Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aquatic media of Turkey: A systematic review of cancer and ecological risk.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have gathered worldwide attention due to their carcinogenicity and toxicity. This paper aims to review and extend current knowledge on PAHs in aquatic environments in Turkey, where expansion of the marine industry has caused contamination concerns. To assess cancer and ecological risks associated with PAHs, we systematically reviewed 39 research articles.

Forests effects on the environmental fates of organic pollutants in a tropical watershed.

Poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), dioxins, furans and current-use pesticides (CUPs) are common organic pollutants that have received global scrutiny due to their association with adverse environmental and health impacts. However, there is limited previous work assessing their environmental fates in the context of tropical multi-use watersheds. The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of forests on long-term environmental fate for some PBDEs, dioxins, furans and CUPs for a case study watershed of a tropical developing country (the Rio Cobre River drainage basin, Jamaica).

Healthy Urban Environmental Features for Poverty Resilience: The Case of Detroit, USA.

Within the existing relationship among urban environment, health, and poverty, it is necessary to clarify and characterize the influence that the physical environment has on community socioeconomic outcomes. Given that Detroit has one of the highest poverty rates among large metropolitan areas in the United States, this study aims to identify environmental and urban features that have influenced poverty in this city by assessing whether changes in household income are associated with characteristics of the built environment. The difference of median household income (DMHI) between 2017 and 2013 and 27 environmental and urban variables were investigated using both geographic distribution mapping and statistical correlation analysis.

Forest filter effect for polybrominated diphenyl ethers in a tropical watershed.

There is limited research characterizing the fates of persistent organic pollutants in tropical multi-use watersheds. This study aimed to evaluate the role of forests in the environmental fates of select polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) for a case study tropical drainage basin, the Rio Cobre watershed. Field samples of deposition, soil, litterfall and the atmosphere of a forest and nearby clearing were analyzed for the presence of the PBDEs (PBDE-28, 47, 99, 100, 153, 154, 183 and 209), which are routinely detected in the environment.

Maternal exposure to ambient cadmium levels, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Background: Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a rare musculoskeletal birth defect with a prevalence of 2.61 per 10,000 in the United States. There is limited evidence for ambient air pollutants in the etiology of CDH in humans.

On the accuracy and potential of Google Maps location history data to characterize individual mobility for air pollution health studies.

Appropriately characterizing spatiotemporal individual mobility is important in many research areas, including epidemiological studies focusing on air pollution. However, in many retrospective air pollution health studies, exposure to air pollution is typically estimated at the subjects' residential addresses. Individual mobility is often neglected due to lack of data, and exposure misclassification errors are expected.

Trends, correlates, and survival of infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia and its subtypes.

Objective: To identify the live-birth prevalence, trends, correlates, and neonatal and 1-year survival rates of congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Methods: Using a population-based, retrospective cohort study design, we examined 1,025 cases of congenital diaphragmatic hernia from the 1998-2012 Florida Birth Defects Registry. We used Poisson and joinpoint regression models to compute prevalence ratios and temporal trends, respectively.

Impacts of compact growth and electric vehicles on future air quality and urban exposures may be mixed.

'Smart' growth and electric vehicles are potential solutions to the negative impacts of worldwide urbanization on air pollution and health. However, the effects of planning strategies on distinct types of pollutants, and on human exposures, remain understudied. The goal of this work was to investigate the potential impacts of alternative urban designs for the area around Tampa, Florida USA, on emissions, ambient concentrations, and exposures to oxides of nitrogen (NO), 1,3-butadiene, and benzene.

Uncertainty in maternal exposures to ambient PM2.5 and benzene during pregnancy: Sensitivity to exposure estimation decisions.

We investigate uncertainty in estimates of pregnant women's exposure to ambient PM2.5 and benzene derived from central-site monitoring data. Through a study of live births in Florida during 2000-2009, we discuss the selection of spatial and temporal scales of analysis, limiting distances, and aggregation method.

Exposure and inequality for select urban air pollutants in the Tampa Bay area.

