#particulatematter — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #particulatematter, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: May 15, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Common air pollutants are linked to higher risks of Lewy body and Parkinson’s dementias
Breathing in common air pollutants over many years may substantially raise a person’s risk of developing certain neurodegenerative diseases, pointing to an environmental driver for cognitive decline. A new study published in JAMA Network Open found that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide is linked to higher rates of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia. These results suggest that improving air quality could serve as a preventative measure to protect brain health in aging populations.
Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia are related neurological conditions that severely impact memory, thinking, and behavior. Both disorders involve the abnormal buildup of a specific protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. Proteins are the microscopic structures that carry out essential functions inside our cells. When these proteins misfold and clump together, they disrupt normal cellular activity and eventually cause brain cells to die.
In Lewy body dementia, these protein clumps typically cause early cognitive problems, visual hallucinations, and unpredictable shifts in alertness. In Parkinson’s disease, the damage initially affects movement, causing tremors and stiffness, but many patients eventually develop dementia as the disease spreads through the brain. Researchers want to identify environmental triggers that might cause this destructive protein buildup. If external factors contribute to these diseases, modifying our environment might help prevent the onset of symptoms.
Dimitry S. Davydow, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Florida College of Medicine, led the investigation into these environmental factors. He collaborated with Gregory M. Pontone, a psychiatrist at the University of Florida, along with a team of environmental scientists and epidemiologists from Aarhus University in Denmark. They aimed to track pollution exposure over a long period to see how it affected older adults. The research team focused specifically on two ubiquitous pollutants found in nearly all modern cities.
The first pollutant, fine particulate matter, consists of tiny airborne particles that are much thinner than a single human hair. Because they are so small, these particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs and easily pass into the bloodstream. The second pollutant is nitrogen dioxide, a toxic, reddish-brown gas. Both of these substances are primarily generated by combustion processes, such as the burning of fossil fuels in car engines and power plants.
The brain is usually protected from harmful substances in the blood by a strict biological filter known as the blood-brain barrier. Some incredibly small particles and gases can bypass this defense system and enter brain tissue directly. Once inside, these pollutants might trigger an aggressive immune response from the brain’s defense cells. Chronic inflammation resulting from this immune response can damage neurons and potentially encourage proteins to misfold.
Another possible entry point for these pollutants is the human nose. The olfactory system, which handles the sense of smell, provides a direct neural path from the outside environment to the brain. People who develop Lewy body dementia or Parkinson’s disease often lose their sense of smell early in the disease process. High levels of air pollution are also associated with a weakened ability to smell, suggesting the nasal cavity could be a gateway for toxic particles.
To investigate these patterns, the research team analyzed national health and population records from Denmark. They gathered de-identified data covering more than two million Danish citizens aged 65 to 95 between the years 2001 and 2021. Denmark maintains comprehensive health registries that track medical diagnoses and residential addresses for its entire population. This detailed record-keeping allowed the researchers to look far back into the patients’ lives with high accuracy.
From this massive dataset, the researchers identified just over 3,000 people diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. They also found about 3,800 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease dementia. The investigators matched each of these patients with ten control subjects who did not have either condition. The control subjects were chosen to be the exact same sex and born within fourteen days of the patients they were matched with.
Next, the team had to calculate how much pollution each person had breathed in over time. They used a high-resolution mapping system that models air pollution levels across Denmark on a very localized scale. By combining this environmental data with the historical residential addresses of the subjects, they calculated a ten-year average exposure for each person. This average covered the entire decade right before a dementia diagnosis was recorded.
The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for a wide variety of background factors that might influence brain health. They included the socioeconomic status of the individuals, such as their highest level of education, employment status, and income bracket. They also factored in the general economic conditions of the subjects’ immediate neighborhoods. Finally, they included detailed medical histories, taking into account other physical illnesses and prior psychiatric conditions.
The data revealed a clear connection between higher pollution levels and increased dementia risk. For every small incremental increase in the concentration of fine particulate matter, the risk of developing Lewy body dementia nearly quadrupled. The same incremental increase in this particulate matter was associated with more than double the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease dementia.
Nitrogen dioxide exposure showed a similar, though slightly less dramatic, pattern in the analysis. A fixed increase in the average concentration of this gas almost doubled a person’s chances of developing Lewy body dementia. For Parkinson’s disease dementia, the elevated gas exposure corresponded to a fourteen percent higher risk. In both cases, the connection to pollution was stronger for Lewy body dementia than for the dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers also grouped the subjects based on their total pollution exposure to look for a consistent dose-response relationship. They compared the people who breathed the dirtiest air to those who enjoyed the cleanest air. The group with the highest exposure to fine particulate matter had more than twice the risk for both types of dementia compared to the lowest exposure group.
“These are pollutants most people are exposed to every day,” said Dimitry S. Davydow, M.D., M.P.H., the Lauren and Lee Fixel Professor at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. “They come from things like traffic, shipping and other forms of combustion.”
“While this research does not establish causation, it does show a clear association between air pollution exposure and increased risk of these dementias,” said Gregory Pontone, M.D., M.H.S., the Louis and Roberta Fixel Endowed Chair. “It’s an important step in understanding how environmental factors may contribute to disease development.”
The study relied heavily on diagnoses made in hospitals or specialty clinics, which presents a minor limitation. This means the researchers might have missed milder cases of dementia or patients who never sought specialized medical care. If milder cases were missing from the registries, the exact risk calculations might be slightly underestimated by the final analysis.
The team also lacked access to certain personal details that consistently affect health outcomes in older adults. The national databases do not record lifestyle habits like diet, alcohol consumption, or daily exercise routines. The registries also omit details about specific occupational hazards, meaning the team could not account for people who work in heavily polluted industrial settings.
Additionally, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide are often emitted from the exact same sources, such as highway traffic. Because the two pollutants frequently exist together in the air, it is incredibly difficult to separate their individual effects on the human body. The researchers noted that these elements might work together simultaneously to cause neurological harm.
Future research could explore exactly how these invisible particles initiate the neurodegenerative process on a cellular level. Scientists hope to investigate whether blocking the brain’s inflammatory response might slow or stop the damage caused by inhaled pollutants. Further studies could also look at how agricultural chemicals, like pesticides, might combine with air pollution to impact brain health over a lifetime.
