1,721,038 research outputs found
Association between PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3 and self-reported diabetes in Italy: A cross-sectional, ecological study
No full textIntroduction Air pollution represents a serious threat to health on a global scale, being responsible for a large portion of the global burden of disease from environmental factors. Current evidence about the association between air pollution exposure and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is still controversial. We aimed to evaluate the association between area-level ambient air pollution and self-reported DM in a large population sample in Italy. Materials and methods We extracted information about self-reported and physician diagnosed DM, risk factors and socio-economic status from 12 surveys conducted nationwide between 1999 and 2013. We obtained annual averaged air pollution levels for the years 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010 from the AMS-MINNI national integrated model, which simulates the dispersion and transformation of pollutants. The original maps, with a resolution of 4 x 4 km2, were normalized and aggregated at the municipality class of each Italian region, in order to match the survey data. We fit logistic regression models with a hierarchical structure to estimate the relationship between PM10, PM2.5, NO2 and O3 four-years mean levels and the risk of being affected by DM. Results We included 376,157 individuals aged more than 45 years. There were 39,969 cases of DM, with an average regional prevalence of 9.8% and a positive geographical North-to-South gradient, opposite to that of pollutants’ concentrations. For each 10 μg/m3 increase, the resulting ORs were 1.04 (95% CI 1.01–1.07) for PM10, 1.04 (95% CI 1.02–1.07) for PM2.5, 1.03 (95% CI 1.01–1.05) for NO2 and 1.06 (95% CI 1.01–1.11) for O3, after accounting for relevant individual risk factors. The associations were robust to adjustment for other pollutants in two-pollutant models tested (ozone plus each other pollutant). Conclusions We observed a significant positive association between each examined pollutant and prevalent DM. Risk estimates were consistent with current evidence, and robust to sensitivity analysis. Our study adds evidence about the effects of air pollution on diabetes and suggests a possible role of ozone as an independent factor associated with the development of DM. Such relationship is of great interest for public health and deserves further investigation. © 2018 Orioli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Exhaled nitric oxide after inhalation of isotonic and hypotonic solutions in healthy subjects.
No full textAirway nitric oxide (NO) homoeostasis is in ̄uenced by chemical and mechanical stimuli in
humans; airway epithelium, which is an important site of NO production, is sensitive to osmotic
challenge. The effect of inhaled hypotonic solutions on exhaled NO (eNO) is not known. In this
study we evaluated the effect of ultrasonically nebulized distilled water (UNDW), a hypotonic
indirect stimulus, on eNO levels. A total of 10 non-smoking healthy subjects were enrolled in the
study. eNO was detected by chemiluminescence, and speci®c airway conductance (sGaw) was
measured by plethysmography. Bronchial challenges with UNDW and with an isotonic solution
were performed according to a double-blind experimental design. Baseline levels of eNO were
28.1314.7 p.p.b. UNDW did not cause any signi®cant change in sGaw (from 0.19030.029 to
0.18130.036 cmH2O[s−1). With respect to baseline values, the eNO concentration decreased
signi®cantly after inhalation of 8 or 16 ml of UNDW (from 26.0313.1 to 17.238.5 and
16.637.7 p.p.b. respectively; P!0.001, n ̄10). After bronchial challenge with UNDW, eNO
was signi®cantly reduced in comparison with after inhalation of the isotonic solution. In ®ve
subjects, pretreatment with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor NO
synthesis, decreasedNOlevels from 21.738.5 to 10.033.3 p.p.b. Subsequent inhalation of 16 ml
of UNDW did not cause any further decrease in NO levels (10.133.7 p.p.b. ; not signi®cant
compared with L-NAME). We conclude that inhalation of aqueous solutions decreases eNO
levels in healthy subjects, and that this effect is not associated with any signi®cant change in
airway calibre. The UNDW-induced decrease in eNO is not enhanced by pretreatment with the
NO synthase inhibitor L-NAME, suggesting that inhaled solutions may interfere with the airway
NO pathway in humans
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Phosphorylation dynamics in male meiosis:MPM-2 colocalization with microtubule cytoskeleton.
No full textSevere air pollution links to higher mortality in COVID-19 patients: The “double-hit” hypothesis
No full textObjectives: In areas of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak worldwide mean air pollutants concentrations vastly exceed the maximum limits. Chronic exposure to air pollutants have been associated with lung ACE-2 over-expression which is known to be the main receptor for SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between air pollutants concentration (PM 2.5 and NO2) and COVID-19 outbreak, in terms of transmission, number of patients, severity of presentation and number of deaths. Methods: COVID-19 cases, ICU admissions and mortality rate were correlated with severity of air pollution in the Italian regions. Results: The highest number of COVID-19 cases were recorded in the most polluted regions with patients presenting with more severe forms of the disease requiring ICU admission. In these regions, mortality was two-fold higher than the other regions. Conclusions: From the data available we propose a “double-hit hypothesis”: chronic exposure to PM 2.5 causes alveolar ACE-2 receptor overexpression. This may increase viral load in patients exposed to pollutants in turn depleting ACE-2 receptors and impairing host defences. High atmospheric NO2 may provide a second hit causing a severe form of SARS-CoV-2 in ACE-2 depleted lungs resulting in a worse outcome
Spatial representativeness of air quality monitoring stations: A grid model based approach
No full textA methodology for quantifying areas of spatial representativeness of air quality monitoring station is here proposed, exploiting the wide spatial and temporal coverage of chemical transport models results. The method is based on the analysis of time series of model concentrations, extracted at monitoring sites and around, by means of a Concentration Similarity Function (CSF). The method was tested on AMSMINNI model results, covering Italy and three reference years (2003, 2005, 2007), for assessing the spatial representativeness of PM2.5 and O3 rural background monitoring stations. The CSF methodology shows good performances in describing both the extension and the shape of representativeness areas, taking into account the difference between pollutants and the dependence on averaging time and temporal interval of concentration data. Results show a large variability in the size and shape of the selected stations in Italy, ranging from 220 to 4500 km2. This confirms the importance of carrying out adhoc analyses on monitoring stations, as general a priori classifications and qualitative assessments of spatial representativeness are not able to fully capture the complexity of different territorial contexts. © 2015 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
First outcomes of the fairmode & aquila intercomparison exercise on spatial representativeness
No full textWe are presenting an initial evaluation of the outcomes of the FAIRMODE & AQUILA intercomparison exercise (IE) on spatial representativeness (SR). To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first attempt to quantitatively compare the range of methods used for estimating the spatial representativeness of air quality monitoring stations in Europe. As a common working basis, a shared dataset has been selected comprising modelling data and auxiliary information from the city of Antwerp. Based on this, 11 teams from 10 different countries provided their SR estimates for PM10 and NO2 at one traffic site, and for PM10, NO2 and O3 at two urban background sites. The main objective of this exercise was to evaluate the possible variety of spatial representativeness results obtained by applying the range of different contemporary approaches to a jointly used example case study. The results of the IE revealed a considerable range of variation between the different SR estimates - not only in terms of the extent and position of the SR perimeters, but also in the technical procedures and the extent of input data effectively used. These outcomes do also underline the need for (i) a more harmonized definition of the concept of “the area of representativeness” and (ii) consistent and transparent criteria used for its quantification. © 2018 Hungarian Meteorological Service. All Rights Reserved
Phosphorylation dynamics in male meiosis:MPM-2 colocalization with microtubule cytoskeleton.
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