Health impact assessment of PM2.5 from uncovered coal trains in the San Francisco Bay Area: Implications for global exposures.

Coal generates almost 40% of the world's electricity with 80 countries throughout the world using coal power. An inherent part of this generation is the rail transport of coal in uncovered cars, often up to a mile long. Existing studies document the subsequent increments of PM2.

The impact of coal trains on PM in the San Francisco Bay area.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) is associated with adverse health effects, including mortality, even at low concentrations. Rail conveyance of coal, accounting for one-third of American rail freight tonnage, is a source of PM. However, there are limited studies of its contribution to PM, especially in urban settings where residents experience higher exposure and vulnerability to air pollution.

The health impacts of Indonesian peatland fires.

Background: Indonesian peatlands have been drained for agricultural development for several decades. This development has made a major contribution to economic development. At the same time, peatland drainage is causing significant air pollution resulting from peatland fires.

Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter.

Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM) is a major global health concern. Quantitative estimates of attributable mortality are based on disease-specific hazard ratio models that incorporate risk information from multiple PM sources (outdoor and indoor air pollution from use of solid fuels and secondhand and active smoking), requiring assumptions about equivalent exposure and toxicity. We relax these contentious assumptions by constructing a PM-mortality hazard ratio function based only on cohort studies of outdoor air pollution that covers the global exposure range.

Associations of Source-apportioned Fine Particles with Cause-specific Mortality in California.

Background: Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been linked with premature mortality, but sources of PM2.5 have been less studied.

Assessing the recent estimates of the global burden of disease for ambient air pollution: Methodological changes and implications for low- and middle-income countries.

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) is a comparative assessment of the health impact of the major and well-established risk factors, including ambient air pollution (AAP) assessed by concentrations of PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 µm) and ozone.

Associations of Source-Specific Fine Particulate Matter With Emergency Department Visits in California.

While many studies have investigated the health effects associated with acute exposure to fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5)), very few have considered the risks of specific sources of PM2.

A Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Study of Ambient Ozone Exposure and Emergency Department Visits for Specific Respiratory Diagnoses in California (2005-2008).

Background: Studies have explored ozone's connection to asthma and total respiratory emergency department visits (EDVs) but have neglected other specific respiratory diagnoses despite hypotheses relating ozone to respiratory infections and allergic responses.

Objective: We examined relationships between ozone and EDVs for respiratory visits, including specifically acute respiratory infections (ARI), asthma, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and upper respiratory tract inflammation (URTI).

Methods: We conducted a multi-site time-stratified case-crossover study of ozone exposures for approximately 3.

Long- and Short-term Exposure to Air Pollution and Inflammatory/Hemostatic Markers in Midlife Women.

Background: Studies have reported associations between long-term air pollution exposures and cardiovascular mortality. The biological mechanisms connecting them remain uncertain.

Methods: We examined associations of fine particles (PM2.

Quantifying the health impacts of ambient air pollutants: recommendations of a WHO/Europe project.

Objective: Quantitative estimates of air pollution health impacts have become an increasingly critical input to policy decisions. The WHO project "Health risks of air pollution in Europe--HRAPIE" was implemented to provide the evidence-based concentration-response functions for quantifying air pollution health impacts to support the 2013 revision of the air quality policy for the European Union (EU).

Methods: A group of experts convened by WHO Regional Office for Europe reviewed the accumulated primary research evidence together with some commissioned reviews and recommended concentration-response functions for air pollutant-health outcome pairs for which there was sufficient evidence for a causal association.

Short-term effects of particulate matter on mortality during forest fires in Southern Europe: results of the MED-PARTICLES Project.

Background: An association between occurrence of wildfires and mortality in the exposed population has been observed in several studies with controversial results for cause-specific mortality. In the Mediterranean area, forest fires usually occur during spring-summer, they overlap with Saharan outbreaks, are associated with increased temperature and their health effects are probably due to an increase in particulate matter.

Aim And Methods: We analysed the effects of wildfires and particulate matter (PM10) on mortality in 10 southern European cities in Spain, France, Italy and Greece (2003-2010), using satellite data for exposure assessment and Poisson regression models, simulating a case-crossover approach.

