Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 193 in total

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  1. Foo, Ming Hui
    MyJurnal
    In this era, most of us are suffering some level of respiratory problem. Respiratory system of our children is even more sensitive compare to adults. As our children spending an average of 8 hours in school, indoor air quality of the classroom become an important element. Many studies have shown that indoor air quality not only affecting the respiratory system of schoolchildren but their performance in academy as well.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants
  2. Cui J, Zhou F, Gao M, Zhang L, Zhang L, Du K, et al.
    Environ Pollut, 2018 Oct;241:810-820.
    PMID: 29909307 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.06.028
    Six different approaches are applied in the present study to apportion the sources of precipitation nitrogen making use of precipitation data of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN, including NO3- and NH4+), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and δ15N signatures of DIN collected at six sampling sites in the mountain region of Southwest China. These approaches include one quantitative approach running a Bayesian isotope mixing model (SIAR model) and five qualitative approaches based on in-situ survey (ISS), ratio of NH4+/NO3- (RN), principal component analysis (PCA), canonical-correlation analysis (CCA) and stable isotope approach (SIA). Biomass burning, coal combustion and mobile exhausts in the mountain region are identified as major sources for precipitation DIN while biomass burning and volatilization sources such as animal husbandries are major ones for DON. SIAR model results suggest that mobile exhausts, biomass burning and coal combustion contributed 25.1 ± 14.0%, 26.0 ± 14.1% and 27.0 ± 12.6%, respectively, to NO3- on the regional scale. Higher contributions of both biomass burning and coal combustion appeared at rural and urban sites with a significant difference between Houba (rural) and the wetland site (p 
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  3. Jaafar H, Razi NA, Azzeri A, Isahak M, Dahlui M
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2018 Oct;25(30):30009-30020.
    PMID: 30187406 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-3049-0
    Economic losses due to health-related implications of air pollution were huge and incurred significant burdens towards healthcare providers. The objective of this study is to systematically review published literature on the financial implications of air pollution on health in Asia. Four databases: PubMed, Scopus, NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), and Web of Science (WoS) were used to identify all the relevant articles. It was limited to all articles that had been published in the respected databases from January 2007 until March 2017. Twenty-four articles were included in this review. Five of the 24 studies (20.8%) reported financial implications of air pollution-related disease through value of statistical life (VOSL) which ranged from USD180 million to USD2.2 billion, six (25%) studies used cost of illness (COI) to evaluate air pollution-related morbidity and found that the cost ranged from USD5.4 million to USD9.1 billion. Another six studies (25%) used a combination of VOSL and COI for both mortality and morbidity valuation and found that the financial implications ranging from USD253 million to USD2.9 billion. Thirteen (54.2%) studies reported healthcare cost associated with both hospital admission and outpatient visit, five (20.1%) on hospital admission only, and one (4.2%) on outpatient visit only. Economic impacts of air pollution can be huge with significant deterioration of health among the Asians.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis; Air Pollutants/economics
  4. Chew KW, Chia SR, Chia WY, Cheah WY, Munawaroh HSH, Ong WJ
    Environ Pollut, 2021 Mar 01;278:116836.
    PMID: 33689952 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116836
    The remarkable journey of progression of mankind has created various impacts in the form of polluted environment, amassed heavy metals and depleting resources. This alarming situation demands sustainable energy resources and approaches to deal with these environmental hazards and power deficit. Pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis address both energy and environmental issues caused by civilization and industrialization. The processes use hazardous waste materials including waste tires, plastic and medical waste, and biomass waste such as livestock waste and agricultural waste as feedstock to produce gas, char and pyrolysis oil for energy production. Usage of hazardous materials as pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis feedstock reduces disposal of harmful substances into environment, reducing occurrence of soil and water pollution, and substituting the non-renewable feedstock, fossil fuels. As compared to combustion, pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis have less emission of air pollutants and act as alternative options to landfill disposal and incineration for hazardous materials and biomass waste. Hence, stabilizing heavy metals and solving the energy and waste management problems. This review discusses the pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of biomass and harmful wastes to strive towards circular economy and eco-friendly, cleaner energy with minimum waste disposal, reducing negative impact on the planet and creating future possibilities.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants
  5. Armstrong RW, Rood MJ, Sani S, Mohamed M, Rashid M, Jab AT, et al.
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2001;13(1):24-9.
