International Journal of Environmental Health Research最新文献

Groundwater contamination in western Türkiye's basins remains poorly understood because geogenic and anthropogenic influences overlap. This study assesses sources and human health risks associated with groundwater contamination in the Kula-Selendi region (Manisa), where geothermal, cold mineral-rich, and cold fresh groundwater types coexist. Thirty water samples (27 groundwater and 3 surface water) were analyzed for major ions, trace metal(loid)s (TMs), and physicochemical parameters. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified four dominant hydrogeochemical processes: silicate weathering, carbonate dissolution, anthropogenic contamination, and arsenic mobilization. Geothermal waters in the Vezirler mélange contained low arsenic (≤2 µg L^-1), whereas cold groundwater in sedimentary aquifers reached 3050 µg L^-1, indicating that arsenic enrichment is decoupled from the Kula Geothermal System. Elevated nitrate (up to 454.7 mg L^-1) in shallow aquifers reflects inputs from agricultural and livestock activities. Health risk assessment (HRA) showed that arsenic in sedimentary aquifers posed high carcinogenic risk and dominated non-carcinogenic risk via drinking water, followed by lithium, nitrate, and boron. Dermal exposure generally posed low risk, although boron and lithium made relatively greater contributions. The combined PCA-HRA approach links hydrogeochemical processes to human health risks and supports targeted monitoring of naturally enriched TMs (As, B, Li) and mitigation of nitrate pollution.

New chemicals are continually developed, transported, and used worldwide, increasing the risk of incidents affecting human, animal, and environmental health. Despite this, global surveillance of chemical incidents remains limited. Open-source intelligence (OSINT) provides an event-based surveillance approach to identify hazards, health outcomes, reporting patterns, and geospatial trends to support public health preparedness and response. The terms chemical, incident, accident, and spill were translated into 32 languages and entered into Google Alerts to capture daily reports from 1 September 2023 to 1 March 2024. Alerts were translated using Google Translate; data were extracted into Microsoft Excel, analysed in STATA/BE 18.0, and mapped using ArcGIS Pro. A total of 128 chemical incidents were identified, most frequently reported in the United States (44.5%), India (16.4%), and Australia (11.7%). Common locations included roads (24.2%) and chemical plants (19.5%). Most incidents were accidental (93.8%) and involved unknown chemicals (53.1%), resulting in 567 non-hospitalised injuries, 273 hospitalisations, and 84 fatalities. OSINT offers a real-time approach for chemical incident signal detection and situational awareness, enhancing early warning and informing public health responses, rather than population-level burden estimation, particularly in settings where formal chemical incident surveillance systems are limited or absent.

Air pollutants have been identified as risk factors for influenza. However, the role of temperature in modulating the relationship between air pollutants and influenza remains not fully elucidated. Pediatric influenza, air pollutant and meteorological data were collected from 2019 to 2023 in Nanchang City. Distributed lag nonlinear models (DLNMs) were used to analyze the association between air pollutants and influenza, and temperature stratification was used to explore the moderating effect of temperature. A total of 53,716 cases were included in this study. For each 10 μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ at lag 2, SO₂ at lag 1 and NO₂ on the day of the visit, the relative risk (RR) were 1.038 (95% CI: 1.011-1.065), 1.124 (95% CI: 1.079-1.170), 1.014 (95% CI: 1.003-1.024) and 1.048 (95% CI: 1.001-1.098), respectively. Boys and the 6-14 years group were more sensitive to PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, whereas girls and the 2-3 years group were more sensitive to SO₂, NO₂ and O₃-8 h. High temperatures enhanced the effects of PM_2.5 and PM₁₀, whereas low temperatures enhanced the effects of SO₂. Temperature affects the association between air pollutants and pediatric influenza, which provides new insights into pediatric influenza surveillance and early warning.

This study was aimed at optimizing ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of bioactive compounds from Peganum harmala shoots using response surface methodology (RSM). Ethanol concentration (73%), ultrasonic power (20%), and extraction time (12 min) were optimized to maximize antioxidant yield. The resulting fraction, enriched with β-sitosterol (19.08%) and phytol (16.51%) as determined by GC-MS, showed strong DPPH^• (61.44%) and ABTS^•+ (81.91%) radical scavenging capacities. In-vitro tests with LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages demonstrated significant suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α) without any cytotoxicity. These findings demonstrate the therapeutic potential of P. harmala for combating inflammation and oxidative stress, offering potential applications in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is endemic in Afghanistan and is associated with high case-fatality rates. This study aimed to describe the epidemiological, seasonal, and clinical characteristics of suspected and PCR-confirmed CCHF cases. A retrospective observational study was performed involving patients with suspected CCHF admitted to Kabul National and Specialized Infectious Diseases Hospital (Shafa Khane Antani) from January 2022 to December 2024. All patients were tested using real time PCR. Patients were classified as suspected, probable, or confirmed cases according to WHO case definitions. Seasonal and occupational trends, symptom patterns, and case-fatality rates (CFR) were analyzed. Totally, 45.3% of 880 patients with suspected infection were positive. The median age was 30 years, and majority of patients were male. Veterinarians represented the highest-risk occupational group. The incidence of CCHF showed marked seasonality, highest in May. Fever, bleeding, and diarrhea were significantly correlated with positive results. The CFR among PCR-confirmed cases with known outcomes was 15.4%. CCHF in Afghanistan exhibits distinct seasonal and occupational patterns. PCR-based surveillance identified symptomatic profiles associated with viremic infection. These findings support targeted occupational safety measures, continuous surveillance, and public health interventions timed to seasonal peaks, complementing serology-based studies of convalescent infections.

