News • Research project 'ADAPT-HEAT'
Climate medicine: How does extreme heat affect medication?
Heat waves are becoming more common due to climate change. Researchers in Cologne explore what this might mean for the effectiveness of medication.
Environmental medicine
News • Study shows significant adverse effects
Global warming: The health cost of urban heat
Heat islands found in many European cities have a clear impact on human mortality risk, comparable to air pollution. A new study has produced the first cost estimate of this impact.
News • Environmental and human health research
PHIC: A French-Japanese cooperation for planetary health
A remarkable collaboration for planetary health: The Institut Pasteur and the University of Tokyo want to establish a joint institution dedicated to addressing human and environmental health research.
News • Environmental impact
Loss of biodiversity could benefit viral pathogens
Environmental changes may reduce the diversity of mosquitos, but bring about a greater abundance of viruses, scientists from Charité in Berlin in cooperation with Leibniz-IZW find.
News • Extra risk for asthma, COPD patients
Climate change: an even greater hazard for people with lung conditions
Heatwaves, wildfires, flooding: effects of climate change will further exacerbate breathing difficulties for millions of people living with lung conditions, new research finds.
News • PFAS as risk factor
Researchers explore link between ‘forever chemicals’ and breast cancer
Can per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) increase the risk of breast cancer? A new study by US researchers examines the effects of the so-called “forever chemicals”.
News • Planetary health
Global analysis links antibiotic resistance increase to rising air pollution
Curbing levels of harmful air pollution could help reduce antibiotic resistance, according to the first in-depth global analysis of possible links between the two.
News • Adverse outdoor conditions
Heat waves and PM2.5 air pollution double risk of fatal heart attack
Heat waves, cold snaps and high levels of fine particulate pollution could raise heart attack risk, according to a new study, which highlights one especially dangerous combination.
Article • Flow cytometry
Detecting and measuring nanoplastics in the blood stream
Plastics are a part of everyday life, and an increasingly concerning factor of global environmental pollution. They also have infiltrated our bodies as microparticles (MPs) and nanoparticles (NPs), found even in placentas supporting foetal life. And they are in our blood. Now, researchers in Spain have developed a new method to detect and measure nanoparticles in human peripheral blood that is…
News • Experimental biology
Global warming: how hot is too hot for human health?
Ongoing research at the University of Roehampton, UK has identified the upper critical temperature (UCT) for humans - and why our bodies cannot handle more heat.
News • Global warming effects
UK hospitals report surgery cancellations due to 2022 heatwave
The 2022 summer heatwave resulted in a fifth of UK hospitals being forced to cancel operations during the three days when temperatures soared, a new study reveals.
News • Health impact of PFAS
Study: “forever chemicals” disrupt key biological processes
Exposure to a mixture of chemicals called PFAS - also known as 'forever chemicals' - leads to alterations in biological processes associated with a broad range of diseases, a new study finds.
News • Non-communicable diseases management
Can the metaverse improve public health?
A new interdisciplinary article suggests ways in which the virtual-reality-based metaverse can help design healthy living environments and combat non-communicable diseases.
News • SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater
Using sewage to forecast Covid-19 infections
A new mathematical model developed by Hokkaido University engineers uses wastewater samples to effectively forecast the number of clinical Covid-19 cases in a community five days in advance.
News • Environmental pollution
Microplastics found in operating theatres
High levels of microplastics were detected in surgical environments in a new study. Microplastic was found in both the operating theatre and anaesthetic room, in cardiothoracic surgeries.
News • Stress reaction in the body
Exploring heat and cold as cardiovascular hazards
Both hot and cold environments trigger a stress response and can lead to cardiovascular problems. Results of a new study are especially interesting in light of the current multiple global crises.
News • Environmental medicine
Study shows how air pollution eats away at the immune system
The diminished power of the immune system in older adults is usually blamed on the aging process. But a new study shows that decades of particulate air pollution also take a toll.
News • Environmental change effects
The impact of climate change and air pollution on neurologic diseases
Are climate change and air pollution making neurologic diseases like headaches, dementia and multiple sclerosis (MS) worse? A scoping review of research explores the connection.
News • Greenhouse gas emissions
How climate change impacts human pathogenic diseases
A comprehensive assessment of scientific literature has uncovered empirical evidence that more than 58% of human diseases caused by pathogens, such as dengue, hepatitis, pneumonia, malaria, Zika, have been aggravated by climatic hazards.
Article • Outbreak prevention and management efforts
Infectious diseases: new challenges for EU monitoring
Avian flu, MERS, Covid-19, monkeypox: outbreaks of infectious diseases are getting more common in Europe. As a result, the EU must adapt its surveillance strategies and introduce more data-driven, interdisciplinary countermeasues.
News • Hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis and more
Extreme heat increases likelihood of diabetes-related emergencies
Global warming could be especially dangerous for diabetes patients, a new study shows: Exposure to extreme heat was linked with more hospitalizations for diabetes-associated pathologies.
Interview • Global warming awareness
Showing health implications of climate change is best way to reach public
John Kotcher from George Mason University says that emphasizing the health implications of climate change is one of best ways to engage the public to fight for better policies.
Article • Antimicrobial resistance development
AMR and climate change: a worrying dual threat to global health
Climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are forming an alarming alliance: Global warming creates new breeding grounds for resistant bacteria. A serious and very real threat to public health – but not quite the doomsday scenario some might make it out to be, says Prof Sabiha Essack from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
Article • Energy conservation & waste reduction
Reducing the eco-footprint of radiology
Contrast agents in the wastewater and power-hungry imaging systems: The eco-footprint of healthcare is huge, and radiology departments are among the main culprits. An expert panel at the ECR Overture explored ways to make the field “greener”.
News • Global warming
Climate Change will increase kidney stones
Rising temperatures due to climate change will lead to an increase in cases of kidney stones over the next seven decades, even if measures are put in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