    PMID: 12109256 DOI: 10.1177/101053950101300106
    The objective of this study was to establish baseline data about air pollutants potentially related to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in the Federal Territory and Selangor, Malaysia. During 1991-1993, ambient air quality was monitored at 42 work sites representing ten industrial sectors: adhesive manufacturing, foundries, latex processing, metalworking, plywood/veneer milling, ricemilling, rubber tire manufacturing, sawmilling, shoemaking, and textile related industries. At each work site, aerosol particle size distributions and concentrations of formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, isopropyl alcohol, and furfural were measured. Mean aerosol particle concentrations ranged from 61 micrograms/m3 in foundries to 5,578 micrograms/m3 in ricemills, with five industries (adhesives, metalworking, ricemilling, sawmilling, and shoemaking) exceeding the US EPA 24-hr ambient air standard for PM-10. Formaldehyde concentrations exceeded the threshold limit value (TLV) in adhesives factories. Other vapours and elements measured were well below TLVs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants, Occupational/adverse effects*
  6. Li L, Li Q, Huang L, Wang Q, Zhu A, Xu J, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2020 Aug 25;732:139282.
    PMID: 32413621 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139282
    The outbreak of COVID-19 has spreaded rapidly across the world. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, China has imposed national lockdown policies to practise social distancing. This has led to reduced human activities and hence primary air pollutant emissions, which caused improvement of air quality as a side-product. To investigate the air quality changes during the COVID-19 lockdown over the YRD Region, we apply the WRF-CAMx modelling system together with monitoring data to investigate the impact of human activity pattern changes on air quality. Results show that human activities were lowered significantly during the period: industrial operations, VKT, constructions in operation, etc. were significantly reduced, leading to lowered SO2, NOx, PM2.5 and VOCs emissions by approximately 16-26%, 29-47%, 27-46% and 37-57% during the Level I and Level II response periods respectively. These emission reduction has played a significant role in the improvement of air quality. Concentrations of PM2.5, NO2 and SO2 decreased by 31.8%, 45.1% and 20.4% during the Level I period; and 33.2%, 27.2% and 7.6% during the Level II period compared with 2019. However, ozone did not show any reduction and increased greatly. Our results also show that even during the lockdown, with primary emissions reduction of 15%-61%, the daily average PM2.5 concentrations range between 15 and 79 μg m-3, which shows that background and residual pollutions are still high. Source apportionment results indicate that the residual pollution of PM2.5 comes from industry (32.2-61.1%), mobile (3.9-8.1%), dust (2.6-7.7%), residential sources (2.1-28.5%) in YRD and 14.0-28.6% contribution from long-range transport coming from northern China. This indicates that in spite of the extreme reductions in primary emissions, it cannot fully tackle the current air pollution. Re-organisation of the energy and industrial strategy together with trans-regional joint-control for a full long-term air pollution plan need to be further taken into account.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants
  7. Awang MB, Jaafar AB, Abdullah AM, Ismail MB, Hassan MN, Abdullah R, et al.
    Respirology, 2000 Jun;5(2):183-96.
    PMID: 10894109
    OBJECTIVE: Observations have been made on the long-term trends of major air pollutants in Malaysia including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, the ozone and total suspended particulate matter (particularly PM10), and sulfur dioxide, emitted from industrial and urban areas from early 1970s until late 1998.

    METHODOLOGY: The data show that the status of atmospheric environment in Malaysia, in particular in highly industrialized areas such as Klang Valley, was determined both by local and transboundary emissions and could be described as haze and non-haze periods.

