Pollution News and Research

Latest Pollution News and Research

New tissue-culture study: Fungicide can induce insulin resistance

A fungicide used on farm crops can induce insulin resistance, a new tissue-culture study finds, providing another piece of evidence linking environmental pollutants to diabetes. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.

26 Jun 2012

Ozone exposure associated with cardiovascular ailments

Young, healthy adult volunteers exposed for two hours to ozone developed physiological changes associated with cardiovascular ailments, according to a small study reported in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.

26 Jun 2012

Turn down the volume to improve heart health

Individuals who live in an area that is exposed to high road traffic noise have a significantly increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI), researchers suggest.

25 Jun 2012

EMA CHMP adopts positive opinion for Seebri Breezhaler to treat COPD

Sosei Group Corporation confirms the information released today by Novartis that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion for Seebri Breezhaler (glycopyrronium/NVA237) 44 mcg delivered dose (50 mcg glycopyrronium per capsule), as a once-daily inhaled maintenance bronchodilator treatment to relieve symptoms in adult patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

23 Jun 2012

Study: Unexpected activity of estrogenic compounds during early stages of embryonic development

Chemicals in the environment that mimic estrogen can strongly influence the development of humans and other animals. New research to be presented at the 2012 International Zebrafish Development and Genetics Conference, held June 20-24 in Madison, Wisconsin, reveals that these substances may act even earlier than previously realized, at the very beginning stages of embryonic development.

22 Jun 2012

Study links two specific strains of bacteria with indoor mold from water damage

Bacterial contamination in water-damaged buildings has been identified as a potential cause of health problems, including infection and respiratory conditions like asthma. Which specific bacteria contribute to these problems, however, has been unknown-making it difficult for public health officials to develop tools to effectively address the underlying source of the problem.

21 Jun 2012

Latest allergy research presented at EAACI Congress 2012

Ground-breaking research results about stress during pregnancy and changes in pollen potency across Europe will be presented - among other novel research - at the world's leading congress on allergy and immunology - the EAACI Congress 2012 - that will open tomorrow in Geneva, Switzerland.

16 Jun 2012

Interventions aimed at preventing, treating pneumonia in children need to be expanded in developing world

"This month, USAID's flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) joins countries around the world in celebrating International Children's Day," Dyness Kasungami, a child health team leader for MCHIP, writes in the Huffington Post Blog, adding, "While great strides in child survival have been made in the past years, we also remember those children who do not live to see their fifth birthday -- the 7.6 million children who die of preventable causes each year."

16 Jun 2012

Scientists establish link between autoimmune diseases and nanoparticles

New groundbreaking research by scientists at Trinity College Dublin has found that exposure to nanoparticles can have a serious impact on health, linking it to rheumatoid arthritis and the development of other serious autoimmune diseases.

12 Jun 2012

My Air, My Health Challenge to spur collaboration between health researchers and technologists

A competition to create a personal sensor system that measures air pollution and a person's physiological response to it will offer cash awards to finalists, federal officials announced today. The goal is to help researchers, communities, and physicians better understand the connection between air quality and health.

7 Jun 2012

High pollution increases risk of repeated heart attacks by over 40%

Air pollution, a serious danger to the environment, is also a major health risk, associated with respiratory infections, lung cancer and heart disease. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher has concluded that not only does air pollution impact cardiac events such as heart attack and stroke, but it also causes repeated episodes over the long term.

6 Jun 2012

Religious practices more successful at promoting certainty about paternity

Religious practices that strongly control female sexuality are more successful at promoting certainty about paternity, according to a study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

5 Jun 2012

Smoke from cooking fires associated with cognitive deficits in children

Children exposed to open-fire cooking in developing countries experience difficulty with memory, problem-solving and social skills, according to researchers at the University of California, Riverside and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.

2 Jun 2012

BBSRC allocates £250M for strategic investment programmes

Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts, will today announce substantial funding that will ensure the UK's bioscience research base remains globally competitive and at the forefront of meeting the grand challenges faced by society in the coming decades. The announcement will be made by the Minister during a visit to the Babraham Research Campus, near Cambridge, and highlighted again during a major speech at the University of East Anglia in Norwich.

25 May 2012

Fever during pregnancy associated with autism or developmental delay

A team of UC Davis researchers has found that mothers who had fevers during their pregnancies were more than twice as likely to have a child with autism or developmental delay than were mothers of typically developing children, and that taking medication to treat fever countered its effect.

25 May 2012

Nuclear radiation exposure more serious than previously believed

Recent news reports and scientific reviews warn that nuclear radiation exposure is more serious than we believed. Just recently, the UK Guardian published an article titled, "Fukushima reactor shows radiation levels much higher than thought."

25 May 2012

NRDC's report estimates heat-related death in top U.S. cities

More than 150,000 additional Americans could die by the end of this century due to excessive heat caused by climate change, according to a detailed analysis of peer-reviewed scientific data by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

24 May 2012

UAB creates Program in Environmental and Translational Medicine

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has created a Program in Environmental and Translational Medicine, a multi-faceted approach to dealing with health issues tied to environmental origins.

22 May 2012

Arctic accumulation of mercury comes from rivers

Environmental scientists at Harvard have discovered that the Arctic accumulation of mercury, a toxic element, is caused by both atmospheric forces and the flow of circumpolar rivers that carry the element north into the Arctic Ocean.

21 May 2012

Prenatal exposure to air pollution can be serious for children with asthma

The link between prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood lung growth and respiratory ailments has been established by several studies in recent years, and now a new study suggests that these prenatal exposures can be especially serious for children with asthma.

21 May 2012