Feature Article

Prior studies suggest that exposure to the natural environment may impact health. The present study examines the association between objective measures of block-level greenness (vegetative presence) and chronic medical conditions, including cardiometabolic conditions, in a large population-based sample of Medicare beneficiaries in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Original Source

We develop a statistical model using extreme value theory to estimate the 2000-2050 changes in ozone episodes across the United States. We model the relationships between daily maximum temperature (Tmax) and maximum daily 8-hour average (MDA8) ozone in May-September over 2003-2012 using a Point Process (PP) model. At ~20% of the sites, a marked decrease in the ozone-temperature slope occurs at high temperatures, defined as ozone suppression.

The objective of the study was to explore trends in socioeconomic disparities and under-five mortality rates in rural parts of the United Republic of Tanzania between 2000 and 2011.

Original Source

Several rounds of national health surveys have generated a vast amount of data in India since 1992. We describe and compare the key health information gathered, assess the availability of health data in the public domain, and review publications resulting from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the District Level Household Survey (DLHS) and the Annual Health Survey (AHS).

The objective of the study was to investigate the potential for tobacco tax to contribute to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development by reducing tobacco use, saving lives and generating tax revenues.

The injection timing variation has a robust effect on emission formation in direct combustion diesel engine with thermal barrier coating. The piston head and cylinder were coated with Zirconium at 40 micron thickness. Low Heat Rejection (LHR) engine has high heat with standing capacity inside the combustion chamber, so the in-cylinder temperature is very high in part load and full load condition, which leads to increase the NOX emission.

Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is known to increase risk of diabetes. The objective of the study was to determine which POPs are most associated with prevalence of diabetes in 601 Akwesasne Native Americans.

Original Source

We hypothesise that climate change, together with intensive agricultural systems, will increase the transfer of pollutants from land to water and impact on stream health.

Coral reefs on remote islands and atolls are less exposed to direct human stressors but are becoming increasingly vulnerable because of their development for geopolitical and military purposes. Here we document dredging and filling activities by countries in the South China Sea, where building new islands and channels on atolls is leading to considerable losses of, and perhaps irreversible damages to, unique coral reef ecosystems.

The recent rapid spread of Zika virus and its unexpected linkage to birth defects and an autoimmuneneurological syndrome has generated worldwide concern. Zika virus is a flavivirus like dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses. We present the 3.8Å resolution structure of mature Zika virus determined by cryo-electron microscopy. The structure of Zika virus is similar to other known flavivirus structures except for the ~10 amino acids that surround the Asn154 glycosylation site found in each of the 180 envelope glycoproteins that make up the icosahedral shell.