    RESULTS: During the non-haze periods, vehicular emissions accounted for more than 70% of the total emissions in the urban areas and have demonstrated two peaks in the diurnal variations of the aforementioned air pollutants, except ozone. The morning 'rush-hour' peak was mainly due to vehicle emissions, while the late evening peak was mainly attributed to meteorological conditions, particularly atmospheric stability and wind speed. Total suspended particulate matter was the main pollutant with its concentrations at few sites often exceeding the Recommended Malaysia Air Quality Guidelines. The levels of other pollutants were generally within the guidelines. Since 1980, six major haze episodes were officially reported in Malaysia: April 1983, August 1990, June 1991, October 1991, August to October 1994, and July to October 1997. The 1997 haze episode was the worst ever experienced by the country. Short-term observations using continuous monitoring systems during the haze episodes during these periods clearly showed that suspended particulate matter (PM10) was the main cause of haze and was transboundary in nature. Large forest fires in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan during the haze period, clearly evident in satellite images, were identified as the probable key sources of the widespread heavy haze that extended across Southeast Asia from Indonesia to Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. The results of several studies have also provided strong evidence that biomass burning is the dominating source of particulate matter. The severity and extent of 1997's haze pollution was unprecedented, affecting some 300 million people across the region. The amount of economic costs suffered by Southeast Asian countries during this environmental disaster was enormous and is yet to be fully determined. Among the important sectors severely affected were air and land transport, shipping, construction, tourism and agro-based industries. The economic cost of the haze-related damage to Malaysia presented in this study include short-term health costs, production losses, tourism-related losses and the cost of avertive action. Although the cost reported here is likely to be underestimated, they are nevertheless significant (roughly RM1 billion).

    CONCLUSIONS: The general air quality of Malaysia since 1970 has deteriorated. Studies have shown that should no effective countermeasures be introduced, the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in the year 2005 would increase by 1.4, 2.12, 1.47 and 2.27 times, respectively, from the 1992 levels.

    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  8. Khan MF, Hamid AH, Bari MA, Tajudin ABA, Latif MT, Nadzir MSM, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2019 Feb 10;650(Pt 1):1195-1206.
    PMID: 30308807 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.072
    Equatorial warming conditions in urban areas can influence the particle number concentrations (PNCs), but studies assessing such factors are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of size-resolved PNCs, their potential deposition rate in the human respiratory system, and probable local and transboundary inputs of PNCs in Kuala Lumpur. Particle size distributions of a 0.34 to 9.02 μm optical-equivalent size range were monitored at a frequency of 60 s between December 2016 and January 2017 using an optical-based compact scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). Diurnal and correlation analysis showed that traffic emissions and meteorological confounding factors were potential driving factors for changes in the PNCs (Dp ≤1 μm) at the modeling site. Trajectory modeling showed that a PNC <100/cm3 was influenced mainly by Indo-China region air masses. On the other hand, a PNC >100/cm3 was influenced by air masses originating from the Indian Ocean and Indochina regions. Receptor models extracted five potential sources of PNCs: industrial emissions, transportation, aged traffic emissions, miscellaneous sources, and a source of secondary origin coupled with meteorological factors. A respiratory deposition model for male and female receptors predicted that the deposition flux of PM1 (particle mass ≤1 μm) into the alveolar (AL) region was higher (0.30 and 0.25 μg/h, respectively) than the upper airway (UA) (0.29 and 0.24 μg/h, respectively) and tracheobronchial (TB) regions (0.02 μg/h for each). However, the PM2.5 deposition flux was higher in the UA (2.02 and 1.68 μg/h, respectively) than in the TB (0.18 and 0.15 μg/h, respectively) and the AL regions (1.09 and 0.91 μg/h, respectively); a similar pattern was also observed for PM10.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  9. Tan PX, Thiyagarasaiyar K, Tan CY, Jeon YJ, Nadzir MSM, Wu YJ, et al.
    Mar Drugs, 2021 May 30;19(6).
