Value Assessment of Health Losses Caused by PM2.5 Pollution in Cities of Atmospheric Pollution Transmission Channel in the Beijing⁻Tianjin⁻Hebei Region, China

Regional joint PM2.5-O3 control policy benefits further air quality improvement and human health protection in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas (hereinafter referred to as "2+26" cities) are one of the most severe air pollution areas in China. The fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and surface ozone (O₃) pollution have aroused a significant concern on the national scale. In this study, we analyzed the pollution characteristics of PM_2.5 and O₃ in "2+26" cities, and then estimated the health burden and economic loss before and after the implementation of the joint PM_2.5-O₃ control policy. During 2017-2019, PM_2.5 concentration reduced by 19% while the maximum daily 8 hr average (MDA8) O₃ stayed stable in "2+26" cities. Spatially, PM_2.5 pollution in the south-central area and O₃ pollution in the central region were more severe than anywhere else. With the reduction in PM_2.5 concentration, premature deaths from PM_2.5 decreased by 18% from 2017 to 2019. In contrast, premature deaths from O₃ increased by 5%. Noticeably, the huge potential health benefits can be gained after the implementation of a joint PM_2.5-O₃ control policy. The premature deaths attributed to PM_2.5 and O₃ would be reduced by 91.6% and 89.1%, and the avoidable economic loss would be 60.8 billion Chinese Yuan (CNY), and 68.4 billion CNY in 2035 compared with that in 2019, respectively. Therefore, it is of significance to implement the joint PM_2.5-O₃ control policy for improving public health and economic development.

Heavy metal content and health risk assessment of atmospheric particles in China: A meta-analysis

In recent decades, China has devoted significant attention to the heavy metals pollution in particulate matter. However, the majority of studies have only focused on the field monitoring in relatively remote areas, which may not be representative of air quality across the country. This study reevaluated the characteristics, temporal and spatial changes, and health concerns associated with heavy metal pollution in atmospheric particulates on a national scale by coupling Meta-analysis and Monte Carlo simulation analysis. In terms of spatial distribution, the heavy metals pollution levels in the northern coast and northeastern regions are relatively high, whereas it is low along the middle Yellow River, middle Yangtze River, as well as Southwest. With the exception of Cu, the distribution of all elements in PM2.5 steadily decreased over time Moreover, PM10 and PM2.5 performed similar where Cd and Ni both first increased followed by a decline while, Cr displayed a decrease before it showed an increment. And since the implementation of prevention and control policies about the atmospheric release, the focus of industrial emission has gradually shifted from energy production and processing to living products manufacturing. Moreover, the carcinogenic risk was shown to be Cr > As, Pb > Ni, Cd, while the non-carcinogenic risk was as follows: As, Ni > Cr, Cd. Among all contaminants, Cd, As, and Cr in PM2.5 and PM10 exceeded the WHO standard in the cities with worst air quality. It was observed that As posed the largest non-carcinogenic risk to adults while, Cr caused the most carcinogenic risk to adults and children, where the carcinogenic risk of children remains higher than that of adults. Therefore, the findings of this study may offer data support to the China's heavy metal pollution standards in airborne particles and offer theoretical data support for pollution management.

Human health risk assessment of PM2.5-bound heavy metal of anthropogenic sources in the Khon Kaen Province of Northeast Thailand

The study aimed to assess the human health risk of PM2.5-bound heavy metals from anthropogenic sources in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand between December 2020 and February 2021. According to the findings, the geometric mean concentration of PM2.5 in the university area, residential area, industrial zone, and the agricultural zone was 32.78 μg/m3, 50.25 μg/m3, 44.48 μg/m3, and 29.53 μg/m3, respectively. The results showed that the estimated human health risk assessment, in terms of non-carcinogenic risks among children and adults in an urban area (residential and university), industrial zone, and the agricultural area, was of hazard index (HI) value of >1.0 indicating a greater chance of chronic effects occurring. This study showed that exposure to PM2.5-bound heavy metal may increase the likelihood that lasting effects will result in a very high carcinogenic risk (CR) in children in residential areas, and an industrial zone with total carcinogenic risk (TCR) values of 0.23 × 10 1 , and 0.12 × 10 1 , respectively while resulting in a high TCR of 3.34 × 10 - 2 and 4.11 × 10 - 2 within the university areas and agricultural zone, respectively. In addition, health risk assessments among adults demonstrate high TCR values of 4.40 × 10 - 1 (residential area), 2.28 × 10 - 1 (industrial zone), and 7.70 × 10 - 3 (agricultural zone), thus indicating a potential health risk to adults living in these areas while the university area was very low effects on carcinogenic risk ( CR ≤ 10 - 8 ) for adults. Therefore, lowering the risk of exposure to PM2.5 via the respiratory tract, for example, wearing a mask outside is a very effective self-defense strategy for people within and around the study site. This data study strongly supports the implementation of the air pollutant emission source reduction measures control and health surveillance.

