Occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality and health after energy retrofits of multi-family buildings: Results from INSULAtE-project.

Background: Driven by climate change mitigation, EU countries are committed to improve energy efficiency of their building stock by implementing the energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD). Should higher energy efficiency result in better indoor environmental quality (IEQ), this policy could also be seen as an opportunity to improve public health across Europe.

Objectives: This paper focuses on the assessment of the effects of energy retrofits on occupant satisfaction with IEQ and health in multifamily buildings.

Indoor thermal environment, air exchange rates, and carbon dioxide concentrations before and after energy retro fits in Finnish and Lithuanian multi-family buildings.

Impacts of energy retrofits on indoor thermal environment, i.e. temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH), as well as ventilation rates and carbon dioxide (CO) concentrations, were assessed in 46 Finnish and 20 Lithuanian multi-family buildings, including 39 retrofitted case buildings in Finland and 15 in Lithuania (the remaining buildings were control buildings with no retrofits).

Statistical associations between housing quality and health among Finnish households with children - Results from two (repeated) national surveys.

The overall aim of the study was to assess housing and health issues related to Finnish housing stock and possible changes occurring in the course of time. Based on two housing and health questionnaire surveys, first one in 2007 and the second one in 2011, we examined factors associated with housing satisfaction and health symptoms that residents themselves reported on a general population level. A special emphasis was on housing quality and health issues among households with children.

Modeling Associations between Principals' Reported Indoor Environmental Quality and Students' Self-Reported Respiratory Health Outcomes Using GLMM and ZIP Models.

Background: The aim of this paper was to examine associations between school building characteristics, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), and health responses using questionnaire data from both school principals and students.

Methods: From 334 randomly sampled schools, 4248 sixth grade students from 297 schools participated in a questionnaire. From these schools, 134 principals returned questionnaires concerning 51 IEQ related questions of their school.

Assessment of indoor environmental quality in existing multi-family buildings in North-East Europe.

Sixteen existing multi-family buildings (94 apartments) in Finland and 20 (96 apartments) in Lithuania were investigated prior to their renovation in order to develop and test out a common protocol for the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) assessment, and to assess the potential for improving IEQ along with energy efficiency. Baseline data on buildings, as well as data on temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), radon, and microbial content in settled dust were collected from each apartment. In addition, questionnaire data regarding housing quality and health were collected from the occupants.

Indoor environmental quality in school buildings, and the health and wellbeing of students.

Poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in classrooms may be a risk for health symptoms and cause absence from school. We conducted a comprehensive study in order to assess the connection between IEQ in Finnish elementary school buildings and the health and academic performance of sixth grade students. The specific aim of the present paper was to study the school- or grade-level prevalence of symptoms in relation to IEQ.

Evaluating housing quality, health and safety using an Internet-based data collection and response system: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Typically housing and health surveys are not integrated together and therefore are not representative of population health or national housing stocks. In addition, the existing channels for distributing information about housing and health issues to the general public are limited. The aim of this study was to develop a data collection and response system that would allow us to assess the Finnish housing stock from the points of view of quality, health and safety, and also to provide a tool to distribute information about important housing health and safety issues.

Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in vitro and irritation potency in vivo of two red phosphorus-based pyrotechnic smokes.

Two red phosphorus (RP)-based smokes (P60 and RPB), differing from each other mainly in RP content and in type of additive, were evaluated for in vitro cytotoxicity (cell viability by the trypan-blue exclusion method) and genotoxicity (comet assay) by exposing BEAS 2B human bronchial epithelial cells to the smokes in a laboratory-scale chamber for 5 min. The irritation potency of RPB smoke was studied in mice. A hexachloroethane-based smoke (HC/Zn/TNT) was used as a reference in the studies.

No association between high temperature requirement 1 (HTRA1) gene polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease.

High temperature requirement 1 (HTRA1) gene is a plausible risk factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it encodes a protease known to degrade amyloid-β peptide. Here we have studied whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HTRA1 gene or its nearby regions associated with AD in a large clinic-based case-control cohort originating from Finland. We did not observe significant association of the HTRA1 SNPs with AD among the whole case-control cohort or age-at-onset risk effect among AD patients.

In vivo and in vitro evaluation of the acute toxicity, the genotoxicity, and the irritation potency of two hexachloroethane-based pyrotechnic smokes.

The two hexachloroethane (HC)-based smoke formulations studied consisted of HC/Zn/2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and HC/Zn. In the in vitro tests, human bronchial epithelial cells were exposed to the smokes at various concentrations. The responses studied were acute toxicity (viability of cells, trypan blue exclusion method) and genotoxicity (DNA single-strand breaks, COMET assay).

Presenilin/gamma-secretase-mediated cleavage regulates association of leukocyte-common antigen-related (LAR) receptor tyrosine phosphatase with beta-catenin.

Leukocyte-common antigen-related (LAR) receptor tyrosine phosphatase regulates cell adhesion and formation of functional synapses and neuronal networks. Here we report that LAR is sequentially cleaved by alpha- and presenilin (PS)/gamma-secretases, which also affect signaling and/or degradation of type-I membrane proteins including the Alzheimer disease-related beta-amyloid precursor protein. Similar to the previously characterized PS/gamma-secretase substrates, inhibition of gamma-secretase activity resulted in elevated LAR C-terminal fragment (LAR-CTF) levels in stably LAR-overexpressing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, human neuroglioma cells, and mouse cortical neurons endogenously expressing LAR.