Tag: effects

Pollution exposure may counteract protective CV effects of physical activity

April 12, 2023

3 min read


Disclosures:
The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.


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Key takeaways:

  • Increased active commuting was tied to reduced CVD and cerebrovascular disease risk for farmers in China with low air pollution exposure.
  • Any health benefits were attenuated with high air pollution exposure.

Exposure to higher amounts of fine particulate matter air pollution may counteract the protective CV effects of active commuting and farming activity in China, researchers reported.

In an analysis of Chinese biobank data with more than 320,000 participants, researchers found that increased active commuting was associated with reduced risks for cerebrovascular disease and ischemic heart disease for both farmers and nonfarmers with lower fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. However, the associations disappeared for those with higher PM2.5 exposure.



Air pollution in China

Increased active commuting was tied to reduced CVD and cerebrovascular disease risk for farmers in China with low air pollution exposure.
Image: Adobe Stock

“Being physically active is a well-established protective factor for cardiovascular health. However, the inhaled dose of PM2.5 increases with ventilation frequency and exposure time during outdoor physical activity,” Jun Lv, PhD, professor in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Peking University School of Public Health, China, and colleagues wrote in The Lancet Planetary Health. “Long-term PM2.5 exposure has been associated with an elevated risk of CVD. To what extent the beneficial effect of physical activity can be offset and even turn into increasing CVD risk due to prolonged outdoor time and higher inhalation rates in settings with high PM2.5 concentrations remains a concern, with no clear conclusions.”

Modeling air pollution exposure

In a prospective study, Lv and colleagues analyzed data from 322,399 adults aged 30 to 79 years without CVD at baseline who participated in the China Kadoorie Biobank between 2005 and 2017. Researchers assessed active commuting and farming activity using questionnaires. To estimate annual average PM2.5 exposure, the researchers created a high-resolution satellite-based model during the study period and stratified participants according to PM2.5 exposure ( 54 g/m³ vs. < 54 g/m³). Researchers estimated HRs for incident cerebrovascular disease and ischemic heart disease by active commuting and farming activity.

Within the cohort, 118,274 participants were nonfarmers and 204,125 identified as farmers. Among the farmers, 2,985 reported no farming time and 201,140 were included in the farming activity analysis.

During a median follow-up of 11 years, researchers identified 39,514 cerebrovascular disease cases and 22,313 ischemic heart disease cases.

Among nonfarmers with exposure to annual average PM2.5 concentrations of less than 54 g/m³, increased active commuting was associated with lower risk for cerebrovascular disease. Compared with those who reported the lowest amount of active commuting, those reporting the highest amount of active commuting were 30{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} less likely to develop cerebrovascular disease (HR = 0.7; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 0.65-0.76) and 40{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} less likely to develop ischemic heart disease (HR = 0.6; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 0.54-0.66). Among nonfarmers with exposure to annual average PM2.5 concentrations of at least 54 g/m³, there was no association between active commuting and cerebrovascular disease or ischemic heart disease.

Increased cerebrovascular risk for farmers

Similarly, among farmers with exposure to annual average PM2.5 concentrations of less than 54 g/m³, increased active commuting was associated with reduced cerebrovascular disease risk (HR = 0.77; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 0.63-0.93), as was increased farming activity (HR = 0.85; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 0.79-0.92). However, among farmers with exposure to annual average PM2.5 concentrations of at least 54 g/m³, increases in active commuting were tied to elevated cerebrovascular disease risk (HR = 1.12; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 1.05-1.19), as were increases in farming activity (HR = 1.18; 95{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} CI, 1.09-1.28).

Researchers noted that the associations differed significantly between PM2.5 strata (P for all interaction values < .0001).

“For participants with long-term exposure to higher PM2.5 concentrations, the cardiovascular benefits of active commuting were attenuated to the null among nonfarmers,” the researchers wrote. “Both active commuting and farming activity were even associated with increased cerebrovascular disease risk among farmers with exposure to higher PM2.5 concentrations. Our findings have policy implications for continuously improving air quality, with similar efforts put into rural and urban areas, to maximize the cardiovascular protective effects of physical activity in China.”


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AI and machine learning effects on SA education, good or bad?

Let’s glimpse at the impression ChatGPT and machine studying such as other new tools have on training or do they have the potential to disrupt the training sector?

Even though synthetic intelligence and machine understanding should be embraced by teachers all all around, as it poses a advantage to the excellent of training in order to enhance artistic wondering, blocking access to these new tools might just be futile.

With all the hoopla about ChatGPT,  Adam Fairall, College instructor at the Department of English and Record at Reddam Residence Atlantic Seaboard, studies how critical it is for South Africa to embrace the new pretty much radical disruption to equally schooling and the office.

“Teachers and faculties are unable to only dismiss or block accessibility to these programs that have been enable free on our college students. There is no way to block or mitigate this form of technologies, nor is this an attitude that must be adopted in training. We ought to, as studying experts, accept and make use of this new and remarkable possibility.”

AI gives learners like academics with unimaginable chances.

“If made use of appropriately, it decreases the time it takes to put together classes by 80{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db}. This provides instructors extra of an chance to assist pupils with learning boundaries and to deliver far better classes,” according to Fairall.

Looking at the pandemic, teachers and pupils have been as a result of a huge volume of progress digitally in South Africa about the previous couple several years, which built men and women considerably a lot more receptive to new digital equipment in both the classroom and function area.

