Hygiene and environmental health advances最新文献

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposure has been found to be associated with neurological dysfunction, with depression often being one of the classic symptoms of the disease, and indoor environments are more likely to be enriched with concentrations of VOCs. This cross-sectional study measured VOCs levels in whole blood, and estimated level of depression with the Patient Health Questionnaire in adults from NHANES 2013–2018. We found benzene (β = 0.40, 95%CI: 0.19, 0.61) and ethylbenzene (β = 0.22, 95%CI: 0.05, 0.39) were associated with depression adjusted for covariates in general linear regression models (GLM), and remained the consistent trend in quantile regression models. In indoor subgroup with higher VOCs level, benzene (β = 0.71, 95%CI: 0.21, 1.22), ethylbenzene (β = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.15, 0.78), and m-/p-xylene (β = 0.41, 95%CI: 0.15, 0.68) showed significant association with depression adjusted for covariates including cotinine in GLMs. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) model was used to assess the contribution of each VOC in mixed exposure. Results from WQS analyses revealed significantly positive associations between the mixed exposure and depression (β = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.18, 2.47), in which, benzene and ethylbenzene contributed 56% and 26%. We found statistically association between mixed exposure and depression before cotinine adjustment (β = 3.53, 95%CI: 2.78, 4.47). Our founding indicated a positive association between benzene and ethylbenzene exposure and depression, also with the most important effect in the mixture. Additionally, indoor VOCs sources of environmental pollution still cannot be ignored given the higher exposure level and health risk.

The whole world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and oxygen demand is greater than ever, but the supply is expectedly short. People in need of this oxygen are not able to receive it, especially those who cannot afford it. In addition to these issues, the oxygen from production plants is not getting delivered to hospitals on a timely basis due to insufficient availability of tankers and cylinders. It is therefore crucial to enable access of oxygen beds and cylinders to the public by developing economical methods for medical oxygen generation. Conventional methods like oxygen concentrators, the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) Technique and Air Separation Units (ASUs) are either too expensive, energy intensive or feasible only on a small scale. This indicates the need to exploit methods that have not been utilized fully yet, such as Integrated Energy Systems (IES). However, reducing the cost of a process is not enough. It needs to be scaled up to have a real impact on the situation at hand. Ion Transport Membranes (ITM) are promising in this aspect as they can produce large volumes of extremely high-purity oxygen at low costs. All these methods along with their economic aspects have been discussed and then compared to identify the most feasible one.

Background

Air pollution exposure is associated with hospital admissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Few studies have investigated whether daily personal exposure to air pollutants affects respiratory symptoms and oxygenation among COPD patients.

Methodology

We followed 30 former smokers with COPD for up to 4 non-consecutive 30-day periods in different seasons. Participants recorded worsening of respiratory symptoms (sub-categorized as breathing or bronchitis symptoms) by daily questionnaire, and oxygen saturation by pulse oximeter. Personal and community-level exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and ozone (O₃) were measured by portable air quality monitors and stationary monitors in the Boston area. We used generalized and multi-level linear mixed-effects models to estimate associations of the 24-hour average of each pollutant in the previous day with changes in respiratory symptoms and oxygen saturation.

Results

Higher community-level exposure to air pollutants was associated with worsening respiratory symptoms. An interquartile range (IQR) higher community-level O₃ was associated with a 1.35 (95%CI: 1.07–1.70) higher odds of worsening respiratory symptoms. The corresponding ORs for community-level PM_2.5 and NO₂ were 1.18 (95%CI: 1.02–1.37) and 1.06 (95%CI: 0.90–1.25), respectively. Community-level NO₂ was associated with worsening bronchitis symptoms (OR=1.25, 95%CI: 1.00–1.56), but not breathing symptoms. Personal PM_2.5 exposure was associated with lower odds of worsening respiratory symptoms (OR=0.91; 95%CI: 0.81–1.01). Personal exposure to NO₂ was associated with 0.11% lower oxygen saturation (95%CI: -0.22, 0.00) per IQR.

Conclusions

In this COPD population, there was a pattern of worsening respiratory symptoms associated with community-level exposure to O₃ and PM_2.5, and worsening oxygenation associated with personal exposure to NO₂.

Ambient air samples of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) were collected in a main urban area of Xi'an, Guanzhong Plain, whose contents including organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and eight carbon components were measured by thermo-optical analysis. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. As a result, OC and EC accounted for 74.5% of PM_2.5 in winter. During winter, light-molecular-weight PAHs (with 2 and 3 benzene rings) concentration predominated in the atmosphere. Molecular diagnostic ratios were calculated to distinguish between different sources of carbon components and PAHs, which revealed natural dust, fossil fuels combustion, and traffic emissions (diesel and gasoline emissions) were the major source contributors. Health risk assessment of PAHs indicated the non-carcinogenic risk values were far lower than 1 for all populations. Some carcinogenic risk values induced by PM_2.5-bound PAHs were higher than 10⁻⁶, which means that there was a certain potential carcinogenic risk in carcinogenic PAHs. High exposure pollutants (acenaphthylene, benzo(b) fluoranthene, naphthalene and chrysene) were observed with potential in vitro oxidative and inflammatory responses. The results showed that long-term exposure to the environment with PAHs pollutants could cause sustained immune and respiratory system damage to the human body. Air quality management should be carried out to improve ambient air quality and reduce health hazards.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) has been documented to adversely affect birth outcomes, but the evidence is sparse in developing countries. This study assessed the associations between maternal PM_2.5 exposure and adverse birth outcomes, i.e., birth weight (BW) decrease, term low birth weight (LBW), and preterm birth (PTB) in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam.

