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Environmental concentrations of inhaled particulate matter (PM) can vary rapidly; PM can also affect blood and vagal tone within a matter of minutes. However, little is known about the transient risks to health over such short time frames. Yamazaki et al1 examine the relation between hourly time-lagged concentrations of PM in 13 urban areas of Japan and deaths due to stoke, ascertained from the official records. In case-crossover analysis, the 1-h mean concentration of PM7, measured 2 h before death, was associated with deaths due to intracerebral haemorrhage (odds ratio 2.4 for PM7
200 µg/m3), but not deaths due to ischaemic stroke. An important implication is that air quality standards may need to reflect hourly data as well as daily mean concentrations of PM.
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One important challenge in assessing the health effects of traffic-related air pollution is obtaining a firm measure of personal exposure. In this respect, Geographical Information
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