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Studies find global COVID-19 lockdowns have significantly reduced PM2.5 and NO2 pollution, but ozone up

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Levels of two major air pollutants have been reduced significantly since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant—ground-level ozone—has increased in China, according to new research. Ozone is harmful to humans at ground-level, causing pulmonary and heart disease.

Ozone 291
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Study finds short-term exposure to air pollution may impede cognition; NSAIDs could help

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Exposure to air pollution, even over the course of just a few weeks, can impede mental performance, according to a new study led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The study is among the first to explore short-term air pollution exposures and the use of NSAIDs to mitigate their effects.

Pollution 186
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CARB approves updated “At-Berth” regulation, expanding efforts to cut pollution from ships in California ports

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The California Air Resources Board approved a new regulation designed to reduce pollution further from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on progress achieved by the At-Berth Regulation adopted in 2007.

Pollution 305
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Study finds rapid health benefits following air pollution reduction

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Reductions in air pollution yielded fast and significant impacts on health-outcomes, as well as decreases in all-cause morbidity, according to new open-access research published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society. It’s critical that governments adopt and enforce WHO guidelines for air pollution immediately.

Pollution 186
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Study provides more insight into air pollution mechanisms that cause cardiovascular diseases

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Air pollution, and fine dust in particular, is calculated to contribute to more than four million deaths each year. While the mechanisms by which air pollutants cause cardiovascular events is undergoing continual refinement, the preponderant evidence support rapid effects of a diversity of pollutants including all particulate pollutants (e.g.

Pollution 220
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University of Kentucky chemist receives NSF grant to study atmospheric reactions of pollution

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The $461,000-project, titled “Heterogeneous Aging Mechanisms of Combustion and Biomass Burning Emissions,” will focus on how gases, such as ozone, react with pollutants emitted from power plants and forest fires. Guzman and his students will study how these pollutants are transformed on surfaces by oxidizing atmospheric gases.

Kentucky 207
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Study provides insight into mechanism of atmospheric new particle formation in polluted cities

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de novo rather than as direct emissions—via nucleation and growth is a major source of aerosol pollution in terms of number concentration. In spite of a great deal of research, it is still a puzzle why and how such new particule formation (NPF) occurs in a highly polluted urban atmosphere. —Yao et al.

Pollution 186