Environmental pollution
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Environmental pollution · Sep 2021
Increased ozone pollution alongside reduced nitrogen dioxide concentrations during Vienna's first COVID-19 lockdown: Significance for air quality management.
Lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic have offered a real-world opportunity to better understand air quality responses to previously unseen anthropogenic emission reductions. ⋯ A probable future with emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) dropping slower than emissions of nitrogen oxides could risk worsened urban O3 pollution under a VOC-limited photochemical regime. More holistic policies will be needed to achieve improved air quality levels across different regions and criteria pollutants.
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Environmental pollution · May 2021
ReviewThe role of respiratory droplet physicochemistry in limiting and promoting the airborne transmission of human coronaviruses: A critical review.
Whether virulent human pathogenic coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2) are effectively transmitted by aerosols remains contentious. Transmission modes of the novel coronavirus have become a hot topic of research with the importance of airborne transmission controversial due to the many factors that can influence virus transmission. Airborne transmission is an accepted potential route for the spread of some viral infections (measles, chickenpox); however, aerosol features and infectious inoculum vary from one respiratory virus to another. ⋯ Nevertheless, laboratory nebulized virus-laden aerosols might not accurately model the complexity of human carrier aerosols in studying airborne viral transport. In summary, there is disagreement on whether wild coronaviruses can be transmitted via an airborne path and display seasonal patterns. Further studies are therefore required to provide supporting evidence for the role of airborne transmission and assumed mechanisms underlying seasonality.
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Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic metal found in tobacco, air and food. Recent cross-sectional studies have suggested that Cd negatively impacts physical performance, but the prospective association is uncertain. ⋯ Our results support the role of Cd as a risk factor for physical function impairments in older adults.
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On 15th April 2019, Parisians watched in shock as Notre-Dame de Paris, the iconic cathedral that has towered over their city for almost 900 years, was engulfed in flames. Although flames destroyed the spire and considerably weakened the structure, no human lives were lost. ⋯ The geometric mean of blood lead levels of the study population was 1.49μg/dl (95% CI [1.38-1.62]) with a prevalence of blood lead levels≥5.0μg/dL of 5.0%. Despite the early legitimate fears of intoxication, the fire that destroyed a significant part of the Notre-Dame cathedral did not increase the blood lead levels of adults living and working in the vicinity.
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Environmental pollution · Jan 2021
An emerging source of plastic pollution: Environmental presence of plastic personal protective equipment (PPE) debris related to COVID-19 in a metropolitan city.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented surge of production, consumption, and disposal of personal protective equipment (PPE) including face masks, disposable gloves, and disinfectant wipes, which are often made of single use plastic. Widespread public use of these items has imposed pressure on municipalities to properly collect and dispose of potentially infectious PPE. There has been a lack of structured monitoring efforts to quantify the emerging trend of improperly disposed of PPE debris. ⋯ The two surveyed residential areas had the following highest PPE densities (0.00029 items/m2 and 0.00027 items/m2), while the recreational trail had the lowest densities (0.00020 items/m2). Assuming a business-as-usual accumulation, an estimated 14,298 PPE items will be leaked as debris in just the surveyed areas annually. To facilitate proper disposal of PPE debris by the public we recommend development of municipal efforts to improve PPE collection methods that are informed by the described PPE waste pathways.