Indoor Air Quality and Pollution Awareness

Many Americans are aware of the dangers of poor air quality from pollution in the outside world. Pollen counts and air quality index readings are reported alongside the temperature and humidity in daily weather forecasts. Warning labels and news stories have long alerted Americans to hazards found in tap water, consumer goods, and food products, some of the common means of ingesting potentially harmful biological and chemical compounds. However, surveys indicate that the general public does not share the same level of awareness with indoor air quality (IAQ). Although many Americans may feel as though the air they breathe when they are indoors is cleaner and safer than the air they breathe outside, research suggests that, in reality, the exact opposite is true. Generally speaking, indoor air contains much higher levels of toxins and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Chemicals from building products, harmful levels of mold, dust mites, indoor allergens, and other indoor pollutants all contribute to poor IAQ. Polluted indoor air is becoming increasingly damaging to the health of Americans, despite their unfamiliarity with the issue.

Is It Asthma, COPD, or Both?

By Lisa D. Ellis

Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Have you noticed that your fast-acting relief inhaler isn't providing as much relief as you'd expect? If you're an older person who smoked, it's possible that in addition to asthma, you could have another ailment called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

What is COPD?

COPD refers to a variety of respiratory conditions that cause symptoms that are quite similar to asthma, except that while asthma can be reversed with proper treatment, COPD causes more permanent damage.

Long-term smoking most often leads to COPD, and smokers are also more likely to have both asthma and COPD.

Is It Asthma or COPD?

Because asthma and COPD look similar, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing, it's often challenging to differentiate between the two illnesses, especially when they co-occur. Yet there are some subtle differences. For instance, asthma episodes often occur at night and after exposure to allergens, while people with COPD commonly experience coughing and mucus in the mornings, along with chest symptoms that can linger throughout the day. But using symptoms alone may not be enough to accurately identify the conditions and determine how best to treat them.

Diagnosing Asthma and COPD

One way doctors assess a patient's respiratory condition is through a pulmonary function test (PFT) to reveal obstruction in the airways. In asthmatics, a bronchodilator usually improves lung function, while in people who have COPD alone, the medicine usually won't make a significant difference. People who have both asthma and COPD together usually get some benefits from the inhaler, however the effects aren't as efficient as when it's used for asthma alone.

Using Biomarkers to Identify Asthma or COPD

To help make it easier for doctors to diagnosis asthma and COPD, researchers from Australia recently tried to identify some of the common characteristics in the cells that occur with asthma and with COPD. They examined the blood of people with asthma, those with COPD, and those with no respiratory disease in order to understand the proteins that exist in these different scenarios. They were able to identify four biomarkers in the blood that help regulate inflammation in the cells and can be indicative of asthma or COPD. In the future, these markers may help doctors to properly identify asthma and COPD, or a combination of the two conditions, at an earlier stage. These findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in summer 2011.

Treating Asthma and COPD

If you're grappling with respiratory symptoms and you believe that asthma, COPD, or both conditions may be to blame for your ailments, it's important to see a specialist who can confirm the diagnosis. While testing to identify the biomarkers may not be available yet for the general public, your doctor can still use more conventional methods to assess the health of your respiratory system, determine what's causing your symptoms, and ways to best to treat them.

Smoke Triggers Asthma and COPD

Regardless of what ails you, if you smoke, you'll need to kick the bad habit. Smoking can worsen both asthma and COPD and can also lead to many other serious health problems. You should also avoid second-hand smoke, too, since someone else's smoke can be enough to trigger your symptoms.

Treating Asthma and COPD

Asthma and COPD are usually both treated with bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids. In addition, many people with asthma and COPD will need a flu shot and pneumonia shot each year to help avoid illnesses that can make the conditions worse. If you do get sick, people with COPD often need an antibiotic to prevent an infection from taking root. Finally, for both conditions it's best to avoid dry air and pollutants, since these can irritate sensitive airways and can make you feel worse.

While you can't make asthma and COPD go away completely, with proper diagnosis, you can effectively manage the symptoms and breathe more easily.

Sources:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology. AAAAI, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2011.

"COPD." American Lung Association. LungUSA.org, n.d. Web, 25 Aug. 2011.

Verrills, Nicole M. "Identification of Novel Diagnostic Biomarkers for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 183 (Jun 2011) 1633 - 1643.

got questions  http://www.qualityhealth.com/asthma-articles/it-asthma-copd-both

The World's Most Hated Energy Source Could Make You a Fortune

It's abundant, it's cheap, and it's found just about everywhere...

It accounts for about 40% of the planet's electricity usage -- more than natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar and geothermal combined.

It's the world's most preferred fuel for electricity generation, and people hate it... Even children don't like it. They're told if they misbehave, they could find a "lump of this" on Christmas morning. 

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about coal. But before you tell me how the black rocks are the biggest threat to the planet since the last great meteor strike, hear me out.

There's no denying that coal gives off unwelcome pollutants. But plant efficiencies and technological advances have dramatically blunted the environmental impact -- and clean coal development continues to progress.

Still, many investors have been sold on the theory that coal is yesterday's energy source, not that of tomorrow. We're constantly told that fossil fuels are quickly becoming obsolete, and the future belongs to cleaner alternatives such as wind and solar power.

