A fingerprint of source-specific health risk of PM-bound components over a coastal industrial city.

The influence of specific local land-use activities (continuously redistributing elements across environments) and environmental conditions (altering the chemical composition of airborne particulate matter) on the intrinsic health risk of PM exposure is sparsely reported. To fill this gap, we employed a novel integrated approach to address the influence of short-term changes in source-specific PM composition on the exposure-response risk, while controlling for weather conditions. We combine receptor-based source apportionment with conditional logistic regression in a space-time-stratified case-crossover design.

Impacts of PM exposure near cement facilities on human health and years of life lost: A case study in Brazil.

Cement factories significantly contribute to atmospheric pollution by generating fine particulate matter (PM), which can potentially increase the mortality risk. The lack of information on the health impacts of PM pollution from cement operations in Brazil prompted this investigation. We used corrected PM measurements from low-cost sensors from March 2021 to October 2022 in Rio Branco do Sul, city in the southern region of the country and home to Latin America's largest cement plant, to assess exposure data.

Spatialized PM during COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil's most populous southern city: implications for post-pandemic era.

Brazil has experienced one of the highest COVID-19 fatality rates globally. While numerous studies have explored the potential connection between air pollution, specifically fine particulate matter (PM), and the exacerbation of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the majority of this research has been conducted in foreign regions-Europe, the United States, and China-correlating generalized pollution levels with health-related scopes. In this study, our objective is to investigate the localized connection between exposure to air pollution exposure and its health implications within a specific Brazilian municipality, focusing on COVID-19 susceptibility.

A new strategy for risk assessment of PM-bound elements by considering the influence of wind regimes.

For regulatory purposes, air pollution has been reduced to management of air quality control regions (AQCR), by inventorying pollution sources and identifying the receptors significantly affected. However, beyond being source-dependent, particulate matter can be physically and chemically altered by factors and elements of climate during transport, as they act as local environmental constraints, indirectly modulating the adverse effects of particles on the environment and human health. This case study, at an industrial site in a Brazilian coastal city - Joinville, combines different methodologies to integrate atmospheric dynamics in a strategic risk assessment approach whereby the influence of different wind regimes on environmental and health risks of exposure to PM-bound elements, are analysed.