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Nanomaterials (NMs) solve specific problems with remarkable results in several industrial and scientific areas. Among NMs, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been extensively employed as drug carriers, medical diagnostics, energy harvesting devices, sensors, lubricants, and bioremediation. Notably, they have shown excellent antimicrobial, anticancer, and antiviral properties in the biomedical field. The literature analysis shows a selective cytotoxic effect on cancer cells compared to healthy cells, making its potential application in cancer treatment evident, increasing the need to study the potential risk of their use to environmental and human health. A large battery of toxicity models, both in vitro and in vivo, have been established to predict the harmful effects of incorporating AgNPs in these numerous areas or those produced due to involuntary exposure. However, these models often report contradictory results due to their lack of standardization, generating controversy and slowing the advances in nanotoxicology research, fundamentally by generalizing the biological response produced by the AgNP formulations. This review summarizes the last ten years’ reports concerning AgNPs’ toxicity in cellular respiratory system models (e.g., mono-culture models, co-cultures, 3D cultures, ex vivo and in vivo). In turn, more complex cellular models represent in a better way the physical and chemical barriers of the body; however, results should be used carefully so as not to be misleading. The main objective of this work is to highlight current models with the highest physiological relevance, identifying the opportunity areas of lung nanotoxicology and contributing to the establishment and strengthening of specific regulations regarding health and the environment.

Understanding effects of extreme heat across diverse settings is critical as social determinants play an important role in modifying heat-related risks. We apply a multi-scale analysis to understand spatial variation in the effects of heat across Mexico and explore factors that are explaining heterogeneity. Daily all-cause mortality was collected from the Mexican Secretary of Health and municipality-specific extreme heat events were estimated using population-weighted temperatures from 1998 to 2019 using Daymet and WorldPop datasets. We analyzed the association between single-day extreme heat events defined at the 99th percentile of the same-day maximum temperature and mortality, and seven heat threshold metrics based on relative and absolute scales were considered as sensitivity analyses. A time-stratified case-crossover was applied to evaluate heat impacts across 32 states in Mexico. A within-community matched design with Bayesian Hierarchical model explored effects across 2456 municipalities. A random-effects meta-regression was applied to understand which municipality-level socio-demographic characteristics such as education, age and housing predicted observed spatial heterogeneity. Extreme heat increased the odds of mortality overall, and this was consistent across extreme heat thresholds. At the state level, extreme heat events showed highest impact on mortality in Tabasco [OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.30]. The municipality-level spatial analysis showed substantial differences across regions with highest effects observed along the eastern, southwestern and Sonora coasts. Municipalities with older populations, higher marginalization, lower education, and poorer housing conditions were more vulnerable to heat effects. Understanding the differential risks of extreme heat events at varying scales is important to prioritize at-risk populations in action plans and policies to reduce their burden.

Exposure to fine particles in wildfire smoke is deleterious for human health and can increase cases of cardio-respiratory illnesses and related hospitalizations. Neighborhood-level risk factors can increase susceptibility to environmental hazards, such as air pollution from smoke, and the same exposure can lead to different health effects across populations. While the San Diego-Tijuana border can be exposed to the same wildfire smoke event, socio-demographic differences may drive differential effects on population health. We used the October 2007 wildfires, one the most devastating wildfire events in Southern California that brought smoke to the entire region, as a natural experiment to understand the differential effect of wildfire smoke on both sides of the border. We applied synthetic control methods to evaluate the effects of wildfire smoke on cardio-respiratory hospitalizations in the Municipality of Tijuana and San Diego County separately. During the study period (October 11th- October 26th, 2007), 2009 hospital admissions for cardio-respiratory diseases occurred in San Diego County while 37 hospital admissions were reported in the Municipality of Tijuana. The number of cases in Tijuana was much lower than San Diego, and a precise effect of wildfire smoke was detected in San Diego but not in Tijuana. However, social drivers can increase susceptibility to environmental hazards; the poverty rate in Tijuana is more than three times that of San Diego. Socio-demographics are important in modulating the effects of wildfire smoke and can be potentially useful in developing a concerted regional effort to protect populations on both sides of the border from the adverse health effects of wildfire smoke.