Air pollutant emissions from Chinese households Liu, Jun; Mauzerall, Denise L.; Chen, Qi ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
07/2016, Letnik:
113, Številka:
28
Journal Article
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As part of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government has developed air pollution prevention and control plans for key regions with a focus on the power, transport, and industrial sectors. Here, ...we investigate the contribution of residential emissions to regional air pollution in highly polluted eastern China during the heating season, and find that dramatic improvements in air quality would also result from reduction in residential emissions. We use the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry to evaluate potential residential emission controls in Beijing and in the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei (BTH) region. In January and February 2010, relative to the base case, eliminating residential emissions in Beijing reduced daily average surface PM2.5 (particulate mater with aerodynamic diameter equal or smaller than 2.5 micrometer) concentrations by 14 ± 7 μg·m−3 (22 ± 6% of a baseline concentration of 67 ± 41 μg·m−3; mean ± SD). Eliminating residential emissions in the BTH region reduced concentrations by 28 ± 19 μg·m−3 (40 ± 9% of 67 ± 41 μg·m−3), 44 ± 27 μg·m−3 (43 ± 10% of 99 ± 54 μg·m−3), and 25 ± 14 μg·m−3 (35 ± 8% of 70 ± 35 μg·m−3) in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces, respectively. Annually, elimination of residential sources in the BTH region reduced emissions of primary PM2.5 by 32%, compared with 5%, 6%, and 58% achieved by eliminating emissions from the transportation, power, and industry sectors, respectively. We also find air quality in Beijing would benefit substantially from reductions in residential emissions from regional controls in Tianjin and Hebei, indicating the value of policies at the regional level.
Firefighting is dangerous work. Each year, approximately 80,000 firefighters are injured and about 100 firefighters lose their lives in the line of duty. Firefighters face multiple dangers in the ...course of their work; they encounter toxic fumes, dangerous products of combustion, high radiant heat loads, and a chaotic work environment. Despite the myriad dangers, the leading cause of line-of-duty death among firefighters is sudden cardiac event, accounting for approximately 45% of duty deaths. Firefighting requires high levels of aerobic fitness, anaerobic capacity, and muscular strength and endurance; however, data suggest that many firefighters do not possess high aerobic or anaerobic capacity. Furthermore, many firefighters are overweight and have one or more modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The safety of the public and the health and safety of firefighters would be enhanced if firefighters followed well-designed fitness programs to improve overall health and fitness.
Facing severe air pollution and growing dependence on natural gas imports, the Chinese government plans to increase coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) production. Although displacement of coal ...with SNG benefits air quality, it increases CO₂ emissions. Due to variations in air pollutant and CO₂ emission factors and energy efficiencies across sectors, coal replacementwith SNG results in varying degrees of air quality benefits and climate penalties. We estimate air quality, human health, and climate impacts of SNG substitution strategies in 2020. Using all production of SNG in the residential sector results in an annual decrease of ∼32,000 (20,000 to 41,000) outdoor-air-pollution-associated premature deaths, with ranges determined by the low and high estimates of the health risks. If changes in indoor/household air pollution were also included, the decrease would be far larger. SNG deployment in the residential sector results in nearly 10 and 60 times greater reduction in premature mortality than if it is deployed in the industrial or power sectors, respectively. Due to inefficiencies in current household coal use, utilization of SNG in the residential sector results in only 20 to 30% of the carbon penalty compared with using it in the industrial or power sectors. Even if carbon capture and storage is used in SNG production with today’s technology, SNG emits 22 to 40% more CO₂ than the same amount of conventional gas. Among the SNG deployment strategies we evaluate, allocating currently planned SNG to households provides the largest air quality and health benefits with the smallest carbon penalties.
Energy and Human Health SMITH, Kirk R; FRUMKIN, Howard; McMICHAEL, Anthony J ...
Annual review of public health,
01/2013, Letnik:
34, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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Energy use is central to human society and provides many health benefits. But each source of energy entails some health risks. This article reviews the health impacts of each major source of energy, ...focusing on those with major implications for the burden of disease globally. The biggest health impacts accrue to the harvesting and burning of solid fuels, coal and biomass, mainly in the form of occupational health risks and household and general ambient air pollution. Lack of access to clean fuels and electricity in the world's poor households is a particularly serious risk for health. Although energy efficiency brings many benefits, it also entails some health risks, as do renewable energy systems, if not managed carefully. We do not review health impacts of climate change itself, which are due mostly to climate-altering pollutants from energy systems, but do discuss the potential for achieving near-term health cobenefits by reducing certain climate-related emissions.
