Association between particulate matter air pollution and heart attacks in San Diego County.

Air pollution is one of the major risk factors contributing to adverse public health outcomes worldwide. Fine particulate matter (PM) has been repeatedly associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attacks. Because PM is unequally distributed with elevated concentrations near high-traffic and industrial zones, PM is an environmental justice issue of major public health concern.

A Casino goes smoke free: a longitudinal study of secondhand and thirdhand smoke pollution and exposure.

Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) in US casinos is common, but little is known about the residue of tobacco smoke pollutants left behind in dust and on surfaces, commonly referred to as thirdhand smoke (THS). We examined SHS and THS pollution and exposure before and during a casino smoking ban and after smoking resumed.

Methods: A casino was visited nine times over a 15-month period to collect dust, surface and air samples in eight locations.

Small, Smart, Fast, and Cheap: Microchip-Based Sensors to Estimate Air Pollution Exposures in Rural Households.

Over the last 20 years, the Kirk R. Smith research group at the University of California Berkeley-in collaboration with Electronically Monitored Ecosystems, Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, and other academic institutions-has developed a suite of relatively inexpensive, rugged, battery-operated, microchip-based devices to quantify parameters related to household air pollution. These devices include two generations of particle monitors; data-logging temperature sensors to assess time of use of household energy devices; a time-activity monitoring system using ultrasound; and a CO₂-based tracer-decay system to assess ventilation rates.

Promoting smoke-free homes: a novel behavioral intervention using real-time audio-visual feedback on airborne particle levels.

Interventions are needed to protect the health of children who live with smokers. We pilot-tested a real-time intervention for promoting behavior change in homes that reduces second hand tobacco smoke (SHS) levels. The intervention uses a monitor and feedback system to provide immediate auditory and visual signals triggered at defined thresholds of fine particle concentration.

Fine aerosol and PAH carcinogenicity estimation in outdoor environment of Mumbai City, India.

Exposure to fine particles has been shown to cause severe human health impacts. In the present study, outdoor fine particles as well as elemental and organic carbon concentrations were measured in four locations within Mumbai city, India, during 2007-2008. The average outdoor PM(2.

Estimating personal PM2.5 exposures using CO measurements in Guatemalan households cooking with wood fuel.

As a part of a longitudinal study in the highlands of Guatemala to elicit the chronic health effects of wood smoke from cooking, mean area and personal 48 h concentrations of 2.5 microm particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured every 3 months over 19 months.

Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport.

We used Comparative Risk Assessment methods to estimate the health effects of alternative urban land transport scenarios for two settings-London, UK, and Delhi, India. For each setting, we compared a business-as-usual 2030 projection (without policies for reduction of greenhouse gases) with alternative scenarios-lower-carbon-emission motor vehicles, increased active travel, and a combination of the two. We developed separate models that linked transport scenarios with physical activity, air pollution, and risk of road traffic injury.

An inexpensive light-scattering particle monitor: field validation.

We have developed a small, light, passive, inexpensive, datalogging particle monitor called the "UCB" (University of California Berkeley particle monitor). Following previously published laboratory assessments, we present here results of tests of its performance in field settings at high particle concentrations. We demonstrate the mass sensitivity of the UCB in relation to gravimetric filter-based PM(2.