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Background: Motor vehicles, including public transit buses, are a major source of air pollution in New York City (NYC) and worldwide. To address this problem, governments and transit agencies have implemented policies to introduce cleaner vehicles into transit fleets. Beginning in 2000, the Metropolitan Transit Agency began deploying compressed natural gas, hybrid electric, and low-sulfur diesel buses to reduce urban air pollution., Objective: We hypothesized that bus fleet changes incorporating cleaner vehicles would have detectable effects on air pollution concentrations between 2009 and 2014, as measured by the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS)., Methods: Depot- and route-specific information allowed identification of areas with larger or smaller changes in the proportion of distance traveled by clean buses. Data were assembled for 9670 300 m × 300 m grid cell areas with annual concentration estimates for nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), and black carbon (BC) from NYCCAS. Spatial error models adjusted for truck route presence and total traffic volume., Results: While concentrations of all three pollutants declined between 2009 and 2014 even in the 39.7% of cells without bus service, the decline in concentrations of NO and NO 2 was greater in areas with more bus service and with higher proportional shifts toward clean buses. Conversely, the decline in BC concentration was slower in areas with more bus service and higher proportional clean bus shifts., Significance: These results provide evidence that the NYC clean bus program impacted concentrations of air pollution, particularly in reductions of NO 2 . Further work can investigate the potential impact of these changes on health outcomes in NYC residents., Impact Statement: Urban air pollution from diesel-burning buses is an important health exposure. The New York Metropolitan Transit Agency has worked to deploy cleaner buses into their fleet, but the impact of this policy has not been evaluated. Successful reductions in air pollution are critical for public health., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Air pollution from motor vehicle traffic remains a significant threat to public health. Using taxi inspection and trip data, we assessed changes in New York City's taxi fleet following Clean Air Taxi legislation enacted in 2005-2006. Inspection and trip data between 2004 and 2015 were used to assess changes in New York's taxi fleet and to estimate and spatially apportion annual taxi-related exhaust emissions of nitric oxide (NO) and total particulate matter (PM T ). These emissions changes were used to predict reductions in NO and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations estimates using data from the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) in 2009-2015. Efficiency trends among other for-hire vehicles and spatial variation in traffic intensity were also considered. The city fuel efficiency of the medallion taxi fleet increased from 15.7 MPG to 33.1 MPG, and corresponding NO and PM T exhaust emissions estimates declined by 82 and 49%, respectively. These emissions reductions were associated with changes in NYCCAS-modeled NO and PM 2.5 concentrations (p < 0.001). New York's clean air taxi legislation was effective at increasing fuel efficiency of the medallion taxi fleet, and reductions in estimated taxi emissions were associated with decreases in NO and PM 2.5 concentrations.

This review summarizes the published information on diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes among Alaska Natives. The most recently published age-adjusted prevalence was 28.3/1000 in 1998. There is evidence of a steadily increasing prevalence, documented both by cross sectional screening studies and patient registry methods. The overall incidence rates in 1986-1998 of lower extremity amputation (6.1/1000) and renal replacement therapy (2.1/1000) appear to be lower than those in other Native American populations in the United States. Incidence of stroke and MI in 1986-1998 varied widely by ethnic group and gender with Eskimo women having the highest rate of stroke (19.6/1000), and Aleut men the highest rate of MI (14/1000). The overall mortality among diabetic Alaska Native people in 1986-1993 (43.2/1000) was somewhat lower than that in other US diabetic populations, with heart disease being the most common cause of death. A high rate of gestational diabetes (6.7%) was reported in one region in 1987-88, but this appeared to decline following nutritional education intervention. In screening studies, the prevalence of abnormal glucose tolerance has been found to be positively associated with body mass index and negatively associated with daily seal oil or salmon consumption and higher levels of physical activity. Observations on the prevalence and relationships among other factors in the insulin resistance syndrome are summarized. Suggestions for prevention of diabetes and further studies are presented.