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Indoor air quality (IAQ) and related health problems have witnessed remarkable attention recently. The prevalence of sick-building syndrome (SBS) is considered the most common health issue. This study conducted in the Al-Dahrieh neighborhood in Jordan showed for the first time how indoor air quality (IAQ) factors affect the prevalence of sick-building syndrome among occupants in residential buildings. The study investigated the concentration levels of air pollutants and comfort parameters. Architectural and urban design configurations were collected through site observation. In addition, daily activities for occupants were gathered through an online questionnaire. All statistical and descriptive analyses of the data collected for this study were carried out by Spearman's rho correlation test (SPSS) and Excel 2016. It was done using two-tailed (2-tailed) tests and a 1% statistical significance level (p < 0.01); interestingly, all expected parameters checked using SPSS are acceptable according to the significant factor of p < 0.05. The research explored low air quality in the selected case studies and suggested simple mitigation strategies to reduce pollutants concentration in the buildings, such as natural ventilation and control of pollution from internal sources. Moreover, architects may take these findings to enhance neighborhood and building design to achieve the goal of constructing healthier buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Pollution-related health hazards are very common among people living and/or working in industrial areas, particularly near industries and metro cities. These air pollutants contribute to allergens, increase inflammation, and affect lung function. Aim: The present study aimed to examine the effect of yoga training on lung functions and inflammation in terms of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in people working and living in a polluted area. Settings and Design: This is a randomized controlled interventional pilot study. Methods and Materials: Forty-eight male volunteers from the industrial area, aged 20--50 years, were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. Each group comprises 24 study participants. Lung function and sIL-2R were studied at the baseline and post-yoga intervention period of 16 weeks. Statistical Analysis Used: Study data were analyzed using descriptive methods, a one-tailed t-test, a paired t-test, and an independent t-test. Result: Study results showed directional and significant improvements in forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in the first second, and peak expiratory flow rate compared to the control group participants. The results pertaining to sIL-2R showed a directional and significant decrease in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion: The present study showed that yoga helps to promote better health, improve lung function and reduce inflammation among people residing in polluted environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radioactive contamination and chemical pollution of the environment can affect the processes of carcinogenesis, including the formation of malignant neoplasms of the ovaries in women. We used the data of official state statistics for 2000–2020 to test the hypothesis about the effect of radioactive contamination (following the Chernobyl disaster) and chemical pollutants on the incidence of ovarian malignancies in the female population of the Bryansk region. Methods: A variety of statistical approaches were used to estimate the incidence of ovarian malignancies, including the Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U test, Spearman's rank correlation test and linear regression. Results: We did not establish statistically significant differences in the frequency of primary morbidity of women with malignant neoplasms of the ovaries, regardless of the environmental conditions of living. Furthermore, no significant correlations were found between the frequency of primary morbidity of ovarian malignancies, both with the level of contamination by Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, and air pollution with volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. A statistically significant increase in the long-term trend in the frequency of ovarian malignant neoplasms was revealed in the areas of chemical pollution (p = 0.02), however, in other territories, no statistically significant regularities were established. The forecast of the frequency of newly diagnosed malignant neoplasms of the ovaries on average in the Bryansk region shows an increase of 12.4% in 2020 in comparison with the real data for 2020, while the largest increase in predicted values is recorded in the territories of radioactive contamination (by 79.6%), and the least in the combined territories (by 6.9%). Conclusions: The results obtained indicate the need for further work to understand the trends in the presence/absence of independent and combined effects of pollutants and the growth of oncogynecological pathology from the perspective of assessing the distant and regional metastasis, histological and immunohistochemical profile of a specific malignant ovarian neoplasm with levels of environmental contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The limited evidence available suggests that the interaction between chemical pollutants and biological particles may intensify respiratory diseases caused by air pollution in urban areas. Unlike air pollutants, which are routinely measured, records of biotic component are scarce. While pollen concentrations are daily surveyed in most cities, data related to airborne bacteria or fungi are not usually available. This work presents the first effort to understand atmospheric pollution integrating both biotic and abiotic agents, trying to identify relationships among the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Ascomycota phyla with palynological, meteorological and air quality variables using all biological historical records available in the Madrid Greater Region. The