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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: 35 martyrs, 75 injured in occupation targeting of civilians seeking food aid in Rafah, Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Da Silva: What is happening in Gaza is not a war, it is a genocide
Da Silva: Even the Jewish people do not want this war; it is revenge by a government against the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state
Brazilian President Lula da Silva: What we are seeing is not a war between two armies. [What we have is a] completely professional army that is killing women and children in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas: We affirm our readiness to immediately begin a round of indirect negotiations to reach an agreement on the points of contention
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Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli occupation forces blew up Noura Al-Kaabi Hospital, designated for kidney dialysis patients, in the northern Gaza Strip
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli drone targets a car on the Ayta al-Shaab-Debel road in southern Lebanon
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: The remaining airlines that have not yet complied with the ban are urged to take this into serious consideration to ensure the safety of their aircraft and passengers
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson Yahya Saree: The YAF, after successfully imposing a partial ban on air traffic at Lydd Airport, are now working to impose a full ban on air traffic at the aforementioned airport in the coming period

Air pollution linked to increased dementia risk: Harvard report

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 6 Apr 2023 16:47
3 Min Read

Pollution has a grave effect on human well-being, especially after being the cause of dementia and possibly Alzheimer's disease.

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  • In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyo. (AP)
    In this July 27, 2018, file photo, the Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant is silhouetted against the morning sun in Glenrock, Wyoming. (AP)

Polluted air could be linked to an increased risk of dementia, and stricter air quality measures are called for to prevent conditions such as Alzheimer's, which have afflicted millions of Americans, according to a report by Bloomberg citing Harvard research.  

Dementia was numerously associated with high levels of fine particles in the air, according to researchers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health who analyzed 14 earlier studies. The association between particle levels and dementia remained even when they were below the US Environmental Protection Agency standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
 
There is no known cure for dementia, which affects 57 million people globally, including the 6 million people who live with Alzheimer's disease in the US alone. According to Marc Weisskopf, a professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at Harvard who contributed to the study that was published on Wednesday in the BMJ medical journal, even a decrease in annual levels of just 2 micrograms per cubic meter should result in lower dementia rates.

Read next: 13 countries exclusively had 'healthy' air quality in 2022: CNN

"As far as we can tell, the lower you can go, the lower your risk is," he said in an interview, adding that while individuals have little control over their exposure to such pollutants, regulators have more to say.

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The EPA proposed changing its annual fine particulate matter standards to between 9 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air in January, down from the current 12 micrograms. The requirements are less strict in other nations, such as the UK. According to Berkeley Earth scientists, smoking one cigarette per day is approximately equivalent to a level of 22 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

PM2.5, or fine particulate matter, is made up of particles that are about 30% the diameter of a human strand. According to the EPA, their tiny size enables them to enter the blood and settle deeply in the lungs. Exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with a number of illnesses, including lung cancer, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, as well as premature death.

Read next: Air pollution particles detected in lungs, brains of fetuses: Study

The average annual PM2.5 amount recommended by the World Health Organization should be less than 5 micrograms, but almost the entire world's population breathes air that is above those limits. Even though its estimated impact was smaller than for factors like smoking, Weisskopf said particulate matter is a concerning risk factor for dementia due to the broad scope of pollution exposure.

Other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide may also increase the chance of developing dementia, but these links may not be as strong because there are fewer studies to support them. “Everybody has to breathe, so everybody is exposed to this,” Weisskopf said. “The population-level effect could actually be quite large because the number of people exposed is massive."

  • United States
  • Alzheimer
  • Air pollution
  • Dementia
  • Pollution

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