Recognition of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses is a paradigm shift in the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) field, contributed to by New Zealand's experience in Managed Isolation Quarantine Facilities (MIQF). Slowness to embrace this shift by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international bodies highlights the importance of applying the precautionary principle and subjecting established theories to the same level of critical scrutiny as those challenging the status quo. Improving indoor air quality to reduce infection risk and provide other health benefits is a new frontier, requiring much additional work at both grassroots and policy levels. Existing technologies such as masks, air cleaners and opening windows can improve air quality of many environments now. To achieve sustained, comprehensive improvements in air quality that provide meaningful protection, we also need additional actions that do not rely on individual human's behaviour.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.26635/6965.6028 | DOI Listing |
Plant Physiol Biochem
January 2025
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China. Electronic address:
In order to investigate the impact of hot air (HA) treatment on the sugars and volatiles in postharvest nectarine fruit, nectarines were treated with HA at 40 °C for 4 h and stored at 1 °C for 35 days. Changes of sugars, free and glycosidically bound volatiles, β-glucosidase (β-Glu) activity, and the gene expression of UGT (UDP-glucosyltransferase) in nectarine fruit were determined. The results showed that compared with CK, HA treatment delayed the firmness decline of 48.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Occup Environ Med
November 2024
Department of Ophthalmology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Objective: The study investigated the effects of air pollutants on the incidence of acute angle-closure glaucoma (AACG) in Hefei, China.Methods: A combination of generalized additive models (GAM) and distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) was used to explore the relationship between air pollutants and the incidence of AACG.Results: Exposure-response curves showed that exposure to PM2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
C.E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States of America.
Background: Ambient air pollution, detrimental built and social environments, social isolation (SI), low socioeconomic status (SES), and rural (versus urban) residence have been associated with cognitive decline and risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Research is needed to investigate the influence of ambient air pollution and built and social environments on SI and cognitive decline among rural, disadvantaged, ethnic minority communities. To address this gap, this cohort study will recruit an ethnoracially diverse, rural Florida sample in geographic proximity to seasonal agricultural burning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegr Environ Assess Manag
January 2025
Department of Medicine, Division of Occupational, Environmental and Climate Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, California, 94158United States.
Water scarcity is projected to affect half of the world's population, gradually exacerbated by climate change. This article elaborates from a panel discussion at the 2023 United Nations Water Conference on Addressing Water Scarcity to Achieve Climate Resilience and Human Health. Understanding and addressing water scarcity goes beyond hydrological water balances to also include societal and economic measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Monit Assess
January 2025
Air Quality, Climate Change and Health (ACH) Lab, Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, 1342, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The growing global attention on urban air quality underscores the need to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of nitrogen dioxide (NO) and its environmental and anthropogenic factors, particularly in cities like Dhaka (Gazipur), Bangladesh, which suffers from some of the world's worst air quality. This study analysed NO concentrations in Gazipur from 2019 to 2022 using Sentinel-5P TROPOMI data on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Correlations and regression analysis were done between NO levels and various environmental factors, including land surface temperature (LST), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land use and land cover (LULC), population density, road density, settlement density, and industry density.
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