Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Ambient outdoor Air Pollution (AP) is an important global environmental concern. It contributes to 1 in 9 deaths worldwide. AP increases the risks of cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, mental disorders, as well as memory deficit and cognitive impairment. However, it is unclear whether AP increased the risk of dementia and which pollutants of AP play the role in dementia. The purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of AP exposure and different AP pollutants on the risk of dementia. Method: According to a standard method of systematic literature review which we did previously, we searched PubMed, CINAHL, Embays and web of knowledge up to September 2018 and identified 10 articles for the review. We pooled available data from them to calculate Relative Risk (RR) of incident dementia in relation to AP exposure. Result: Of the 10, six were cohort designed (of which two produced different components of AP exposure) and one was case-control. They were undertaken in Canada, USA, UK, Sweden and Taiwan, respectively. The quality assessment of these studies suggested that overall they were in good quality. All studies showed some associations between AP exposure and dementia, varying with different pollutants. Pooled data from these studied populations showed that the adjusted RR for overall AP exposure (or highest vs. lowest exposure) was 1.26 (95% CI, 1.13-1.40). The RR for ozone exposure 1.02 (0.92-1.12) (n of population studied=5), for PM2.5 1.06 (0.995-1.13) (n=4), for NO2 1.02 (0.92-1.12) (n=3), for NOx 1.50 (1.16-1.95) (n=2) and for residential distance from major roadways 1.07 (1.06-1.108) (n=2). Conclusion: Published literature to date provides evidence of a heightened risk of dementia with increasing AP exposure. AP could be as an avoidable risk factor for dementia interventions. Air pollution is a major concern of new civilized world, which has a serious toxicological impact on human health and the environment. It has a number of different emission sources, but motor vehicles and industrial processes contribute the major part of air pollution. According to the World Health Organization, six major air pollutants include particle pollution, ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and lead. Long and short term exposure to air suspended toxicants has a different toxicological impact on human including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric complications, the eyes irritation, skin diseases, and long-term chronic diseases such as cancer. Several reports have revealed the direct association between exposure to the poor air quality and increasing rate of morbidity and mortality mostly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is considered as the major environmental risk factor in the incidence and progression of some diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, ventricular hypertrophy, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, psychological complications, autism, retinopathy, fatal growth, and low birth weight. In this review article, we aimed to discuss toxicology of major air pollutants, sources of emission, and their impact on human health. We have also proposed practical measures to reduce air pollution in Iran.

In 2016, the water crisis was determined as the global risk of highest concern for people and economies for the next 10 years (WEF, 2016). Our ability to cope with current and future stresses on freshwater resources is a core challenge of the 21st century (CDP Global Water Report, 2017). Ensuring adequate water quality and quantity are of increasing importance in recent times owing to climate change related uncertainties and pollution related activities. The immediate source of water pollution is waste water discharge from various sources. Ocean acidification, plastic contamination, creation of dead zones is some of the visible effects of anthropogenic intervention. Companies and industrial sectors across the world are recognizing the crucial role water plays in the sustainability of their operations. Water related risks and opportunities are being accounted for and organizations are working together to alleviate the pollution causing effects of their operations. Measures include finding alternate modes of fuel, researching alternative modes of packaging, coming up with newer ways to have circular resource management, forward and backward integration, committing to reduce their water consumption per unit of production, among others. These measures may be small but contribute towards responsible resource consumption and showcase an organizations commitment towards contributing their bit. Actions taken today will determine if we have the possibility of  water secure tomorrow. We can categories pollution by where we find it — in air, water or soil — or we can look at different pollution types, such as chemicals, noise or light. Another way to look at pollution is to go to its sources. Some pollution sources are spread out, such as cars, agriculture and buildings, but others can be better assessed as individual emission points. Many of these point sources are large installations, such as factories and power plants. Industry is a key component of Europe’s economy. According to Eurostat, in 2018, it accounted for 17.6 % of gross domestic product (GDP) and directly employed 36 million people. At the same time, industry also accounts for more than half of the total emissions of some key air pollutants and greenhouse gases, as well as other important environmental impacts, including the release of pollutants to water and soil, the generation of waste and energy consumption. Air pollution is often associated with the burning of fossil fuels. This obviously applies to power plants but also to many other industrial activities that may have their own onsite electricity or heat production, such as iron and steel manufacturing or cement production. Some activities generate dust that contributes to particulate matter concentrations in the air, whereas solvent use, for example in metal processing or chemical production, may lead to emissions of polluting organic compounds.

