Volume 40, Issue 2

Microplastics (MPs) as an atmospheric pollutant are currently receiving widespread attention. Although atmospheric MPs have been extensively studied, due to different research methods, systematic comparisons of atmospheric MPs are still needed. This review critically reviewed the analytical methods, research status and potential human exposure. In this review, the detection principles, advantages and limitations of different visual and chemical analysis methods are reported, and the potential risks of MPs to the human are also introduced. Based on future research about the human risks, emphasized the importance of establishing standardized research methods.

Solid fuel use is increasingly linked to low birth weight (LBW), but conclusions were inconsistent. We aimed to summarize the association between solid fuel use and LBW. Twenty-one studies that met the inclusion criteria were identified through PubMed, Qvid Medline, and Web of Science databases. The final search occurred on March 20, 2024. Summary relative effect and 95 % confidence intervals were estimated with a random-effects model. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate possible sources of heterogeneity and to test the stability of the results. Nineteen studies evaluated the association between solid fuel use in pregnant woman and LBW (1.188 for solid fuels: 1.055 to 1.322). No significant heterogeneity was identified among the included studies (p=0.010, Tau 2 =0.02, I 2 =48.1 %). Subgroup analysis found positive correlations for Asia, data years prior to 2014, and rural studies (1.245 for Asia: 1.077 to 1.412; Tau 2 =0.03, I 2 =56.0 %; 1.243 for data years prior to 2014: 1.062 to 1.424; Tau 2 =0.04, I 2 =60.98 %; 1.514 for rural: 1.258 to 1.771; Tau 2 =0.00, I 2 =0.0 %). Our meta-analysis showed that solid fuel use in pregnant women had an impact on LBW. Measures and policies are also needed to promote energy conversion and to limit and reduce the use of solid fuels.

Many chemicals associated with unconventional oil and natural gas (UOG) are known toxicants, leading to health concerns about the effects of UOG. Our objective was to conduct a scoping review of the toxicological literature to assess the effects of UOG chemical exposures in models relevant to human health. We searched databases for primary research studies published in English or French between January 2000 and June 2023 on UOG-related toxicology studies. Two reviewers independently screened abstracts and full texts to determine inclusion. Seventeen studies met our study inclusion criteria. Nine studies used solely in vitro models, while six conducted their investigation solely in animal models. Two studies incorporated both types of models. Most studies used real water samples impacted by UOG or lab-made mixtures of UOG chemicals to expose their models. Most in vitro models used human cells in monocultures, while all animal studies were conducted in rodents. All studies detected significant deleterious effects associated with exposure to UOG chemicals or samples, including endocrine disruption, carcinogenicity, behavioral changes and metabolic alterations. Given the plausibility of causal relationships between UOG chemicals and adverse health outcomes highlighted in this review, future risk assessment studies should focus on measuring exposure to UOG chemicals in human populations.

We examined one of the first published of the several systematic reviews being part of WHO’s renewed initiative to assess the evidence of associations between man-made radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMF) and adverse health effects in humans. The examined review addresses experimental studies of pregnancy and birth outcomes in non-human mammals. The review claims that the analyzed data did not provide conclusions certain enough to inform decisions at a regulatory level. Our objective was to assess the quality of this systematic review and evaluate the relevance of its conclusions to pregnant women and their offspring. The quality and relevance were checked on the review’s own premises: e.g., we did not question the selection of papers, nor the chosen statistical methods. While the WHO systematic review presents itself as thorough, scientific, and relevant to human health, we identified numerous issues rendering the WHO review irrelevant and severely flawed. All flaws found skew the results in support of the review’s conclusion that there is no conclusive evidence for nonthermal effects. We show that the underlying data, when relevant studies are cited correctly, support the opposite conclusion: There are clear indications of detrimental nonthermal effects from RF-EMF exposure. The many identified flaws uncover a pattern of systematic skewedness aiming for uncertainty hidden behind complex scientific rigor. The skewed methodology and low quality of this review is highly concerning, as it threatens to undermine the trustworthiness and professionalism of the WHO in the area of human health hazards from man-made RF-EMF.

Cystic fibrosis is the most common autosomal recessive disease in the Caucasian race. Its course is chronic and progressive, with pulmonary involvement being associated with greater morbidity and mortality. One of the factors most related to worse prognosis in these patients is respiratory exacerbations. Although limited, there is evidence demonstrating that increased exposure to environmental pollution, both acute and chronic, is associated with an increase in these exacerbations. It is crucial to fully understand this relationship in order to attempt to improve the respiratory health of these patients. That is why the available evidence is reviewed and measures are established to reduce exposure to pollutants.

