With growing population and urbanization, there is an increasing exploitation of natural resources, and this often results to environmental pollution. In this review, the levels of heavy metal in lentic compartments (water, sediment, fishes, and aquatic plants) over the past two decades (1997-2017) have been summarized to evaluate the current pollution status of this ecosystem. In all the compartments, the heavy metals dominated are zinc followed by iron. The major reason could be area mineralogy and lithogenic sources. Enormous quantity of metals like iron in estuarine sediment is a very natural incident due to the permanently reducing condition of organic substances. Contamination of cadmium, lead, and chromium was closely associated with anthropogenic origin. In addition, surrounding land use and atmospheric deposition could have been responsible for substantial pollution. The accumulation of heavy metals in fishes and aquatic plants is the result of time-dependent deposition in lentic ecosystems. Moreover, various potential risk assessment methods for heavy metals were discussed. This review concludes that natural phenomena dominate the accumulation of essential heavy metals in lentic ecosystems compared to anthropogenic sources. Amongst other recent reviews on heavy metals from other parts of the world, the present review is executed in such a way that it explains the presence of heavy metals not only in water environment, but also in the whole of the lentic system comprising sediment, fishes, and aquatic plants.
We investigate the role of military expenditure on emission in USA during the period 1960-2015. To achieve the objectives of this study, two measures of military expenditure are utilised, while several timeseries models are constructed with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, population, energy consumption per capita, non-renewable energy consumption per capita, renewable energy consumption per capita, urbanisation, trade openness and financial development serving as additional determinants of air pollution. We also use ecological indicator as an alternative measure of pollution. Moreover, different timeseries methods are utilised including a likelihood-based approach with two structural breaks. The output of this research concluded that all the variables are cointegrated. It is found that military expenditure has mixed impact on CO2 emissions. Real GDP per capita, energy consumption per capita, non-renewable energy consumption per capita, population and urbanisation increase CO2 emissions per capita in the long-run, while renewable energy consumption, financial development and trade openness reduce it. There is also evidence for the mixed role of military expenditure, when ecological footprint is utilised as the environmental degradation index. From the output of this research, few policy recommendations are offered for the examined country.
The effect of metals on environmental health is well documented and monitoring these and other pollutants is considered an important part of environmental management. Developing countries are yet to fully appreciate the direct impacts of pollution on aquatic ecosystems and as such, information on pollution dynamics is scant. Here, we assessed the temporal and spatial dynamics of stream sediment metal and nutrient concentrations using contaminant indices (e.g. enrichment factors, pollution load and toxic risk indices) in an arid temperate environment over the wet and dry seasons. The mean sediment nutrient, organic matter and metal concentration were highest during the dry season, with high values being observed for the urban environment. Sediment contaminant assessment scores indicated that during the wet season, the sediment quality was acceptable, but not so during the dry season. The dry season had low to moderate levels of enrichment for metals B, Cu, Cr, Fe, Mg, K and Zn. Overall, applying the sediment pollution load index highlighted poor quality river sediment along the length of the river. Toxic risk index indicated that most sites posed no toxic risk. The results of this study highlighted that river discharge plays a major role in structuring temporal differences in sediment quality. It was also evident that infrastructure degradation was likely contributing to the observed state of the river quality. The study contributes to our understanding of pollution dynamics in arid temperate landscapes where vast temporal differences in base flow characterise the riverscape. Such information is further useful for contrasting sediment pollution dynamics in aquatic environments with other climatic regions.
The present paper aims to assess the phytoremediation performance based on pollution removal efficiency of the highly polluted region of Alur Ilmu urban river for its applicability of on-site treatment. Thirteen stations along Alur Ilmu were selected to produce thematic maps through spatial distribution analysis based on six water quality parameters of Malaysia's Water Quality Index (WQI) for dry and raining seasons. The maps generated were used to identify the highly polluted region for phytoremediation applicability assessment. Four free-floating plants were tested in treating water samples from the highly polluted region under three different conditions, namely controlled, aerated and normal treatments. The selected free-floating plants were water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), rose water lettuce (Pistia sp.) and pennywort (Centella asiatica). The results showed that Alur Ilmu was more polluted during dry season compared to raining season based on the water quality analysis. During dry season, four parameters were marked as polluted along Alur Ilmu, namely dissolve oxygen (DO), 4.72 mg/L (class III); ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), 0.85 mg/L (class IV); total suspended solid (TSS), 402 mg/L (class V) and biological oxygen demand (BOD), 3.89 mg/L (class III), whereas, two parameters were classed as polluted during raining season, namely total suspended solid (TSS), 571 mg/L (class V) and biological oxygen demand (BOD), 4.01 mg/L (class III). The thematic maps generated from spatial distribution analysis using Kriging gridding method showed that the highly polluted region was recorded at station AL 5. Hence, water samples were taken from this station for pollution removal analysis. All the free-floating plants were able to reduce TSS and COD in less than 14 days. However, water hyacinth showed the least detrimental effect from the phytoremediation process compared to other free-floating plants, thus made it a suitable free-floating plants to be used for on-site treatment.
