Month: January 2020

On 30 January 2020 at the premises of Cyprus Institute and following the Cyprus Institute Colloquium Series, it was a gret honor to receive a colloquium on Atmospheric Nanoparticles, Air Quality and Climate Change by Prof. Spyros Pandis, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Patras, Greece, and Carnegie Mellon University, USA. You can follow his presentation on the below video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENt7HHq5-Jk&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR38HYeEcoJbaUQLkAlogeF0SfNhyfRnZfxgl6A2GtkXqt9De47QeJExoCQ...

By Gisela Crespo, CNN Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/28/health/air-pollution-heart-disease-study/index.html January 29, 2020 (CNN)Short-term exposure to air pollution is linked to a higher risk of sudden heart problems, especially among older people, according to a study published Monday.  The study, published in the journal The Lancet, indicates that even low levels of air pollution can increase the likelihood of cardiac arrest. Study researchers at The University of Sydney say there is an "urgent need to reassess" international guidelines on air quality.  The research is believed to be the largest of its kind to date, according to the study's authors. They looked at data from emergency medical responses in Japan over a two-year period, as well as the country's records on air pollution involving particulate matter. Particulate matter, or particulate pollution, is a mix of solid and liquid airborne droplets, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The particles, made up of dust, dirt, soot or smoke, originate from construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires, and can contain different chemicals....

By Jordan Davidson  Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/air-pollution-cardiac-arrests-2644941669.html  28 January 2020 Researchers now say there is "no safe level" of air pollution exposure after a large-scale study found a correlation between exposure to fine particle matter, known as PM2.5, and cardiac arrests, according to the The Sydney Morning Herald. The researchers found that exposure to PM2.5 that even fell below global standards was hazardous, suggesting that tighter regulations and cleaner energy is required, according to the study, which was published in the journal Lancet Planetary Health. Scientists from the University of Sydney led the study, which analyzed air quality in Japan against 249,372 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. They concluded that even low-level exposure was associated with an increased risk of cardiac arrest for people over 65, as The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The researchers noticed that the risk of cardiac arrest grew by up to 4 percent for every increase of 10 units in the PM2.5 levels. "Our study supports recent evidence that there is no safe level of...

On 13/01/2020 the 2nd Partner’s Meeting of “Air quality services for a cleaner air in Cyprus -AQ-SERVE” Project, took place at the Cyprus Institute premises in Nicosia, Cyprus. The purpose of the 2nd Partner’s meeting was: To review the status of the project and to monitor the progress of the work. The meeting assessed the fulfillment of all aspects, both scientific and managerial. To identify issues and risks, and to propose relevant address-actions and contingency planning To keep open lines of communication and foster team building A review of operational points was presented by the Management Team and the Coordinator....

We commit our #excellent #science and #innovation to #BeatAirPollution and contribute to #ClimateActionNow! See the feature of AlphaCyprus television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSLWGnJ4SaM&feature=youtu.be...

The tiny island of Cyprus is reshaping itself into a regional hub for climate-change research. The country lies at the meeting point of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa — areas where climate change is expected to take a heavy toll in the coming decades, but where research capacity to address the issue is limited. Cyprus’s president, Nicos Anastasiades, announced plans on 5 June 2019 to create a government initiative that will coordinate action against global warming across the Mediterranean and support the creation of a €30-million (US$35-million) climate-change research centre at the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, the nation’s leading multidisciplinary research institution. “This is a priority issue for the government,” says Theodoulos Mesimeris, head of the climate-change division of the Cypriot environment ministry. The initiative will also create a comprehensive plan to reduce Cyprus’s greenhouse-gas emissions in line with the 2015 Paris climate accord. Read the article https://emme-care.cyi.ac.cy/wp-content/uploads/Cyprus-asserts-itself-as-regional-hub-for-climate-change-research.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0k3exaoG3IS4U0YHNjOHpIPnp_lDO304psLJnRKblNpTkKlfkgJDzRhT8 Water scarcity is expected to become a growing problem in Cyprus and the surrounding region with climate change.Credit: PetrosKaradjias/AP/REX/Shutterstock...