Study of the requirements and project management plan of a system to provide relevant environment information for outdoors sports practitioners in urban areas

The impact of air quality in human’s health have attracted much attention in the past decade furthermore if we consider sports practitioners. In the first part of this thesis, it has been analysed how air quality can affect human’s health in particular how it could affect outdoors sports practitioners main practicing their sports. After this analysis a solution has been presented to some users, a mobile app that can let them check the air quality in any area they want and let them know which is the best time to go out for practicing their sports. An agile process has been followed to define the main app functions and features, and from here it was being devised a project management plan for its development including an economic and environmental-social analyses of the future development of the app if its introduced in the market

Practicing Outdoor Physical Activity: Is It Really a Good Choice? Short- and Long-Term Health Effects of Exercising in a Polluted Environment

Background: Air pollution is an environmental risk factor for mortality and the fifth largest risk factor for all causes of death. The practice of regular physical activity is strongly encouraged to achieve a healthy lifestyle. During a physical exercise session, the volume of inhaled pollutants increases. The present study aims to report the evidence about the interaction between polluted air, physical activity, and the interactive effects of these two variables on individuals’ health in the light of the significant changes occurring in the daily routine of individuals practicing sport and physical activities after the end of the pandemic. Methods: A mapping review was performed on electronic databases to summarize studies reporting the effects of pollutants on specific health outcomes. A further analysis investigated how physical habits and air quality changed following the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The current literature suggests that air pollution alters both short- and long-term health outcomes. Nonetheless, exercising is a protective factor against the harmful effects of air pollution. Conclusions: It is necessary for those who train outdoors to evaluate the external environmental conditions. The change should be aimed at improving air quality by implementing stricter legislative guidelines on air pollution thresholds

Airborne environmental injuries and human health.

The concept that the environment in which we live can have detrimental effects on our health has existed for centuries. Obvious examples of substances that can cause human diseases include infectious agents, poisons, chemicals and other noxious agents, drugs, and physical stimuli such as bright lights and loud sounds. Some less obvious agents can include allergens, nontangible agents such as colorless, odorless gases and aerosolized toxins. In recent decades, humans have developed various new materials and compounds. Additionally, we are now producing known compounds, and even naturally occurring substances, in vastly increased amounts. Many of these substances are generally believed to threaten the health of our environment. However, there is also a considerable amount of hype and exaggeration regarding some of these agents (e.g., mold) that is unsubstantiated. This article extensively reviews the data on a large number of airborne-related illnesses and attempted to place scientific reality in the context of clinical medicine

Determinants of paediatric asthma: a three-level approach

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências Biomédicas, apresentada ao Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar da Universidade do Porto, 2021Orientador Professor André Moreira (Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto); Coorientadores: Professor Eduardo de Oliveira Fernandes (Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto); Doutora Joana Madureira (Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto); Professora Idalina Beirão (Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar da Universidade do Porto)During the 20th century, urbanization has increasing and represented a major demographic and environmental change in developed countries. Urban living may offer a greater possibility to better health care, education and social services, but is also associated with increased exposure to air pollution, outdoors and indoors, loss of natural environments and biodiversity and lifestyle changes. Furthermore, this ever-changing urban environment has an impact on diseases patterns and prevalence, namely on noncommunicable diseases, such as asthma and allergy, and poses many challenges to understand the relationship between the changing on the urban environment and the children health. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the role of the environmental determinants of paediatric asthma.Ao longo do último século observou-se uma tendência crescente e rápida na urbanização, representando uma grande mudança demográfica e ambiental, principalmente nos países desenvolvidos. Apesar das cidades poderem oferecer oportunidades de acesso aos serviços de saúde, educação e sociais, estão também associadas a um aumento da exposição à poluição do ar, no exterior e no interior, diminuição de ambientes naturais e da biodiversidade e alterações nos estilos de vida. A alteração crescente do meio ambiente está igualmente associada ao aumento da prevalência de algumas doenças, nomeadamente, de doenças crónicas como a asma e as alergias e, representando por isso diversos desafios na compreensão da relação entre as mudanças no ambiente na saúde das crianças. O objetivo da presente tese é investigar o papel dos determinantes ambientais da asma e da alergia pediátrica.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the scholarship SFRH/BD/112269/2015 and by the Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000010 – Health, Comfort and Energy in the Built Environment (HEBE), cofinanced by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), EXALAR 21 project financed by FEDER/FNR and by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (EXALAR 21 02/SAICT/2017 - Project nº 30193) and by EAACI Research Fellowship 2018, “How indoor environment can shape human microbiome: culture-independent approaches”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Relation of Swine Industrial Livestock Operation Air Emissions Exposures to Sleep Duration and Time Outdoors in Residential Host Communities

