Validation of physician certified verbal autopsy using conventional autopsy: a large study of adult non-external causes of death in a metropolitan area in Brazil.

Background: Reliable mortality data are essential for the development of public health policies. In Brazil, although there is a well-consolidated universal system for mortality data, the quality of information on causes of death (CoD) is not even among Brazilian regions, with a high proportion of ill-defined CoD. Verbal autopsy (VA) is an alternative to improve mortality data.

Validation of SmartVA using conventional autopsy: A study of adult deaths in Brazil.

Background: Accurate cause of death data are essential to guide health policy. However, mortality surveillance is limited in many low-income countries. In such settings, verbal autopsy (VA) is increasingly used to provide population-level cause of death data.

The influence that different urban development models has on PM elemental and bioaccessible profiles.

Limited studies have reported on in-vitro analysis of PM but as far as the authors are aware, bioaccessibility of PM in artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF) has not been linked to urban development models before. The Brazilian cities Manaus (Amazon) and Curitiba (South region) have different geographical locations, climates, and urban development strategies. Manaus drives its industrialization using the free trade zone policy and Curitiba adopted a services centered economy driven by sustainability.

Pleural anthracosis as an indicator of lifetime exposure to urban air pollution: An autopsy-based study in Sao Paulo.

Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between air pollution and adverse health effects using a wide variety of methods to assess exposure. However, the assessment of individual long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is a challenging task and has not been evaluated in a large autopsy study. Our goal was to investigate whether exposure to urban air pollution is associated to the degree of lung anthracosis, considering modifying factors such as personal habits, mobility patterns and occupational activities.

Acute exposure to diesel and sewage biodiesel exhaust causes pulmonary and systemic inflammation in mice.

Biodiesel is a renewable energy source that reduces particle emission, but few studies have assessed its effects. To assess the effects of acute inhalation of two doses (600 and 1200 μg/m) of diesel (DE) and biodiesel (BD) fuels on the inflammatory pulmonary and systemic profile of mice. Animals were exposed for 2 h in an inhalation chamber inside the Container Laboratory for Fuels.

Assessing the impact of PM on respiratory disease using artificial neural networks.

Understanding the impact on human health during peak episodes in air pollution is invaluable for policymakers. Particles less than PM can penetrate the respiratory system, causing cardiopulmonary and other systemic diseases. Statistical regression models are usually used to assess air pollution impacts on human health.

Characterization of the particulate matter and relationship between buccal micronucleus and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels among cashew nut roasting workers.

The present study is the first assessment of occupational risk associated with artisanal cashew nut roasting using exposure and effect biomarkers, as well as a characterization and dispersion analysis of the released particulate matter (PM). A real-time particle monitor was used to quantify PM, PM and PM. Furthermore, the PM was sampled using a Handi-vol sampler, and the physicochemical characteristics were determined by SEM-EDS analysis.

Association between Traffic Air Pollution and Reduced Forced Vital Capacity: A Study Using Personal Monitors for Outdoor Workers.

Background: The effects of outdoor air pollution on lung function in adults are still controversial.

Objective: Evaluate the effects of exposure to different levels of traffic-generated PM2.5 on workers' lung functions in São Paulo, Brazil.

Effects of reducing exposure to air pollution on submaximal cardiopulmonary test in patients with heart failure: Analysis of the randomized, double-blind and controlled FILTER-HF trial.

Background: Air pollution exposure could mitigate the health benefits of exercise in patients with heart failure (HF). We tested the effects of a respiratory filter on HF patients exposed to air pollution during exercise.

Methods And Results: Ancillary analysis of the FILTER-HF trial, focused on the exercise outcomes.

Respiratory Filter Reduces the Cardiovascular Effects Associated With Diesel Exhaust Exposure: A Randomized, Prospective, Double-Blind, Controlled Study of Heart Failure: The FILTER-HF Trial.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to test the effects of a respiratory filter intervention (filter) during controlled pollution exposure.

Background: Air pollution is considered a risk factor for heart failure (HF) decompensation and mortality.

Methods: This study was a double-blind, randomized to order, controlled, 3-way crossover, single-center clinical trial.

An approach to using heart rate monitoring to estimate the ventilation and load of air pollution exposure.

Background: The effects of air pollution on health are associated with the amount of pollutants inhaled which depends on the environmental concentration and the inhaled air volume. It has not been clear whether statistical models of the relationship between heart rate and ventilation obtained using laboratory cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) can be applied to an external group to estimate ventilation.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate a model to estimate respiratory ventilation based on heart rate for inhaled load of pollutant assessment in field studies.

Cashew nut roasting: chemical characterization of particulate matter and genotocixity analysis.

Background: Particulate matter (PM) is potentially harmful to health and related to genotoxic events, an increase in the number of hospitalizations and mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. The present study conducted the first characterization of elemental composition and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) analysis of PM, as well as the biomonitoring of genotoxic activity associated to artisanal cashew nut roasting, an important economic and social activity worldwide.

Methods: The levels of PM2.

Vehicle emissions and PM(2.5) mass concentrations in six Brazilian cities.

In Brazil, the principal source of air pollution is the combustion of fuels (ethanol, gasohol, and diesel). In this study, we quantify the contributions that vehicle emissions make to the urban fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) mass in six state capitals in Brazil, collecting data for use in a larger project evaluating the impact of air pollution on human health.

Urban air pollution: a representative survey of PM(2.5) mass concentrations in six Brazilian cities.

In urban areas of Brazil, vehicle emissions are the principal source of fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)). The World Health Organization air quality guidelines state that the annual mean concentration of PM(2.

Endothelial dysfunction in the pulmonary artery induced by concentrated fine particulate matter exposure is associated with local but not systemic inflammation.

Clinical evidence has identified the pulmonary circulation as an important target of air pollution. It was previously demonstrated that in vitro exposure to fine particulate matter (aerodynamic diameter≤2.5 μm, PM2.

Composition of diesel particles influences acute pulmonary toxicity: an experimental study in mice.

Ambient particles have been consistently associated with adverse health effects, yielding mainly high cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality. Diesel engines represent a major source of particles in the urban scenario. We aimed to modify the composition of diesel particles, by means of different extraction procedures, to relate changes in chemical profile to corresponding indicators of respiratory toxicity.

Chronic exposure to ambient levels of urban particles affects mouse lung development.

Rationale: Chronic exposure to air pollution has been associated with adverse effects on children's lung growth.

Objectives: We analyzed the effects of chronic exposure to urban levels of particulate matter (PM) on selected phases of mouse lung development.

Methods: The exposure occurred in two open-top chambers (filtered and nonfiltered) placed 20 m from a street with heavy traffic in São Paulo, 24 hours/day for 8 months.

Decreased fertility in mice exposed to environmental air pollution in the city of Sao Paulo.

It has largely been shown that air pollution can affect human health. Effects on human fertility have been shown mainly in males by a decrease in semen quality. Few studies have focused on the environmental effects on female fertility.