Don't believe it.

Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly support the pursuit of renewable energy sources (particularly those that are economically viable without taxpayer subsidies). But coal is still the king of the energy hill -- and it won't be knocked off for a long, long time.

Will coal eventually give way to other fuel sources? Probably. But it won't happen in the next quarter-century. In fact, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is expecting global coal consumption to actually rise by 50% -- from less than seven billion tons in 2010, to 10 billion tons in 2030.

But before I get into the investment opportunity, let me briefly address the environmental aspect -- nobody likes the image of a factory belching pollutants into the sky.

I know coal isn't going to win any green awards. But much of the bad reputation is undeserved. The industry has actually made great strides in response to stringent air quality standards imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory bodies.

Since 1980, U.S. coal consumption has risen by almost 80%, yet sulfur emissions have been slashed by 40%. The development of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems has eliminated 90% of nitrogen oxides (NOx). And there are all sorts of scrubbers to trap particulates and trace elements.

These and other innovations have greatly reduced coal's effect on climate change. And that's important, because the global economy would quickly shut down without coal.

Now, I've said before that affordable natural gas is displacing some coal-fired generating capacity. That's true in the United States, but that's not the case overseas. On a global basis, coal has been the fastest-growing fuel since 2000.

In China alone, coal is credited with providing power access to 450 million people in the past 15 years, according to the World Coal Association.

And consumption is projected to rise, not fall. Thanks to surging demand from Asia (which accounts for two-thirds of global usage), coal will meet 44% of the world's electricity needs by 2030, up from 40% today. And it's a thicker slice of a pie that grows bigger every year.

Europe is also becoming more reliant on coal in response to high natural gas prices and a backlash in some quarters against nuclear power. In India, imports of thermal coal soared more than 30% last year. And China is planning to build 600 megawatts of coal-fired power generation over the next 25 years. This increase represents more than the current coal generating capacity in the United States, Europe and Japan, combined.

Even 100 megawatts of additional capacity would require an additional 330 million metric tons of coal. China already burns far more than it can produce. In fact, the country had to import 182 million tons last year to cover the deficit.

And power generation is only half of the big picture...

Coal has several other important uses, most notably steel production. The world's mills produced 1.4 billion metric tons of steel in 2010. That production used up 720 million tons of metallurgical coking coal, which is used to make steel.

This means 50 pounds of this key raw ingredient are needed to make every 100 pounds of steel. And you can't build much without steel. The World Steel Association is forecasting 5% production growth in 2012, which would mean an extra 50 million tons of coal usage.

Add it all up, and you can see why the world is headed for a coal super-cycle over the next two decades. Global consumption reached a record 7.5 billion tons last year. And this number is headed higher. In fact, the IEA says the increase in coal consumption in the next 25 years will be more than double that of crude oil.

Action to Take --> This rise in demand will unlock numerous opportunities, from companies such asFuel Tech (Nasdaq: FTEK) that help cut plant emissions to South Africa's Sasol (NYSE: SSL), a pioneer in the coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel space.

So keep your eyes on what's going on in the coal sector. By the looks of it, the black rocks won't be going anywhere for some time to come.

-- Nathan Slaughter

http://www.streetauthority.com/energy-commodities/worlds-most-hated-energy-source-could-make-you-fortune-458996?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=%20referral&utm_campaign=sa-ob-0911

What is benzene and what are its health effects? What is EPA doing about benzene?

According to "Basic Information about Benzene in Drinking Water" [http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/benzene.cfm]:

"Benzene, a volatile organic chemical, is a clear, colorless aromatic liquid. It is highly flammable. It is formed through natural processes, such as volcanoes and forest fires. It is also formed from industrial processes. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline and cigarette smoke."

Regulations restricting levels of benzene in drinking water are described at "What are EPA's drinking water regulations for benzene?" [http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/benzene.cfm#four]

Benzene can also be present in the air. According to EPA's Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Web Site [http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/benzene.html] Benzene is found in the air from emissions from burning coal and oil, gasoline service stations, and motor vehicle exhaust."

EPA regulates benzene as a "mobile source air toxic." For details see "What is EPA Doing About Mobile Source Air Toxics?" at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/toxics.htm#epamsat.

The health effects of exposure to benzene are summarized at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/benzene.html:

"Acute (short-term) inhalation exposure of humans to benzene may cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches, as well as eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation, and, at high levels, unconsciousness.  Chronic (long-term) inhalation exposure has caused various disorders in the blood, including reduced numbers of red blood cells and aplastic anemia, in occupational settings.  Reproductive effects have been reported for women exposed by inhalation to high levels, and adverse effects on the developing fetus have been observed in animal tests.  Increased incidence of leukemia (cancer of the tissues that form white blood cells) have been observed in humans occupationally exposed to benzene.  EPA has classified benzene as a Group A, human carcinogen."

For more information on benzene and its health effects, see:

• National Library of Medicine: Tox Town [http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=5]
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: ToxFAQs for Benzene [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=38&tid=14]
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Safety and Health Topics: Benzene
  [http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/benzene/]
• NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards: Benzene [http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0049.html]
• gotquestions  http://publicaccess.supportportal.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?deptID=23012&task=knowledge&questionID=22213