Latest Nitrogen dioxide Stories
Atmospheric model calculates changes in air quality over the coming decades Hot summer days cause in large cities very seldom great happiness among inhabitants. On those days the air is highly polluted with automobile and industrial emissions what makes breathing difficult and unhealthy. According to the latest calculations of Max Planck scientist Andrea Pozzer this scenario could become true for most of world population in 2050 if no counteractive measures are taken. Especially China,...
In a breakthrough paper published in this week's issue of Science magazine, researchers from Sandia's Combustion Research Facility, the University of Manchester and Bristol University report direct measurements of reactions of a gas-phase Criegee intermediate using photoionization mass spectrometry. (visit www.youtube.com/SandiaLabs to see a short video of Sandia combustion chemists discussing the research.) Criegee intermediates – carbonyl oxides – are implicated in autoignition...
According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, high levels of pollution could increase the risk of having a heart attack for up to six hours after exposure. U.K. researchers reviewed 79,288 heart attack cases from 2003 to 2006 and exposure to pollution levels by the hour. Krishnan Bhaskaran, an epidemiologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues used the U.K. National Air Quality Archive to investigate the levels of specific...
Differences in air pressure over the North Atlantic have meant that the last two winters in Gothenburg, Sweden, have been extremely cold. This has led to the air in Gothenburg being more polluted with nitrogen oxides than ever before. A new study from the University of Gothenburg shows that there is a strong link between climate and air pollution.The winter weather in Gothenburg and large parts of North-West Europe is partly down to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), in other words the...
Current computer models may underestimate levels of ground-level ozoneA team of scientists has, for the first time, completely characterized an important chemical reaction that is critical to the formation of ground-level ozone in urban areas. The team's results indicate that computer models may be underestimating ozone levels in urban areas during episodes of poor air quality (smoggy days) by as much as five to 10 percent.Ground level ozone poses significant health hazards to people, animals...
Exposure to an increased level of air pollutants, especially nitrogen dioxide, has been associated with lower likelihoods of successful pregnancy among women undergoing in vitro fertilization, according to a team of fertility researchers.The team examined the outcomes of the first pregnancy attempt of 7,403 women undergoing IVF at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pa.; Shady Grove Fertility, Rockville, Md.; and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New...
United Kingdom study findings show that traffic-related air pollution may be linked to a higher death rate among people who initially survived strokes, according to a recent Reuters report. Dr. Ravi Maheswaran at the University of Sheffield, along with colleagues, found more deaths among those exposed to higher estimated traffic-related pollution for over a decade. They studied 3320 men and women living in a specific south London region that had a first stroke between 1995 and 2005. The...
Childhood asthma rates could increase as much as 30 percent with exposure to higher levels of traffic-related air pollution, a California study suggests. The study, published in the journal of Environmental Health Perspectives, is the latest to come from the Southern California Children's Health Study, a project pioneered by the Air Resources Board in the early 1990s. The eight-year study followed 217 non-asthmatic children from a wide area of Southern California. Home air monitors allowed...
High levels of stove gas emissions can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma of inner-city children, U.S. researchers said. Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University said that nitrogen dioxide, compared the frequency and intensity of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness to nitrogen dioxide levels inside the inner-city homes of 150 Baltimore children 2 to 6 years old. A report, published in the Environmental Health Perspectives, found asthma...
By David James IT has infuriated traders, been welcomed by shoppers and criticised by drivers, but one thing has not been affected by St Mary Street's part-pedestrianisation - pollution. The city's annual air-quality report has revealed banning private cars from the busy shopping street has made no difference to its long-standing nitrogen dioxide problem. Reducing pollution was cited last year as one of the key reasons for making the traffic changes as part of a bid to make the area more...