The escalating issue of environmental pollutants necessitates efficient, sustainable, and innovative wastewater treatment technologies. This review comprehensively analyzes the mechanisms and isotherms underlying the adsorption processes of semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) polysaccharide-based hydrogels to remove heavy metal ions and dyes from wastewater. Polysaccharides are extensively utilized in hydrogel synthesis due to their biocompatibility, cost-effectiveness, and non-toxic nature. The synthesis of these hydrogels as semi-IPNs enhances their mechanical and structural robustness and adsorption capacity. This review explores the key parameters affecting adsorption performance, including pH, temperature, contact time, and adsorbent dosage. Findings highlight that semi-IPN polysaccharide-based hydrogels exhibit remarkable adsorption capabilities through electrostatic interactions, ion exchange, and surface complexation. Furthermore, this review highlights the distinct advantages of semi-IPNs over other polymer networks. Semi-IPNs offer improved mechanical stability, higher adsorption efficiencies, and better reusability, making them a promising solution for wastewater treatment. Detailed isotherm models, including Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, were studied to understand these hydrogels’ adsorption behavior and capacity for different pollutants. This study highlights the potential of semi-IPN polysaccharide-based hydrogels as effective adsorbents for heavy metals and dyes and as a promising solution for mitigating environmental pollution. The insights provided herein contribute to developing advanced materials for environmental remediation, aligning with global sustainability goals, and advancing wastewater treatment technology.

Introduction Our objective was to identify published, peer-reviewed, epidemiological studies that estimated associations between the risk of developing or dying from malignant breast cancer and past exposure to selected organic solvents with reactive metabolites, to delineate the methods used and to synthesize the results. Content We undertook a structured review of case-control and cohort studies used to investigate breast cancer risk and exposure to selected organic solvents that produce reactive metabolites in the body. We used SCOPUS, MEDLINE (Ovid) and Web of Science databases from 1966 to December 31, 2023 to identify epidemiological studies that estimated associations between the risk of developing or dying from malignant breast cancer and past exposure to selected organic solvents with reactive metabolites and organic solvents combined as a group. Summary We described essential methodological characteristics of the 35 studies and presented quantitative results by individual solvent and other characteristics. We did not find compelling evidence that any of the selected organic solvents are implicated in the etiology of breast cancer. Outlook As millions of workers are exposed to organic solvents, this topic necessitates further investigation. Future research should focus on elucidating organic solvents that may contribute to the burden of breast cancer.

Atrazine is a widely used chlorinated triazine herbicide in agricultural settings, which has raised concerns over its potential adverse effects on human health. The extensive application of atrazine has resulted in its pervasive presence in the environment, contaminating soil, groundwater, and surface water. While earlier research suggested that atrazine is unlikely to pose a health concern, recent evidence has indicated the necessity to reassess this point of view. This review aims to assess the recent evidence on atrazine’s adverse effects on human health, focusing on (i) Cancer, (ii) Metabolic Diseases, (iii) Reproductive System, (iv) Neural System, and (v) Epigenetic Effects. Strategies to mitigate atrazine contamination and limitations of previous studies are also discussed. We strongly believe that further investigation is necessary to determine the potential detrimental consequences of atrazine in humans, particularly in developing countries, where herbicides are widely used without stringent safety regulations. Therefore, the current review will be beneficial for guiding future research and regulatory measures concerning the use of atrazine.

Throughout the history of medicine, clinical decision-making strategies have largely been dependent on the implementation of novel technologies. Artificial intelligence (AI) has not only made a leap into a new dimension of medical measures & decisions’ shaping but has also served as a strategic backup of medical practice. Due to its nature, and military technologies in use, the Gulf War (1990–1991) is considered to be the verge of the contemporary warfare era. Soldiers had been engaged into a highly complex military operation theatre contaminated with both chemical and radiological noxious agents, and burdened with side-effects of prophylactic measurements. The aim of this review is to present a comprehensive approach to clinical decision-making strategy using the Gulf War veterans’ syndrome as an example. The model is based on the processing of all data coming from the military operation theatre and their unification with medical data, so as to obtain the final product, i.e., the decision needed for a personalised therapeutic approach. Due to the complexity and a huge amount of data gathered at a given location in a given time, the functioning of this model unanimously calls for the interlace between military system AI and that of the medical sector.