Residents of communities hosting swine industrial livestock operations (ILOs) in North Carolina are exposed to mixtures of air pollutants originating from animal confinements, waste lagoons, and waste spray-field systems. To add to the understanding of swine ILO impacts on nearby community residents, I estimated the impact of swine ILO air emissions on sleep and time outdoors. These outcomes have not been formally assessed using epidemiologic methods, but are important components of quality-of-life, have implications for health and disease, and have been raised as concerns by community members. Acute exposure effects on sleep and time outdoors were estimated by applying discrete-time hazard models to data collected in the Community Health Effects of Industrial Hog Operations (CHEIHO) study. CHEIHO was a community-based, participatory research study that coupled continuous monitoring of pollutant plume markers with twice-daily odor and activity diaries. Dynamic Bayesian network models were used to estimate the total chronic effect of exposures accounting for potential feedback between subsequent exposures and outcomes. Detectible swine ILO pollutants at night was associated with an average sleep deficit of approximately 15 minutes. Exposure to outdoor odors was associated with decreased odds of being outdoors during the following hour (OR 0.62, 95% interval 0.44 to 0.89). Dynamic models estimated that the total effects of exposures exceeded the expected total effect calculated by summing individual acute effects, suggesting the importance of a feedback mechanism. The results demonstrate measurable and important impacts of ILO air emissions on sleep and time outdoors among those living nearby. The modeling approaches used were robust to bias from factors that remained constant for each participant over the course of the study and to factors that varied with the time-of-day or the weather, suggesting a causal effect. Policy interventions to reduce community exposures to swine ILO emissions from lagoon-and-sprayfield systems could have positive impacts on public health in rural North Carolina communities.Doctor of Philosoph

Proceedings of the International Workshop on 'Combined Environmental Exposure: Noise, Air Pollutants and Chemicals'

The issue of combined exposure to noise, air pollution and chemicals has raised recently the interest of several bodies of the European Commission such as DG Environment, DG SANCO and DG Research in the context of the EC 7th Framework Programme. There are open questions whether prevailing environmental concentrations of air pollutants and chemicals can lead to ototoxic health impacts. Therefore this issue needs to be thoroughly explored and investigated to help the EC to revise the existing standards and guidelines concerning combined exposure to noise, air pollutants and chemicals. The aim of the workshop was to review and discuss the existing scientific evidence whether prevailing environmental exposures to single and concomitant agents together with noise could lead to ototoxic or other health impacts. The final aim was to identify the research needs and to give recommendations for research and policy making in the EU level. It was agreed that research in the future should be focused on really established combinations (high correlations) and interactions (known effect) with main perspective on the traffic bundle of exposure. It was also discussed and agreed upon that the best knowledge exists on the health effects due to combined exposure to noise and solvents or heavy metals in occupational environments, especially on most of the auditory and non-auditory effects. Possible factors that may have confounding or aggravating effects on the results of noise studies were identified. Such factors are: age, gender, smoking, obesity, alcohol, socio-economic status, occupation, education, family status, active military, experience, hereditary disease, medication, medical status, race and ethnicity, physical activity, noisy leisure activities, stress reducing activities, diet & nutrition, housing condition (crowding), and residential status. Research priorities and recommendations for the future. The highest priority was given to issues related to research on noise and outdoor air pollutants. This is due to the fact that it may concern the largest population compared to the other stressors in this analysis and there is some evidence of serious health outcomes such as cardiovascular effects. The next priority was given to the research on the effects of noise and solvents in occupational settings and to research on noise and organophosphates. In the future research, priority should be given to: 1. evaluation of existing data collections whether re-analyses are possible with respect to combined exposure from traffic sources (road, rail and air), 2. analyses of existing data concerning noise and other stressors interactions in both occupational and environmental settings, 3. detailed assessment of combined exposures to noise, vibrations and PM, CO, NOx, and VOCs with specific studies in urban areas and, especially, cardiovascular health endpoints should be studied as priority health endpoints, 4. identification of causal mechanisms through careful review of toxicological experimental studies.JRC.I.5-Physical and chemical exposure