The study, “Exposure to Air Pollutants and Lewy Body and Parkinson Disease–Related Dementias,” was authored by Dimitry S. Davydow, Gregory M. Pontone, Michael S. Okun, Melissa J. Armstrong, Theresa Wimberley Böttger, Camila Geels, Lise Marie Frohn, Jørgen Brandt, Julie Werenberg Dreier, Jakob Christensen, Carsten Bøcker Pedersen, and Henriette Thisted Horsdal.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AirPollutionAndDementia #LewyBodyDementia #ParkinsonsDiseaseDementia #ALPHA-Synuclein #NeurodegenerativeDisease #CleanAirHealthyBrain #ParticulateMatter #NitrogenDioxide #EnvironmentalHealth #BrainHealthMatters
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DATE: May 15, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Common air pollutants are linked to higher risks of Lewy body and Parkinson’s dementias
Breathing in common air pollutants over many years may substantially raise a person’s risk of developing certain neurodegenerative diseases, pointing to an environmental driver for cognitive decline. A new study published in JAMA Network Open found that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide is linked to higher rates of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia. These results suggest that improving air quality could serve as a preventative measure to protect brain health in aging populations.
Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia are related neurological conditions that severely impact memory, thinking, and behavior. Both disorders involve the abnormal buildup of a specific protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. Proteins are the microscopic structures that carry out essential functions inside our cells. When these proteins misfold and clump together, they disrupt normal cellular activity and eventually cause brain cells to die.
In Lewy body dementia, these protein clumps typically cause early cognitive problems, visual hallucinations, and unpredictable shifts in alertness. In Parkinson’s disease, the damage initially affects movement, causing tremors and stiffness, but many patients eventually develop dementia as the disease spreads through the brain. Researchers want to identify environmental triggers that might cause this destructive protein buildup. If external factors contribute to these diseases, modifying our environment might help prevent the onset of symptoms.
Dimitry S. Davydow, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Florida College of Medicine, led the investigation into these environmental factors. He collaborated with Gregory M. Pontone, a psychiatrist at the University of Florida, along with a team of environmental scientists and epidemiologists from Aarhus University in Denmark. They aimed to track pollution exposure over a long period to see how it affected older adults. The research team focused specifically on two ubiquitous pollutants found in nearly all modern cities.
The first pollutant, fine particulate matter, consists of tiny airborne particles that are much thinner than a single human hair. Because they are so small, these particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs and easily pass into the bloodstream. The second pollutant is nitrogen dioxide, a toxic, reddish-brown gas. Both of these substances are primarily generated by combustion processes, such as the burning of fossil fuels in car engines and power plants.
The brain is usually protected from harmful substances in the blood by a strict biological filter known as the blood-brain barrier. Some incredibly small particles and gases can bypass this defense system and enter brain tissue directly. Once inside, these pollutants might trigger an aggressive immune response from the brain’s defense cells. Chronic inflammation resulting from this immune response can damage neurons and potentially encourage proteins to misfold.
Another possible entry point for these pollutants is the human nose. The olfactory system, which handles the sense of smell, provides a direct neural path from the outside environment to the brain. People who develop Lewy body dementia or Parkinson’s disease often lose their sense of smell early in the disease process. High levels of air pollution are also associated with a weakened ability to smell, suggesting the nasal cavity could be a gateway for toxic particles.
To investigate these patterns, the research team analyzed national health and population records from Denmark. They gathered de-identified data covering more than two million Danish citizens aged 65 to 95 between the years 2001 and 2021. Denmark maintains comprehensive health registries that track medical diagnoses and residential addresses for its entire population. This detailed record-keeping allowed the researchers to look far back into the patients’ lives with high accuracy.
From this massive dataset, the researchers identified just over 3,000 people diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. They also found about 3,800 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease dementia. The investigators matched each of these patients with ten control subjects who did not have either condition. The control subjects were chosen to be the exact same sex and born within fourteen days of the patients they were matched with.
Next, the team had to calculate how much pollution each person had breathed in over time. They used a high-resolution mapping system that models air pollution levels across Denmark on a very localized scale. By combining this environmental data with the historical residential addresses of the subjects, they calculated a ten-year average exposure for each person. This average covered the entire decade right before a dementia diagnosis was recorded.
The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for a wide variety of background factors that might influence brain health. They included the socioeconomic status of the individuals, such as their highest level of education, employment status, and income bracket. They also factored in the general economic conditions of the subjects’ immediate neighborhoods. Finally, they included detailed medical histories, taking into account other physical illnesses and prior psychiatric conditions.
The data revealed a clear connection between higher pollution levels and increased dementia risk. For every small incremental increase in the concentration of fine particulate matter, the risk of developing Lewy body dementia nearly quadrupled. The same incremental increase in this particulate matter was associated with more than double the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease dementia.
Nitrogen dioxide exposure showed a similar, though slightly less dramatic, pattern in the analysis. A fixed increase in the average concentration of this gas almost doubled a person’s chances of developing Lewy body dementia. For Parkinson’s disease dementia, the elevated gas exposure corresponded to a fourteen percent higher risk. In both cases, the connection to pollution was stronger for Lewy body dementia than for the dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers also grouped the subjects based on their total pollution exposure to look for a consistent dose-response relationship. They compared the people who breathed the dirtiest air to those who enjoyed the cleanest air. The group with the highest exposure to fine particulate matter had more than twice the risk for both types of dementia compared to the lowest exposure group.
“These are pollutants most people are exposed to every day,” said Dimitry S. Davydow, M.D., M.P.H., the Lauren and Lee Fixel Professor at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. “They come from things like traffic, shipping and other forms of combustion.”
“While this research does not establish causation, it does show a clear association between air pollution exposure and increased risk of these dementias,” said Gregory Pontone, M.D., M.H.S., the Louis and Roberta Fixel Endowed Chair. “It’s an important step in understanding how environmental factors may contribute to disease development.”
The study relied heavily on diagnoses made in hospitals or specialty clinics, which presents a minor limitation. This means the researchers might have missed milder cases of dementia or patients who never sought specialized medical care. If milder cases were missing from the registries, the exact risk calculations might be slightly underestimated by the final analysis.
The team also lacked access to certain personal details that consistently affect health outcomes in older adults. The national databases do not record lifestyle habits like diet, alcohol consumption, or daily exercise routines. The registries also omit details about specific occupational hazards, meaning the team could not account for people who work in heavily polluted industrial settings.
Additionally, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide are often emitted from the exact same sources, such as highway traffic. Because the two pollutants frequently exist together in the air, it is incredibly difficult to separate their individual effects on the human body. The researchers noted that these elements might work together simultaneously to cause neurological harm.
Future research could explore exactly how these invisible particles initiate the neurodegenerative process on a cellular level. Scientists hope to investigate whether blocking the brain’s inflammatory response might slow or stop the damage caused by inhaled pollutants. Further studies could also look at how agricultural chemicals, like pesticides, might combine with air pollution to impact brain health over a lifetime.
The study, “Exposure to Air Pollutants and Lewy Body and Parkinson Disease–Related Dementias,” was authored by Dimitry S. Davydow, Gregory M. Pontone, Michael S. Okun, Melissa J. Armstrong, Theresa Wimberley Böttger, Camila Geels, Lise Marie Frohn, Jørgen Brandt, Julie Werenberg Dreier, Jakob Christensen, Carsten Bøcker Pedersen, and Henriette Thisted Horsdal.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AirPollutionAndDementia #LewyBodyDementia #ParkinsonsDiseaseDementia #ALPHA-Synuclein #NeurodegenerativeDisease #CleanAirHealthyBrain #ParticulateMatter #NitrogenDioxide #EnvironmentalHealth #BrainHealthMatters
-
DATE: May 15, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Common air pollutants are linked to higher risks of Lewy body and Parkinson’s dementias
Breathing in common air pollutants over many years may substantially raise a person’s risk of developing certain neurodegenerative diseases, pointing to an environmental driver for cognitive decline. A new study published in JAMA Network Open found that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide is linked to higher rates of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia. These results suggest that improving air quality could serve as a preventative measure to protect brain health in aging populations.
Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia are related neurological conditions that severely impact memory, thinking, and behavior. Both disorders involve the abnormal buildup of a specific protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain. Proteins are the microscopic structures that carry out essential functions inside our cells. When these proteins misfold and clump together, they disrupt normal cellular activity and eventually cause brain cells to die.
In Lewy body dementia, these protein clumps typically cause early cognitive problems, visual hallucinations, and unpredictable shifts in alertness. In Parkinson’s disease, the damage initially affects movement, causing tremors and stiffness, but many patients eventually develop dementia as the disease spreads through the brain. Researchers want to identify environmental triggers that might cause this destructive protein buildup. If external factors contribute to these diseases, modifying our environment might help prevent the onset of symptoms.
Dimitry S. Davydow, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Florida College of Medicine, led the investigation into these environmental factors. He collaborated with Gregory M. Pontone, a psychiatrist at the University of Florida, along with a team of environmental scientists and epidemiologists from Aarhus University in Denmark. They aimed to track pollution exposure over a long period to see how it affected older adults. The research team focused specifically on two ubiquitous pollutants found in nearly all modern cities.
The first pollutant, fine particulate matter, consists of tiny airborne particles that are much thinner than a single human hair. Because they are so small, these particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs and easily pass into the bloodstream. The second pollutant is nitrogen dioxide, a toxic, reddish-brown gas. Both of these substances are primarily generated by combustion processes, such as the burning of fossil fuels in car engines and power plants.
The brain is usually protected from harmful substances in the blood by a strict biological filter known as the blood-brain barrier. Some incredibly small particles and gases can bypass this defense system and enter brain tissue directly. Once inside, these pollutants might trigger an aggressive immune response from the brain’s defense cells. Chronic inflammation resulting from this immune response can damage neurons and potentially encourage proteins to misfold.
Another possible entry point for these pollutants is the human nose. The olfactory system, which handles the sense of smell, provides a direct neural path from the outside environment to the brain. People who develop Lewy body dementia or Parkinson’s disease often lose their sense of smell early in the disease process. High levels of air pollution are also associated with a weakened ability to smell, suggesting the nasal cavity could be a gateway for toxic particles.
To investigate these patterns, the research team analyzed national health and population records from Denmark. They gathered de-identified data covering more than two million Danish citizens aged 65 to 95 between the years 2001 and 2021. Denmark maintains comprehensive health registries that track medical diagnoses and residential addresses for its entire population. This detailed record-keeping allowed the researchers to look far back into the patients’ lives with high accuracy.
From this massive dataset, the researchers identified just over 3,000 people diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. They also found about 3,800 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease dementia. The investigators matched each of these patients with ten control subjects who did not have either condition. The control subjects were chosen to be the exact same sex and born within fourteen days of the patients they were matched with.
Next, the team had to calculate how much pollution each person had breathed in over time. They used a high-resolution mapping system that models air pollution levels across Denmark on a very localized scale. By combining this environmental data with the historical residential addresses of the subjects, they calculated a ten-year average exposure for each person. This average covered the entire decade right before a dementia diagnosis was recorded.
The researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for a wide variety of background factors that might influence brain health. They included the socioeconomic status of the individuals, such as their highest level of education, employment status, and income bracket. They also factored in the general economic conditions of the subjects’ immediate neighborhoods. Finally, they included detailed medical histories, taking into account other physical illnesses and prior psychiatric conditions.
The data revealed a clear connection between higher pollution levels and increased dementia risk. For every small incremental increase in the concentration of fine particulate matter, the risk of developing Lewy body dementia nearly quadrupled. The same incremental increase in this particulate matter was associated with more than double the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease dementia.
Nitrogen dioxide exposure showed a similar, though slightly less dramatic, pattern in the analysis. A fixed increase in the average concentration of this gas almost doubled a person’s chances of developing Lewy body dementia. For Parkinson’s disease dementia, the elevated gas exposure corresponded to a fourteen percent higher risk. In both cases, the connection to pollution was stronger for Lewy body dementia than for the dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers also grouped the subjects based on their total pollution exposure to look for a consistent dose-response relationship. They compared the people who breathed the dirtiest air to those who enjoyed the cleanest air. The group with the highest exposure to fine particulate matter had more than twice the risk for both types of dementia compared to the lowest exposure group.
“These are pollutants most people are exposed to every day,” said Dimitry S. Davydow, M.D., M.P.H., the Lauren and Lee Fixel Professor at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. “They come from things like traffic, shipping and other forms of combustion.”
“While this research does not establish causation, it does show a clear association between air pollution exposure and increased risk of these dementias,” said Gregory Pontone, M.D., M.H.S., the Louis and Roberta Fixel Endowed Chair. “It’s an important step in understanding how environmental factors may contribute to disease development.”