Plastic waste enters the oceans and soil and is consumed by organisms and humans. Some of the ingested microplastics may remain in the human body and cause toxicity. We conducted a systematic review to estimate the extent to which humans are exposed to microplastics through consumption and performed a quality assessment of research results. We searched for studies published up to December 2023 and included studies that reported on the characteristics and estimated intake of microplastics. The quality assessment tool reported in previous studies was used for food and drinking water studies. We included 76 studies in the analysis, and the types of foods were classified into seven categories: seafood, drinking water, table salt, fruits and vegetables, beverages, condiments, and meat. The estimated daily intake of microplastics via food was 0.0002–1,531,524 MP/day, with the highest value in bottled water. The quality of food and drinking water studies was evaluated using a quantitative tool to assess reliability. The quality of food studies was 11.50 out of 20 points and the quality of drinking water studies was 11.16 out of 19 points. These results indicate that the closer the score is to the maximum, the more reliable the research findings. The quantitative assessment can be used as an indicator for evaluating the risks of microplastics and can help reduce biases that may occur during the research process. This study confirmed microplastics in foods and human exposure to up to one million microplastics daily. Our study emphasizes the potential for microplastic exposure through food intake and subsequent accumulation in the human body; therefore, efforts are needed to reduce exposure to microplastics in daily life.

Introduction Climate change is raising global temperatures, leading to more extreme heat events, even in temperate climates like Aotearoa|New Zealand (A|NZ). The impact of rising temperatures and the adequacy of planning measures remain underexplored. This paper highlights A|NZ’s anticipated heat-health challenges by analyzing vulnerable populations and assessing current response systems, thereby reinforcing the need for system-level redress, mitigation and adaptation. Content A scoping review examined the impact of heat and existing mitigation and adaptation responses for vulnerable populations in temperate regions, with a focus on A|NZ. Additionally, temperature trend analysis was conducted for current and projected trends using Climate CHIP for six major heat-affected cities in A|NZ to assess the recognition of heat as a societal concern. Summary and Outlook The review identified mitigation and adaptation strategies for existing vulnerable groups and discovered other potential vulnerable groups in A|NZ, including Indigenous people (Māori), Pacific communities, low-income groups, migrants, and visitors. Temperature trends show an increasing pattern, suggesting heightened future heat-related impacts on these populations. This review reveals A|NZ’s growing vulnerability to rising temperatures, particularly among high-risk groups, and calls for stronger mitigation and adaptation strategies to address future heat-health risks.

In several industrialized countries, there has been a report of a decrease in the proportion of male births. The current study is designed to perform a systematic review and present a comprehensive summary of current epidemiological evidence of an association between exposure to the mentioned pollutants and sex ratio. The present systematic review was executed according to the PRISMA protocol. A comprehensive online search was performed in PubMed Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase databases, Google Scholar, and the World Health Organization databases from 2000 to September 2023. After searching all databases, 20 articles were included in this systematic review. Regarding the studied pollutants found that exposure to increased PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) levels was significantly associated with the sex ratio. Both maternal Benzophenone (BP)-2 and paternal BP-2 were significantly associated with an excess of female births. Finally, it must be said that the effect of some environmental pollutants on the sex ratio is undeniable. However, the sex ratio is the result of multiple factors that interact simultaneously during pregnancy. Additional research is required to examine the mechanisms responsible for the change in sex ratio.

Toxicology and epidemiology are the two traditional public health scientific disciplines which can contribute to investigate harmful health effects of exposure to toxic substances. Several frameworks for integrating different lines of evidence were proposed since 2011, evolving based of the emergence of new methodologies and approaches. Through the comparison of various theoretical frameworks for evidence integration, we examined similarities, differences, strengths, and weaknesses to provide insights into potential directions for future research. We identified several key challenges of the integration approach to be applied to risk assessment. More specifically, collaboration within a multidisciplinary team of scientists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and risk assessors, is strongly recommended to be aligned with key regulatory objectives and promote a harmonized approach. Moreover, literature search transparency and systematicity have to be ensured by following validated guidelines, developing parallel protocols for collecting epidemiological and toxicological evidence from various sources, including human, animal, and new approach methodologies (NAMs). Also, the adoption of tailored quality assessment tools is essential to grade the certainty in evidence. Lastly, we recommend the use of the Adverse Outcome Pathway framework to provide a structured understanding of toxicity mechanisms and allow the integration of human, animal, and NAMs data within a single framework.

