Household air pollution disparities between socioeconomic groups in Chicago

Purpose: To assess household air pollution levels in urban Chicago households and examine how socioeconomic factors influence these levels. Methods: We deployed wireless air monitoring devices to 244 households in a diverse population in Chicago to continuously record household fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration. We calculated hourly average PM2.5 concentration in a 24-hour cycle. Four factors—race, household income, area deprivation, and exposure to smoking—were considered in this study. Results: A total of 93085 h of exposure data were recorded. The average household PM2.5 concentration was 43.8 μg m−3. We observed a significant difference in the average household PM2.5 concentrations between Black/African American and non-Black/African American households (46.3 versus 31.6 μg m−3), between high-income and low-income households (18.2 versus 52.5 μg m−3), and between smoking and non-smoking households (69.7 versus 29.0 μg m−3). However, no significant difference was observed between households in less and more deprived areas (43.7 versus 43.0 μg m−3). Implications: Household air pollution levels in Chicago households are much higher than the recommended level, challenging the hypothesis that household air quality is adequate for populations in high income nations. Our results indicate that it is the personal characteristics of participants, rather than the macro environments, that lead to observed differences in household air pollution

Contextual Deprivation, Race and Ethnicity, and Income in Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease

Importance: Socioeconomically disadvantaged subpopulations are more vulnerable to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. However, as prior studies focused on individual-level socioeconomic characteristics, how contextual deprivation modifies the association of PM2.5 exposure with cardiovascular health remains unclear. Objective: To assess disparities in PM2.5 exposure association with cardiovascular disease among subpopulations defined by different socioeconomic characteristics. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used longitudinal data on participants with electronic health records (EHRs) from the All of Us Research Program between calendar years 2016 and 2022. Statistical analysis was performed from September 25, 2023, through February 23, 2024. Exposure: Satellite-derived 5-year mean PM2.5 exposure at the 3-digit zip code level according to participants’ residential address. Main Outcome and Measures: Incident myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke were obtained from the EHRs. Stratified Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) between PM2.5 exposure and incident MI or stroke. We evaluated subpopulations defined by 3 socioeconomic characteristics: contextual deprivation (less deprived, more deprived), annual household income (≥ 50,000 USD, Results: A total of 210 554 participants were analyzed (40% age >60 years; 59.4% female; 16.7% Hispanic, 19.4% Non-Hispanic Black, 56.1% Non-Hispanic White, 7.9% other [American Indian, Asian, more than 1 race and ethnicity]), among whom 954 MI and 1407 stroke cases were identified. Higher PM2.5 levels were associated with higher MI and stroke risks. However, disadvantaged groups (more deprived, income 2.5 levels. The disparities were most pronounced between groups defined by contextual deprivation. For instance, increasing PM2.5 from 6 to 10 μg/m3, the HR for stroke was 1.13 (95% CI, 0.85-1.51) in the less-deprived vs 2.57 (95% CI, 2.06-3.21) in the more-deprived cohort; 1.46 (95% CI, 1.07-2.01) in the $50 000 or more per year vs 2.27 (95% CI, 1.73-2.97) in the under 50,000 USD per year cohort; and 1.70 (95% CI, 1.35-2.16) in White individuals vs 2.76 (95% CI, 1.89-4.02) in Black individuals. The RHR was highest for contextual deprivation (2.27; 95% CI, 1.59-3.24), compared with income (1.55; 95% CI, 1.05-2.29) and race and ethnicity (1.62; 95% CI, 1.02-2.58). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, while individual race and ethnicity and income remained crucial in the adverse association of PM2.5 with cardiovascular risks, contextual deprivation was a more robust socioeconomic characteristic modifying the association of PM2.5 exposure.</p

