Toward cleaner air and better health: Current state, challenges, and priorities.

The most up-to-date estimate of the global burden of disease indicates that ambient air pollution, including fine particulate matter and ozone, contributes to an estimated 5.2 million deaths each year. In this review, we highlight the challenges in estimating population exposure to air pollution and attributable health risks, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and among vulnerable populations.

Low-level ambient ozone exposure associated with neutrophil extracellular traps and pro-atherothrombotic biomarkers in healthy adults.

Background And Aims: Uncertainty of the causality determinations for ambient ozone (O) on cardiovascular events is heightened by the limited understanding of the mechanisms involved in humans. We aimed to examine the pro-atherothrombotic impacts of O exposure and to explore the potential mediating roles of dysfunctional neutrophils, focusing on neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs).

Methods: A longitudinal panel study of 152 healthy adults was conducted in the cool to cold months with relatively low levels of O between September 2019 and January 2020 in Beijing, China.

Association between short-term air pollution exposure and perturbation in thyrotropin levels in 1.38 million Chinese women: A national longitudinal analysis, 2014-2019.

Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism substantially increased during the last decade in China, which has been commonly/clinically diagnosed as elevation in thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]). Tobacco smoke containing toxic substances has been linked to thyroid dysfunction; however, data on perturbation of TSH following air pollution exposure in human has not been assessed at nationwide population level. We investigated the longitudinal impact of daily ambient air pollution estimated at residential level on serum TSH in 1.

Exposure to ambient oxidant pollution associated with ceramide changes and cardiometabolic responses.

Evidence of impact of ambient oxidant pollution on cardiometabolic responses remains limited. We aimed to examine associations of oxidant pollutants with cardiometabolic responses, and effect modification by ceramides. During 2019-2020, 152 healthy adults were visited 4 times in Beijing, China, and indicators of ceramides, glucose homeostasis, and vascular function were measured.

Pro-inflammation and pro-atherosclerotic responses to short-term air pollution exposure associated with alterations in sphingolipid ceramides and neutrophil extracellular traps.

Air pollution has been associated with the development of atherosclerosis; however, the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying pro-atherosclerotic effects of air pollution exposure remain unclear. We conducted a prospective panel study in Beijing and recruited 152 participants with four monthly visits from September 2019 to January 2020. Linear mixed-effect models were applied to estimate the associations linking short-term air pollution exposure to biomarkers relevant to ceramide metabolism, pro-inflammation (neutrophil extracellular traps formation and systemic inflammation) and pro-atherosclerotic responses (endothelial stimulation, plaque instability, coagulation activation, and elevated blood pressure).

Maternal exposure to traffic-related ambient particles and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus with isolated fasting hyperglycaemia: A retrospective cohort study in Beijing, China.

Background: Ambient particles have been associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), however, no study has evaluated the effects of traffic-related ambient particles on the risks of GDM subgroups classified by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) values.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted among 24,001 pregnant women who underwent regular prenatal care and received OGTT at Haidian Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Beijing, China, 2014-2017. A total of 3,168 (13.

The effect of using personal-level indoor air cleaners and respirators on biomarkers of cardiorespiratory health: a systematic review.

Background: Emerging studies have investigated potential cardiovascular and respiratory health impacts from the use of personal-level intervention equipment against air pollution exposure. The objective of this systematic review is to assess the efficacy of personal-level air pollution intervention on mitigating adverse health effects from air pollution exposure by using portable air cleaner or wearing respirator.

Methods: In this systematic review, we searched PubMed and Web of Science for published literatures up to May 31, 2020, focusing on personal-level air pollution intervention studies.

The mediating role of vascular inflammation in traffic-related air pollution associated changes in insulin resistance in healthy adults.

Aim: The precise pathophysiologic pathway linking traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) to diabetes mellitus is not well elucidated. We aimed to investigate whether activation of vascular inflammation can be a mechanistic linkage between ambient TRAP and insulin resistance.

Methods: Study outcomes were determined by assessing a series of circulating biomarkers indicative of insulin resistance and vascular inflammation among 73 healthy adults who underwent repeated clinical visits in Beijing, China, 2014-2016.

Maternal exposures to fine and ultrafine particles and the risk of preterm birth from a retrospective study in Beijing, China.

Maternal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) has been associated with increased risk of preterm birth (PTB), but evidence on particles in smaller sizes and PTB risk remains limited. In this retrospective analysis, we included birth records of 24,001 singleton live births from Haidian Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Beijing, China, 2014-2017. Concurrently, number concentrations of size-fractioned particles in size ranges of 5-560 nm (PNC) and mass concentrations of PM, black carbon (BC) and gaseous pollutants were measured from a fixed-location monitoring station in central Haidian District.