Air pollution exposure has been linked to numerous adverse health effects, with some disadvantaged subgroups disproportionately burdened. The objective of this work was to characterize distributions of emissions and concentrations of a few important urban air toxics at high spatiotemporal resolution in order to assess exposure and inequality. Benzene, 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde were the focus pollutants, with oxides of nitrogen (NOx) estimated for comparisons.

The Fort Collins Commuter Study: Impact of route type and transport mode on personal exposure to multiple air pollutants.

Traffic-related air pollution is associated with increased mortality and morbidity, yet few studies have examined strategies to reduce individual exposure while commuting. The present study aimed to quantify how choice of mode and route type affects personal exposure to air pollutants during commuting. We analyzed within-person difference in exposures to multiple air pollutants (black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO), ultrafine particle number concentration (PNC), and fine particulate matter (PM2.

Associations between exposure to ambient benzene and PM(2.5) during pregnancy and the risk of selected birth defects in offspring.

Objective: A growing number of studies have investigated the association between air pollution and the risk of birth defects, but results are inconsistent. The objective of this study was to examine whether maternal exposure to ambient PM2.5 or benzene increases the risk of selected birth defects in Florida.

Impacts of travel activity and urbanicity on exposures to ambient oxides of nitrogen and on exposure disparities.

Daily exposures to ambient oxides of nitrogen were estimated here for residents of Hillsborough County, FL. The 2009 National Household Travel Survey provided geocoded data on fixed activity locations during each person-day sampled. Routes between activity locations were calculated from transportation network data, assuming the quickest travel path.

Spatial variation in ambient benzene concentrations over a city park.

Passive diffusive samplers were used to collect ambient benzene for a one-week sampling period (April 27 to May 4, 2011) at 11 locations throughout a city park in the Tampa, Florida, area. Concentrations were determined through gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Spatial variability within the park and its contribution to uncertainty in health risk estimates were studied.

Spatiotemporal distributions of ambient oxides of nitrogen, with implications for exposure inequality and urban design.

Unlabelled: Intra-urban differences in concentrations of oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)) and exposure disparities in the Tampa area were investigated across temporal scales through emissions estimation, dispersion modeling, and analysis of residential subpopulation exposures. A hybrid estimation method was applied to provide link-level hourly on-road mobile source emissions. Ambient concentrations in 2002 at 1 km resolution were estimated using the CALPUFF dispersion model.

An inequality study of ambient nitrogen dioxide and traffic levels near elementary schools in the Tampa area.

Environmental equity has been identified as a challenge and goal of national to global air quality management. Here, relationships between traffic-related air pollution measures and the social demographics of elementary schools are investigated. Ogawa passive samplers were used to measure ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) levels near 75 randomly selected elementary schools in the county containing Tampa, FL over one week in March 2008.

Total mercury loadings in sediment from gold mining and conservation areas in Guyana.

The Low Carbon Development Strategy proposed in June 2009 by the government of Guyana in response to the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries program has triggered evaluation of forest-related activities, thereby acting as a catalyst for improvements in Guyana's small- to medium-scale gold mining industry. This has also shed light on areas committed to conservation, something that has also been handled by Non Governmental Organizations. This paper compares water quality and mercury concentrations in sediment from four main areas in Guyana, two that are heavily mined for gold using mercury amalgamation methods (Arakaka and Mahdia) and two that are considered conservation areas (Iwokrama and Konashen).

The social distribution of neighborhood-scale air pollution and monitoring protection.

The potential for inequities between population subgroups in air pollution exposures and in regulatory protection because of small-scale intraurban differences in outdoor air pollution and air quality monitoring are studied here. The focus subgroups are blacks, Hispanics, whites, and the population living below poverty, with Tampa, FL, used as the case study area for quantitative analyses. A geographical database is developed for the surrounding county that includes population demographics, source locations, monitor locations, and air pollutant concentrations.

Degradation of biological weapons agents in the environment: implications for terrorism response.

We investigate the impact on effective terrorism response of the viability degradation of biological weapons agents in the environment. We briefly review the scientific understanding and modeling of agent environmental viability degradation. In general, agent susceptibility to viability loss is greatest for vegetative bacteria, intermediate for viruses, and least for bacterial spores.