Between 2016–2019, 163,868 women with singleton pregnancies in HCMC were recruited in the study. The PM_2.5 dataset was collected from two available fixed monitoring stations. Five different windows of exposure to PM_2.5 were calculated, including the first month of pregnancy, first trimester, second trimester, third trimester, and entire pregnancy. Linear regression was applied to evaluate the association between BW decrease and PM_2.5 exposure, and logistic regression was employed to study the risk of term LBW and PTB.

The study indicated that prenatal exposure to PM_2.5 decreased BW and increased the risk of PTB. Each 10 µg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 during the second trimester lowered with 11.771 g the BW (95% confident interval - CI: 5.246 – 18.296), and increased with 23.1% the risk of PTB (Odds ratio – OR = 1.231, 95%CI: 1.136 – 1.336). However, the association between maternal exposure to PM_2.5 and the risk of term LBW was not statistically significant.

Our study showed that maternal exposure to PM_2.5 was associated with lower BW and an increase in the risk of PTB. Reducing exposure to air pollutants, in particular ultrafine particles (PM_2.5) for pregnant women will improve infants’ health.

Since ancient times, communities have widely used herbal medicines and their teas for therapeutic properties. In the present study, the concentration, transfer rate, and potential health risks of metal(loid)s (As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Pb, Sr, and Zn) in 30 traditional herbal medicines (ten species from various countries) collected from Persian markets were investigated. The results indicated the wide variations of detected metals in the medicinal herbs. Mn and Sr had the highest concentrations in the herbal medicine and their infusions. Also, Cd levels of five dried plants exceeded the recommended values. Base on the findings of discriminant analysis, the dried Cheeseweed, Hollyhocks, Thymus, Pennyroyal, and Bugloss had the lowest metal levels. Furthermore, Cd in Senna and Marjoram infusions was displayed a carcinogenic risk for children. Considering that some of the studied plants were imported, a high level of Cd in medicinal plants and their products could pose a serious risk to human health worldwide. On the other hand, due to the poor extractability of analyzed metals (transfer rate < 30%), their levels in herbal infusions and their hazard indices were lower than international guidelines for adults. Hence, although preparing water-based extract may be an effective way to reduce the intake of toxic metals from herbal medicines, the presence of toxic metals in infusions may pose a risk to vulnerable groups, such as children.

Purpose

Despite various government initiatives to promote sanitary practices, open-air defecation (OAD) practice among school-going adolescents in rural India is still evident. The unhygienic sanitary practices propagate a vicious cycle of disease transmission affecting their nutritional status. The study aims to find the accessibility to safe, hygienic sanitation facilities and the prevalence of OAD open-air defecation practice, and the factors associated with it among the school-going adolescents in rural Puducherry.

Methods

It was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted among school-going adolescents in a rural Puducherry. Information on the sociodemographic, behavioural, and nutritional characteristics was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire in EpiData Version.3.03. Haemoglobin estimation was done using a portable hemoglobinometer and anaemia was categorized as per the WHO guidelines. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 19.

Results

Out of the 773 school-going adolescents, 74.6% (95% CI:73.4–80.2) had accessibility to safe and hygienic-sanitary toilets and 35.2% (95% CI: 31.9–38.6%) had the practise of OAD. Haemoglobin was estimated in 352 study participants. Among adolescents practising OAD, 87 (75%) were found to be anaemic compared to 143 (60.6%) among those without OAD practice. Statistically significant proportions of adolescents living in kutcha houses were practising OAD compared to semi-pucca or pucca houses. As per the national programme, 88.9% and 86.3% of the study participants consumed IFA and deworming tablets, respectively.

Conclusion

Due to the inaccessibility to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities and the lack of knowledge on the same, the school-going adolescents practised open-air defecation.

Household air pollution has been identified as a global threat in recent decades. The partial combustion of solid fuel is a leading reason for indoor pollution in middle- and low-income countries and has been estimated to cause around 3.5 million death per year globally. Women become the most vulnerable to these household air pollution due to their exceptional physical possessions and higher exposure duration. The current study aims to identify the possible exposure conditions of indoor air pollution in women. The study starts with a questionnaire survey to assess the health-related issues distinguishing women further leading to the sampling of air pollutants in the kitchen area of different homes (n=10) bifurcated on the basis of the nature of the family. Further, the concentration obtained was utilized for health risk assessment using ICRP and MPPD modelling techniques. The concentration trend observed shows a higher concentration of particulate matter in joint family kitchens. According to MPPD modelling the highest deposition as determined was for PM_2.5 and the fraction distributed was 55.9% in the head region, 6.7% in the tracheobronchial region and 37.2% in the pulmonary region. The lowest deposition was obtained for PM_0.5 with the highest deposition fraction obtained for the pulmonary region (61.1%) followed by the head region(21.45%) and the tracheobronchial region (17.3%). Precisely, the present study gives a clear picture about lung deposition of particulate matter present in an indoor setting specifically in women. Also, it throws light upon different sources and scenarios regarding indoor air pollution prevailing among the population.