Background Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were reported to be associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) but the results were inconsistent and prospective data are scarce. We aimed to examine these associations in a large prospective birth cohort study in Shanghai, China. Methods A total of 10 PFASs were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS-MS)

Arsenic (As) is a potential contaminant in sewage sludge that may affect waste treatment and limit the use of these waste materials as soil amendments. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important and effective process for the treatment of sewage sludge and the chemical speciation of As is particularly important in sludge AD. However, the biotransformation genes of As in sludge during AD has not been fully

Eutrophication and global warming are two main urgent environmental problems around the world. Nitrate-dependent Anaerobic Methane Oxidation (NdAMO) is a bioprocess coupling nitrate reduction with anaerobic methane oxidation, which could mitigate of these two environmental issues simultaneously. In this study, a newly granular active carbon-NdAMO-membrane bioreactor (GAC-NdAMO-MBR) system was established

Background High-income nations have the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The incidence of pediatric-onset IBD is increasing faster than IBD diagnosed in older individuals. Previous epidemiological studies have shown that air pollution might be a risk factor for development of earlier-onset IBD, but results remain mixed. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the associations

Objectives Fetal exposure to phthalates and bisphenols may lead to vascular developmental adaptations, which program later cardiovascular disease. We examined the associations of fetal exposure to phthalates and bisphenols with childhood blood pressure. Methods In a population-based, prospective cohort study among 1,064 mother-child pairs, we measured maternal urine phthalate and bisphenol concentrations

Developmental exposure to environmental chemicals with estrogen-like activity is suspected to permanently impair women’s health. In this study, a mouse model was used to evaluate whether tris(2,6-dimethylphenyl) phosphate (TDMPP), a chemical with a putative estrogen-like action, impairs sexual differentiation of the brain. Either TDMPP and 17β-estradiol (E2) as positive controls or sesame oil as a

Using a Lagrangian particle tracking model the coastal accumulation of debris from 10 major Chinese and Korean rivers discharging to the seas around the Korean Peninsula is investigated. The amount of debris from each river is proportional to the population over the catchment area of the river and the mismanaged plastic waste (MPW) ratio of the country the river belongs to. The debris generally washes

Background In the screening phase of systematic review, researchers use detailed inclusion/exclusion criteria to decide whether each article in a set of candidate articles is relevant to the research question under consideration. A typical review may require screening thousands or tens of thousands of articles in and can utilize hundreds of person-hours of labor. Methods Here we introduce SWIFT-Active

Ship traffic emissions degrade air quality in coastal areas and contribute to climate impacts globally. The estimated health burden of exposure to shipping emissions in coastal areas may inform policy makers as they seek to reduce exposure and associated potential health impacts. This work estimates the PM2.5-attributable impacts in the form of premature mortality and cardiovascular and respiratory

Volatile and hazardous compounds are formed during the chlorination of pool water. Monitoring components in the air, such as the four trihalomethanes; chloroform, dichlorobromomethane, dibromochloromethane and bromoform (tTHM), is challenging. Carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors are used for controlling air quality in different buildings and can be installed in ventilation systems for continuous surveillance

Gut microbiota is a reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Yet, limited information is available regarding the presence (metagenomic DNA level) and expression profiles (metatranscriptomic RNA level) of ARGs in gut microbiota. Here, we used both metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches to comprehensively reveal the abundance, diversity, and expression of ARGs in human, chicken, and pig

The rate of drug excretion (excretion factor) is a critical parameter for monitoring drug consumption in the population by wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). Previous studies have refined excretion factors for common illicit drugs, such as cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, heroin, to improve the accuracy and reduce uncertainty in back-calculating consumption. Nevertheless, for ketamine, one

Background Exposure to atmospheric fine particle matter (PM2.5) pollution and the absorbed pollutants is known to contribute to numerous adverse health effects in children including to growth. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate exposure levels of atmospheric PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in an electronic waste (e-waste) polluted town, Guiyu, and to investigate the

Indoor microbial diversity and composition are suggested to affect the prevalence and severity of asthma by previous home microbiome studies, but no microbiome-health association study has been conducted in a school environment, especially in tropical countries. In this study, we collected floor dust and environmental characteristics from 21 classrooms, and health data related to asthma symptoms from

Objectives We investigated the association between outdoor air pollutants exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy, and growth and cardio-metabolic risk at four years of age, and evaluated the mediating role of birth weight. Methods We included mother-child pairs (N = 1,724) from the Spanish INMA birth cohort established in 2003–2008. First trimester of pregnancy nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine

The ever increasing production and use of nano-enabled commercial products release the massive amount of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in the environment. An increasing number of recent studies have shown the toxic effects of ENPs on different organisms, raising concerns over the nano-pollutants behavior and fate in the various environmental compartments. After the release of ENPs in the environment

Thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) has been considered as an advanced approach to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion treating municipal sludge. However, several drawbacks were also identified with THP including the formation of brown and ultraviolet-quenching compounds that contain recalcitrant dissolved organic nitrogen (rDON). Melanoidins produced from the Maillard reaction between

Bayesian geostatistical regression (GR) models estimate air pollution exposure at high spatial resolution, quantify the prediction uncertainty and provide probabilistic inference on the exceedance of air quality thresholds. However, due to high computational burden, previous GR models have provided gridded ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations at smaller areas of investigation. Here, we applied

Background Information on the association between long-term exposure to PM2.5 and gastrointestinal cancer mortality is scarce. Objectives This study investigated the association between long-term exposure to PM2.5 and deaths from gastrointestinal cancer and its subtypes in adults in Taiwan. Methods A total of 385,650 Taiwanese adults (≥18 years old) jointed a standard medical examination program between

Consumption of antibiotics is continuing to increase, with China accounting for approximately one quarter of the global intake. As a class of emerging environmental contaminants, antibiotics may pose a potential threat to human health, especially in children. However, the internal antibiotic exposure levels in pregnant women and their determinants remain unclear. Here we investigated the urinary creatinine-corrected

The high use of pesticides worldwide and the constant exposure of humans to these toxic-by-design chemicals have drawn the attention on the possible consequences on human health. However, information on the exposure of the general population to pesticides remain very limited in most countries, especially in urban areas. In the present work, hair analysis was conducted to investigate the exposure of

The measurement of bisphenol-S (BPS) and its glucurono-conjugate (BPSG) in urine may be used for the biomonitoring of exposure in populations. However, this requires a thorough knowledge of their toxicokinetics. The time courses of BPS and BPSG were assessed in accessible biological matrices of orally and dermally exposed volunteers. Under the approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the University

Backgrounds Previous studies linking biomass fuel use to hypertension have been inconsistent. We investigated the association between biomass fuel use and the risk of hypertension and blood pressure measures in older Chinese people. Methods The prospective cohort study of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) included participants aged 65 years and older in 2011/2012 who were followed

Background In previous studies, exposures to heavy metals such as Pb and Cd have been associated with adverse birth outcomes; however, knowledge on effects at low levels of exposure and of other elements remain limited. Method We examined individual and mixture effects of metals and metalloids on birth outcomes among 812 pregnant women in the Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats

Background The importance of airway mechanics has been increasingly recognized in pediatric asthma. However, no studies have examined responses of airway mechanics to air pollution exposure in asthmatic children. Methods In this panel study involving indoor air filtration manipulation that created a large gradient of personal exposure to PM2.5, the airway mechanics and lung function of 43 asthmatic

Background The exposome is defined as encompassing all environmental exposures one undergoes from conception onwards. Challenges of the application of this concept to environmental-health association studies include a possibly high false-positive rate. Objectives We aimed to reduce the dimension of the exposome using information from DNA methylation as a way to more efficiently characterize the relation

Microcystins (MCs) produced by cyanobacteria pose serious threats to human health. However, the contribution of long-term exposure to MCs to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains poorly documented. In this study, we estimated the environmental uptake of MCs by a small population of fishers who have lived for many years on Meiliang Bay of Lake Taihu, where cyanobacterial

The effects of asbestos fibers on human immune cells have not been well documented. We have developed a continuously exposed cell line model using the human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1)-immortalized human T cell line MT-2. Sublines continuously exposed to chrysotile (CH) or crocidolite (CR) showed acquired resistance to asbestos-induced apoptosis following transient and high-dose re-exposure with

Over the past few decades, accumulated evidence confirms that the global environment conditions are changing rapidly. Urban industrialization, agriculture and globalization have generated water, air and soil pollution, giving rise to an environment with a growing number of stress factors, which has a serious impact on the fitness, reproduction and survival of living organisms. The issue raises considerable

Background We used the first metro system in a developing city as a natural experiment to investigate the causal inference in the new metro’s impact on modal shift and active travel. Material and methods The treatment group was formed by residents from neighbourhoods located within the 800-m walking distance to new metro stations. The first control group was formed by residents lived 1.6 km away from

The stable isotopes of nitrogen in nitrate archived in polar ice have been interpreted as reflecting a shift in reactive nitrogen sources or changes in atmospheric chemical reactivity. Here, we present a novel concentration and isotopic record of nitrate (δ15N-NO3−) from a central Tibetan Plateau ice core over the last ~200 years. We find that nitrate concentration increased from 6.0 ± 2.3 μeq/L (mean

While PM2.5 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm) concentrations in China are beginning to decline because of pollution abatement measures, ozone (O3) concentrations continue to rise. In this study, we have used a Monte Carlo approach to estimate breathing-rate adjusted (BRA) population exposure to ozone and its oxidation products based on hourly O3 measurements collected in 2017 from

Background Air pollution has been shown to be associated with blood lipid levels. However, studies on long-term ambient particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤1 μm (PM1) exposure in high-exposure areas are still limited. This study aimed to explore the associations among long-term PM1 exposure, blood lipids and dyslipidemias. Methods Baseline data of The Henan Rural Cohort study was used in

Background Air quality might contribute to incidence of dementia-related disorders, including Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of urban environmental exposures (including exposure to air pollution, noise and green space) on cognitive performance and brain structure of cognitively unimpaired individuals at risk for AD. Participants and methods The ALFA (ALzheimer

Background The concentration-response relationship between mortality and long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has not been fully elucidated, especially at high levels of PM2.5 concentrations. Objective We aimed to evaluate chronic effects of ambient PM2.5 exposure on deaths among Chinese adults in high-exposure settings. Methods Participants of the Prediction for Atherosclerotic cardiovascular

Personal exposure to air pollution is affected by its concentration in the microenvironment and individual time-activity patterns. To investigate personal black carbon (BC) exposure levels and identify their potential determinants, we conducted a panel study among 67 elderly residents aged 60–69 years in Jinan, China. Personal BC exposure was measured using portable real-time monitors, while corresponding

Background A new Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) was developed in Canada or several single cities as a promising health risk communication tool. Objectives To construct a national AQHI in China and compare its validity in predicting daily mortality risk with the existing Air Quality Index (AQI). Methods We established the AQHI as the sum of excess total mortality risks associated with multiple air

Background The infant microbiome contributes to health status across the lifespan, but environmental factors affecting microbial communities are poorly understood, particularly when toxic and essential elements interact. Objective We aimed to identify the associations between a spectrum of other early-postnatal nutrient or toxic elemental exposures measured and the infant gut microbiome. Methods Our