    PMID: 34070821 DOI: 10.3390/md19060317
    Air pollution has recently become a subject of increasing concern in many parts of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that nearly 4.2 million early deaths are due to exposure to fine particles in polluted air, which causes multiple respiratory diseases. Algae, as a natural product, can be an alternative treatment due to potential biofunctional properties and advantages. This systematic review aims to summarize and evaluate the evidence of metabolites derived from algae as potential anti-inflammatory agents against respiratory disorders induced by atmospheric particulate matter (PM). Databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed were systematically searched for relevant published full articles from 2016 to 2020. The main key search terms were limited to "algae", "anti-inflammation", and "air pollutant". The search activity resulted in the retrieval of a total of 36 publications. Nine publications are eligible for inclusion in this systematic review. A total of four brown algae (Ecklonia cava, Ishige okamurae, Sargassum binderi and Sargassum horneri) with phytosterol, polysaccharides and polyphenols were reported in the nine studies. The review sheds light on the pathways of particulate matter travelling into respiratory systems and causing inflammation, and on the mechanisms of actions of algae in inhibiting inflammation. Limitations and future directions are also discussed. More research is needed to investigate the potential of algae as anti-inflammatory agents against PM in in vivo and in vitro experimental models, as well as clinically.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/adverse effects*
  10. Rushdi AI, bin Abas MR, Didyk BM
    Environ Sci Technol, 2003 Jan 1;37(1):16-21.
    PMID: 12542285
    The occurrence of n-alkanoic acids, amides, and nitriles in samples of aerosol particulate matter from Kuala Lumpur and Santiago suggests that emissions from cooking and biomass burning are the primary sources of these organic markers in the atmosphere. It is proposed that fatty acids react with ammonia during biomass burning or combustion to produce amides and nitriles, which can be applied as useful biomarker tracers. To test this hypothesis, nonadecanoic acid and hexadecanamide were used as reactants in hydrous pyrolysis experiments. These experiments produced amides and nitriles and indicated that ammonia is an essential agent in their formation. Thus amides and nitriles are of utility as indicators for input from combustion and biomass burning in the ambient atmosphere.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  11. Li L, An J, Zhou M, Qiao L, Zhu S, Yan R, et al.
    Environ Sci Technol, 2018 Dec 18;52(24):14216-14227.
    PMID: 30288976 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.8b01211
    An integrated source apportionment methodology is developed by amalgamating the receptor-oriented model (ROM) and source-oriented numerical simulations (SOM) together to eliminate the weaknesses of individual SA methods. This approach attempts to apportion and dissect the PM2.5 sources in the Yangtze River Delta region during winter. First, three ROM models (CMB, PMF, ME2) are applied and compared for the preliminary SA results, with information from PM2.5 sampling and lab analysis during the winter seasons. The detailed source category contribution of SOM to PM2.5 is further simulated using the WRF-CAMx model. The two pieces of information from both ROM and SOM are then stitched together to give a comprehensive information on the PM2.5 sources over the region. With the integrated approach, the detailed contributing sources of the ambient PM2.5 at different receptors including rural and urban, coastal and in-land, northern and southern receptors are analyzed. The results are compared with previous data and shows good agreement. This integrative approach is more comprehensive and is able to produce a more profound and detailed understanding between the sources and receptors, compared with single models.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants
  12. Abas MR, Omar NY, Maah MJ
    J Environ Sci (China), 2004;16(5):751-4.
    PMID: 15559805
    PM10 airborne particles and soot deposit collected after a fire incident at a chemical store were analyzed in order to determine the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The samples were extracted with 1:1 hexane-dichloromethane by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis. The total PAHs concentrations in airborne particles and soot deposit were found to be 3.27 +/- 1.55 ng/m3 and 12.81 +/- 24.37 microg/g, respectively. Based on the molecular distributions of PAHs and the interpretation of their diagnostic ratios such as PHEN/(PHEN + ANTH), FLT/(FLT + PYR) and BeP/(BeP + BaP), PAHs in both airborne particles and soot deposit may be inferred to be from the same source. The difference in the value of IP/(IP + BgP) for these samples indicated that benzo[g, h, i] perylene and coronene tend to be attached to finer particles and reside in the air for longer periods. Comparison between the molecular distributions of PAHs and their diagnostic ratios observed in the current study with those reported for urban atmospheric and roadside soil particles revealed that they are of different sources.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  13. Lai SO, Huang J, Hopke PK, Holsen TM
    Sci Total Environ, 2011 Mar 1;409(7):1320-7.
