The objective of the study was to assess the validity of the GLOBOCAN methods for deriving national estimates of cancer incidence. The researchers obtained incidence and mortality data from Norway by region, year of diagnosis, cancer site, sex and 5-year age group for the period 1983–2012 from the NORDCAN database. Estimates for the year 2010 were derived using nine different methods from GLOBOCAN.

Very little is currently known about air pollutants’ adverse effects on neurodegenerative diseases even though recent studies have linked particulate exposures to brain pathologies associated with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. In the present study, we investigated long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and Parkinson’s disease.

Original Source

Exposure to ambient air pollution is suspected to cause cognitive effects, but a prospective cohort is needed to study exposure to air pollution at the home address and the incidence of dementia. The researchers aimed to assess the association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and dementia incidence in a major city in northern Sweden.

Original Source

Chronic nitrogen deposition has measureable impacts on soil and plant health. We investigate burning emissions from biomass grown in areas of high and low NO x deposition. Gas and aerosol-phase emissions were measured as a function of photochemical aging in an environmental chamber at UC-Riverside. Though aerosol chemical speciation was not available, results indicate a systemic compositional difference between biomass grown in high and low deposition areas.

Prevalence of walking and cycling for transport is low and varies greatly across countries. Few studies have examined neighborhood perceptions related to walking and cycling for transport in different countries. Therefore, it is challenging to prioritize appropriate built-environment interventions. The aim of this study was to examine the strength and shape of the relationship between adults’ neighborhood perceptions and walking and cycling for transport across diverse environments.

Original Source

Air pollution is associated with morbidity and premature mortality. Satellite remote sensing provides globally consistent decadal-scale observations of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution. The researchers determined global population-weighted annual mean NO2 concentrations from 1996 through 2012.

Original Source

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has become common in the Western world, but its causes remain unclear. With the dramatic increase of cases in Asia in recent years—echoing the disease’s drastic rise in the West decades earlier—investigators have another shot at studying environmental contributors to IBD as it emerges in new populations.

Original Source

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a highly lethal condition for which no specific treatment has proven efficacy. In September 2014, while the Ebola outbreak was at its peak, the World Health Organization released a short list of drugs suitable for EVD research. Favipiravir, an antiviral developed for the treatment of severe influenza, was one of these. In late 2014, the conditions for starting a randomized Ebola trial were not fulfilled for two reasons.

Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) is a vulnerable Red list species whose populations are declining. However, little is known about Black-necked Cranes' habitat requirements or the causes of their population decline. We identified Black-necked Cranes' winter roost and foraging preferences of Black-necked Cranes in Bhutan during the winter of 2013-2014. Black-necked Cranes' roosts were recorded using Garmin GPSmap 60CSx, while foraging preferences and threats to the birds were identified based on a survey of household heads (n = 107) residing within a 3 km radius of roost sites.

The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources Report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We need to increase nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in infertile tropical and semi-tropical soils – the regions where the most food insecurity among us are found – while reducing global use of these products overall.