Environment international
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Environment international · Jun 2020
Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: The world should face the reality.
Hand washing and maintaining social distance are the main measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to avoid contracting COVID-19. Unfortunately, these measured do not prevent infection by inhalation of small droplets exhaled by an infected person that can travel distance of meters or tens of meters in the air and carry their viral content. ⋯ Despite this, no countries or authorities consider airborne spread of COVID-19 in their regulations to prevent infections transmission indoors. It is therefore extremely important, that the national authorities acknowledge the reality that the virus spreads through air, and recommend that adequate control measures be implemented to prevent further spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in particularly removal of the virus-laden droplets from indoor air by ventilation.
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Environment international · Mar 2020
Hydrological application of radar rainfall nowcasting in the Netherlands.
Accurate and robust short-term rainfall forecasts (nowcasts) are useful in operational flood forecasting. However, the high temporal and spatial variability of rainfall fields make rainfall nowcasting a challenging endeavour. To cope with this variability, nowcasting techniques based on weather radar imagery have been proposed. ⋯ Probabilistic nowcasting effectively accounted for the uncertainty associated with rainfall and discharge forecasts. The uncertainty in rainfall forecasts was found to be largest for the smaller catchments. The uncertainty in how much earlier the discharge could be forecasted (the gain in lead time) ranged from 15 to 50 min.
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Environment international · Feb 2020
Does the AQHI reduce cardiovascular hospitalization in Hong Kong's elderly population?
Air quality alert programs have been introduced around the world to reduce the short term effects of air pollution on health. Hong Kong, a densely populated city in southern China with high levels of air pollution, introduced its first air quality health index (AQHI) on December 30th 2013. However, whether air quality alert program warnings, such as the AQHI, reduces morbidity is uncertain. Using a quasi-experimental design, we conducted the first evaluation of the AQHI in Hong Kong, focusing on cardiovascular morbidity in Hong Kong's elderly population. ⋯ Hong Kong's AQHI helped reduced hospital admissions in the elderly for HPD and AMI but had no effect on overall emergency hospitalization for CVD. To maximize health benefits of the policy, at risk groups need to be able to follow the behavioral changes recommended by the AQHI warnings.
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Environment international · Dec 2019
Household energy efficiency and health: Area-level analysis of hospital admissions in England.
Fuel poverty affects up to 35% of European homes, which represents a significant burden on society and healthcare systems. Draught proofing homes to prevent heat loss, improved glazing, insulation and heating (energy efficiency measures) can make more homes more affordable to heat. This has prompted significant investment in energy efficiency upgrades for around 40% of UK households to reduce the impact of fuel poverty. Despite some inconsistent evidence, household energy efficiency interventions can improve cardiovascular and respiratory health outcomes. However, the health benefits of these interventions have not been fully explored; this is the focus of this study. ⋯ This study supports the need for more holistic approaches to delivering healthier indoor environments, which must consider a dynamic and complex system with multiple interactions between a range of interrelated factors. These need to consider the drivers and pressures (e.g. quality of the built environment and resident behaviours) resulting in environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes.
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Environment international · Dec 2019
Gestational diabetes mellitus, prenatal air pollution exposure, and autism spectrum disorder.
Ambient air pollution and maternal diabetes may affect common biological pathways underlying adverse neurodevelopmental effects. However, joint effects of maternal diabetes and air pollution on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have not been studied. ⋯ GDM onset early in pregnancy may increase children's susceptibility to prenatal O3-associated ASD risk. These novel findings merit further investigation.