The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of financial development on CO2 emission in 129 countries classified by the income level. A panel CO2 emission model using urbanisation, GDP growth, trade openness, petroleum consumption and financial development variables that are major determinants of CO2 emission was constructed for the 1980-2011 period. The results revealed that the variables are cointegrated based on the Pedroni cointegration test. The dynamic ordinary least squares (OLS) and the Granger causality test results also show that financial development can improve environmental quality in the short run and long run due to its negative effect on CO2 emission. The rest of the determinants, especially petroleum consumption, are determined to be the major source of environmental damage in most of the income group countries. Based on the results obtained, the investigated countries should provide banking loans to projects and investments that can promote energy savings, energy efficiency and renewable energy to help these countries reduce environmental damage in both the short and long run.
This study investigates the influence of Internet retailing on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission in 77 countries categorized into developed and developing countries during the period of 2000-2013. To realize the aims of the study, a model that represents pollution is established utilizing the panel two-stage least square (TSLS) and the generalized method of moments (GMM). The results for both regressions similarly indicated that GDP growth, electricity consumption, urbanization, and trade openness are the main factors that increase CO2 emission in the investigated countries. Although the results show that Internet retailing reduces CO2 emission in general, a disaggregation occurs between developed and developing countries whereby Internet retailing has a significant negative effect on CO2 emission in the developed countries while it has no significant impact on CO2 emission in the developing countries. From the outcome of this study, a number of policy implications are provided for the investigated countries.
"The present paper attempts to provide an analytical profile of development and human resources in [12] selected [Islamic] countries." The countries--Bangladesh, Somalia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates--vary in income levels from low to high and in population size from 1 million to 159 million. Using data from the World Bank and the Population Council, comparisons are made on the basis of mortality and fertility levels, family size, income, urbanization, labor force size and growth, education, nutrition, and health. Governmental policy changes and future directions are discussed.
The objective of the study is to establish the link between air pollution, fossil fuel energy consumption, industrialization, alternative and nuclear energy, combustible renewable and wastes, urbanization, and resulting impact on health services in Malaysia. The study employed two-stage least square regression technique on the time series data from 1975 to 2012 to possibly minimize the problem of endogeniety in the health services model. The results in general show that air pollution and environmental indicators act as a strong contributor to influence Malaysian health services. Urbanization and nuclear energy consumption both significantly increases the life expectancy in Malaysia, while fertility rate decreases along with the increasing urbanization in a country. Fossil fuel energy consumption and industrialization both have an indirect relationship with the infant mortality rate, whereas, carbon dioxide emissions have a direct relationship with the sanitation facility in a country. The results conclude that balancing the air pollution, environment, and health services needs strong policy vistas on the end of the government officials.
In recent decades major declines in urban house sparrow (Passer domesticus) populations have been observed in north-western European cities, whereas suburban and rural house sparrow populations have remained relatively stable or are recovering from previous declines. Differential exposure to avian pathogens known to cause epidemics in house sparrows may in part explain this spatial pattern of declines. Here we investigate the potential effect of urbanization on the development of a bacterial pathogen reservoir in free-ranging house sparrows. This was achieved by comparing the prevalence of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serotype Typhimurium in 364 apparently healthy house sparrows captured in urban, suburban and rural regions across Flanders, Belgium between September 2013 and March 2014. In addition 12 dead birds, received from bird rescue centers, were necropsied. The apparent absence of Salmonella Typhimurium in fecal samples of healthy birds, and the identification of only one house sparrow seropositive for Salmonella spp., suggests that during the winter of 2013-2014 these birds did not represent any considerable Salmonella Typhimurium reservoir in Belgium and thus may be considered naïve hosts, susceptible to clinical infection. This susceptibility is demonstrated by the isolation of two different Salmonella Typhimurium strains from two of the deceased house sparrows: one DT99, typically associated with disease in pigeons, and one DT195, previously associated with a passerine decline. The apparent absence (prevalence: <1.3%) of a reservoir in healthy house sparrows and the association of infection with clinical disease suggests that the impact of Salmonella Typhimurium on house sparrows is largely driven by the risk of exogenous exposure to pathogenic Salmonella Typhimurium strains. However, no inference could be made on a causal relationship between Salmonella infection and the observed house sparrow population declines.