The study relied heavily on diagnoses made in hospitals or specialty clinics, which presents a minor limitation. This means the researchers might have missed milder cases of dementia or patients who never sought specialized medical care. If milder cases were missing from the registries, the exact risk calculations might be slightly underestimated by the final analysis.
The team also lacked access to certain personal details that consistently affect health outcomes in older adults. The national databases do not record lifestyle habits like diet, alcohol consumption, or daily exercise routines. The registries also omit details about specific occupational hazards, meaning the team could not account for people who work in heavily polluted industrial settings.
Additionally, fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide are often emitted from the exact same sources, such as highway traffic. Because the two pollutants frequently exist together in the air, it is incredibly difficult to separate their individual effects on the human body. The researchers noted that these elements might work together simultaneously to cause neurological harm.
Future research could explore exactly how these invisible particles initiate the neurodegenerative process on a cellular level. Scientists hope to investigate whether blocking the brain’s inflammatory response might slow or stop the damage caused by inhaled pollutants. Further studies could also look at how agricultural chemicals, like pesticides, might combine with air pollution to impact brain health over a lifetime.
The study, “Exposure to Air Pollutants and Lewy Body and Parkinson Disease–Related Dementias,” was authored by Dimitry S. Davydow, Gregory M. Pontone, Michael S. Okun, Melissa J. Armstrong, Theresa Wimberley Böttger, Camila Geels, Lise Marie Frohn, Jørgen Brandt, Julie Werenberg Dreier, Jakob Christensen, Carsten Bøcker Pedersen, and Henriette Thisted Horsdal.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AirPollutionAndDementia #LewyBodyDementia #ParkinsonsDiseaseDementia #ALPHA-Synuclein #NeurodegenerativeDisease #CleanAirHealthyBrain #ParticulateMatter #NitrogenDioxide #EnvironmentalHealth #BrainHealthMatters
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HEPA air purifiers may boost brain power in adults over 40 – new research
Nicholas Pellegrino Nicholas Pellegrino Doug Brugge Doug Brugge Misha Eliasziw Misha Eliasziw Using an in-home HEPA purifier for…
#NewsBeep #News #Health #Airpollution #airpurifiers #CA #Canada #HEPA #particulateair #particulatematter #theBrain
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/625487/ -
#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2025-07-04, 12:15h (MESZ / CEDT / UTC+2):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5 : 42,8 μg/m^3
PM10: 91.6 μg/m^3(LVL1 Moderate) i.e. not very good
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D (no bot; posted, if really bad air)
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2025-07-04, 12:15h (MESZ / CEDT / UTC+2):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5 : 42,8 μg/m^3
PM10: 91.6 μg/m^3(LVL1 Moderate) i.e. not very good
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D (no bot; posted, if really bad air)
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
We breathe over 10,000 liters of air every day – with no idea what's in it.
Our DL-PM sensor has been measuring particulate matter continuously for five years. The data shows winter inversions, New Year's Eve spikes, and that air quality has no quiet season.
The patterns only emerge when you measure continuously.👉 Check real-time demo: https://demo.decentlab.com/d/DL-PM/dl-pm-particulate-matter-temperature-humidity-and-barometric-pressure-sensor-for-lorawan-r?orgId=1&refresh=15m
#ParticulateMatter #LoRaWAN #EnvironmentalMonitoring #AirPollution
-
The Cost of Ignoring Fossil Fuel Pollution’s Health Impacts
From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an …
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Environment #Airpollution #climatechange #coalpowerplants #Dr.VanessaKerry #EnvironmentalHealth #environmentaljustice #fossilfuels #GreenhouseGases #HarvardUniversity #LivingonEarth #particulatematter #PM2.5 #pollution #Science #SixCitiesstudy
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/428379/ -
The Cost of Ignoring Fossil Fuel Pollution’s Health Impacts
From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an …
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Environment #Airpollution #climatechange #coalpowerplants #Dr.VanessaKerry #EnvironmentalHealth #environmentaljustice #fossilfuels #GreenhouseGases #HarvardUniversity #LivingonEarth #particulatematter #PM2.5 #pollution #Science #SixCitiesstudy
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/428379/ -
The Cost of Ignoring Fossil Fuel Pollution’s Health Impacts
From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Steve Curwood wi…
#Climate #ClimateChange #Climate-Change #airpollution #climatechange #Coalpowerplants #Dr.VanessaKerry #environmentalhealth #environmentaljustice #fossilfuels #globalwarming #greenhousegases #HarvardUniversity #livingonearth #particulatematter #PM2.5 #pollution #SixCitiesstudy
https://www.europesays.com/2727306/ -
#Yale #YaleClimateConnections #airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filter
Jeff Masters 22.Dec.2025, YCC
Improving indoor air quality might save your life
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/improving-indoor-air-quality-might-save-your-life/
-
#Yale #YaleClimateConnections #airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filter
Jeff Masters 22.Dec.2025, YCC
Improving indoor air quality might save your life
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/improving-indoor-air-quality-might-save-your-life/
-
#Yale #YaleClimateConnections #airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filter
Jeff Masters 22.Dec.2025, YCC
Improving indoor air quality might save your life
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/improving-indoor-air-quality-might-save-your-life/
-
#Yale #YaleClimateConnections #airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filter
Jeff Masters 22.Dec.2025, YCC
Improving indoor air quality might save your life
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/improving-indoor-air-quality-might-save-your-life/
-
#Yale #YaleClimateConnections #airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filter
Jeff Masters 22.Dec.2025, YCC
Improving indoor air quality might save your life
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/improving-indoor-air-quality-might-save-your-life/
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@paulbeckwith/115771889007772777
#FYI #PaulBeckwith video lecture and literature review
#airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filterVentilate!
(Pro tip: Visit Germany, experts of Lüften =D)
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@paulbeckwith/115771889007772777
#FYI #PaulBeckwith video lecture and literature review
#airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filterVentilate!
(Pro tip: Visit Germany, experts of Lüften =D)
-
RE: https://mastodon.social/@paulbeckwith/115771889007772777
#FYI #PaulBeckwith video lecture and literature review
#airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filterVentilate!
(Pro tip: Visit Germany, experts of Lüften =D)
-
RE: https://mastodon.social/@paulbeckwith/115771889007772777
#FYI #PaulBeckwith video lecture and literature review
#airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filterVentilate!
