http://if-pan.krakow.pl/pjp/pdf/2012/1_64.pdf

Sub-chronic exposure to noise affects locomotor activity and produces anxiogenic and depressive like behavior in rats

Environmental health in subway stations, a typical type of urban underground space, is becoming increasingly important. Ventilation is the principal measure for optimizing the complex physical environment in a subway station. This paper narratively reviews the environmental and health effects of subway ventilation and discusses the relevant engineering, environmental, and medical aspects in combination. Ventilation exerts a notable dual effect on environmental health in a subway station. On the one hand, ventilation controls temperature, humidity, and indoor air quality to ensure human comfort and health. On the other hand, ventilation also carries the potential risks of spreading air pollutants or fire smoke through the complex wind environment as well as produces continuous noise. Assessment and management of health risks associated with subway ventilation is essential to attain a healthy subway environment. This, however, requires exposure, threshold data, and thereby necessitates more research into long-term effects, and toxicity as well as epidemiological studies. Additionally, more research is needed to further examine the design and maintenance of ventilation systems. An understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and aerodynamic characteristics of various pollutants can help formulate ventilation strategies to reduce pollutant concentrations. Moreover, current comprehensive underground space development affords a possibility for creating flexible spaces that optimize ventilation efficiency, acoustic comfort, and space perception.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/3/1084/pdf

Environmental and Health Effects of Ventilation in Subway Stations: A Literature Review.

Pollutant agents are exponentially increasing in modern society since industrialization processes and technology are being developed worldwide. Impact of pollution on public health is well known but little has been described on the association between environmental pollutants and mental health. A literature search on PubMed and EMBASE has been conducted and 134 articles published on the issue of pollution and mental health have been included, cited, reviewed, and summarized. Emerging evidences have been collected on association between major environmental pollutants (air pollutants, heavy metals, ionizing radiation [IR], organophosphate pesticides, light pollution, noise pollution, environmental catastrophes) and various mental health disorders including anxiety, mood, and psychotic syndromes. Underlying pathogenesis includes direct and indirect effects of these agents on brain, respectively, due to their biological effect on human Central Nervous System or related to some levels of stress generated by the exposure to the pollutant agents over the time. Most of emerging evidences are still nonconclusive. Further studies should clarify how industrial production, the exploitation of certain resources, the proximity to waste and energy residues, noise, and the change in lifestyles are connected with psychological distress and mental health problems for the affected populations.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/8897C57318452CEF109294F57B66FE18/S1092852920001303a.pdf/div-class-title-environmental-pollution-and-mental-health-a-narrative-review-of-literature-div.pdf

Environmental pollution and mental health: a narrative review of literature.

Generally minute doses of drugs have been prescribed in biotherapies, homeopathy, immunization and vaccinations for centuries. Now the use of low doses of drugs is on the rise to combat serious diseases such as advanced cancers around the world. This new therapeutic approach to address solid tumors and other advanced diseases is a departure from the conventional use of maximum dose protocol. A small dose of the prescribed drug is frequently administered in a continuous fashion, at regular intervals, either as a standard treatment or as a maintenance therapy for a long time. However, this new treatment method lacks any standard for drug quantization, dose fractionation, repetition frequency and duration of a treatment course for an individual patient. This paper reviews literature about metronomic therapy and discusses hormesis: both phenomena occur in low dose ranges. Better mathematical models, computer simulations, process optimization and clinical trials are warranted to fully exploit the potential of low dose metronomic therapy to cure chronic and complicated diseases. New protocols to standardize metronomic dosimetry will answer the age old questions related to hormesis and homeopathy. It appears that this new low-dose metronomic therapy will have far reaching effects in curing chronic diseases throughout the world.

/pdf/the-emerging-low-dose-therapy-for-advanced-cancers-438anp71se.pdf

The emerging low-dose therapy for advanced cancers

Although our understanding of children's psychological outcomes following intensive care lags significantly behind advances in medicine, there is a growing awareness that intensive care admission impacts children beyond the boundaries of physical well-being. Intensive care presents a variety of disease-related, treatment-related, and environment-related stressors that may place children at risk of post-traumatic stress (PTS), particularly as children may have limited resources to understand and cope with aspects of the admission, its consequences, or treatment events. This article summarises the current literature on children's PTS responses following intensive care admission with emphasis on: (1) children's experience of intensive care; (2) the prevalence of PTS in children following intensive care admission; (c) factors associated with vulnerability to PTS; and (d) the role of memory and appraisal in the development of children's PTS. Existing research does have methodological limitations, and future studies utilising larger sample sizes and developmentally appropriate diagnostic measures are warranted. Furthermore, longitudinal studies investigating the aetiology and course of PTS following paediatric intensive care unit admission, particularly with further investigation of memory and cognitive factors, may lead to advances in screening, prevention, and early intervention strategies for children.

Children's Post-Traumatic Stress and the Role of Memory Following Admission to Intensive Care: A Review.

The effects of sound on man are reviewed with emphasis on the physiological reaction mechanisms and the ultimate stress reaction. It is seen that energy related noise levels are poor predictors for the reactions in man as noise is always interpreted in the central nervous system, generating secondary and tertiary reactions that are not controlled by the brain cortex. The stimulation of these reaction pathways in acute situations lead to involuntary reflexes and feelings of fright and despair. In chronic exposure situations a give-up stage may develop with reduced corporal and mental functions. In the acoustical panorama peak level noises usually cause the most pronounced effects as they stimulate reactions of fear and flight. The practical consequences of these reaction patterns in terms of prevention are discussed.

Ragnar Rylander

Papers

Noise, stress and annoyance