    PMID: 21257194 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.12.032
    In this project, several surrogate surfaces designed to directly measure Hg dry deposition were investigated. Static water surrogate surfaces (SWSS) containing deionized (DI), acidified water, or salt solutions, and a knife-edge surrogate surface (KSS) using quartz fiber filters (QFF), KCl-coated QFF and gold-coated QFF were evaluated as a means to directly measure mercury (Hg) dry deposition. The SWSS was hypothesized to collect deposited elemental mercury (Hg⁰), reactive gaseous/oxidized mercury (RGM), and mercury associated with particulate matter (Hg(p)) while the QFF, KCl-coated QFF, and gold-coated QFF on the KSS were hypothesized to collect Hg(p), RGM+Hg(p), and Hg⁰+RGM+Hg(p), respectively. The Hg flux measured by the DI water was significantly smaller than that captured by the acidified water, probably because Hg⁰ was oxidized to Hg²+ which stabilized the deposited Hg and decreased mass transfer resistance. Acidified BrCl, which efficiently oxidizes Hg⁰, captured significantly more Hg than other solutions. However, of all collection media, gold-coated QFFs captured 6 to 100 times greater Hg mass than the other surfaces, probably because there is no surface resistance for Hg⁰ deposition to gold surfaces. In addition, the Hg⁰ concentration is usually 100-1000 times higher than RGM and Hg(p). For all other media, co-located samples were not significantly different, and the combination of daytime plus nighttime results were comparable to 24-h samples, implying that Hg⁰, RGM and Hg(p) were not released after they deposited nor did the surfaces reach equilibrium with the atmosphere. Based on measured Hg ambient air concentrations and fluxes, dry deposition velocities of RGM and Hg⁰ to DI water and other surfaces were 5.6±5.4 and 0.005-0.68 cm s⁻¹ in this study, respectively. These results suggest surrogate surfaces can be used to measure Hg dry deposition; however, extrapolating the results to natural surface can be challenging.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  14. Far HS, Pin NT, Kong CY, Fong KS, Kian CW, Yan CK
    Int Arch Occup Environ Health, 1993;64(6):439-43.
    PMID: 8458660
    The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of ingestion through hand and mouth contamination in the absorption of lead in 25 lead-acid battery workers. Levels of personal exposure to airborne lead ranged from 0.004 to 2.58 mg/m3 [geometric mean 0.098, with 25% of samples exceeding threshold limit values (ACGIH) of 0.15 mg/m3]; the mean (SD) blood lead level was 48.9 (10.8) micrograms/dl. Mean hand lead contents increased 33-fold from preshift levels on Monday mornings (33.5 micrograms/500 ml) to midshift levels on Thursday afternoons (1121 micrograms/500 ml). Mouth lead contents increased 16-fold from 0.021 micrograms/50 ml on Mondays to 0.345 micrograms/50 ml on Thursdays. The typical Malay racial habit of feeding with bare hands and fingers without utensils (closely associated with mouth and hand lead levels on Mondays) explained the bulk of the variance in blood lead levels (40%), with mouth lead on Thursdays (closely associated with poor personal hygiene) explaining a further 10%. Air lead was not a significant explanatory variable. The implementation of a programme of reinforcing hand-washing and mouth-rinsing practices resulted in a reduction of the blood lead level by 11.5% 6 months later. These results indicate that parenteral intake from hand and mouth contamination is an important cause of lead absorption in lead-exposed workers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants, Occupational/analysis*
  15. Vadrevu KP, Lasko K, Giglio L, Justice C
    Environ Pollut, 2014 Dec;195:245-56.
