United States Environmental Protection Agency

About: United States Environmental Protection Agency is a government organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Environmental exposure. The organization has 13873 authors who have published 26902 publications receiving 1191729 citations. The organization is also known as: EPA & Environmental Protection Agency.

Global premature mortality due to anthropogenic outdoor air pollution and the contribution of past climate change

Abstract: Increased concentrations of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) since preindustrial times reflect increased emissions, but also contributions of past climate change. Here we use modeled concentrations from an ensemble of chemistry?climate models to estimate the global burden of anthropogenic outdoor air pollution on present-day premature human mortality, and the component of that burden attributable to past climate change. Using simulated concentrations for 2000 and 1850 and concentration?response functions (CRFs), we estimate that, at present, 470?000 (95% confidence interval, 140?000 to 900?000) premature respiratory deaths are associated globally and annually with anthropogenic ozone, and 2.1 (1.3 to 3.0) million deaths with anthropogenic PM2.5-related cardiopulmonary diseases (93%) and lung cancer (7%). These estimates are smaller than ones from previous studies because we use modeled 1850 air pollution rather than a counterfactual low concentration, and because of different emissions. Uncertainty in CRFs contributes more to overall uncertainty than the spread of model results. Mortality attributed to the effects of past climate change on air quality is considerably smaller than the global burden: 1500 (?20?000 to 27?000) deaths yr?1 due to ozone and 2200 (?350?000 to 140?000) due to PM2.5. The small multi-model means are coincidental, as there are larger ranges of results for individual models, reflected in the large uncertainties, with some models suggesting that past climate change has reduced air pollution mortality.

Neurodegenerative diseases: an overview of environmental risk factors.

Abstract: The population of the United States is aging, and an ever-increasing number of Americans are afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases. Because the pathogenesis of many of these diseases remains unknown, we must consider that environmental factors may play a causal role. This review provides an overview of the epidemiologic evidence for environmental etiologies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, parkinsonian syndromes (multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Epidemiologic evidence for an association between environmental agents' exposure and neurodegenerative diseases is not conclusive. However, there are indications that there may be causal links, and the need for more research is obvious.

Experiments on stably and neutrally stratified flow over a model three-dimensional hill

Abstract: This paper describes the flow structure observed over a bell-shaped hill with height h (the profile of which is the reciprocal of a fourth-order polynomial) when it was placed first in a large towing tank containing stratified saline solutions with uniform stable density gradients and second in an unstratified wind tunnel. (A similarly shaped model hill was also studied in a small towing tank.) Observations were made at values of the Froude number F (≃ U/Nh) in the range 0·1 to 1·7 and at F = ∞, where U is the towing speed and N is the Brunt-Vaisala frequency, and at values of the Reynolds number from 400 to 275000. For F [lsim ] 0·4, the observations verify Drazin's (1961) theory for low-Froude-number flow over three-dimensional obstacles and establish limits of applicability. For Froude numbers of the order of unity, it is found that a classification of the lee-wave patterns and separated-flow regions observed in two-dimensional flows also appears to apply to three-dimensional hills.Flow-visualization techniques were used extensively in obtaining both qualitative and quantitative information on the flow structure around the hill. Representative photographs of dye tracers, potassium permanganate dye streaks, shadowgraphs, surface dye smears, and hydrogen-bubble patterns are included here. While emphasis is centred on obtaining a basic understanding of the flow around three-dimensional hills, the results are applicable to the estimation of air pollutant dispersion around hills.

Factors Influencing Photoreactions of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Coastal River of the Southeastern United States

Abstract: Photoreactions of dissolved organic matter can affect the oxidizing capacity, nutrient dynamics, trace gas exchange, and color of surface waters. This study focuses on factors that affect the photoreactions of the colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the Satilla River, a coastal river that has high concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (2.0 ± 0.2 mM C) and iron (12 ± 2 μM) in its freshwater reach. Quantum yields for the photoproduction of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and carbon monoxide (CO) from Satilla CDOM decreased exponentially in the 300−450 nm spectral region. Photoreaction of the CDOM in sunlight caused a decrease in UV and visible absorbance that occurred most rapidly in the UV-B (280−315 nm) region, indicating that CDOM photoreactions can enhance exposure of aquatic organisms to DNA-damaging UV radiation. The role of iron in the photooxidation was investigated by adding fluoride ions or deferoxamine mesylate (DFOM) to the water to form unreactive Fe3+ complexes, thus inhibit...