Multiple Imputation of Missing Race/Ethnicity Information in the National Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance System.

Missing race/ethnicity data are common in many surveillance systems and registries, which may limit complete and accurate assessments of racial and ethnic disparities. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Surveillance System (NASS) has a congressional mandate to collect data on all ART cycles performed by fertility clinics in the United States and provides valuable information on ART utilization and treatment outcomes. However, race/ethnicity data are missing for many ART cycles in NASS.

Resource allocation for mitigating regional air pollution-related mortality: A summertime case study for five cities in the United States.

Unlabelled: An important issue of regional air quality management is to allocate air quality management funds to maximize environmental and human health benefits. In this study, we use an innovative approach to tackle this air quality management issue. We develop an innovative resource allocation model that allows identification of air pollutant emission control strategies that maximize mortality avoidances subject to a resource constraint.

Optimization of multipollutant air quality management strategies: A case study for five cities in the United States.

Unlabelled: Developing regional air quality management strategies is a difficult task because formation of air pollutants is interdependent and air quality at different locations may have different responses to emissions from common sources. We developed an optimization-based model, OPtimal integrated Emission Reduction Alternatives (OPERA), which allows for identifications of least-cost control strategies for attaining multipollutant air quality targets at multiple locations simultaneously. To implement OPERA, first, sensitivities of air quality to precursor emission changes are quantified.

Contributions of regional air pollutant emissions to ozone and fine particulate matter-related mortalities in eastern U.S. urban areas.

Ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are associated with adverse human health effects such as lung structure dysfunction, inflammation and infection, asthma, and premature deaths. This study estimated contributions of emissions of anthropogenic nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sulfur dioxides (SO2) from four regions to summertime (i.

Development of risk-based air quality management strategies under impacts of climate change.

Unlabelled: Climate change is forecast to adversely affect air quality through perturbations in meteorological conditions, photochemical reactions, and precursor emissions. To protect the environment and human health from air pollution, there is an increasing recognition of the necessity of developing effective air quality management strategies under the impacts of climate change. This paper presents a framework for developing risk-based air quality management strategies that can help policy makers improve their decision-making processes in response to current and future climate change about 30-50 years from now.

Sensitivity of air pollution-induced premature mortality to precursor emissions under the influence of climate change.

The relative contributions of PM(2.5) and ozone precursor emissions to air pollution-related premature mortality modulated by climate change are estimated for the U.S.

Cost analysis of impacts of climate change on regional air quality.

Climate change has been predicted to adversely impact regional air quality with resulting health effects. Here a regional air quality model and a technology analysis tool are used to assess the additional emission reductions required and associated costs to offset impacts of climate change on air quality. Analysis is done for six regions and five major cities in the continental United States.

Potential impact of climate change on air pollution-related human health effects.

The potential health impact of ambient ozone and PM2.5 concentrations modulated by climate change over the United States is investigated using combined atmospheric and health modeling. Regional air quality modeling for 2001 and 2050 was conducted using CMAQ Modeling System with meteorology from the GISS Global Climate Model, downscaled regionally using MM5,keeping boundary conditions of air pollutants, emission sources, population, activity levels, and pollution controls constant.

Development of North American emission inventories for air quality modeling under climate change.

An assessment of how future climate change will impact regional air quality requires projecting emissions many decades into the future in a consistent manner. An approach that integrates the impact of both the current regulations and the longer-term national and global trends is developed to construct an emissions inventory (EI) for North America for the mid-century in support of a regional modeling study of ozone and particulate matter (PM) less than or equal to 2.5 microm (PM2.

Current and future linked responses of ozone and PM2.5 to emission controls.

Responses of ozone and PM2.5 to emission changes are coupled because of interactions between their precursors. Here we show the interdependencies of ozone and PM2.

Sensitivities of ozone and fine particulate matter formation to emissions under the impact of potential future climate change.

Impact of climate change alone and in combination with currently planned emission control strategies are investigated to quantify effectiveness in decreasing regional ozone and PM2.5 over the continental U.S.