    PMID: 25087199 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.06.017
    In this study, we assess the intense pollution episode of June 2013, in Riau province, Indonesia from land clearing. We relied on satellite retrievals of aerosols and Carbon monoxide (CO) due to lack of ground measurements. We used both the yearly and daily data for aerosol optical depth (AOD), fine mode fraction (FMF), aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and UV aerosol index (UVAI) for characterizing variations. We found significant enhancement in aerosols and CO during the pollution episode. Compared to mean (2008-2012) June AOD of 0.40, FMF-0.39, AAOD-0.45, UVAI-1.77 and CO of 200 ppbv, June 2013 values reached 0.8, 0.573, 0.672, 1.77 and 978 ppbv respectively. Correlations of fire counts with AAOD and UVAI were stronger compared to AOD and FMF. Results from a trajectory model suggested transport of air masses from Indonesia towards Malaysia, Singapore and southern Thailand. Our results highlight satellite-based mapping and monitoring of pollution episodes in Southeast Asia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis
  16. Razak HA, Wahid NBA, Latif MT
    Arch Environ Contam Toxicol, 2019 Nov;77(4):587-593.
    PMID: 31359072 DOI: 10.1007/s00244-019-00656-3
    Anionic surfactants are one of the pollutants derived from particulate matter (PM) and adversely affect the health of living organisms. In this study, the compositions of surfactants extracted from PM and vehicle soot collected in an urban area were investigated. A high-volume air sampler was used to collect PM sample at urban area based on coarse (> 1.5 µm) and fine (
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  17. Abushammala MF, Basri NE, Elfithri R
    Environ Monit Assess, 2013 Dec;185(12):9967-78.
    PMID: 23797636
    Methane (CH₄) emissions and oxidation were measured at the Air Hitam sanitary landfill in Malaysia and were modeled using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change waste model to estimate the CH₄ generation rate constant, k. The emissions were measured at several locations using a fabricated static flux chamber. A combination of gas concentrations in soil profiles and surface CH₄ and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions at four monitoring locations were used to estimate the CH₄ oxidation capacity. The temporal variations in CH₄ and CO₂ emissions were also investigated in this study. Geospatial means using point kriging and inverse distance weight (IDW), as well as arithmetic and geometric means, were used to estimate total CH₄ emissions. The point kriging, IDW, and arithmetic means were almost identical and were two times higher than the geometric mean. The CH₄ emission geospatial means estimated using the kriging and IDW methods were 30.81 and 30.49 gm(−2) day(−1), respectively. The total CH₄ emissions from the studied area were 53.8 kg day(−1). The mean of the CH₄ oxidation capacity was 27.5 %. The estimated value of k is 0.138 year(−1). Special consideration must be given to the CH₄ oxidation in the wet tropical climate for enhancing CH₄ emission reduction.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  18. Ismail Sulaiman, Khairuddin Mohamad Kontol, Faizal Azrin Abdul Razalim
    MyJurnal
    The indoor and outdoor radon concentrations in Cameron Highlands (Peninsular Malaysia) and Ranau (East Malaysia) were measured. The measurements were carried out using passive method based on CR-39 solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) (for indoor measurements in Cameron Highlands) and active method using continuous radon/thoron progeny monitor (for indoor and outdoor measurements in Ranau and outdoor measurements in Cameron Highlands). The mean indoor radon concentrations in Cameron Highlands and Ranau were 50 Bqm-3 and 1.5 Bqm-3, respectively. The mean indoor radon concentration in Cameron Highlands was slightly higher compare to the world average. The maximum value recorded was 97 Bqm-3 which is almost similar to WHO reference level. The mean outdoor radon concentrations in Cameron Highlands and Ranau were 7.4 Bqm-3and 1.7 Bqm-3, respectively. The outdoor concentrations were low and comparable to world outdoor average.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants, Radioactive
  19. Abdullah MZ, Saat AB, Hamzah ZB
    Environ Monit Assess, 2012 Jun;184(6):3959-69.