Multiethnic Malaysia provides a unique case study of divergence in population aging of different sociocultural subgroups within a country. Malaysia represents 3 major ethnicities in Asia-the Malay, Chinese, and Indian. The 3 ethnic groups are at different stages of population aging, as they have undergone demographic transition at different pace amidst rapid social and economic changes. Between 1991 and 2010, the Malaysian population aged 60 and over has more than doubled from about 1 million to 2.2 million, and this is projected to rise to about 7 million or 17.6% of the projected population of 40 million by 2040. In 2010, the aging index ranged from 22.8% among the Bumiputera (Malays and other indigenous groups), to 31.4% among the Indians and 55.0% among the Chinese. Population aging provides great challenges for Malaysia's social and economic development. The increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases in older adults, coupled with the erosion of the traditional family support system has increased demands on health care services with an overwhelming need for multidisciplinary and specialized geriatric care. Following the adoption of the National Policy for the Elderly in 1995, issues of population aging have gained increasing attention, especially among researchers. There is an urgent need to increase public awareness, develop infrastructure, as well as support action oriented research that will directly translate to comprehensive and cohesive social strategies, policies, and legislation to protect not just the current older Malaysians but the future of all Malaysians.
Introduction: In Klang, a district in the state of Selangor in Peninsular Malaysia, the effects of westernization and urbanization in recent years have had an impact on infant feeding. The objective of this study was to evaluate the practice, knowledge and attitude to breastfeeding and to assess factors associated with breastfeeding among women in Klang, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between June and October 2006 involving 220 women with infants aged six months from two randomly selected health clinics were selected and interviewed. Data on socio-demographic, infant factors, infant feeding in the first six months of life, knowledge and attitude towards breastfeeding were collected. Results: Exclusive breastfeeding was reported by 32.8%, mixed feeding was reported by 14.5% and infant formula feeding was reported by 52.7% of the respondents. Chinese women were more likely not to practice exclusive breastfeeding compared to Malay women (odds ratio 18.27, 95% CI: 3.95, 84.54) while working women were more likely not to practice exclusive breastfeeding compared to non working women (odds ratio 3.75, 95% CI: 1.64 , 8.55). Positive association with not exclusive breastfeeding included women with high household income and women with male infants. Malaysian women had a positive attitude but work place and short maternity leave had a negative impact on breastfeeding. Conclusion: Women of Chinese ethnicity, working, from high family income and with male infants were less likely to exclusively breastfeed. Adopting facilitatory measures at hospitals and work place could increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding.
A survey was conducted to document the blood pressures of two indigenous groups (Kadazans and Bajaus) who reside in rural Sabah in East Malaysia. Their health knowledge status is also recorded. Fifty percent of those surveyed were unable to associate high blood pressure with a risk factor and as high as 38% were unaware of the consequences of high blood pressure. A total of 16.2% had blood pressures > or = 140/or 90mm Hg while 3.9% had blood pressures > or = 160/or 95mm Hg. While these figures are low compared to those of developed countries, lifestyle changes associated with rapid urbanization in Malaysia may be expected to increase hypertension prevalence. The strengthening of health education programs is timely as health knowledge is limited and many hypertensives default treatment.
The application of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) increased gradually because of the rise in global food demand that triggered the agriculture sector to increase the production, leading to OPP residues in the surface water. This study elucidated the presence of OPPs and estimated its ecological risk in the riverine ecosystem of the urbanised Linggi River, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The OPP concentration in surface water was determined using solid-phase extraction method and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection. Further, the ecological risk was estimated by using the risk quotient (RQ) method. The three OPPs, i.e. chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and quinalphos were detected with mean concentrations of 0.0275 µg/L, 0.0328 µg/L, and 0.0362 µg/L, respectively. The OPPs were at high risk (in general and worst cases) under acute exposure. The estimated risk of diazinon was observed as medium for general (RQm = 0.5857) and high for worst cases (RQex = 4.4678). Notably, the estimated risk for chlorpyrifos was high for both general and worst cases (RQm = 1.9643 and RQex = 11.5643) towards the aquatic ecosystem of the Linggi River. Chronic risk of quinalphos remains unknown because of the absence of toxicity endpoints. This study presented clear knowledge regarding OPP contamination and possible risk for aquatic ecosystems. Hence, OPPs should be listed as one of the main priority contaminants in pesticide mitigation management in the future.