“By actively engaging AI, both of those preparation and learning can be faster and extra successful in the extended run. It does on the other hand indicate that common types of consider-dwelling assessments like essays are no more time practical.

“Instead, we as teachers require to believe extra flexibly about how we plan on examining college students. Machine Discovering will drive college students to grow to be additional useful, staying assessed not on their understanding but instead on their comprehending of a thought on how very well it is basically utilized to address challenges.”

AI studying can provide lesson options that can be crafted digitally in minutes utilizing ChatGPT, an example getting the prompt: “Act as a Geography teacher and build a lesson on moist and dry adiabatic laps costs for 14-calendar year-olds.”

“This can then be honed in and particular curricula could be referred to or individual studying outcomes fantastic-tuned and deliverables could be reviewed.”

From the point of view of a college student, they could be provided a crafting task where Chat GPT could be utilised to publish the introduction for a literature essay on Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

  • The pupils could critically analyse this introduction and comment on language aspects and contextualization of the text in relation to the tale.
  • Pupils can be assessed on their application of what they have figured out relatively than baseline know-how of a principle.
  • Machine finding out will no cost up both of those educators and students from the administrative functions of finding out, allowing for them to feel a lot more creatively, diversely, and finally invest a lot more time implementing understanding rather than wasting costly educating time with administrative features.

Instruments these kinds of as DALL.E 2, an impression technology software makes it possible for the use of purely natural language, although AI gives you an picture dependent on the sort and fashion of instruction.

Fairall adds: “There is also an organization launching an educational style resource called NOLEJ.AI, exclusively for educational establishments.”

“This instrument turns video clips, PDFs or URLs into completely compiled lessons that can be shared right with college students as a kind of baseline evaluation.”

Also read: 5 things we like about the Samsung S23 series

What are the C02 effects between e-readers and paper books?

E-Readers are 1 of the most common means to read through electronic guides. They are the closest you can get to looking at on true paper, but digitally. This is due to the E INK e-paper technology that is effortless on the eyes and can be used to examine for several hours at a time, devoid of any eyestrain. E INK has just introduced that in the previous 5 years, 130 million e-Visitors have been in use globally, changing the purchase of paper editions of books. It is estimated that paper guides would emit extra than 100,000 periods the CO2 versus e-Readers with an E Ink exhibit and Lcd gadgets would emit extra than 50 situations the CO2 compared to e-Readers all through that time.

In order to thoroughly understand the C02 scenario with paper and e-viewers, we have to dig a tiny further than what E INK proclaimed in a press release. Paper and e-viewers the two have unique sorts of air pollution and squander that are quite diverse. With readers, the major pollutant is the manufacture of the battery and the display. Production rechargeable batteries and laptop components has a pretty significant influence.

The output and use of paper has a range of adverse results on the surroundings which are recognised collectively as paper air pollution. Pulp mills contribute to air, h2o and land pollution. Discarded paper is a significant element of several landfill sites, accounting for about 35{af0afab2a7197b4b77fcd3bf971aba285b2cb7aa14e17a071e3a1bf5ccadd6db} of municipal sound squander .Even paper recycling can be a source of pollution due to the sludge manufactured through de-inking. The manufacture and distribution of paper manufacturing, in guides, the two are decidedly ungreen.

e-Readers call for intricate batteries and screens as the bulk of their carbon footprint. In get to develop them organizations have to have to have interaction in the mining of nonrenewable minerals, like columbite-tantalite, which occasionally come from politically unstable locations these kinds of as the Congo. And experts can not seem to be to concur on whether we’re at possibility of exhausting the world’s source of lithium, the lifeblood of the e-reader’s battery.

Emma Ritch conducted a tale on the carbon footprint of a Kindle e-Reader vs paperback guides. “There is about 168 kg of CO2 produced during the Kindle’s lifecycle and 1,074 kg of CO2 if you purchase a few books a thirty day period for 4 years and up to 26,098 kg of CO2 when employed to the fullest capability of the Kindle DX. Fewer-frequent audience captivated by reducing rates continue to can crack even at 22.5 textbooks above the existence of the device,” she wrote in conclusion.

The Cleantech Team argues that the electronic reader business can make a sizeable influence after men and women start out transitioning from paper media en masse: “A person that purchasers less than 22.5 books for every year would acquire for a longer period to neutralize the emissions ensuing from the e-reader, and even for a longer time to aid reduce emissions attributed to the publishing market,” in accordance to the analyze.

Nick Moran of The Millions had intriguing prospective, mentioning “The emissions and e-waste for e-Viewers could be stretched even more if I went down the source rabbit hole to variable in: energy necessary at the Amazon and Apple knowledge facilities communication infrastructure wanted to transmit electronic documents throughout large distances the incessant need to have to recharge or replace the batteries of e-Readers the sources needed to recycle a digital unit (when compared to how quick it is to pulp or recycle a guide) the packaging and physical mailing of electronic devices the have to have to swap a gadget when it breaks (in its place of changing a e book when it’s shed) the simple fact that each individual reader of eBooks demands his or her own e-Looking at system (while print guides can be loaned out as wanted from a library) the point that most electronic units are produced abroad and as a result transported throughout oceans.

The Book vs e-Reader argument truly centers all over the co2 emissions and production associated in the full process. A single facet most men and women really do not contemplate is h2o. The newspaper and book publishing industries collectively eat 153 billion gallons of drinking water annually, in accordance to the nonprofit Eco-friendly Push Initiative. It normally takes about 7 gallons to deliver the normal printed book, although e-publishing organizations can make a digital book with considerably less than two cups of water.