Firefighters are required to perform physically strenuous tasks such as hose drags, victim rescues, forcible entries and stair climbs to complete their public safety mission. Occupational-specific ...tasks are often used to evaluate the ability of firefighters to adequately/safely perform their duties. Depending on the regions, occupational-specific tasks include six to eight individual tasks, which emphasize distinct aspects of their physical fitness, while also requiring different levels of cardiovascular (CVH) and musculoskeletal health (MSH). Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between specific occupational task performance and measures of physical fitness, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health.
Using a cross-sectional design, 282 full-time male and female firefighters were recruited. A researcher-generated questionnaire and physical measures were used to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics, CVH, MSH and weekly physical activity habits. Physical measures were used to collect data on physical fitness and occupational-specific task performance.
Absolute cardiorespiratory fitness (abV̇O2max), grip strength, leg strength, push-ups, sit-ups and lean body mass (all p < 0.001) had an inverse association with completion times on all occupational-specific tasks. Age was positively related to the performance of all tasks (all p < 0.05). Higher heart rate variability (HRV) was associated with better performance on all tasks (all p < 0.05). Bodyfat percentage (BF%) and diastolic blood pressure were positively associated with the step-up task (p < 0.05). Lower back musculoskeletal injury (LoBMSI), musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD), and lower limb MSD were associated with a decreased odds of passing the step-up. Upper body MSIs (UBMSI), LoBMSIs and Lower back MSD were associated with decreased odds of passing the rescue drag.
Firefighters that were taller, leaner, stronger and fitter with a more favourable CVH profile, higher HRV and less musculoskeletal discomfort performed best on all occupational-specific tasks.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
During live-fire firefighting operations and training evolutions, firefighters often consume multiple cylinders of air and continue to wear their personal protective equipment even after fire ...suppression activities have ceased. However, most studies have only reported core temperature changes during short-term firefighting activities and have shown a very modest increase in core temperature. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate core temperature and heart rate (HR) during repeated bouts of firefighting activity over ∼3 h. The results of this study show that core temperatures increase by an average of 1.9°C - to a larger magnitude than previously reported - and continue to increase during subsequent work cycles (38.4 vs. 38.7) even after long breaks of more than 30 min. The rate of core temperature increase during work continues to increase later in the training exercise (from 0.036 to 0.048°C/min), increasing the risk for exertional heat stress particularly if long-duration firefighting activity is required at these later times.
Practitioner Summary: To date, core temperature and HR changes during firefighting have been reported for short-term studies, which may significantly underestimate the physiological burden of typical firefighting activities. Firefighter core temperatures are shown to increase to a larger magnitude than previously observed and the rate of rise in core temperature increases during subsequent firefighting activities.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues as the most important cause of mortality. Better risk screening and prediction are needed to reduce the cardiovascular disease burden. The aim of the study was ...to assess the role of serum biomarkers in the prediction of CVD among asymptomatic middle-aged adults with no prior CVD history. A systematic review and meta-analysis were carried out using literature from PubMed and following PRISMA reporting guidelines. Twenty-five studies met our inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. The most commonly studied biomarker was high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) (10 studies), which showed that higher hs-CRP levels are associated with an increased risk of subsequent CVD events and mortality. In addition, several less-studied biomarkers (N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), fibrinogen, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and others) also showed significant associations with greater future risk of CVD. A meta-analysis was possible to perform for hs-CRP and NT-proBNP, which showed statistically significant results for the ability of hs-CRP (hazard ratio (HR) 1.19, (95% CI: 1.09−1.30), p < 0.05) and NT-proBNP (HR 1.22, (1.13−1.32), p < 0.05) to predict incident CVD among middle-aged adults without a prior CVD history or symptoms. Several serum biomarkers, particularly hs-CRP and NT-proBNP, have the potential to improve primary CVD risk prevention among asymptomatic middle-aged adults.
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