News by Subject Medicine & Health

A peer-reviewed study by the Environmental Working Group recommends stringent health-based exposure standards for both children and adults for radiofrequency radiation emitted from wireless devices. EWG's children's guideline is the first of its kind and fills a gap left by federal regulators.

New research examines commuter characteristics to better understand how factors such as departure time, frequency, and commute length are associated with exposure to air pollution. Using personal air pollution monitors, the research clustered commuters to determine whether these clusters were associated with traffic pollution exposures. The study reveals that commuters that travel during rush hour have higher overall exposure to traffic-related air pollution compared to sporadic commuters, though the difference was not statistically significant.

Firefighters at the centre of the battle against the massive Fort McMurray, Alberta wildfire in 2016 have persistent lung damage, according to new findings published by a University of Alberta occupational health research team. The firefighters had more than double the risk of developing asthma compared with the general population. They also exhibited a number of changes in lung function tests supportive of an effect on the lungs, including greater lung hyperreactivity and increased thickening of the bronchial wall.

A coronavirus related to the virus that causes Covid-19 in humans has been found in UK horseshoe bats. However, there is no evidence that this novel virus has been transmitted to humans, or that it could in future, unless it mutates.

If you're regularly out in the fresh air, you're doing something good for both your brain and your well-being. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The longitudinal study recently appeared in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry.

With few additional targeted tests and non-invasive surveys, public health agencies can better estimate disease occurrence and trends, changes in transmission, rates of hospitalization and death and effectiveness of vaccines and other control measures.

Children exposed to elevated levels of air pollution may be more likely to have poor inhibitory control during late childhood and poor academic skills in early adolescence, including spelling, reading comprehension, and math skills. Difficulty with inhibition in late childhood was found to be a precursor to later air pollution-related academic problems. Interventions that target inhibitory control might improve outcomes.

Children living in urban areas with high levels of air pollution, noise and traffic may be at higher risk of childhood obesity, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)--a centre supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation--and the University Institute for Primary Care Research Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol). The study was funded by the La Marató de TV3 Foundation.