Control Models and Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Air Pollution in the Rapidly Developing Urban Agglomerations

This paper systematically summarizes the hierarchical cross-regional multi-directional linkage in terms of air pollution control models implemented in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, including the hierarchical linkage structure of national-urban agglomeration-city, the cross-regional linkage governance of multiple provinces and municipalities, the multi-directional linkage mechanism mainly involving industry access, energy structure, green transportation, cross-regional assistance, monitoring and warning, consultation, and accountability. The concentration data of six air pollutants were used to analyze spatiotemporal characteristics. The concentrations of SO₂, NO₂, PM₁₀, PM_2.5, CO decreased, and the concentration of O₃ increased from 2014 to 2017; the air pollution control has achieved good effect. The concentration of O₃ was the highest in summer and lowest in winter, while those of other pollutants were the highest in winter and lowest in summer. The high pollution ranges of O₃ diffused from south to north, and those of other pollutants decreased significantly from north to south. Finally, we suggest strengthening the traceability and process research of heavy pollution, increasing the traceability and process research of O₃ pollution, promoting the joint legislation of different regions in urban agglomeration, create innovative pollution discharge supervision mechanisms, in order to provide significant reference for the joint prevention and control of air pollution in urban agglomerations.

lncRNA Gm16410 Mediates PM2.5-Induced Macrophage Activation via PI3K/AKT Pathway

PM₂.₅ refers to atmospheric particulate matters with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm. The deposit of PM₂.₅ in lung cells can cause oxidative stress, leading to changes in macrophage polarity, which can subsequently cause pulmonary inflammation. Long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a class of transcripts that regulate biological processes through multiple mechanisms. However, the role of lncRNA in PM₂.₅-induced lung inflammation has not been established. In this study, the biological effects and associated mechanism of lncRNA in PM₂.₅-induced change in macrophage polarity were investigated. The lncRNA-mediated PM₂.₅-induced macrophage inflammation and lung inflammation-associated injury were also determined. Mice were exposed to chronic levels of PM₂.₅, and changes in the expression of lncRNA in the lung were measured by lncRNA microarray. lncRNAs that showed significant changes in expression in response to PM₂.₅ were identified. lncRNA showing the biggest change was subjected to further analysis to determine its functional roles and mechanisms with respect to macrophage activation. The result showed that a significant reduction in expression of one lncRNA, identified as lncGm16410, was observed in the lung of mice and RAW264.7 cells following exposure to PM₂.₅. lncGm16410 suppressed PM₂.₅-induced macrophage activation via the SRC protein-mediated PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. PM₂.₅ promoted lung inflammation by downregulating the expression of lncGm16410, enhancing the activation of macrophages. Thus, lncGm16410 might provide new insight into the prevention of PM₂.₅ injury.

Exploring the Dynamic Spatio-Temporal Correlations between PM2.5 Emissions from Different Sources and Urban Expansion in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

Due to rapid urbanization globally more people live in urban areas and, simultaneously, more people are exposed to the threat of environmental pollution. Taking PM2.5 emission data as the intermediate link to explore the correlation between corresponding sectors behind various PM2.5 emission sources and urban expansion in the process of urbanization, and formulating effective policies, have become major issues. In this paper, based on long temporal coverage and high-quality nighttime light data seen from the top of the atmosphere and recently compiled PM2.5 emissions data from different sources (transportation, residential and commercial, industry, energy production, deforestation and wildfire, and agriculture), we built an advanced Bayesian spatio-temporal autoregressive model and a local regression model to quantitatively analyze the correlation between PM2.5 emissions from different sources and urban expansion in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Our results suggest that the overall urban expansion in the study area maintained gradual growth from 1995 to 2014, with the fastest growth rate during 2005 to 2010; the urban expansion maintained a significant positive correlation with PM2.5 emissions from transportation, energy production, and industry; different anti-haze policies should be designated according to respective local conditions in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces; and during the period of rapid urban expansion (2005-2010), the spatial correlations between PM2.5 emissions from different sources and urban expansion also changed, with the biggest change coming from the PM2.5 emissions from the transport sector.

