Comparing life cycle environmental impacts of food access and consumption pre- and during COVID 19 in New York State's Capital Region.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced household food shopping, food consumption, and food waste generation. However, the dietary environmental impacts for different income groups during COVID-19 remain unknown. To analyze dietary environmental impacts for various income groups, a process-based life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted based on two electronic food access surveys implemented in the New York State's Capital Region during the COVID-19 pandemic and public and proprietary databases.

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Food Acquisition Behavior, and Food Insecurity Before and After the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout.

Objectives: To assess changes in food acquisition behavior, food insecurity, and dietary behavior and identify factors associated with fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption during the transitional period (before and after the initial vaccine rollout for all adults) of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: Successive independent samples design. Online surveys were conducted from October 2020 to February 2021 (time 1, before the vaccine rollout) and from October 2021 to December 2021 (time 2, after the vaccine rollout).

Unmasking the sky: high-resolution PM prediction in Texas using machine learning techniques.

Background: Although PM (fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) is an air pollutant of great concern in Texas, limited regulatory monitors pose a significant challenge for decision-making and environmental studies.

Objective: This study aimed to predict PM concentrations at a fine spatial scale on a daily basis by using novel machine learning approaches and incorporating satellite-derived Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and a variety of weather and land use variables.

A review of machine learning applications in life cycle assessment studies.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a foundational method for quantitative assessment of sustainability. Increasing data availability and rapid development of machine learning (ML) approaches offer new opportunities to advance LCA. Here, we review current progress and knowledge gaps in applying ML techniques to support LCA, and identify future research directions for LCAs to better harness the power of ML.

How neighborhood environment modified the effects of power outages on multiple health outcomes in New York state?

Background: Although power outage (PO) is one of the most important consequences of increasing weather extremes and the health impact of POs has been reported previously, studies on the neighborhood environment underlying the population vulnerability in such situations are limited. This study aimed to identify dominant neighborhood environmental predictors which modified the impact of POs on multiple health outcomes in New York State.

Methods: We applied a two-stage approach.

Long-term exposure to particulate matter and COPD mortality: Insights from causal inference methods based on a large population cohort in southern China.

Background: Evidence of the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality from large population-based cohort study is limited and often suffers from residual confounding issues with traditional statistical methods. We hereby assessed the casual relationship between long-term PM (PM, PM and PM) exposure and COPD mortality in a large cohort of Chinese adults using state-of-the-art causal inference approaches.

Methods: A total of 580,757 participants in southern China were enrolled in a prospective cohort study from 2009 to 2015 and followed up until December 2020.

Residential Proximity to Biorefinery Sources of Air Pollution and Respiratory Diseases in New York State.

Understanding potential health risks associated with biofuel production is critical to sustainably combating energy insecurity and climate change. However, the specific health impacts associated with biorefinery-related emissions are not yet well characterized. We evaluated the relationship between respiratory emergency department (ED) visits (2011-2015) and residential exposure to biorefineries by comparing 15 biorefinery sites to 15 control areas across New York (NY) State.

The immediate effects of winter storms and power outages on multiple health outcomes and the time windows of vulnerability.

Background: While most prior research has focused on extreme heat, few assessed the immediate health effects of winter storms and associated power outages (PO), although severe storms have become more frequent. This study evaluates the joint and independent health effects of winter storms and PO, snow versus ice-storm, effects by time window (peak timing, winter/transitional months) and the impacts on critical care indicators including numbers of comorbidity, procedure, length of stay and cost.

Methods: We use distributed lag nonlinear models to assess the impacts of winter storm/PO on hospitalizations due to cardiovascular, lower respiratory diseases (LRD), respiratory infections, food/water-borne diseases (FWBD) and injuries in New York State on 0-6 lag days following storm/PO compared with non-storm/non-PO periods (references), while controlling for time-varying factors and PM.

Sources of exposure to urinary phthalates among couples undergoing infertility treatment.

Phthalates have been implicated as reproductive toxicants in animal models and in human populations. This study examined associations between potential exposure sources and urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations among women (n = 56) and their male partners (n = 43) undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). On the day of oocyte retrieval, participants provided urine samples and completed questionnaires detailing use of personal care products (PCPs), and consumption of medications, foods, and beverages in the preceding 24 h.

Power Outage: An Ignored Risk Factor for COPD Exacerbations.

Background: COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States, with 16 million Americans currently experiencing difficulty with breathing. Power outages could be life-threatening for those relying on electricity. However, significant gaps remain in understanding the potential impact of power outages on COPD exacerbations.

Spatially and Temporally Explicit Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Soybean Production in the U.S. Midwest.

Understanding spatially and temporally explicit life cycle environmental impacts is critical for designing sustainable supply chains for biofuel and animal sectors. However, annual life cycle environmental impacts of crop production at county scale across mutiple years are lacking. To address this knowledge gap, this study used a combination of Environmental Policy Integrated Climate and process-based life cycle assessment models to quantify life cycle global warming (GWP), eutrophication (EU) and acidification (AD) impacts of soybean production in nearly 1000 Midwest counties yr over 9 years.

Identifying and evaluating school environmental health indicators.

Children's health, attendance, and academic performance may be affected by school environmental hazards. While prior studies evaluated home environment and health, few have evaluated indicators of school in-/outdoor environment and health. This study addresses this knowledge gap by systematically reviewing and evaluating outdoor and indoor indicators of school environment and student's health and performance in New York State (NYS).

Assessing Health Impacts of Conventional Centralized and Emerging Resource Recovery-Oriented Decentralized Water Systems.

Energy shortage and climate change call for sustainable water and wastewater infrastructure capable of simultaneously recovering energy, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting public health. Although energy and greenhouse gas emissions of water and wastewater infrastructure are extensively studied, the human health impacts of innovative infrastructure designed under the principles of decentralization and resource recovery are not fully understood. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study assesses and compares the health impacts of three representative systems by integrating life cycle and microbial risk assessment approaches.

Projecting life-cycle environmental impacts of corn production in the U.S. Midwest under future climate scenarios using a machine learning approach.

Climate change is exacerbating environmental pollution from crop production. Spatially and temporally explicit estimates of life-cycle environmental impacts are therefore needed for suggesting location and time relevant environmental mitigations strategies. Emission factors and process-based mechanism models are popular approaches used to estimate life-cycle environmental impacts.

How community vulnerability factors jointly affect multiple health outcomes after catastrophic storms.

Background: While previous studies uncovered individual vulnerabilities to health risks during catastrophic storms, few evaluated the population vulnerability which is more important for identifying areas in greatest need of intervention.

Objectives: We assessed the association between community factors and multiple health outcomes, and developed a community vulnerability index.

Methods: We retained emergency department visits for several health conditions from the 2005-2014 New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System.