Environmental Exposures, Genetic Susceptibility and Preterm Birth

Preterm births cause a large public-health burden because of its high prevalence, leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, and environmental hazards is considered to be a potential risk factors (Adams et al., 2000; Bloom et al., 2001; Tucker & McGuire, 2004; Colvin et al. 2004; Fraser et al. 2004; Murphy et al. 2004). The frequency of preterm births is about 12–13% in the USA and 5–9% in many other developed countries; however, the rate of preterm birth has increased in many locations (Goldenberg et al., 2008). Thus, to elicit of risk factors that could predict high risk of preterm birth represents a challenge to practitioners and researchers. The increasing rate of preterm birth in recent decades, despite improvements in health care, creates an impetus to better understand and prevent this disorder. The identification of women at increased risk of preterm delivery is an important challenge. Preterm birth likely depends on a number of interacting factors, including genetic, epigenetic, and environmental risk factors (Windham et al., 2000; Plunkett & Muglia, 2008). The epidemiological data suggested that both genetic factors and socioenvironmental factors may influence preterm birth (Wang et al., 2000; Nukui et al., 2004; Lewis et al., 2006; Suh et al., 2008)Aplinkotyros katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Impact of the Social and Natural Environment on Preschool-Age Children Weight

Background: The complex impact of environmental and social factors on preschool children being overweight/obese is unclear. We examined the associations between the levels of green space exposure and the risk of being overweight/obese for 4-6 year-old children and assessed the impact of maternal education on these associations. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1489 mother-child pairs living in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 2012-2013. We assessed children overweight/obesity by standardized questionnaires using international body mass index cut-off points, and the level of greenness exposures by satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of each child's home and by the distance to a nearest city park. The maternal education was used as the SES indicator. We used logistic regression models to investigate the strength of the associations. Results: Children from families with poorer maternal education, pathological mother-child relations and smoking mothers, and living in areas with less greenness exposure (NDVI-100 m), had significantly higher odds ratios of being overweight/obese. Lower maternal education and distance to a city park modified the effect of greenness cover level exposure on the risk of children being overweight/obese. Conclusions: Higher greenness exposure in the residential settings has beneficial effects on children's physical development. The green spaces exposures for psychosocial stress management is recommended as a measure to prevent overweight/obesity among children

Characterisation of the natural environment: quantitative indicators across Europe

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recognises the importance of natural environments for human health. Evidence for natural environment-health associations comes largely from single countries or regions, with varied approaches to measuring natural environment exposure. We present a standardised approach to measuring neighbourhood natural environment exposure in cities in different regions of Europe. METHODS: The Positive Health Effects of the Natural Outdoor environment in TYPical populations of different regions in Europe (PHENOTYPE) study aimed to explore the mechanisms linking natural environment exposure and health in four European cities (Barcelona, Spain; Doetinchem, the Netherlands; Kaunas, Lithuania; and Stoke-on-Trent, UK). Common GIS protocols were used to develop a hierarchy of natural environment measures, from simple measures (e.g., NDVI, Urban Atlas) using Europe-wide data sources, to detailed measures derived from local data that were specific to mechanisms thought to underpin natural environment-health associations (physical activity, social interaction, stress reduction/restoration). Indicators were created around residential addresses for a range of straight line and network buffers (100 m-1 km). RESULTS: For simple indicators derived from Europe-wide data, we observed differences between cities, which varied with different indicators (e.g., Kaunas and Doetinchem had equal highest mean NDVI within 100 m buffer, but mean distance to nearest natural environment in Kaunas was more twice that in Doetinchem). Mean distance to nearest natural environment for all cities suggested that most participants lived close to some kind of natural environments (64 +/- 58-363 +/- 281 m; mean 180 +/- 204 m). The detailed classification highlighted marked between-city differences in terms of prominent types of natural environment. Indicators specific to mechanisms derived from this classification also captured more variation than the simple indicators. Distance to nearest and count indicators showed clear differences between cities, and those specific to the mechanisms showed within-city differences for Barcelona and Doetinchem. CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrates the feasibility and challenges of creating comparable GIS-derived natural environment exposure indicators across diverse European cities. Mechanism-specific indicators showed within- and between-city variability that supports their utility for ecological studies, which could inform more specific policy recommendations than the traditional proxies for natural environment access

Clinical Study The Effect of Park and Urban Environments on Coronary Artery Disease Patients: A Randomized Trial

Aim. To test the hypothesis that walking in a park has a greater positive effect on coronary artery disease (CAD) patients' hemodynamic parameters than walking in an urban environment. Methods. Twenty stable CAD patients were randomized into two groups: 30-minute walk on 7 consecutive days in either a city park or busy urban street. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed to study short-term (30 min) and cumulative changes (following 7 consecutive days of exposure) in resting hemodynamic parameters in different environments. Results. There were no statistically significant differences in the baseline and peak exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), exercise duration, or HR recovery in urban versus park exposure groups. Seven days of walking slightly improved all hemodynamic parameters in both groups. Compared to baseline, the city park group exhibited statistically significantly greater reductions in HR and DBP and increases in exercise duration and HR recovery. The SBP and DBP changes in the urban exposed group were lower than in the park exposed group. Conclusions. Walking in a park had a greater positive effect on CAD patients' cardiac function than walking in an urban environment, suggesting that rehabilitation through walking in green environments after coronary events should be encouraged