    PMID: 21822578 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-011-2236-y
    Biomonitoring of multi-element atmospheric deposition using terrestrial moss is a well-established technique in Europe. Although the technique is widely known, there were very limited records of using this technique to study atmospheric air pollution in Malaysia. In this present study, the deposition of 11 trace metals surrounding the main petroleum refinery plant in Kerteh Terengganu (eastern part of peninsular Malaysia) has been evaluated using two local moss species, namely Hypnum plumaeforme and Taxithelium instratum as bioindicators. The study was also done by means of observing whether these metals are attributed to work related to oil exploration in this area. The moss samples have been collected at 30 sampling stations in the vicinity of the petrochemical industrial area covering up to 15 km to the south, north, and west in radius. The contents of heavy metal in moss samples were analyzed by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique. Distribution of heavy metal content in all mosses is portrayed using Surfer software. Areas of the highest level of contaminations are highlighted. The results obtained using the principal components analysis revealed that the elements can be grouped into three different components that indirectly reflected three different sources namely anthropogenic factor, vegetation factor, and natural sources (soil dust or substrate) factor. Heavy metals deposited mostly in the distance after 9 km onward to the western part (the average direction of wind blow). V, Cr, Cu, and Hg are believed to have originated from local petrochemical-based industries operated around petroleum industrial area.
    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis*
  20. Wong SF, Yap PS, Mak JW, Chan WLE, Khor GL, Ambu S, et al.
    Environ Health, 2020 04 03;19(1):37.
    PMID: 32245482 DOI: 10.1186/s12940-020-00579-w
    BACKGROUND: Malaysia has the highest rate of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the Southeast Asian region, and has ongoing air pollution and periodic haze exposure.

    METHODS: Diabetes data were derived from the Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Surveys conducted in 2006, 2011 and 2015. The air pollution data (NOx, NO2, SO2, O3 and PM10) were obtained from the Department of Environment Malaysia. Using multiple logistic and linear regression models, the association between long-term exposure to these pollutants and prevalence of diabetes among Malaysian adults was evaluated.

    RESULTS: The PM10 concentration decreased from 2006 to 2014, followed by an increase in 2015. Levels of NOx decreased while O3 increased annually. The air pollutant levels based on individual modelled air pollution exposure as measured by the nearest monitoring station were higher than the annual averages of the five pollutants present in the ambient air. The prevalence of overall diabetes increased from 11.4% in 2006 to 21.2% in 2015. The prevalence of known diabetes, underdiagnosed diabetes, overweight and obesity also increased over these years. There were significant positive effect estimates of known diabetes at 1.125 (95% CI, 1.042, 1.213) for PM10, 1.553 (95% CI, 1.328, 1.816) for O3, 1.271 (95% CI, 1.088, 1.486) for SO2, 1.124 (95% CI, 1.048, 1.207) for NO2, and 1.087 (95% CI, 1.024, 1.153) for NOx for NHMS 2006. The adjusted annual average levels of PM10 [1.187 (95% CI, 1.088, 1.294)], O3 [1.701 (95% CI, 1.387, 2.086)], NO2 [1.120 (95% CI, 1.026, 1.222)] and NOx [1.110 (95% CI, 1.028, 1.199)] increased significantly from NHMS 2006 to NHMS 2011 for overall diabetes. This was followed by a significant decreasing trend from NHMS 2011 to 2015 [0.911 for NO2, and 0.910 for NOx].

    CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that long-term exposure to O3 is an important associated factor of underdiagnosed DM risk in Malaysia. PM10, NO2 and NOx may have mixed effect estimates towards the risk of DM, and their roles should be further investigated with other interaction models. Policy and intervention measures should be taken to reduce air pollution in Malaysia.

    Matched MeSH terms: Air Pollutants
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