We aimed to determine whether time spent outdoors during the day (TOD) is associated with biological age (BA) acceleration, and to identify the optimal TOD. BA acceleration was defined as the residual from regressing Klemera-Doubal method BA (KDM-BA) or phenotypic age (PhenoAge) on chronological age. Generalized additive models were applied to evaluate the associations of TOD with BA acceleration in summer and winter, separately. The optimal TOD associated with the lowest KDM-BA acceleration was two hours/day in summer and one hour/day in winter. For PhenoAge acceleration, the optimal TOD was one hour longer. Both KDM-BA and PhenoAge acceleration increased with TOD when it was longer than the optimal TOD. However, PhenoAge acceleration decreased with TOD when it was shorter than the values of optimal TOD in both summer (change in BA acceleration associated with each hour increase in TOD [$\hat{\beta }$] = -0.077 [95% CI, -0.099, -0.055]) and winter ($\hat{\beta }$ = -0.106 [95% CI, -0.130, -0.082]); a negative association was only observed between TOD and KDM-BA acceleration in winter ($\hat{\beta }$ = -0.048 [95% CI, -0.089, -0.007]). Our results highlight the role of appropriate daytime outdoor activity time in promoting healthy aging.

Floods have increased in both frequency and severity in recent decades. National surveys within England have linked flooding to elevated anxiety, depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study analyses daily telephone helpline calls related to mental health problems to assess the spatiotemporal patterns of flood risk and the 2015/2016 winter floods. Spatial analysis categorised postcode districts by flood risk (High, Medium, Low, Very Low) and proximity (Flood, <1 km, 1-5 km, 5-10 km). Interrupted time series and generalised linear models evaluated trends, adjusting for confounding factors. High and medium flood risk areas showed an elevated Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) for mental health calls. Areas classified as flooded during the 2015/2016 winter floods demonstrated spatial and temporal increases, with a substantial spike in calls one-year post-2015/2016 floods. Our findings suggest that individuals in flood risk areas require psychological support and victims of flooding require consistent long-term mental health support, especially one year after the flooding event. This study establishes an approach that can be applied to assess the mental health impacts of future floods and environmental disasters in near real time.

Thunderstorm weather and elevated pollen concentrations significantly impact the risk of respiratory allergic diseases, including thunderstorm asthma (TA). We investigated the effect of pollen concentration on outpatient visits for respiratory allergic diseases during thunderstorm events using meteorological, pollen, and allergy clinic data from Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, China (2020-2022). We employed a generalized additive model (GAM) and Poisson regression to analyze these data. Our results indicate that lightning activity can increase the exposure risk among susceptible individuals by raising pollen concentrations on the day of thunderstorm occurrence and for the subsequent 2 days. Daytime Lightning has a more pronounced effect on TA incidence. Further analysis of lightning parameters - current intensity, return-strike steepness, number of flashes, and flash distance - revealed that the relative risk of pollen concentration on TA is higher under conditions of low current intensity and high return-strike steepness. Additionally, diurnal analysis demonstrated that daytime lightning events have a greater impact on TA compared to those occurring at night. These findings are critical for the development of public health strategies and early warning systems. They can assist relevant authorities in implementing preventive measures before and after thunderstorms to mitigate TA events.

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that alter the synthesis, transport, release, binding, and degradation of natural hormones involved in reproduction and development. Scientific research conducted in recent years has significantly advanced understanding of the health effects of these chemicals. Many endocrine disruptors to which we are unknowingly exposed in our daily lives may affect our tissues, organs, and even bones. When the studies are examined, it is seen that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) even in the prenatal period leads to delayed ossification, growth retardation, changes in bone length and size, and decreases in bone mineral density and mineral content. Information regarding bone health, development, growth, and mineral content reveals that EDCs negatively impact these processes at both clinical and molecular levels. This review addresses the effects of bisphenols, alkylphenols, organotin compounds, dioxins and dioxin-like compounds, phthalate esters, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances on bone. The selection of these substances is based on key characteristics such as persistence, environmental prevalence, endocrine activity, and their potential to cause changes in bone development, metabolism, and structural integrity. This review summarizes the effects of endocrine disruptors on bone metabolism, but further research is needed as these mechanisms are not yet fully understood.

1,3-Butadiene (1,3-BD) is a gaseous environmental pollutant classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). While its carcinogenic effects are well-known, the molecular mechanisms underlying its nephrotoxicity remain unclear. This study utilizes network toxicology and bioinformatics to explore the targets and mechanisms of 1,3-BD-induced nephrotoxicity. Key targets such as BCL2, CASP3, MMP9, SIRT1, and TNF were identified as central mediators of renal toxicity. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses highlighted processes related to oxidative stress, signaling, and apoptosis. Molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and CETSA further confirmed the interactions between 1,3-BD and these targets. Additionally, using the TCGA database, we found that these targets have diagnostic and prognostic significance in renal cancer. Our findings suggest that BCL2, CASP3, MMP9, SIRT1, and TNF may play crucial roles in both nephrotoxicity and renal cancer progression, offering new insights into the molecular mechanisms of 1,3-BD-induced renal injury and potential intervention targets.