Type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising rapidly in Southeast Asia (SEA) where urbanization and adoption of 'western' behavioral lifestyles are attributed as predominant risk factors. The Southeast Asian diaspora to the United States has resulted in a sizable portion of migrant and US born SEAs, with approximately 4 million Filipino Americans, 2 million Vietnamese-Americans, Cambodians (330,000), and Thai (300,000) as the most populous. Their longer exposure to a western lifestyle and participation in clinical studies with other racial/ethnic groups, provide opportunities to evaluate etiologic factors which might inform trends and intervention opportunities among residents of Southeast Asia. Epidemiologic studies in the US have identified higher T2D prevalence among Filipinos (16.1%) compared to groups perceived to be at highest risk for T2D, namely Latinos (14.0%), Black (13.7%), and Native Americans (13.4%), while SEAs (including Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, and Thai, 10.5%) and Vietnamese (9.9%) had higher T2D risk compared to Whites (7.7%), despite their absence of general obesity. Asian-Americans, including SEAs, East and South Asians, collectively have higher rates of undiagnosed T2D compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the US. Almost half (44%) of Filipinos with newly diagnosed T2D have isolated post-challenge hyperglycemia and will remain undiagnosed if current screening practices remain limited to measures of glycosylated hemoglobin and fasting plasma glucose. The University of California San Diego Filipino Health Study found excess visceral adipose tissue accumulation, low ratio of muscle to total abdominal mass area, low adiponectin concentration, multiparity (≥ 6 live births), and sleep insufficiency (<7 hours) to be unique T2D risk factors among Filipino-American women, even after adjusting for established T2D risk factors including hypertension and parental history of T2D. Social determinants such as low educational attainment (less than college completion), and sustained social disadvantage during childhood and adulthood were independently associated with T2D risk. Gestational diabetes is a known risk factor for future T2DM among women; Northern California data shows that following Asian Indians, gestational diabetes was highest among Filipina and SEA parturients, who had twice the GDM prevalence as Black, Hispanic, and White women. Identification of novel T2D risk factors among SEAs may guide early diagnosis, inform pathophysiology, and identify unique opportunities for T2D prevention and management.
Rapid urbanisation in Malaysian cities poses risks to the health of residents. This study aims to estimate the relative risk (RR) of major air pollutants on cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalisations in Kuala Lumpur. Daily hospitalisations due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases from 2010 to 2014 were obtained from the Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz (HCTM). The trace gases, PM10 and weather variables were obtained from the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia in consistent with the hospitalisation data. The RR was estimated using a Generalised Additive Model (GAM) based on Poisson regression. A "lag" concept was used where the analysis was segregated into risks of immediate exposure (lag 0) until exposure after 5 days (lag 5). The results showed that the gases could pose significant risks towards cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalisations. However, the RR value of PM10 was not significant in this study. Immediate effects on cardiovascular hospitalisations were observed for NO2 and O3 but no immediate effect was found on respiratory hospitalisations. Delayed effects on cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalisations were found with SO2 and NO2. The highest RR value was observed at lag 4 for respiratory admissions with SO2 (RR = 1.123, 95% CI = 1.045-1.207), followed by NO2 at lag 5 for cardiovascular admissions (RR = 1.025, 95% CI = 1.005-1.046). For the multi-pollutant model, NO2 at lag 5 showed the highest risks towards cardiovascular hospitalisations after controlling for O3 8 h mean lag 1 (RR = 1.026, 95% CI = 1.006-1.047), while SO2 at lag 4 showed highest risks towards respiratory hospitalisations after controlling for NO2 lag 3 (RR = 1.132, 95% CI = 1.053-1.216). This study indicated that exposure to trace gases in Kuala Lumpur could lead to both immediate and delayed effects on cardiovascular and respiratory hospitalisations.