(Pro tip: Visit Germany, experts of Lüften =D)
-
RE: https://mastodon.social/@paulbeckwith/115771889007772777
#FYI #PaulBeckwith video lecture and literature review
#airquality #IndoorAir #co2 #ParticulateMatter #CorsiRosenthalBox #HEPA #filterVentilate!
(Pro tip: Visit Germany, experts of Lüften =D)
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RE: https://social.cologne/@GeorgEhring/115650748285990277
Hier geht's zur Petition der @umwelthilfe , sie ist schon bei 70 Prozent der Zielmarke!
Böllerverbot jetzt!
Fordere jetzt mit uns ein Böllerverbot! Für ein böllerfreies und friedliches Silvester.
https://mitmachen.duh.de/boellerfreies-silvester
#Feuerwerksverbot #Böllerciao #Umwelthilfe #DUH #Polizei #Umwelt #Gesundheit #Müll #Feinstaub #Tierschutz #Verschmutzung #Sylvester #Feuerwerk #police #environment #health #particulatematter #animalwelfare #pollution #fireworks #petition
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GRAP-2 anti-pollution curbs in Delhi-NCR as air quality worsens before Diwali – Delhi News
Delhi’s air pollution levels surged on Sunday, inching closer to the “very poor” category just a day before…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Environment #AnandViharAQI #AQI #CPCBdata #Delhiairquality #DelhiNCRairpollution #Diwalipollution #Dwarka #GRAP-2 #IMDforecast #NCRpollution #particulatematter #RKPuram #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/237396/ -
GRAP-2 anti-pollution curbs in Delhi-NCR as air quality worsens before Diwali – Delhi News
Delhi’s air pollution levels surged on Sunday, inching closer to the “very poor” category just a day before…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Environment #AnandViharAQI #AQI #CPCBdata #Delhiairquality #DelhiNCRairpollution #Diwalipollution #Dwarka #GRAP-2 #IMDforecast #NCRpollution #particulatematter #RKPuram #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/237396/ -
'Air particles from 31 Chinese cities induced differential cellular responses' - an @EDPSciences National Science Open (NSO) publication on #ScienceOpen 🔓🔎🔗 https://www.scienceopen.com/document?vid=b505ed0e-b3d4-4a59-b4ac-e00de4dbf236
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@Qldaah
why do they hate us so much? An unremarkable Brisbane day has 560 CO2 ppm. We are gasping for air already.#Qldpol #Auspol #Coal #CoalRoyalties #LungDisease #particulateMatter #Particulates
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Effect of Atmospheric Dust on Ice Cloud Formation Confirmed
It is known that the proportion of ice-topped clouds depends on dust particles in the cloud that act as nuclei for ice crystal formation............
#aerosol #AtmosphericMineralDust #CCN #climate #cloud #Cloudformation #Earthscience #Iceclouds #MineralDust #Particulatematter #science #UmeshPrasad
Umesh Prasad -
Effect of Atmospheric Dust on Ice Cloud Formation Confirmed
It is known that the proportion of ice-topped clouds depends on dust particles in the cloud that act as nuclei for ice crystal formation............
#aerosol #AtmosphericMineralDust #CCN #climate #cloud #Cloudformation #Earthscience #Iceclouds #MineralDust #Particulatematter #science #UmeshPrasad
Umesh Prasad -
Effect of Atmospheric Dust on Ice Cloud Formation Confirmed
It is known that the proportion of ice-topped clouds depends on dust particles in the cloud that act as nuclei for ice crystal formation............
#aerosol #AtmosphericMineralDust #CCN #climate #cloud #Cloudformation #Earthscience #Iceclouds #MineralDust #Particulatematter #science #UmeshPrasad
Umesh Prasad -
Effect of Atmospheric Dust on Ice Cloud Formation Confirmed
It is known that the proportion of ice-topped clouds depends on dust particles in the cloud that act as nuclei for ice crystal formation............
#aerosol #AtmosphericMineralDust #CCN #climate #cloud #Cloudformation #Earthscience #Iceclouds #MineralDust #Particulatematter #science #UmeshPrasad
Umesh Prasad -
Effect of Atmospheric Dust on Ice Cloud Formation Confirmed
It is known that the proportion of ice-topped clouds depends on dust particles in the cloud that act as nuclei for ice crystal formation............
#aerosol #AtmosphericMineralDust #CCN #climate #cloud #Cloudformation #Earthscience #Iceclouds #MineralDust #Particulatematter #science #UmeshPrasad
Umesh Prasad -
The smoke from #Canada’s #wildfires may be even more #toxic than usual
A legacy of #mining means that #ToxicMetals could be carried along plumes of smoke.
by Matt Simon, June 5, 2025
"More than 200 wildfires are blazing across central and western Canada, half of which are out of control because they’re so hard for crews to access, forcing 27,000 people to evacuate. Even those nowhere near the wildfires are suffering as smoke swirls around Canada and wafts south, creating hazardous air quality all over the midwestern and eastern parts of the United States. The smoke is even reaching Europe.
"As the climate changes, the far north is drying and warming, which means wildfires are getting bigger and more intense. The area burned in Canada is now the second largest on record for this time of year, trailing behind the brutal wildfire season of 2023. That year, the amount of #carbon blazed into the atmosphere was about three times the country’s #FossilFuel emissions. And the more carbon that’s emitted from wildfires — in Canada and elsewhere — the faster the #PlanetaryWarming, and the worse the fires.
" 'There’s obviously the #ClimateFeedback concern,' said Mike Waddington, an environmental scientist at McMaster University in Ontario who studies Canada’s forests. 'But increasingly we’re also concerned about the smoke.'
"That’s because there’s much more to wildfire smoke than charred sticks and leaves, especially where these blazes are burning in Canada. The country’s #forests have long been #mined, operations that loaded #soils and #waterways with #ToxicMetals like #lead and #mercury, especially before clean-air standards kicked in 50 years ago. Now everyone downwind of these wildfires may have to contend with that legacy and those pollutants, in addition to all the other nasties inherent in #WildfireSmoke, which are known to exacerbate respiratory and cardiac problems.
" 'You have there the burning of these organic soils resulting in a lot of carbon and a lot of #ParticulateMatter,' said Waddington. 'Now you have this triple whammy, where you have the metals #remobilized in addition to that.'