Almost 400 million people live in the Eastern Mediterranean Middle East (EMME); a region where climate change is already evident (the number of extremely hot days has doubled in the region since 1970). In the near future, this region could become so hot that human habitability is compromised. The goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 °C, agreed at the 2015 Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris will not be sufficient to prevent this scenario. In combination with increasing air pollution and windblown desert dust, the environmental conditions could become intolerable and may force people to migrate. The lack of constrains by accurate in-situ atmospheric data of key climate forcers has been identified as a major limitation for the validation/performance of climate models over the EMME. This may have a strong impact in the design of efficient regional/national Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation strategies, which are usually fed by high-resolution regional climate projections. In this context, the rapid implementation of a regional atmospheric network with high quality data following international standards appears as a high priority for the entire EMME region. With the support of the ACTRIS pan-European Research Infrastructure, the Cyprus Institute is currently putting unprecedented efforts to establish the first ever long-term observations of climate forcers (greenhouse gases, aerosols, clouds, reactive gases) in the EMME region. This infrastructure gathers a ground-based supersite and a fleet of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with miniaturized sensors to scrutinize the vertical distribution of air pollutants in the first 5 km of the atmosphere. This infrastructure is seen as the first step towards a regional coordinated atmospheric network that is still missing in the Middle East. Goal: A population of about 400 million is affected by dust storms, dryness, heat extremes and unparalleled air pollution in the “EMME” – Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region, with severe environmental, health and socio-economic effects. Identified as a global Climate Change “hot spot”, EMME is facing adverse impacts ranging from extreme weather events to poor air quality, with increasing intensity in the coming decades. “EMME-CARE” provides scientific, technological and policy solutions through the establishment of a world-class Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence, focusing on environmental challenges. To address these, the existing Atmosphere and Climate Division of the Cyprus Institute will be upgraded, its partnerships with world-renown institutes will be strengthened, and its status and contribution in regional/global networks of the field will be enhanced.  With competitive Horizon 2020 funding, as well as national own resources, EMME-CARE will implement a combination of Research, Education, and Innovation activities, which will involve laboratory studies, instrument development, continuous comprehensive atmospheric observations, field experiments and computer modelling of the regional climate and chemical composition of the atmosphere. The programme focuses on the atmospheric environment (greenhouse gases, the water cycle, extreme weather, atmospheric dust and air pollution) and will address climate change and air pollution impacts. EMME-CARE fully utilizes the strategically enabling geopolitical location of Cyprus to create and foster a gateway between Europe and the Middle East. By building on a critical mass of top scientists and engineers, promoting innovation via regular staff exchanges, networking regionally (Middle East) and globally, transferring knowledge and technology, and by supporting entrepreneurship and spinoffs, EMME-CARE will address challenges by furthering scientific leadership and excellence.

Aerosol has become one of the major air pollutants in East Asia, and its spatial distribution can be affected by the East Asian monsoon circulation. By means of the observational analysis and the numerical simulation, the inter-annual variation of wintertime aerosol pollution in East Asia and its association with strong/weak East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) are investigated in this study. Firstly, the MODIS/AOD records during 2000-2013 are analysed to reveal the inter-annual variation characteristics of aerosols. It is found that there is an increasing trend of AOD in East Asia over the last decade. The areas with obvious increasing AOD cover the Sichuan Basin (SCB), the North China Plain, and most of the Middle-Lower Yangtze River Plain in China. Secondly, the EAWM index (EAWMI) based on the characteristic of circulation are calculated to investigate the inter-annual variations of EAWM. The NCEP reanalysis data are used in EAWMI calculation and meteorological analysis. Nine strong and thirteen weak EAWM years are identified from 1979 to 2014. Finally, the effects of strong/weak EAWM on the distribution of aerosols in East Asia are discussed. It is found that the northerly wind strengthens (weakens) and transports more (less) aerosols southward in strong (weak) EAWM years, resulting in higher (lower) AOD in the north and lower (higher) AOD in the south. The long-term weakening trend of EAWM may potentially increase the aerosol loading. The weakening of EAWM should be another cause that results in the increase of AOD over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, the BeijingTianjin-Hebei (BTH) region and SCB but the decrease of AOD over the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Using the Regional Climate-Chemistry coupled Model System (RegCCMS), we further prove that the intensity of EAWM has great impacts on the spatial distribution of aerosols. More obvious changes occur in lower atmosphere, and the change pattern of aerosol column content in different EAWM years is mainly decided by the change of aerosols in lower troposphere. This chapter mainly focuses on the characteristics of the East Asia winter monsoon (EAWM). An examination of the climatology of the boreal winter in Asia shows that the EAWM results from the development of a cold-core high over the Siberia-Mongolia region. The movement of this cold air southward produces pressure surges and temperature drops across the Asian continent. Two types of such surges can be identified: the northerly surge (NS) and the easterly surge (ES). The initiation of the NS begins with the eastward passage of a polar jet streak west of Lake Balkhash. The eastward migration of this jet streak over the Siberia-Mongolia region intensifies a cold high there, which eventually leads to a southward outpour of the cold air in the lower troposphere. Such a push of the cold air then excites gravity waves that propagate across the South China Sea, which results in convection over the maritime continent. On the other hand, an ES is apparently the consequence of an initially eastward and then south-eastward migration of a cold pool that splits off from a quasi-stationary high-pressure system over the Siberia-Mongolia region due to the passage of a 500-hPa ridge over the region. As the low-level anticyclone moves to the east coast of China, it initiates a southward surge of cool air and strong winds along the coast, resembling a coastal Kelvin wave. Its strength is usually much less than that of the NS. Other than these surges, a significant effect of the EAWM is the explosive development of low-pressure systems over the East China Sea as the cold air moves off the continent and over the warm water, which results from the strong baroclinity between the cold air from the continent and warm air over the ocean, and the subsequent potential instability, rising motion and latent heat release. The last section of the chapter discusses intrapersonal, internal and interdecadal variations of the EAWM, which can be related to similar oscillations in other planetary-scale circulation features. These include the 10-20-day oscillation, the Madden-Julian Oscillation, the polar vortex, the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, sea-surface temperature anomalies in the North Pacific, the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the East Asia summer monsoon. Furthermore, “two-way” interactions between the EAWM and  some of these oscillations have also been found.

