enhanced risk of pulmonary, cardiovascular disorders and are important causative agents for lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancers (Duca et al. 2018; Marris et al. 2020). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the countries of the Balkan Peninsula have significantly high mortality rates caused by exposure to organic pollutants, particularly the Republic of North Macedonia which has the fourth highest mortality rate in Europe (WHO 2018). Toxicological studies have identified polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human breast milk, smoked and barbequed food, although the largest contribution of PAH intake into the body are cereals and cereals products, followed by barbecued meat and vegetables (Zelinkova and Wenzl 2015; Tfouni et al. 2018). The effects of PAH on human health depend mainly on the length, dose, and route of exposure, including subjective factors such as preexisting health and age. The major effects attributable to PAH appeared to occur in the liver, lungs, the hematopoietic system, and kidney (Kim et al. 2019; Petit et al. 2019).
Dynamics of environmental pollution, socio-economic factors, and total fertility rate in MENA, ECOWAS, and ASEAN regions
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2023
Furthermore, environmental or air pollutants come in the likes of carbon monoxide (CO2), nitrate oxide (NO2), methane emissions (CH4), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other particulate matter (Carré et al., 2017). Inhalation and ingestion are mostly the common expository routes of environmental or air pollutants, given that ingestion facilitates primarily in the contamination of water and food through air pollution. These pollutants, especially fossil fuel combustion from diesel exhaust, disrupt the endocrine activity, adversely affecting female reproduction health. Besides, the disruptions of endocrine activities by these air pollutants exert metabolic disorder and interferences in the human reproductive health with attending health issues such as obesity and insulin resistance, which severely linked to infertility or fertility issues (Carré et al., 2017).
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