Explanatory pluralism in the medical sciences: theory and practice

Explanatory pluralism is the view that the best form and level of explanation depends on the kind of question one seeks to answer by the explanation, and that in order to answer all questions in the best way possible, we need more than one form and level of explanation. In the first part of this article, we argue that explanatory pluralism holds for the medical sciences, at least in theory. However, in the second part of the article we show that medical research and practice is actually not fully and truly explanatory pluralist yet. Although the literature demonstrates a slowly growing interest in non-reductive explanations in medicine, the dominant approach in medicine is still methodologically reductionist. This implies that non-reductive explanations often do not get the attention they deserve. We argue that the field of medicine could benefit greatly by reconsidering its reductive tendencies and becoming fully and truly explanatory pluralist. Nonetheless, trying to achieve the right balance in the search for and application of reductive and non-reductive explanations will in any case be a difficult exercise

The ontology of organisms: Mechanistic modules or patterned processes?

Though the realm of biology has long been under the philosophical rule of the mechanistic magisterium, recent years have seen a surprisingly steady rise in the usurping prowess of process ontology. According to its proponents, theoretical advances in the contemporary science of evo-devo have afforded that ontology a particularly powerful claim to the throne: in that increasingly empirically confirmed discipline, emergently autonomous, higher-order entities are the reigning explanantia. If we are to accept the election of evo-devo as our best conceptualisation of the biological realm with metaphysical rigour, must we depose our mechanistic ontology for failing to properly “carve at the joints” of organisms? In this paper, I challenge the legitimacy of that claim: not only can the theoretical benefits offered by a process ontology be had without it, they cannot be sufficiently grounded without the metaphysical underpinning of the very mechanisms which processes purport to replace. The biological realm, I argue, remains one best understood as under the governance of mechanistic principles

The optical properties of (TMTSF)₂ReO₄ and (TMTSF)₂BF₄ above and below their metal-insulator transitions

The reflectivity of large single crystals of protonated and deuterated (TMTSF)₂Re0₄ and (TMTSF)₂BF₄ has been measured from ≈ 30 cm-¹ to ≈ 8000 cm-¹ using a Bruker IFS 113V Fourier Transform Interferometer for Ea and Eb' above and below the metal--insulator transitions at 177 K and 39 K respectively. The infrared powder absorption spectra of protonated and deuterated (TMTSF)₂Re0₄ has been measured from 200 cm˗¹ to 2000 cm˗¹. The Kramers-Kronig optical conductivity has been calculated from the reflectivity using Drude extrapolations to high frequency. The results for the conductivity for Ea show a one-dimensional density of states, characteristic of a one-dimensional semiconductor with strong electron-phonon coupling, with the vibrations appearing as resonances below the gap and as antiresonances above. The Eb' conductivity is smaller by almost two orders of magnitude than that for Ea, but displays the same semiconducting behavior. The phonons active in the Eb' polarization appear only as resonances. A normal coordinate analysis has been performed for protonated and deuterated TMTSF⁰ and TMTSF⁺. The results have been used to infer the frequencies of vibration and the deuterium shifts of TMTSF⁺⁰ׄ⁵. The molecular frequencies of vibration have been assigned on the basis of their observed frequencies and optical polarization, as well as their deuterium shifts. Some external phonons have also been assigned. The observation that many of the internal and external vibrations are split is due to the eightfold increase in the size of the unit cell (and subsequent reduction of the Brillouin zone) below the metal-insulator transition. The optical properties of the semiconducting state have been modelled for a one--dimensional molecular conductor with a twofold-commensurate charge-density wave, which accurately reproduces the effects of the lattice dimerization and the potential due to the anion chains. The calculations yield the electron-molecular-vibrational coupling constants for the totally symmetric a[formula omitted] vibrations of the TMTSF molecule. The model also yields a transfer integral of 1400 cm-¹ for both materials and semiconducting energy gaps of 2Δ = 1700 cm˗¹ and 2Δ = 1120 cm˗¹ for (TMTSF)₂ReO₄ and (TMTSF)₂BF₄ respectively. The optical conductivity in the Eb' polarization has been discussed in -terms of a two-dimensional band structure with anisotropic transfer integrals. The band structure calculations show the same general features as the measured spectra.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofGraduat