Month: March 2022

By: Chloe Coules , Source: https://bit.ly/3qbVTUp Long term exposure to air pollution is linked to a heightened risk of autoimmune disease, finds new research. The study found environmental air pollution from vehicle exhausts and industrial output can trigger adaptive immunity – whereby the body reacts to a specific disease-causing entity – but sometimes this adaptive response misfired, prompting systemic inflammation, tissue damage, and ultimately autoimmune disease. The research, published online in RMD Open, found the risk is especially high for developing certain autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, connective tissue and inflammatory bowel diseases. The incidence and prevalence of autoimmune diseases have steadily increased over the past decade, but the reasons for this are not yet clear. The researchers mined the national Italian fracture risk database, tracking diagnoses of autoimmune diseases and linking participants to the nearest air quality monitoring system run by the Italian Institute of Environment Protection and Research. They found exposure to PM2.5 was not associated with a heightened risk of an autoimmune disease...

By: Anna Bawden Source: https://bit.ly/3tf3tQ7 Illnesses including rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s more likely after long-term exposure to particulates, study finds Exposure to air pollution has previously been linked to strokes, brain cancer, miscarriages and mental health problems. Photograph: Jinny Goodman/AlamyAnna BawdenTue 15 Mar 2022 23.30 GMTLast modified on Tue 15 Mar 2022 23.32 GMT Long-term exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of autoimmune disease, research has found. Exposure to particulates has already been linked to strokes, brain cancer, miscarriage and mental health problems. A global review, published in 2019, concluded that almost every cell in the body could be affected by dirty air. Now researchers at the University of Verona have found that long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution was associated with an approximately 40% higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, a 20% higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, and a 15% higher risk of connective tissue diseases, such as lupus. Read more The study, published in the...

by European Public Health Alliance | Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a major global health concern, with the latest statistics showing nearly 200 000 deaths were associated with AMR in Europe in 2019 alone. It is imperative that efforts to tackle this issue are realised at every level of society, and are considered within a ONE HEALTH approach – human, animal and environmental, given that AMR is transmittable between them.  Actual action, pragmatic interventions, and implemented practices have the clear potential to reduce or slow down the development of resistant bacteria. Local circumstances, promising national policies, and individual initiatives could lead to significant improvements in the field. Therefore, finding those existing practices, bringing them to light, and giving them large visibility at the European level was identified by the AMR Stakeholder Network (AMR SN) as an action through which the principles laid out in its Roadmap for action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could become more tangible. This would then fuel further...

Cavo Greco campaign was a 3-month campaign taking place between December 2021 and February 2022. The measurement site, located at 34°57’41”N and 34°04’57”E at the extreme South-East of Cyprus, approximately at 20 meters above sea level, was on the previous radio relay site. We were measuring greenhouse gases every 3 to 4 seconds and some Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). Our measurements were targeted to identify light alkanes but more generally non-methane hydrocarbons between C2 and C12 compounds every 30 minutes. Three instruments, a Picarro (CO2, CO, CH4, H2O) and two GC-FID (NMHC), were operational in a van between December 3rd and February 24th. A geolocalised meteorological station was also operational at a few meters from the van measuring temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and wind direction each second. The objective of this campaign was to catch Middle Eastern air mass events by freeing ourselves as much as possible from Cyprus’s local sources. The particular aim was to compare methane and NMHC...