"What exactly is lurking in the smoke from Canadian wildfires will require further testing by scientists. But an area of particular concern is around the mining city of #FlinFlon, in #ManitobaCanada, which is known to have elevated levels of toxic metals in the landscape, said Colin McCarter, an environmental scientist who studies pollutants at Ontario’s #NipissingUniversity. Flin Flon’s 5,000 residents have been evacuated as a wildfire approaches, though so far no structures have been destroyed.
"But a fire doesn’t need to directly burn mining operations to mobilize toxicants. For example, in #Yellowknife, in Canada’s #NorthwestTerritories, #GoldMining operations between 1934 and 2004 spread #arsenic as far as 18 miles away, adding to a landscape with an already high concentration of naturally occurring arsenic. In a paper published last year, Waddington and McCarter estimated that between 1972 and 2023, wildfires around Yellowknife fired up to 840,000 pounds of arsenic into the atmosphere. Arsenic is a known carcinogen associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and developmental problems, according to the World Health Organization. (After the 2023 #LahainaFire in Maui, officials reported elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and other toxic substances in ash samples. California officials also found lots of lead in smoke from 2018’s #CampFire.)"
Source:
https://grist.org/climate/canada-wildfire-smoke-toxic-arsenic/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #AirIsLife #Mining #ToxicLegacy #FirstNations #Canada #Pollution #Worldwide #AQI #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe #AirQualityIndex
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The smoke from #Canada’s #wildfires may be even more #toxic than usual
A legacy of #mining means that #ToxicMetals could be carried along plumes of smoke.
by Matt Simon, June 5, 2025
"More than 200 wildfires are blazing across central and western Canada, half of which are out of control because they’re so hard for crews to access, forcing 27,000 people to evacuate. Even those nowhere near the wildfires are suffering as smoke swirls around Canada and wafts south, creating hazardous air quality all over the midwestern and eastern parts of the United States. The smoke is even reaching Europe.
"As the climate changes, the far north is drying and warming, which means wildfires are getting bigger and more intense. The area burned in Canada is now the second largest on record for this time of year, trailing behind the brutal wildfire season of 2023. That year, the amount of #carbon blazed into the atmosphere was about three times the country’s #FossilFuel emissions. And the more carbon that’s emitted from wildfires — in Canada and elsewhere — the faster the #PlanetaryWarming, and the worse the fires.
" 'There’s obviously the #ClimateFeedback concern,' said Mike Waddington, an environmental scientist at McMaster University in Ontario who studies Canada’s forests. 'But increasingly we’re also concerned about the smoke.'
"That’s because there’s much more to wildfire smoke than charred sticks and leaves, especially where these blazes are burning in Canada. The country’s #forests have long been #mined, operations that loaded #soils and #waterways with #ToxicMetals like #lead and #mercury, especially before clean-air standards kicked in 50 years ago. Now everyone downwind of these wildfires may have to contend with that legacy and those pollutants, in addition to all the other nasties inherent in #WildfireSmoke, which are known to exacerbate respiratory and cardiac problems.
" 'You have there the burning of these organic soils resulting in a lot of carbon and a lot of #ParticulateMatter,' said Waddington. 'Now you have this triple whammy, where you have the metals #remobilized in addition to that.'
"What exactly is lurking in the smoke from Canadian wildfires will require further testing by scientists. But an area of particular concern is around the mining city of #FlinFlon, in #ManitobaCanada, which is known to have elevated levels of toxic metals in the landscape, said Colin McCarter, an environmental scientist who studies pollutants at Ontario’s #NipissingUniversity. Flin Flon’s 5,000 residents have been evacuated as a wildfire approaches, though so far no structures have been destroyed.
"But a fire doesn’t need to directly burn mining operations to mobilize toxicants. For example, in #Yellowknife, in Canada’s #NorthwestTerritories, #GoldMining operations between 1934 and 2004 spread #arsenic as far as 18 miles away, adding to a landscape with an already high concentration of naturally occurring arsenic. In a paper published last year, Waddington and McCarter estimated that between 1972 and 2023, wildfires around Yellowknife fired up to 840,000 pounds of arsenic into the atmosphere. Arsenic is a known carcinogen associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and developmental problems, according to the World Health Organization. (After the 2023 #LahainaFire in Maui, officials reported elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and other toxic substances in ash samples. California officials also found lots of lead in smoke from 2018’s #CampFire.)"
Source:
https://grist.org/climate/canada-wildfire-smoke-toxic-arsenic/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #AirIsLife #Mining #ToxicLegacy #FirstNations #Canada #Pollution #Worldwide #AQI #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe #AirQualityIndex
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#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2025-03-29, 12:00h (MEZ / CET / UTC+1):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5: 33,3 μg/m^3
PM10: 69,3 μg/m^3(LVL1 Good)
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D (no bot, posted mostly from Mo to Sa)
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2025-03-19, 11:30h (MEZ / CET / UTC+1):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5: 8,6 μg/m^3
PM10: 16,1 μg/m^3(LVL1 Good)
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D (no bot, posted mostly from Mo to Sa)
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2025-02-20, 11:45h (MEZ / CET / UTC+1):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5: 27,3 μg/m^3
PM10: 55,9 μg/m^3(LVL1 Good)
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D (no bot, posted mostly from Mo to Sa)
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences
Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."
By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'
"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.
"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.
"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'
"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.
"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.
"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.
"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'
"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.
"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"
Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra -
Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences
Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."
By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'
"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.
"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.
"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'
"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.
"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.
"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.
"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'
"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.
"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"
Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra -
Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences
Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."
By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'
"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.
"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.
"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'
"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.
"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.
"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.
"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'
"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.
"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"
Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra -
Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences
Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."
By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'
"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.
"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.
"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'
"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.
"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.
"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.
"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'
"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.
"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"
Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra -
Not just human health! The #Toxic Blend of LA’s Urban #WildfireSmoke Will Have Lasting Health Consequences
Los Angeles residents are breathing bits of "cars, metal pipes, plastics."
By Zoya Teirstein, January 22, 2025“These fires are different from previous quote-unquote ‘wildfires,’ because there are so many structures that burned,” said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'Everything in the households got burned — cars, metal pipes, plastics.'
"#Wildfiresmoke is toxic. Burning trees and shrubs produce very fine #particulatematter, known by the shorthand PM 2.5, which burrow deep into the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing cold- and flu-like symptoms in the short term, and heart disease, lung cancer, and other chronic issues over time.
"But the fires that raced through Los Angeles burned thousands of homes, schools, historic buildings, and even medical clinics, blanketing the city in thick smoke. For several days after the first fire started, the city’s air quality index, or #AQI, exceeded 100, the threshold, typically seen during wildfires, at which air becomes unhealthy to breathe for children, the elderly, and those with asthma. In some parts of the city, the AQI reached 500, a number rarely seen and always hazardous for everyone.
"At the moment, air pollution experts know how much smoke fills the air. That’s shown improvement in recent days. But they don’t know what’s in it. 'What are the chemical mixtures in this smoke?' asked Kai Chen, an environmental scientist at the Yale School of Public Health. 'In addition to fine particulate matter, there are potentially other hazardous and #carcinogenic organic compounds — gas pollutants, trace metals, and microplastics.'
"Previous research shows that the spikes in unhealthy air quality seen during such events lead to higher rates of hospitalizations for issues like asthma, and even contribute to heart attacks among those with that chronic disease. A 2024 study on the long-term effects of smoke exposure in California showed that particulate matter from wildfires in the state from 2008 to 2018 contributed to anywhere from 52,000 to 56,000 premature deaths. A health assessment of 148 firefighters who worked the Tubbs Fire, which burned more than 36,000 acres in Northern California in 2017 and destroyed an unusually high number of structures, found elevated levels of the #PFAS known as forever chemicals, #HeavyMetals, and flame retardants in their blood and urine.
"The L.A. County Department of Public Health has formally urged people to stay inside and wear masks to protect themselves from windblown toxic dust and ash. Air quality measurements don’t take these particles into account, which means the air quality index doesn’t reveal the extent of contaminants in the air.
"Zhu and her colleagues have been collecting samples of wildfire smoke in neighborhoods near the fires. It’ll be months before that data is fully analyzed, but Zhu suspects she will find a dangerous mix of chemicals, including, potentially, #asbestos and lead — materials used in many buildings constructed before the 1970s.
"The risk will linger even after the smoke clears. The plumes that wafted over the landscape will deposit chemicals into drinking #water supplies and #contaminate# soil. When rains do come, they’ll wash #ToxicAsh into streams and across the land, said Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, an environmental engineer and interim dean of the University of Colorado Boulder environmental engineering program. 'There’s a lot of manmade materials that are now being combusted. The potential is there for contamination,' he said, noting that little research on how toxic ash and other byproducts of wildfires in urban areas currently exists. 'What we don’t have a lot of information on is what happens now.'
"After the Camp Fire razed Paradise, California, in 2018, water utilities found high levels of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in #DrinkingWater. Similar issues have arisen in places like Boulder County, Colorado, where the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 structures in 2021, Rosario-Ortiz said, though the presence of a contaminant in a home doesn’t necessarily mean it will be present in high levels in the water. Still, several municipal water agencies in Los Angeles issued preemptive advisories urging residents not to drink tap water in neighborhoods near the Palisades and Eaton fires. It’ll be weeks before they know exactly what’s in the water.
"As wildfires grow ever more intense and encroach upon urban areas, cities and counties must be prepared to monitor the health impacts and respond to them. 'This is the first time I’ve ever even witnessed or heard anything like this,' said Zhu, who raised her daughter in Los Angeles and has lived there for decades, said. 'Even being in the field studying wildfires and air quality impacts, I never imagined that a whole neighborhood, a whole community in Palisades, would burn down.'"
Read more:
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-toxic-blend-of-las-urban-wildfire-smoke-will-have-lasting-health-consequences/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=flipboard_rss&utm_campaign=znetwork
#AirPollution #WaterPollution #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #ToxicMaterials #EnvironmentalDisaster #EnvironmentalDamage #Pyrocene #PyroceneEra -
#Unsafe #PM25 levels blanket 64 provinces
"Geo-Informatics & Space Technology Development Agency reported at 9am Monday tt #particulatematter 2.5 micrometres & less in diameter (PM2.5) reached red ( #hazardous-to-health) levels in 28 #provinces, ranging fr 75.3-133.1µg/m³ of air over the past 24hrs. The #government-set safe threshold is 37.5µg/m³"
#governance #policy
#BangkokSmog #ThailandSmog
#CleanAirAct #pollutionKills #airpollution #Thailand #Asean #Asia #AQI #health
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2943465/unsafe-pm2-5-levels-blanket-64-provinces -
#Unsafe #PM25 levels blanket 64 provinces
"Geo-Informatics & Space Technology Development Agency reported at 9am Monday tt #particulatematter 2.5 micrometres & less in diameter (PM2.5) reached red ( #hazardous-to-health) levels in 28 #provinces, ranging fr 75.3-133.1µg/m³ of air over the past 24hrs. The #government-set safe threshold is 37.5µg/m³"
#governance #policy
#BangkokSmog #ThailandSmog
#CleanAirAct #pollutionKills #airpollution #Thailand #Asean #Asia #AQI #health
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2943465/unsafe-pm2-5-levels-blanket-64-provinces -
#Unsafe #PM25 levels blanket 64 provinces
"Geo-Informatics & Space Technology Development Agency reported at 9am Monday tt #particulatematter 2.5 micrometres & less in diameter (PM2.5) reached red ( #hazardous-to-health) levels in 28 #provinces, ranging fr 75.3-133.1µg/m³ of air over the past 24hrs. The #government-set safe threshold is 37.5µg/m³"
#governance #policy
#BangkokSmog #ThailandSmog
#CleanAirAct #pollutionKills #airpollution #Thailand #Asean #Asia #AQI #health
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2943465/unsafe-pm2-5-levels-blanket-64-provinces -
... and it's not even safe to step on the balcony as outdoor #airpollution is thru the roof. Even in a backyard surrounded by houses & no own #fireworks, concentrations of #particulatematter rise to 125 µg/m3 for #PM2.5 (EPA's 24h-level is 35 µg/m3, its annual level is 9 µg/m3) #airquality #health
-
#Feinstaub, #Passau, Fußgängerzone, 2024-12-03, 12:00h (MEZ / CET / UTC+1):
(48°34′28″N 13°27′53″E)PM2.5: 24,0 μg/m^3
PM10: 48,6 μg/m^3(LVL1 Good)
Gemessen mit: HoldPeak HP-5800D
Skala zur Bewertung „PM2.5 Air Pollution Level“ (Auszug):
LVL1 Good 0-35 μg/m^3
LVL2 Moderate 36-75 μg/m^3
LVL3 Unhealthy- 76-115 μg/m^3
…#energy
#particulates
#particulatematter
#airpollution
#luftqualität
#luftverschmutzung
#weather -
#Singapore study links air pollution to 135m premature deaths
" #PM25 r harmful to human #health when inhaled bec they r small enough to enter e bloodstream. They come fr #vehicle & #industrial #emissions as well as fires & dust storms. e fine #particulatematter was associated w approx'ly 135mil #prematuredeaths globally fr 1980 to 2020.. study is one of e most expansive to date on #airquality & climate, us'g 40 yrs of data to give a big view of e effects of PM on health"
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3266127/singapore-study-links-air-pollution-135-million-premature-deaths -
How #AirPollution is causing girls to get their first #periods earlier
New research shows that girls in the US are getting their first periods earlier. Exposure to toxic air is partly to blame.