tools employed involve statistical hypothesis contrast tests such as Kruskal-Wallis and machine learning algorithms. A cluster analysis was performed to analyse which abiotic variables were able to separate the biotic variables into groups. Significant relationships were found for temperature and relative humidity. In addition, the relative abundance of the biological phyla studied was affected by PM 10 and O 3 ambient concentration. Preliminary Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) to predict the biotic relative abundances based on these atmospheric variables were developed. The results (r = 0.70) were acceptable taking into account the scarcity of the available data. These models can be used as an indication of the biotic composition when no measurements are available. They are also a good starting point to continue working in the development of more accurate models and to investigate causal relationships. Image 1 • High temperature favours Actinobacteria/Proteobacteria relative abundance ratio. • Microbial relative abundance correlates with PM 10 and O 3 in some cases. • Proteobacteria show a positive correlation with pollen. • Generalized Additive Models (GAM) able to capture non-linear relationships. • Coefficient of determination up to 0.76 for microbial relative abundances predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has undergone headlong economic development, yielding a secondary air pollutant 'ozone', which has stirred up worldwide concerns. This study evaluates quadrennial, and seasonal surface ozone variations, ozone trends along with its significance through seasonal and deseasonal datasets, and ozone-NO 2 correlation to codify a precedent for pollution control policies. China is divided into eight regions namely: Northeast (NE), Northwest (NW), North (N), East (E), Central (C), South (S), Southwest (SW), and Tibet (T), to exploit four-years data via (a) ozone 8-hr moving averages (O 3 -8hr), (b) hourly ozone monthly mean (O 3 -MM), (c) hourly ozone daily maximum MM (O 3 -DM-MM), (d) mean of the daily maximum 8-hr average ozone (MDA8-O 3), (e) hourly ozone averages (O 3 -1hr), and (f) hourly NO 2 averages (NO 2 -1hr), respectively. Quadrennial variations show distinct regions (i) Northeast with daily upraised value of 164.59 μg/m3, (ii) North possessing increased monthly variation of 125 μg/m3, and (iii) Tibet containing maximum yearly value of 79.81 μg/m3, respectively. Seasonal variations outpace North and South regions. The highest and lowest values of seasonal variations in North region are 135.61 μg/m3, and 23.96 μg/m3 during summer and winter, while maximum values of South region are 87.98 μg/m3 in autumn. In trend analysis, the seasonal dataset highlights higher ozone values during autumn, i.e. 74.12 μg/m3 and 141.96 μg/m3 for South and Central regions, respectively. In the meantime, the deseasonal dataset reveals the presence of increasing ozone trends in all studied regions. In assessing statistical significance by Mann-Kendall test, seasonal dataset rolls out statistically insignificant trends with an exception of South region. Meanwhile, deseasonal dataset projects statistically significant trends in all the eight regions. Lastly, two continual regions North and South are selected to determine ozone-NO 2 relationship. The multiple analytical approaches unveil that O 3 has increased by 20.86%, 14.05% and 12.64% in North, Central and South regions. The dissimilar climate, land cover modifications, precursors transportation and vehicular emissions might be some of the rationales to give rise to regional ozone variations. Therefore, we suggest revamping of emissions control policies and their precise implementation to abate ozone pollution. Image 1 • The study utilized four-years surface level ozone data at 328 sites across China. • The most striking ozone variations were pinpointed in regions "North" and "South". • This study affirmed an inverse correlation between ozone and NO 2 concentrations. • A strategic framework is crucially desired, to abate regional O 3 pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we prepare to emerge from an extensive and unprecedented lockdown period, due to the COVID-19 virus infection that hit the Northern regions of Italy with the Europe's highest death toll, it becomes clear that what has gone wrong rests upon a combination of demographic, healthcare, political, business, organizational, and climatic factors that are out of our scientific scope. Nonetheless, looking at this problem from a patient's perspective, it is indisputable that risk factors, considered as associated with the development of the virus disease, include older age, history of smoking, hypertension and heart disease. While several studies have already shown that many of these diseases can also be favored by a protracted exposure to air pollution, there has been recently an insurgence of negative commentary against authors who have correlated the fatal consequences of COVID-19 (also) to the exposition of specific air pollutants. Well aware that understanding the real connection between the spread of this fatal virus and air pollutants would require many other investigations at a level appropriate to the scale of this phenomenon (e.g., biological, chemical, and physical), we propose the results of a study, where a series of the measures of the daily values of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 were considered over time, while the Granger causality statistical hypothesis test was used for determining the presence of a possible correlation with the series of the new daily COVID19 infections, in the period February–April 2020, in Emilia-Romagna. Results taken both before and after the governmental lockdown decisions show a clear correlation, although strictly seen from a Granger causality perspective. Moving beyond the relevance of our results towards the real extent of such a correlation, our scientific efforts aim at reinvigorating the debate on a relevant case, that should not remain unsolved or no longer investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]