BACKGROUND Preterm birth is a major perinatal health problem, but factors leading to it are still not completely understood. OBJECTIVES Our goal was to identify the relation between acute increase in ambient air pollution in a few hours before onset of labor and the risk of preterm birth. METHODS We collected registered birth outcome data and hourly ambient air pollution measurements during...

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard NASA’s Aura satellite has been providing global observations of the ozone layer and key atmospheric pollutant gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2), since October 2004. The data products from the same instrument provide consistent spatial and temporal coverage and permit the study of anthropogenic and natural emissions on lo...

BACKGROUND: There is growing concern that moderate levels of outdoor air pollution may be associated with infant mortality, representing substantial loss of life-years. To date, there has been no investigation of the effects of outdoor pollution on infant mortality in the UK. METHODS: Daily time-series data of air pollution and all infant deaths between 1990 and 2000 in 10 major cities of Engla...

[1] On 5 April 2005, during the East Asian Study of Tropospheric Aerosols: An International Regional Experiment (EAST-AIRE) aircraft campaign, heavy loadings of SO2 (20 ppb near ground, 1–3 ppb at 2 km altitude) and dust with aerosol optical depth of 1 were measured over Shenyang, an industrialized city 600 km NE of Beijing. In this study, Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and MODIS satellite s...

Although the three mortality and air pollution studies in this issue of EHP contribute to the many previous studies that have evaluated day-today changes in mortality associated with air pollution, they do not provide substantial information on the specific pollutant or mix of pollutants responsible for the observed mortality effects or biological plau-sibility. For example, in the Santa Clara ...

Coal is a major energy source, and on the other hand coal is a source of pollution. Some of the important environmental issues related to use of coal in energy production are the release of sulphur dioxide (SO2). SO2 is a precursor to acid rain, responsible for atmospheric pollution and damage to human health. Therefore, investigations and development of technologies promising low SO2 emission ...

OBJECTIVES Ambient exposure to sulphur dioxide (SO2) has been previously associated with emergency department (ED) visits for migraine headaches. In the present study, the objective was to examine the relationship between ED visits for migraine and ambient sulphur dioxide concentrations. DESIGN AND METHODS This was a time-series study of 1059 ED visits for migraine (ICD-9: 346) recorded at a ...

SO2 emissions lead to various harmful effects on environment and human health. The SO2 emission in China has significant contribution to the global SO2 emission, so it is necessary to employ various methods to study SO2 emissions in China with great details in order to lay the foundation for policymaking to improve environmental conditions in China. Network analysis is used to analyze the SO2 e...

The relationship between maternal exposure to air pollution during periods of pregnancy (entire and specific periods) and birth weight was investigated in a well-defined cohort. Between 1988 and 1991, all pregnant women living in four residential areas of Beijing were registered and followed from early pregnancy until delivery. Information on individual mothers and infants was collected. Daily ...

Among the possible explanations for the recent increase in the prevalence of asthma in several countries, air pollution is one of the foremost public health concerns. Data from the "Pollution Atmosphérique et Affections Respiratoires Chroniques" (PAARC) survey collected in 24 areas of seven French towns during 1974-1976 were reanalysed to assess the relationship between the prevalence of asthma...