Wildfire smoke : a guide for public health officials

5/28/20 This information was developed before the COVID-19 health emergency. Please supplement this information with the latest advice from state, local, Tribal and federal agencies, including the EPA website https://www.epa.gov/coronavirus and CDC webpage https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.htmlwildfire-smoke-guide-revised-2019_0.pdf2019928

A Systematic Review of the Effects of Meditative and Mindful Walking on Mental and Cardiovascular Health

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(2): 1692-1734, 2022. Meditative and mindful exercise are types of physical exercise during which people pay attention, on purpose, to each new present moment without judging their experience. The goal is to apply an accepting awareness of the environment, bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions without labeling them (e.g., good or bad). The literature centers on qigong, tai chi, and yoga, which are types of mindful exercise that improve mental and cardiovascular health. It is unclear if meditative and mindful walking also improve these health domains. To the authors’ knowledge, this question has not been addressed by a published systematic review. The purpose of this systematic review without a meta-analysis was to synthesize the literature on meditative and mindful walking to determine their effects on mental and cardiovascular health. The protocol follows the PRISMA guidelines, is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021241180), and is published elsewhere in a peer-reviewed journal. The systematic review contains 14 studies that had various populations, interventions, and outcomes. In 13 studies, the interventions statistically significantly improved scores on at least one outcome of mental or cardiovascular health (e.g., affect, anxiety, depression, distress, state mindfulness, stress, blood pressure, and six-minute walk distance). The improved outcomes should be interpreted cautiously because their clinical meaningfulness is unclear, and the studies had severe methodological limitations. Determining if meditative and mindful walking meaningfully improve mental and cardiovascular health will require randomized controlled trials that use rigorous designs, transparent protocols, and clinically meaningful outcomes that indicate physical function, mental wellbeing, morbidity, and mortality

Effects of Ambient Particulate Matter on Aerobic Exercise Performance

Background/Objective: Wintertime thermal inversions in narrow mountain valleys create a ceiling effect, increasing concentration of small particulate matter (PM2.5). Despite potential health risks, many people continue to exercise outdoors in thermal inversions. This study measured the effects of ambient PM2.5 exposure associated with a typical thermal inversion on exercise performance, pulmonary function, and biological markers of inflammation. Methods: Healthy, active adults (5 males, 11 females) performed two cycle ergometer time trials outdoors in a counterbalanced design: 1) low ambient PM2.5 concentrations (/m3 ), and 2) an air quality index (AQI) ranking of “yellow.” Variables of interest were exercise performance, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), c-reactive protein (CRP), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). Results: Despite a significant difference in mean PM2.5 concentration of 9.3 ± 3.0 mg/m3 between trials (p \u3c .001), there was no significant difference (p = .424) in the distance covered during low PM2.5 conditions (9.9 ± 1.7 km) compared to high PM2.5 conditions (10.1 ± 1.5 km). There were no clinically significant differences across time or between trials for eNO, CRP, FVC, or FEV1. Additionally, there were no dose-response relationships (p \u3e .05) for PM2.5 concentration and the measured variables. Conclusion: An acute bout of vigorous exercise during an AQI of “yellow” did not diminish exercise performance in healthy adults, nor did it have a negative effect on pulmonary function or biological health markers. These variables might not be sensitive to small changes from acute, mild PM2.5 exposur