Introduction The goal is to provide light on the contentious relationship between screen exposure and childhood autism spectrum disorder (ASD). By conducting two meta-analyses that showed a potential association, including screen exposure effect by ASD and ASD risk by screen exposure, we aimed to clarify the potential causality between screen exposure and childhood ASD. Content The literature published up to December 2023 were systematically collected, and the combined effect values of weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) and odds ratio (OR) and 95 % CI were calculated using two meta-analyses using the STATA 12.0. A total of 197,357 children, including 4,599 childhood ASD, were finally included in 10 studies. The results showed that children with ASD had higher levels of screen time exposure than healthy controls (combined effect value WMD=0.27, 95 % CI: 0.12–0.41, p<0.001). An increased risk of ASD was also found in children with high screen exposure compared to the low screen exposure group (OR=1.5395 % CI: 1.14–2.06). Summary and outlook The development of childhood ASD may be associated with screen exposure. Future prospective studies are needed to verify the relationship between screen exposure and ASD in children.

Some studies have shown that maternal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may be related to the neonatal birth weight. The purpose of this study was to explore this relationship between maternal exposure to PFAS and neonatal birth weight. All papers published before March 2024 were retrieved from the Web of Science, PubMed, and Embase databases. A thorough meta-analysis was carried out, involving data extracted from 1,673 samples obtained from a total of 24 articles. Our study found a significantly negative association between maternal PFOS exposure and neonatal birth weight ( β = −71.55; 95 %CI= −114.47, −28.62), with high heterogeneity ( I 2 =64.15 %, p<0.0001). Similarly, there was a significant negative correlation between maternal PFOA exposure and neonatal birth weight ( β = −81.26; 95 %CI= −126.08, −36.43), with high heterogeneity ( I 2 =67.23 %, p<0.0001). Subunit analysis showed that there was a significantly negative correlation between PFOS exposure and neonatal birth weight in mid-to-late pregnancy and after delivery ( β = −97.87; 95 %CI= −181.83, −13.92, β = −138.06; 95 %CI= −255.91, −20.20), PFOA exposure showed a negative correlation with neonatal birth weight in mid-to-late pregnancy ( β = −85.89; 95 %CI= −139.31, −32.47), while PFNA exposure also showed a negative correlation with neonatal birth weight in mid-to-late pregnancy ( β = −90.39; 95 %CI= −152.90, −27.88). However, no significant correlation was observed for PFNA exposure ( β =3.95; 95% CI= −10.41, 18.31), with medium heterogeneity ( I 2 =40.56 %, p=0.0574), or for PFHxS exposure ( β =4.61; 95 %CI= −10.60, 19.81), with medium heterogeneity ( I 2 =29.27 %, p=0.1368). Further research is needed to better understand the implications of these findings on maternal and neonatal health.

The school built environment is closely related to children’s health, and research on this topic is increasing. However, bibliometric analyses seeking to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research landscape and key themes in the field are lacking. This study comprehensively explored the global trends and research hotspots on the associations between school built environment and children’s health. We used a scientometric analysis to review the research progress. The temporal distribution of publications, scientific collaborations, research hotspots, research frontiers, and co-citations over the past 30 years were analyzed. The results show that the number of publications in this field rose significantly between 1987 and 2025, with research hotspots focusing on physical activity, performance, behavior, perception, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality. Environmental themes related to children’s health fall into four main groups: the built environment related to children’s activities, intelligent learning environments, indoor environments and interiors, and natural environments. Health outcomes and measures that reflect physiological, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and physical factors are discussed. This study provides a broad understanding of research issues and trends related to the school built environment and children’s health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012 initiated an expert consultation about research on the health effects of radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) for a WHO monograph that was last updated in 1993. The project was abandoned over concerns about the quality of the commissioned review papers. The WHO restarted the project in 2019 by commissioning 10 systematic reviews (SRs) of the research on RF-EMF exposure and adverse biological and health outcomes in laboratory animals, cell cultures, and human populations. The second of these SRs, published in 2024, addresses human observational studies of RF-EMF exposure and non-specific symptoms, including tinnitus, migraine/headache, and sleep disturbance. The present commentary is a critical appraisal of the scientific quality of this SR (SR7) employing criteria developed by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. Based upon our review, we call for a retraction of SR7 and an impartial investigation by unconflicted experts of the currently available evidence and future research priorities.