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New studies analyse life expectancy, causes of death and child mortality in different regions of China

Two new studies, published in The Lancet, reveal for the first time how health in different regions of China has changed in recent decades.

28 Oct 2015

Study: Reduction in Amazon deforestation improves air quality, prevents premature deaths

Because of decreasing deforestation and emissions from forest fires in the Amazon over the past ten years, the amount of particulate matter (aerosols), ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and other atmospheric pollutants released by burning biomass has fallen by 30% on average during the dry season in southern Brazil, Paraguay, northern Bolivia and Argentina.

27 Oct 2015

Localisation of policies crucial to China's health reforms, new studies suggest

Two new studies, published in The Lancet, reveal for the first time how health in different regions of China has changed in recent decades. The articles analyse life expectancy, causes of death, and child mortality for 31 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions of China, and Hongkong and Macao special administrative regions, finding that in the last two decades, life expectancy has risen, and deaths in children under 5 years have fallen, in every province.

26 Oct 2015

New WHO report reveals ways to reduce health risks from short-lived climate pollutants

A new World Health Organization report highlights the urgent need to reduce emissions of black carbon, ozone and methane - as well as carbon dioxide – which all contribute to climate change.

23 Oct 2015

Most drug residues discharged to wastewater come from private households

Most drug residues discharged to wastewater come from private households. As contributors of pollution by Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), health establishments, such as hospitals, psychiatric and nursing facilities are hardly worth mentioning.

20 Oct 2015

Kaiser Permanente wins 2015 Green Power Leadership Award

Kaiser Permanente has won a 2015 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its use of wind energy and solar power in California and elsewhere around the country.

19 Oct 2015

NIH's BCERP launches Columbia Mailman School & Columbia University Medical Center site

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Center together are one of six new sites being launched by the National Institutes of Health's Breast Cancer and Environment Research Program (BCERP).

16 Oct 2015

Study shows green housing could reduce environmental exposures, improve health

Low-income housing residents who live in "green" buildings that are built with eco-friendly materials and energy-efficient features appear to have fewer "sick building" symptoms (SBS) than residents of traditionally constructed low-income housing, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

16 Oct 2015

Artificial lung model could provide better understanding of health risks associated with airborne pollution

A life-sized artificial human lung created at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is the first diagnostic tool for understanding in real time how tiny particles move and behave in the deepest part of the human lungs (alveolar tissue).

9 Oct 2015

EU provides €3 million to support research on chronic lung disease

Researchers from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry are part of an international consortium which has received funding of almost €3 million from the EU Horizon 2020 programme, to investigate methods to prevent, diagnose and treat non-communicable lung disease (such as asthma and chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder - COPD) in low and middle income countries.

5 Oct 2015

Living 'green' walls may affect health of office workers

New research by University of York academics reveals that living 'green' walls may have adverse health effects on office workers living in hot, polluted climates.

5 Oct 2015

FIGO takes stand on human exposure to toxic chemicals

Dramatic increases in exposure to toxic chemicals in the last four decades are threatening human reproduction and health, according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), the first global reproductive health organization to take a stand on human exposure to toxic chemicals.

1 Oct 2015

New prototype air washer reduces presence of pollutants in the atmosphere

In order to reduce the presence of pollutants in the atmosphere, Raul Suarez Parra created a prototype air washer that absorbs volatile organic compounds such as grease generated while cooking.

30 Sep 2015

Utah researchers awarded NIH grant to develop informatics platform to identify cause of pediatric asthma

For many doctors, figuring out what caused a kid's asthma attack means opening up regional air quality databases and applying a lot of guesswork.

30 Sep 2015

Walking to work through quieter side streets may reduce risk of exposure to peaks in harmful air pollution

Commuting to work by walking on quieter side streets rather than main roads can help people avoid exposure to peaks in harmful air pollution, according to new research presented today at the European Respiratory Society's International Congress, 2015.

28 Sep 2015

UI study shows biomass has environmental and health benefits

Biomass burning sometimes gets a bad rap. That's because many associate the burning of living and dead vegetation with human-caused fires and clearing of land that release unhealthy particles and gases that spur global warming.

26 Sep 2015

New study heightens concerns over detrimental impact of air pollution on gene associated with AD risk

A new study by researchers at the Universities of Montana, Valle de México, Boise State, and North Carolina, the Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, and Centro Médico Cozumel heightens concerns over the detrimental impact of air pollution on hippocampal metabolites as early markers of neurodegeneration in young urbanites carrying an allele 4 of the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE).