Prenatal exposures to environmental toxicants can adversely affect fetal and child development and lead to increased risk of chronic disease. While regulatory action is essential to reduce sources of environmental toxicants, prenatal care presents an opportunity to educate, mobilize, and support prospective parents to reduce exposures to such hazards. As the first phase of an interdisciplinary research collaboration to inform the development of prenatal environmental health education strategy in Canada, we surveyed reproductive-aged female individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxics
February 2024
Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated that particulate matter (PM) in air pollution can be involved in the genesis or aggravation of different cardiovascular, respiratory, perinatal, and cancer diseases. This study assessed the in vitro effects of PM on the secretion of cytokines by a human monocytic cell line (THP-1). We compared the chemotactic, pro-inflammatory, and anti-inflammatory cytokines induced by PM collected for two years during three different seasons in five different Mexico City locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Pregnancy Research on Inflammation, Nutrition, & City Environment: Systematic Analyses Study (PRINCESA) cohort was set up to evaluate associations between air pollution and birth outcomes among pregnant persons in Mexico City. Specifically, the study was designed to improve air pollution exposure assessment and elucidate biological mechanisms underlying associations between maternal exposures and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant persons (all women) (N = 935) between ages 18-45 who lived and/or worked in metropolitan Mexico City, Mexico, from 2009 to 2015 and liveborn singleton infants (N = 815) of participants who completed follow-up were enrolled in the cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to industrial pollutants is a potential risk factor not fully explored in ASD with regression (ASD+R). We studied geographical collocation patterns of industrial air chemical emissions and the location of homes of children with ASD+R at different exposure times, compared with ASD cases without regression (ASD-R). Fifteen of 111 emitted chemicals collocated with ASD+R, and 65 with ASD-R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Climate change impacts are felt unequally worldwide; populations that experience geographical vulnerability, those living in small island states and densely populated coastal areas, and children and women are affected disproportionately. This scoping review aims to synthesize evidence from relevant studies centred on South Asia, identify research gaps specifically focused on children and women's health, and contribute to knowledge about South Asia's existing mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Methods: A research librarian executed the search on six databases using controlled vocabulary (e.
Background: Research on intra- and inter-regional variations in emergency department (ED) visits among children can provide a better understanding of the patterns of ED utilization and further insight into how contextual features of the urban environment may be associated with these health events. Our objectives were to assess intra-urban and inter-urban variation in paediatric emergency department (PED) visits in census metropolitan areas (CMAs) in Ontario and Alberta, Canada and explore if contextual factors related to material and social deprivation, proximity to healthcare facilities, and supply of family physicians explain this variation.
Methods: A retrospective, population-based analysis of data on PED visits recorded between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2017 was conducted.
To review and discuss recent findings on the associations between pediatric/early-life exposures to ambient air pollution and the risk of pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). A scoping review was conducted using the Peters Micah et al. framework.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
January 2022
In cold temperatures, vehicles idle more, have high cold-start emissions including greenhouse gases, and have less effective exhaust filtration systems, which can cause up to ten-fold more harmful vehicular emissions. Only a few vehicle technologies have been tested for emissions below -7 °C (20 °F). Four-hundred-million people living in cities with sub-zero temperatures may be impacted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExposure to fine particulate matter (PM) induces airway inflammation and hyperreactivity that lead to asthma. The mechanisms involved are still under investigation. We investigated the effect of resveratrol (3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene) (RES) on airway hyperresponsiveness, inflammation and CYP1A1 protein expression (an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) target) induced by PM exposure in an allergic asthma experimental guinea pig model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Over the last decade, several studies have reported that residential proximity to vegetation, or 'greenness', is associated with improved birth outcomes, including for term birth weight (TBW), preterm birth (PTB), and small for gestational age (SGA). However, there remain several uncertainties about these possible benefits including the role of air pollution, and the extent to they are influenced socioeconomic status.
Methods: We addressed these gaps using a national population-based study of 2.
The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of well-characterized TiO nanoparticles on DNA methylation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) . Maximum non-toxic concentration of nanoparticles for PBMCs was determined by MTT assay. The effect of TiO nanoparticles at concentrations of 25-100 μg/ml on DNA methylation of PBMCs was investigated by measuring the %5-mC alterations through an ELISA assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In the rapidly shifting Canadian climate, an ageing population, and increased migration, a greater understanding of how local climate and air pollution hazards impact older adults and immigrant populations will be necessary for mitigating and adapting to adverse health impacts.