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or #menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups," says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. "This has important implications for long-term health."
Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"For several decades, scientists around the world have become increasingly concerned by signs that girls are entering puberty at a much younger age compared with previous generations.
From when girls experience their first period, something which scientists term the age of menarche, to commencing breast development, these seminal changes marking the onset of adolescence appear to be taking place progressively sooner.
"American girls today have been estimated to start menstruation up to four years earlier compared to girls living a century ago. In May, new data showed that while girls born between 1950 and 1969 typically began menstruating at 12.5 years, this decreased to an average of 11.9 years for the generation born in the early 2000s.
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"'We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups,' says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. 'This has important implications for long-term health.'
"Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
[...]
"Some of the major culprits appear to be #ToxicGases such as #SulphurDioxide, #NitrogenDioxide, #CarbonMonoxide and #ozone, all of which are released into the air either through #VehicleEmissions or waste produced by #Manufacturing Plants. In 2022, a study from scientists in Poland, a country known for its poor air quality due to the prevalence of #coal-burning factories, examined data from 1,257 women, and found a link between greater exposure to nitrogen gases and menstruation occurring before the age of 11."
-
How #AirPollution is causing girls to get their first #periods earlier
New research shows that girls in the US are getting their first periods earlier. Exposure to toxic air is partly to blame.
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or #menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups," says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. "This has important implications for long-term health."
Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"For several decades, scientists around the world have become increasingly concerned by signs that girls are entering puberty at a much younger age compared with previous generations.
From when girls experience their first period, something which scientists term the age of menarche, to commencing breast development, these seminal changes marking the onset of adolescence appear to be taking place progressively sooner.
"American girls today have been estimated to start menstruation up to four years earlier compared to girls living a century ago. In May, new data showed that while girls born between 1950 and 1969 typically began menstruating at 12.5 years, this decreased to an average of 11.9 years for the generation born in the early 2000s.
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"'We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups,' says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. 'This has important implications for long-term health.'
"Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
[...]
"Some of the major culprits appear to be #ToxicGases such as #SulphurDioxide, #NitrogenDioxide, #CarbonMonoxide and #ozone, all of which are released into the air either through #VehicleEmissions or waste produced by #Manufacturing Plants. In 2022, a study from scientists in Poland, a country known for its poor air quality due to the prevalence of #coal-burning factories, examined data from 1,257 women, and found a link between greater exposure to nitrogen gases and menstruation occurring before the age of 11."
-
How #AirPollution is causing girls to get their first #periods earlier
New research shows that girls in the US are getting their first periods earlier. Exposure to toxic air is partly to blame.
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or #menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups," says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. "This has important implications for long-term health."
Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"For several decades, scientists around the world have become increasingly concerned by signs that girls are entering puberty at a much younger age compared with previous generations.
From when girls experience their first period, something which scientists term the age of menarche, to commencing breast development, these seminal changes marking the onset of adolescence appear to be taking place progressively sooner.
"American girls today have been estimated to start menstruation up to four years earlier compared to girls living a century ago. In May, new data showed that while girls born between 1950 and 1969 typically began menstruating at 12.5 years, this decreased to an average of 11.9 years for the generation born in the early 2000s.
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"'We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups,' says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. 'This has important implications for long-term health.'
"Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
[...]
"Some of the major culprits appear to be #ToxicGases such as #SulphurDioxide, #NitrogenDioxide, #CarbonMonoxide and #ozone, all of which are released into the air either through #VehicleEmissions or waste produced by #Manufacturing Plants. In 2022, a study from scientists in Poland, a country known for its poor air quality due to the prevalence of #coal-burning factories, examined data from 1,257 women, and found a link between greater exposure to nitrogen gases and menstruation occurring before the age of 11."
-
How #AirPollution is causing girls to get their first #periods earlier
New research shows that girls in the US are getting their first periods earlier. Exposure to toxic air is partly to blame.
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or #menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups," says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. "This has important implications for long-term health."
Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."
By David Cox, June 4, 2024
"For several decades, scientists around the world have become increasingly concerned by signs that girls are entering puberty at a much younger age compared with previous generations.
From when girls experience their first period, something which scientists term the age of menarche, to commencing breast development, these seminal changes marking the onset of adolescence appear to be taking place progressively sooner.
"American girls today have been estimated to start menstruation up to four years earlier compared to girls living a century ago. In May, new data showed that while girls born between 1950 and 1969 typically began menstruating at 12.5 years, this decreased to an average of 11.9 years for the generation born in the early 2000s.
"The same trend has also been noted around the world. South Korean scientists have described with some alarm how the number of girls displaying signs of precocious puberty – either breast development or menstruation before the age of eight - increased 16-fold between 2008 and 2020.
"'We're also seeing that these decreasing ages at puberty are even more pronounced in lower socioeconomic status groups, and ethnic minority groups,' says Audrey Gaskins, an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, the US. 'This has important implications for long-term health.'
"Researchers like Gaskins are primarily concerned that beginning puberty earlier might trigger a cascade of events which have far-reaching consequences later in adulthood. Emerging data suggests that it may not only curtail the fertility window, particularly if these women then enter menopause sooner, but shorten their lives. Precocious puberty has been repeatedly associated with a higher risk of diseases ranging from breast and ovarian cancers, metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
[...]
"Some of the major culprits appear to be #ToxicGases such as #SulphurDioxide, #NitrogenDioxide, #CarbonMonoxide and #ozone, all of which are released into the air either through #VehicleEmissions or waste produced by #Manufacturing Plants. In 2022, a study from scientists in Poland, a country known for its poor air quality due to the prevalence of #coal-burning factories, examined data from 1,257 women, and found a link between greater exposure to nitrogen gases and menstruation occurring before the age of 11."