Associations of mortality with long-term exposures to fine and ultrafine particles, species and sources: results from the California Teachers Study Cohort.

Background: Although several cohort studies report associations between chronic exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) and mortality, few have studied the effects of chronic exposure to ultrafine (UF) particles. In addition, few studies have estimated the effects of the constituents of either PM2.

Short-term effects of particulate matter constituents on daily hospitalizations and mortality in five South-European cities: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Background: Few recent studies examined acute effects on health of individual chemical species in the particulate matter (PM) mixture, and most of them have been conducted in North America. Studies in Southern Europe are scarce. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between particulate matter constituents and daily hospital admissions and mortality in five cities in Southern Europe.

The risks of acute exposure to black carbon in Southern Europe: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Objectives: While several studies have reported associations of daily exposures to PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 µm) with mortality, few studies have examined the impact of its constituents such as black carbon (BC), which is also a significant contributor to global climate change.

Long-term source apportionment of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Los Angeles Basin: a focus on emissions reduction from vehicular sources.

Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) was utilized to quantify sources of ambient PM2.5 in central Los Angeles (LA) and Rubidoux, using the Speciation Trends Network data, collected between 2002 and 2013. Vehicular emissions (including gasoline and diesel vehicles) were the second major contributor to PM2.

Chronic PM2.5 exposure and inflammation: determining sensitive subgroups in mid-life women.

Background: Several cohort studies report associations between chronic exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and cardiovascular mortality. Uncertainty exists about biological mechanisms responsible for this observation, but systemic inflammation has been postulated.

Residential proximity to major roads and term low birth weight: the roles of air pollution, heat, noise, and road-adjacent trees.

Background: Maternal residential proximity to roads has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, there is no study investigating mediators or buffering effects of road-adjacent trees on this association. We investigated the association between mothers' residential proximity to major roads and term low birth weight (LBW), while exploring possible mediating roles of air pollution (PM(2.

Particulate air pollution and preeclampsia: a source-based analysis.

Objectives: To investigate the association between preeclampsia and maternal exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10) and 2.5 μm (PM2.5) mass and sources.

Which specific causes of death are associated with short term exposure to fine and coarse particles in Southern Europe? Results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

We investigated the short-term effects of particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5μm (PM2.5), between 2.

Air pollution and preterm premature rupture of membranes: a spatiotemporal analysis.

Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PROM) is the leading identifiable predisposing factor for preterm birth. Although maternal exposure to air pollution can potentially have an impact on preterm PROM, there is no available evidence on such an impact. In this study, based on 5,555 singleton births occurring in Barcelona, Spain (2002-2005), we investigated the associations of maternal exposure to nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of ≤2.

The state of US health, 1990-2010: burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors.

Importance: Understanding the major health problems in the United States and how they are changing over time is critical for informing national health policy.

Objectives: To measure the burden of diseases, injuries, and leading risk factors in the United States from 1990 to 2010 and to compare these measurements with those of the 34 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Design: We used the systematic analysis of descriptive epidemiology of 291 diseases and injuries, 1160 sequelae of these diseases and injuries, and 67 risk factors or clusters of risk factors from 1990 to 2010 for 187 countries developed for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study to describe the health status of the United States and to compare US health outcomes with those of 34 OECD countries.

Short-term associations between fine and coarse particulate matter and hospitalizations in Southern Europe: results from the MED-PARTICLES project.

Background: Evidence on the short-term effects of fine and coarse particles on morbidity in Europe is scarce and inconsistent.

Objectives: We aimed to estimate the association between daily concentrations of fine and coarse particles with hospitalizations for cardiovascular and respiratory conditions in eight Southern European cities, within the MED-PARTICLES project.

Methods: City-specific Poisson models were fitted to estimate associations of daily concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.

Long-term air pollution exposure and cardio- respiratory mortality: a review.

Current day concentrations of ambient air pollution have been associated with a range of adverse health effects, particularly mortality and morbidity due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. In this review, we summarize the evidence from epidemiological studies on long-term exposure to fine and coarse particles, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and elemental carbon on mortality from all-causes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease. We also summarize the findings on potentially susceptible subgroups across studies.