Traffic-related air pollution associated pulmonary pathophysiologic changes and cardiac injury in elderly patients with COPD.

Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) has shown enormous environmental toxicity, but its cardiorespiratory health impact on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been less studied. We followed a panel of 45 COPD patients with 4 repeated clinical visits across 14 months in a traffic-predominated urban area of Beijing, China, with concurrent measurements of TRAP metrics (fine particulate matter, black carbon, oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide). Linear mixed-effect models were performed to evaluate the associations and potential pathways linking traffic pollution to indicators of spirometry, cardiac injury, inflammation and oxidative stress.

A review on reducing indoor particulate matter concentrations from personal-level air filtration intervention under real-world exposure situations.

Improving air quality in indoor environments where people live is of importance to protect human health. In this systematic review, we assessed the effectiveness of personal-level use of air filtration units in reducing indoor particulate matters (PM) concentrations under real-world situations following systematic review guidelines. A total of 54 articles were included in the review, in which 20 randomized controlled/crossover trials that reported the changes in indoor fine PM (PM ) concentrations were quantitatively assessed in meta-analysis.

Associations of ultrafine and fine particles with childhood emergency room visits for respiratory diseases in a megacity.

Background: Ambient fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM) has been associated with deteriorated respiratory health, but evidence on particles in smaller sizes and childhood respiratory health has been limited.

Methods: We collected time-series data on daily respiratory emergency room visits (ERVs) among children under 14 years old in Beijing, China, during 2015-2017.

Perturbation of amino acid metabolism mediates air pollution associated vascular dysfunction in healthy adults.

The molecular mechanisms of air pollution-associated adverse cardiovascular effects remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the impacts of ambient air pollution on vascular function and the potential mediation effects of amino acids in a longitudinal follow-up of 73 healthy adults living in Beijing, China, between 2014 and 2016. We estimated associations between air pollutants and serum soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) and plasma levels of amino acids using linear mixed-effects models, and elucidated the biological pathways involved using mediation analyses.

Combustion-derived particulate organic matter associated with hemodynamic abnormality and metabolic dysfunction in healthy adults.

Epidemiological evidence on cardiometabolic health of particulate organic matter (POM) and its sources is sparse. In a panel of 73 healthy adults in Beijing, China, daily concentrations of ambient fine particulate matter-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes were measured throughout the study period, and Positive Matrix Factorization approach was used to identity PAHs sources. Linear mixed-effect models and mediation analyses were applied to examine the associations and potential interlink pathways between POM and biomarkers indicative of hemodynamics, insulin resistance, vascular calcification and immune inflammation.

Exercise training prevented endothelium dysfunction from particulate matter instillation in Wistar rats.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) can result in adverse cardiovascular responses including vascular endothelial dysfunction, whereas exercise training can promote cardiovascular health. However, whether exercise training can mitigate adverse vascular response to PM has been less studied. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the preventive effect of exercise training on vascular endothelial dysfunction induced by PM instillation.

Ambient air pollution is associated with cardiac repolarization abnormalities in healthy adults.

Background: Ambient air pollution has been associated with acute cardiovascular events; however, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. We aimed to examine the impacts of ambient air pollutants on cardiac ventricular repolarization in a highly polluted urban region.

Methods: Seventy-three healthy non-smoking young adults (66% female, mean age of 23.

Bacteria and Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) in PM from China: Implications for Human Exposure.

Airborne transmission is one of the environmental dissemination pathways of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and has critical implications for human exposure through inhalation. In this study, we focused on three regions of China to reveal some unique spatiotemporal features of airborne bacteria and ARGs in fine aerosols (PM): (1) greater seasonal variations in the abundance of bacteria and ARGs in temperate urban Beijing than in the subtropical urban areas of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) regions, with regional disparities in bacterial communities; (2) geographical fingerprints of ARG profiles independent of seasonal cycles and land-use gradients within each region; (3) region-independent associations between the targeted ARGs and limited bacterial genera; (4) common correlations between ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) across regions; and (5) PM at the higher end of ARG enrichment across various environmental and human media. The spatiotemporally differentiated bacterial communities and ARG abundances, and the compositions, mobility, and potential hosts of ARGs in the atmosphere have strong implications for human inhalational exposure over spatiotemporal scales.

Hot Tea Consumption and Its Interactions With Alcohol and Tobacco Use on the Risk for Esophageal Cancer: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Unlabelled: This article has been corrected. The original version (PDF) is appended to this article as a Supplement.

Background: Although consumption of tea at high temperatures has been suggested as a risk factor for esophageal cancer, an association has not been observed consistently, and whether any relationship is independent of alcohol and tobacco exposure has not been evaluated.