Objectives: To explore the reported health impacts of climate change and air pollution exposures in older adults and immigrant people living in Canada, identify known factors influencing risk and resilience in these populations and gaps in the literature.
Methods: We searched for research focused on older adults and immigrants living in Canada, published from 2010 onward, where the primary exposures were related to climate or air pollution.
Peptides
August 2021
Epidemiological studies have associated long-term exposure to environmental air pollution particulate matter (PM) with the development of diverse health problems. They include infectious respiratory diseases related to the deregulation of some innate immune response mechanisms, such as the host defense peptides' expression. Herein, we evaluated in BALB/c mice the effect of long-standing exposure (60 days) to urban-PM from the south of Mexico City, with aerodynamic diameters below 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Maternal wildfire exposure (e.g., smoke, stress) has been associated with poor birth outcomes with effects potentially mediated through air pollution and psychosocial stress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Adverse birth outcomes have important consequences for future lung health. We evaluated patterns of respiratory health services utilization in early childhood among children born preterm (PTB), small and large for gestational age at term (SGA and LGA, respectively), and appropriate-for-gestational age at term.
Materials And Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using administrative health data of all singleton live births in Alberta, Canada between 2005-2010.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
October 2020
Acute leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and has been associated with exposure to environmental carcinogens. This study aimed to identify clusters of acute childhood leukemia (ACL) cases and analyze their relationship with proximity to industrial sources of air pollution in three capital cities in Colombia during 2000-2015. Incident ACL cases were obtained from the population cancer registries for the cities of Bucaramanga, Cali, and Medellín.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe biodiversity hypothesis that contact with natural environments (e.g. native vegetation) and biodiversity, through the influence of environmental microbes, may be beneficial for human commensal microbiota has been insufficiently tested.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
June 2020
Air pollution in developing countries is a growing concern. It is associated with urbanization and social and economic structures. The understanding of how social factors can influence the perception and the potential impact of air pollution have not been addressed sufficiently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Air pollution is a leading environmental risk, and socioeconomic status (SES) is postulated as an effect modifier, especially in children. There is a growing interest in exploring this modifier. The present manuscript reviews SES as an effect modifier in children's respiratory health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe assessed the association of spatiotemporal hot spots of critically ill small for gestational age (ciSGA) newborns and industrial air emissions. Using neonatal admission data from the Canadian Neonatal Network between 2006 and 2010 (n = 32,836 infants), we aggregated maternal residential postal codes from nineteen census metropolitan areas (CMA) into space-time cubes and applied emerging hot spot analyses. Using National Pollutant Release Inventory data (n = 161 chemicals) and Environment Canada weather station data (n = 19 sites), we estimated monthly wind-dispersion of air emissions and calculated hot spots.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: An accurate assessment of the adequacy of prenatal care utilization is critical to inform the relationship between prenatal care and pregnancy outcomes. This systematic review critically appraises the evidence on measurement properties of prenatal care utilization indices and provides recommendations about which index is the most useful for this purpose.
Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science were systematically searched from database inception to October 2018 using keywords related to indices of prenatal care utilization.
Objective: Using a summary measure of health inequalities, this study evaluated the distribution of adverse birth outcomes (ABO) and related maternal risk factors across area-level socioeconomic status (SES) gradients in urban and rural Alberta, Canada.
Design: Cross-sectional study using a validated perinatal clinical registry and an area-level SES.
Setting: The study was conducted in Alberta, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
October 2019
Tuberculosis (TB) and air pollution both contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. Epidemiological studies show that exposure to household and urban air pollution increase the risk of new infections with (M.tb) and the development of TB in persons infected with and alter treatment outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn addition to small for gestational age (SGA) and low birth weight at term (LBWT), critically ill cases of SGA/LBWT are significant events from outcomes and economic perspectives that require further understanding of risk factors. We aimed to assess the spatiotemporal distribution of locations where there were consistently higher numbers of critically ill SGA/LBWT (hot spots) in comparison with all SGA/LBWT and all births. We focused on Edmonton (2008-2010) and Calgary (2006-2010), Alberta, and used a geographical information system to apply emerging hot spot analysis, as a new approach for understanding SGA, LBWT, and the critically ill counterparts (ciSGA or ciLBWT).
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