Associations between environmental exposures and asthma control and exacerbations in young children : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Exposure and risks from wearing asbestos mitts

BACKGROUND: Very high fibre inhalation exposure has been measured while people were wearing personal protective equipment manufactured from chrysotile asbestos. However, there is little data that relates specifically to wearing asbestos gloves or mitts, particularly when used in hot environments such as those found in glass manufacturing. The aim of this study was to assess the likely personal exposure to asbestos fibres when asbestos mitts were used. RESULTS: Three types of work activity were simulated in a small test room with unused mitts and artificially aged mitts. Neither pair of mitts were treated to suppress the dust emission. The measured respirable fibre exposure levels ranged from <0.06 to 0.55 fibres/ml, with no significant difference in fibre exposure between aged and unused mitts. The use of high localised ventilation to simulate convective airflows from a furnace reduced exposure levels by about a factor of five. Differences between tasks were statistically significant, with simulated "rowing" of molten glass lowest and replacement of side seals on the furnace highest. Estimated lifetime cancer risk from 20 years exposure at the upper end of the exposure range measured during the study is less than 22 per 100,000. CONCLUSION: People who wore asbestos mitts were likely to have been exposed to relatively low levels of airborne chrysotile asbestos fibres, certainly much lower than the standards that were accepted in the 1960's and 70's. The cancer risks from this type of use are likely to be very low

Urban air quality citizen science. Phase 3: findings of the pilot studies

This report provides a summary of the pilot studies conducted in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Prestonpans to test the viability of citizen science air quality monitoring studies within the constraints of existing and available technologies. The pilot studies draw on the experiences with the testing and evaluation of low-cost air quality monitoring devices described in the Scoping report reviewing and evaluating methods for undertaking an air quality Citizen Science programme and by Semple et al. (2012), while the overall study design is based on the framework discussed in Steinle et al. (2013). Furthermore, the pilot studies are based on the detailed elaboration of pilot studies summarised in the report Urban air quality citizen science - suggested programme of research projects. Two different pilot study approaches have been selected to test both a stationary air quality monitoring setup in the context of a secondary school, including the viability of using devices and monitoring methods in regular teaching activities, and using a mobile setup (with small backpacks including the air quality monitor as well as a GPS for geo-referencing). For the latter, the focus was on cyclists and volunteers were approached through existing contacts within the bike charity SPOKES (www.spokes.org.uk) and – through Transport Scotland – the Glasgow Bike Station. The main effort was not on providing air quality measurements, but on testing the approaches, methods, devices and engagement with citizen scientists. Thus, the focus of this deliverable is on the evaluation of these aspects

Urban air quality citizen science. Project overview report

In early 2013, SEPA issued a call for proposals with the overall aim of designing a local air quality programme which would engage the public through the use of Citizen Science. Citizen Science involves the participation of the wider community (particularly non- scientists) in scientific projects. The benefits of Citizen Science include the facility for extensive data collection and the interaction between scientists and the community. In addition citizen scientists get a chance to inform scientists, and in the process, learn more about their environment. Information gained through Citizen Science projects can change public perceptions of the natural world, promote interaction with nature, and engage the community in the management of natural resources. The overall aim of the work was to help build further capabilities in the area of Citizen Science, as a follow-on to existing work in this area, building on existing projects and networks including Scotland’s Environment Web, CAMERAS and Scotland Counts. To carry out the work, SEPA commissioned a consortium of scientific organisations led by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in collaboration with the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) and the Respiratory Group within the University of Aberdeen (RGA)

Urban air quality citizen science. Phase 2: suggested programme of research projects

This report contains a short description of the elements of a suggested programme of projects for citizen science in the area of urban air quality. The programme has been put together by the authors of the report based on a review of current work in this area and discussions with the study Advisory Group in August 2013 (for membership see Appendix 1). An overview of the programme is given below, followed by short 2-page summaries of each project. These projects are proposed for a future programme of citizen science urban air quality. We also present in this report a brief description of two small methodological pilot studies. These pilot studies are not intended to cover the full range of the proposed projects, but to test some aspects of the proposed methodology. The findings of the pilot studies will be reported separately

Is pesticide exposure a cause of obstructive airways disease?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The influence of the food environment on overweight and obesity in young children : a systematic review

The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity has led to interest in its prevention, particularly through school-based and family-based interventions in the early years. Most evidence reviews, to date, have focused on individual behaviour change rather than the ‘obesogenic environment’. This paper reviews the evidence on the influence of the food environment on overweight and obesity in children up to 8 years. Electronic databases (including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), DARE, CINAHL and Psycho-Info) and reference lists of original studies and reviews were searched for all papers published up to 31 August 2011. Study designs included were either population-based intervention studies or a longitudinal study. Studies were included if the majority of the children studied were under 9 years, if they related to diet and if they focused on prevention rather than treatment in clinical settings. Data included in the tables were characteristics of participants, aim, and key outcome results. Quality assessment of the selected studies was carried out to identify potential bias and an evidence ranking exercise carried out to prioritise areas for future public health interventions. Thirty-five studies (twenty-five intervention studies and ten longitudinal studies) were selected for the review. There was moderately strong evidence to support interventions on food promotion, large portion sizes and sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Reducing food promotion to young children, increasing the availability of smaller portions and providing alternatives to sugar-sweetened soft drinks should be considered in obesity prevention programmes aimed at younger children. These environment-level interventions would support individual and family-level behaviour change

Urban air quality citizen science. Phase 1: review of methods and projects

This report will comprise suggestions of links with other work and possible approaches for taking the work forward, providing a map of current and recent air quality related Citizen Science activities in the UK, Europe and beyond. In this deliverable, we map out the technologies and approaches currently available for air quality monitoring and provide an overview on how they could be applied in a citizen science context. In addition, we provide an overview of existing citizen science activities with relevance to air pollution. The focus of this report will be on the specific aspects of air pollution monitoring in a citizen science context; we refer to Roy et al. (2012) for a more general discourse on citizen science projects. As far as possible, we will closely link to another SEPA funded project with a focus on citizen science for environmental monitoring (by direct personal contact with colleagues at CEH), as well as other ongoing and emerging projects (e.g. EU FP7 project CitiSense, Transport Scotland, etc.). The objective of this report is not to draw final conclusions, but to provide the material and information resources for the following phases 2 and 3 of the pilot project