Mechanism of PM2.5-induced human bronchial epithelial cell toxicity in central China

Exposure to PM_2.5 has been linked to respiratory disorders, yet knowledge of the molecular mechanism is limited. Here, PM_2.5 was monitored and collected in central China, and its cytotoxicity mechanism on human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) was investigated. With the average concentration of 109 ± 69 μg/m³, PM_2.5 was rich in heavy metals and organic pollutants. After exposure to PM_2.5, the viability of BEAS-2B cells decreased, where 510 dysregulated genes were predicted to induce necroptosis via inhibiting ATP synthesis through the oxidative phosphorylation signaling pathway. Cellular experiments demonstrated that the content of ATP was downregulated, while the expression of RIP3, a necroptosis indicator, was upregulated. Besides, four enzymes in charge of ATP synthesis were downregulated, including ATP5F, NDUF, COX7A, and UQCR, while two genes of RELA and CAPN1 responsible for necroptosis were upregulated. Furthermore, N-acetylcysteine was applied as an enhancer for ATP synthesis, which reversed the downregulation of ATP5F, NDUF, and COX7A, and consequently alleviated the elevation of RELA, CAPN1, and RIP3. In conclusion, PM_2.5 exposure downregulates ATP5F, NDUF, COX7A, and UQCR, and that inhibits ATP synthesis via the oxidative phosphorylation signaling pathway, which subsequently upregulates RELA and CAPN1 and ultimately leads to necroptosis of BEAS-2B cells.

Health and Economic Loss Assessment of PM2.5 Pollution during 2015-2017 in Gansu Province, China

Many studies have reported that air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM2.5), has a significant impact on health and causes economic loss. Gansu Province is in the northwest of China, which is a typical economically underdeveloped area. However, few studies have evaluated the economic loss of PM2.5 related to health effects in this province. In this study, a log-linear exposure-response function was used to estimate the health impact of PM2.5 in 14 cities in Gansu Province from 2015 to 2017, and the amended human capital (AHC) and cost of illness (COI) method were used to evaluate the related economic loss caused by the health impact from PM2.5. The results show that the estimated total number of health endpoints attributed to PM2.5 pollution were 1,644,870 (95%CI: 978,484-2,215,921), 1,551,447 (95%CI: 917,025-2,099,182) and 1,531,372 (95%CI: 899,769-2,077,772) in Gansu Province from 2015 to 2017, respectively. Correspondingly, the economic losses related to health damage caused by PM2.5 pollution were 42,699 (95%CI: 32,380-50,768) million Chinese Yuan (CNY), 43,982 (95%CI: 33,305-52,386) million CNY and 44,261 (95%CI: 33,306-52,954) million CNY, which were equivalent to 6.45% (95%CI: 4.89%-7.67%), 6.28% (95%CI: 4.75%-7.48%), and 5.93% (95%CI: 4.64%-7.10%) of the region Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2015 to 2017, respectively. It could be seen that the proportions of health economic loss to GDP were generally high, although the proportion had a slight downward trend. The economic loss from chronic bronchitis and all-cause mortality accounted for more than 94% of the total economic loss. The health impact, economic loss and per capita economic loss in Lanzhou, the provincial capital city of Gansu, were obviously higher than other cities from the same province. The economic loss in Linxia accounted for the highest proportion of GDP. The health impacts in the Hexi region, including the cities of Jiuquan, Jiayuguan, Zhangye, Jinchang and Wuwei, were generally lower, but the economic loss and per capita economic loss were still higher. We also found that urbanization and industrialization were highly correlated with health economic loss caused by PM2.5 pollution. In conclusion, the PM2.5-related health economic burden in Gansu Province was serious. As an economically underdeveloped region, it was very important to further adopt rigid and effective pollution control policies.

Health benefits on cardiocerebrovascular disease of reducing exposure to ambient fine particulate matter in Tianjin, China

With the development of the industrialization level in China, high concentrations of fine particulate matter (≤ 2.5 μg/m³ in aerodynamic diameter (PM_2.5)) could have a great impact on the health of the population. Our study is to quantify the health benefits on cardiocerebrovascular disease of reducing exposure to PM_2.5 in Tianjin, China. We obtained the data on cardiovascular disease (CVD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and cerebrovascular disease (CD) mortalities to quantify the association between CVD, CD, and IHD mortalities and PM_2.5 and calculate health and economic benefits when the annual average concentration of PM_2.5 was reduced to National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines by using our concentration response (C-R) functions. There were 435.22 (95% CI 253.86 to 616.57) all-cause, 130.22 (95% CI 66.34 to194.09) IHD, and 204.07 (95% CI 111.66 to 296.47) CD deaths attributed to PM_2.5 and the economic benefits obtained by preventing all-cause, IHD, and CD mortalities were equivalent to be 2.79%, 0.83%, and 1.31% of Baodi's GDP in Tianjin in 2017, respectively. PM_2.5 concentration was positive with all-cause, IHD, and CD mortalities in rural, suburban, and urban area of Tianjin, China. Meanwhile, the number of avoidable deaths and economic cost of reducing PM_2.5 concentrations to NAAQS and WHO guidelines was highest in the rural area.