Exposure to natural environments during pregnancy and birth outcomes in 11 European birth cohorts

Research suggests that maternal exposure to natural environments (i.e., green and blue spaces) promotes healthy fetal growth. However, the available evidence is heterogeneous across regions, with very few studies on the effects of blue spaces. This study evaluated associations between maternal exposure to natural environments and birth outcomes in 11 birth cohorts across nine European countries. This study, part of the LifeCycle project, was based on a total sample size of 69,683 newborns with harmonised data. For each participant, we calculated seven indicators of residential exposure to natural environments: surrounding greenspace in 100m, 300m, and 500m using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) buffers, distance to the nearest green space, accessibility to green space, distance to the nearest blue space, and accessibility to blue space. Measures of birth weight and small for gestational age (SGA) were extracted from hospital records. We used pooled linear and logistic regression models to estimate associations between exposure to the natural environment and birth outcomes, controlling for the relevant covariates. We evaluated the potential effect modification by socioeconomic status (SES) and region of Europe and the influence of ambient air pollution on the associations. In the pooled analyses, residential surrounding greenspace in 100m, 300m, and 500m buffer was associated with increased birth weight and lower odds for SGA. Higher residential distance to green space was associated with lower birth weight and higher odds for SGA. We observed close to null associations for accessibility to green space and exposure to blue space. We found stronger estimated magnitudes for those participants with lower educational levels, from more deprived areas, and living in the northern European region. Our associations did not change notably after adjustment for air pollution. These findings may support implementing policies to promote natural environments in our cities, starting in more deprived areas

Development of West-European PM2.5 and NO2 land use regression models incorporating satellite-derived and chemical transport modelling data

Satellite-derived (SAT) and chemical transport model (CTM) estimates of PM2.5 and NO2 are increasingly used in combination with Land Use Regression (LUR) models. We aimed to compare the contribution of SAT and CTM data to the performance of LUR PM2.5 and NO2 models for Europe. Four sets of models, all including local traffic and land use variables, were compared (LUR without SAT or CTM, with SAT only, with CTM only, and with both SAT and CTM). LUR models were developed using two monitoring data sets: PM2.5 and NO2 ground level measurements from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) and from the European AIRBASE network. LUR PM2.5 models including SAT and SAT+CTM explained ~60% of spatial variation in measured PM2.5 concentrations, substantially more than the LUR model without SAT and CTM (adjR(2): 0.33-0.38). For NO2 CTM improved prediction modestly (adjR(2): 0.58) compared to models without SAT and CTM (adjR(2): 0.47-0.51). Both monitoring networks are capable of producing models explaining the spatial variance over a large study area. SAT and CTM estimates of PM2.5 and NO2 significantly improved the performance of high spatial resolution LUR models at the European scale for use in large epidemiological studies

Natural outdoor environments and mental health: Stress as a possible mechanism.

INTRODUCTION Better mental health has been associated with exposure to natural outdoor environments (NOE). However, comprehensive studies including several indicators of exposure and outcomes, potential effect modifiers and mediators are scarce. OBJECTIVES We used novel, objective measures to explore the relationships between exposure to NOE (i.e. residential availability and contact) and different indicators of mental health, and possible modifiers and mediators. METHODS A nested cross-sectional study was conducted in: Barcelona, Spain; Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom; Doetinchem, Netherlands; Kaunas, Lithuania. Participants' exposure to NOE (including both surrounding greenness and green and/or blue spaces) was measured in terms of (a) amount in their residential environment (using Geographical Information Systems) and (b) their contact with NOE (using smartphone data collected over seven days). Self-reported information was collected for mental health (psychological wellbeing, sleep quality, vitality, and somatisation), and potential effect modifiers (gender, age, education level, and city) and mediators (perceived stress and social contacts), with additional objective NOE physical activity (potential mediator) derived from smartphone accelerometers. RESULTS Analysis of data from 406 participants showed no statistically significant associations linking mental health and residential NOE exposure. However, NOE contact, especially surrounding greenness, was statistically significantly tied to better mental health. There were indications that these relationships were stronger for males, younger people, low-medium educated, and Doetinchem residents. Perceived stress was a mediator of most associations, and physical activity and social contacts were not. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that contact with NOE benefits mental health. Our results also suggest that having contact with NOE that can facilitate stress reduction could be particularly beneficial

Basics of Geographic Information Systems

National audienc

Basics of Geographic Information Systems

National audienc

Basics of Geographic Information Systems

National audienc