The phase-out of the consumption and production of (stratospheric) ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) was completed in 2010, while the scheduled phase-out of most hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) is expected by 2030. During the gradual disappearance of HCFCsover the coming decades, hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) were proposed as long-term replacements in several industrial applications. Despite HFCs are non-depleting ozone substances, most of them are potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) that affect the radioactive forcing of climate change. Their strong IR absorption in the atmospheric window and their long atmospheric lifetime result in high global warming potentials (GWPs). To decrease climate forcing, the emissions of high-GWP HFCs have to be reduced and replaced by substances that have low impact on climate. Among these, hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) and per fluorinated compounds (PFCs) are expected to be good alternatives to HFCs. For instance, CF3(CF2)2CH=CH2 (HFO 1447fz) is currently being considered as a substitute of HCFC-141b as expansion agent in polyurethane foams. Or CF3CH=CH2 (HFO-1243zf) could replace CF3CH2F (HFC-134a) in air-conditioning units. To assess the environmental impact of the potential widespread use of these potential substitutes, an evaluation of the atmospheric chemistry is needed. Degradation of pollutants in the troposphere is usually initiated by OH radicals(the main diurnal oxidant) and, under certain circumstances, by Cal atoms. In our group, the rate coefficients for the OH and Cal reactions with some HFOs and PFCs have been determined under tropospheric conditions of temperature and pressure. Identification of secondary gaseous products and organic aerosols was also carried out simulating a clean and polluted atmosphere. The IR spectra of these species were recorded in order to calculate their radioactive efficiency. All these results allow the estimation of the atmospheric lifetime, GWP and the photochemical ozone creation potential of the HFC substitute. Therefore, we can predict the impact of future emissions on air quality and global warming. Many hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) that are widely used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances (now regulated under the Montreal Protocol) are very potent greenhouse gases (GHGs). China's past and future HFC emissions are of great interest because China has emerged as a major producer and  

consumer of HFCs. Here, we present for the first time a comprehensive inventory estimate of China's HFC emissions during 2005-2013. Results show a rapid increase in HFC production, consumption, and emissions in China during the period and that the emissions of HFC with a relatively high global warming potential (GWP) grew faster than those with a relatively low GWP. The proportions of China's historical HFC CO2-equivalent emissions to China's CO2 emissions or global HFC CO2-equivalent emissions increased rapidly during 2005-2013. Using the "business-as-usual" (BAU) scenario, in which HFCs are used to replace a significant fraction of hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in China (to date, there are no regulations on HFC uses in China), emissions of HFCs are projected to be significant components of China's and global future GHG emissions. However, potentials do exist for minimizing China's HFC emissions (for example, if regulations on HFC uses are established in China). Our findings on China's historical and projected HFC emission trajectories could also apply to other developing countries, with important implications for mitigating global GHG emissions.