Childhood co-exposure of cold stress and PM aggravates the susceptibility and severity of asthma in adulthood of mice.

Both cold stress and ambient fine particle particulate matter (PM ) has been reported to aggravate and induce respiratory problems like asthma, but the mechanism involved in that has not been fully understood. Therefore, the present study is to explore the mechanism involved in the increased susceptibility and severity of asthma caused by cold stress and PM exposure. Urban PM of Shanghai was concentrated to simulate a PM -polluted environment with an average concentration of 400 μg/m , where 1-month young C57BL/6J mice were exposed for 2 months under cold stress (2°C).

PM exposure and cold stress exacerbates asthma in mice by increasing histone acetylation in IL-4 gene promoter in CD4 T cells.

Asthma is a common chronic inflammatory disease which severely reduces the quality of life in patients. Studies have demonstrated that both PM and cold stress contribute to the development of asthma. However, the combined effects of these two risking factors are unknown.

Long-term variation of satellite-based PM2.5 and influence factors over East China.

With the explosive economic development of China over the past few decades, air pollution has attracted increasing global concern. Using satellite-based PM data from 2000 to 2015, we found that the available emissions of atmospheric compositions show similar yearly variation trends to PM, even if the synchronization is not met for each composition, implying that the intensity of anthropogenic emissions dominates the temporal variation of PM in East China. Empirical orthogonal function analysis demonstrates that the dominant variability in the seasonal PM is closely associated with climate circulation transformation, incarnated as the specific climate index such as the Asia Polar Vortex intensity in spring, the Northern Hemisphere Subtropical High Ridge Position for the leading mode and the Kuroshio Current SST for the second mode in summer, the Asia Polar Vortex Area for the leading mode and the Pacific Polar Vortex Intensity for the second mode in autumn, the NINO A SSTA for the leading mode and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation for the second mode in winter.

Atmospheric new particle formation from sulfuric acid and amines in a Chinese megacity.

Atmospheric new particle formation (NPF) is an important global phenomenon that is nevertheless sensitive to ambient conditions. According to both observation and theoretical arguments, NPF usually requires a relatively high sulfuric acid (HSO) concentration to promote the formation of new particles and a low preexisting aerosol loading to minimize the sink of new particles. We investigated NPF in Shanghai and were able to observe both precursor vapors (HSO) and initial clusters at a molecular level in a megacity.

Long-term characteristics of satellite-based PM over East China.

With the explosive economic development of China over the past few decades, air pollution has become a serious environmental problem and has attracted increasing global concern. Using satellite-based PM data from 2000 to 2015, we found that the temporal-spatial variation of PM in East China is characterized by high concentrations in the northern part and low concentrations in the southern part of East China, and by being seasonally high in autumn and winter but low in spring and summer. We also found that the regional average PM concentration shows an approximative peak pattern over the last 16years, with the highest, 60.

Synergistic effects of temperature and humidity on the symptoms of COPD patients.

This panel study investigates how temperature, humidity, and their interaction affect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients' self-reported symptoms. One hundred and six COPD patients from Shanghai, China, were enrolled, and age, smoking status, St. George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) score, and lung function index were recorded at baseline.

Acute Effects of Particulate Air Pollution on the Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease in Shanghai, China.

Introduction: Evidence based on ecological studies in China suggests that short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) is associated with cardiovascular mortality. However, there is less evidence of PM-related morbidity for coronary heart disease (CHD) in China. This study aims to investigate the relationship between acute PM exposure and CHD incidence in people aged above 40 in Shanghai.

Multi-year ozone concentration and its spectra in Shanghai, China.

The periodic properties of surface ozone variation were studied at five stations with different environmental conditions in Shanghai based on multi-year observations of ozone concentration and UV radiation using spectral decomposition methods. The spectra of surface ozone have distinct peaks at semi-diurnal, diurnal, intraseasonal, semiannual, annual, and quasi-biennial periods. The spectra for the frequency band larger than the semi-diurnal follow a -5/3 power law at all the stations.

Effects of temperature and heat waves on emergency department visits and emergency ambulance dispatches in Pudong New Area, China: a time series analysis.

Background: In July 2013, an extended heat episode with extreme high temperature covered Pudong New Area, the largest district in Shanghai. The current study estimates the impacts of temperature and heat waves on emergency department visits (EDV) and emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) using time-series approaches in Pudong, from 2011 to 2013.

Methods: An over-dispersed Poisson generalized additive model was used to examine the association between temperature and EDV and EAD.

Heat wave impact on mortality in Pudong New Area, China in 2013.

Background: In 2013 southeast China suffered from an unusual high temperature, which had broken the heat records in the past 141 years. Few studies have examined the impact of heat waves on mortality in Asia.

Objective: To estimate the impact of the heat wave in 2013 on mortality among the registered permanent residence population and identify susceptible subpopulations in Pudong New Area.

Acute effects of black carbon and PM₂.₅ on children asthma admissions: a time-series study in a Chinese city.

Epidemiologic evidence for an association between black carbon (BC) and health outcomes is limited. We estimated associations and exposure-response relationships between childhood asthma admission and concentration of BC and PM2.5 (particle less than 2.

Associations between fine particle, coarse particle, black carbon and hospital visits in a Chinese city.

China is one of the countries with the highest ambient particle levels in the world; however, there have been no epidemiologic studies examining the effects of fine particle (PM2.5), coarse particle (PM10-2.5) and black carbon (BC) simultaneously on morbidity outcomes.

[Seasonal variations in the vertical distribution of aerosols during dry haze periods in regions around Shanghai].

Based on the onboard lidar data from CALIPSO satellite of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from January 2007 to November 2010, the vertical distribution of optical and micro-physical properties of aerosols around Shanghai during the haze periods when relative humidity less than 80% were revealed by analyzing the parameters of 532 nm total attenuated backscatter coefficient, volume depolarization ratio and total attenuated color ratio. The results showed that during dry haze periods, the scattering ability of lower troposphere (0-2 km) was the highest and the main constituents were regular aerosols. The scattering ability of the upper troposphere (8-10 km) was the lowest and the proportion of irregular aerosols was the highest among the five altitude layers.

Differentiating the associations of black carbon and fine particle with daily mortality in a Chinese city.

There is only limited monitoring data of black carbon for epidemiologic analyses. In the current study, we used the distributed lag models to evaluate the association between mortality outcomes (both total and cause-specific) and exposure to black carbon and fine particle (PM(2.5)) in Shanghai, China.

The association between cold spells and pediatric outpatient visits for asthma in Shanghai, China.

Background: Asthma is a serious global health problem. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between cold spells and pediatric outpatient visits for asthma.

Objective: To examine the association between cold spells and pediatric outpatient visits for asthma in Shanghai, China.

Characteristics and sources of non-methane hydrocarbons and halocarbons in wintertime urban atmosphere of Shanghai, China.

The characteristics and sources of major hydrocarbons and halocarbons in the wintertime ambient air of urban center of Shanghai, a mega city of China, were investigated. Propane, toluene, ethyl acetate, and benzene were the most abundant hydrocarbons. The majority of species showed significant variability in mixing ratios with occasional episodic increases.

Characteristics of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) measured in Shanghai, China.

To better understand the characteristics of ambient abundance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Shanghai, one of the biggest metropolis of China, VOCs were measured with a gas chromatography system equipped with a mass-selective detector (GC/MSD) from July 2006 to February 2010. An intensive measurement campaign was conducted (eight samples per day with a 3 hour interval) during May 2009. The comparison of ambient VOCs collected in different regions of Shanghai shows that the concentrations are slightly higher in the busy commercial area (28.

Particulate nitrate formation in a highly polluted urban area: a case study by single-particle mass spectrometry in Shanghai.

An aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer was deployed in August 2007 to characterize the 0.1-2.0 microm diameter particles in Shanghai to examine nitrate-containing particles.