Vision impairment is associated with mortality
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A meta-analysis finds that vision impairment and blindness are tied to an increased risk of mortality, prompting the need to address global eye health disparities.
A new review of existing evidence proposes eight hallmarks of environmental exposures that chart the biological pathways through which pollutants contribute to disease: oxidative stress and inflammation, genomic alterations and mutations, epigenetic alterations, mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption, altered intercellular communication, altered microbiome communities, and impaired nervous system function.
Overweight children who were exposed to lead in utero and during their first weeks of life have the potential for poorer kidney function in adulthood, according to an Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai study published in Environment International in March.
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) found large quantities of previously undetectable compounds from the family of chemicals known as PFAS in six watersheds on Cape Cod using a new method to quantify and identify PFAS compounds. Exposures to some PFAS, widely used for their ability to repel heat, water, and oil, are linked to a range of health risks including cancer, immune suppression, diabetes, and low infant birth weight.
Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego examining 14 years of hospital admissions data conclude that the fine particles in wildfire smoke can be several times more harmful to human respiratory health than particulate matter from other sources such as car exhaust. While this distinction has been previously identified in laboratory experiments, the new study confirms it at the population level.
Synthetically created melanin can be used as a toxin adsorbent when applied to fabric. New material protected fabric from nerve gas penetration. Examples in nature lead researchers to believe these materials "exist out there".
If you're looking for an indoor space with a low level of particulate air pollution, a commercial airliner flying at cruising altitude may be your best option. A newly reported study of air quality in indoor spaces such as stores, restaurants, offices, public transportation -- and commercial jets -- shows aircraft cabins with the lowest levels of tiny aerosol particles.
In a collaborative study led by University of Maryland (UMD), researchers find that consumers tend to buy something less fuel efficient for their second car after springing for an eco-friendly vehicle. The study reports a 57% reduction in the benefits of your fuel efficient car based on the purchase of your second vehicle. Findings have major implications for the design of carbon mitigation programs that aren't taking into account consumers with multiple vehicles.
Recently, the ozone season in China has been getting longer, spreading from summer into early spring and late winter. The COVID-19 lockdown can help explain why. Researchers found that decreases in NOx emissions are driving increased ozone pollution in late winter in China.
Rutgers scientists for the first time have pinpointed the sizes of microplastics from a highly urbanized estuarine and coastal system with numerous sources of fresh water, including the Hudson River and Raritan River.