Threat from ultra-fine dust

Ultra-fine dust not only causes climate instability but also affects people's psychology, causing anxiety, according to the latest research published.

Effect of ultra-fine dust in the air to the environment

Causing climate instability, increasing rainfall

According to Figaro, a new study published in the PNAS journal of the American Academy of Sciences said that ultra-fine dust pollution in Asia not only contributes to the effects of global warming but also increases the amount rain.

Images of rainy days in a city across the ocean.(Photo: Figaro.)

Particularly China and neighboring countries are now emitting, every year, about 18 million tons of superfine grains . Recent studies show that human activities are creating more and more microscopic particles. And it is these works that identify ultrafine dust particles that not only seriously affect human health but also a factor that strongly affects the environment in general.

Specifically, according to the researchers, there are one-fourth of the 18 million tons of ultra-fine dust that crosses the Pacific to the United States . Ultra-small dust particles combined with water vapor and gas from the ocean and from the desert have contributed to the Pacific clouds having a larger volume and thus causing heavier rains.

The mechanism of action of ' rain' of dust is still being studied. And the impact of ultrafine dust on the natural environment and climate is a leading phenomenon that needs to be decoded soon to make it clearer to provide a more effective way of coping.

Super small dust causes anxiety

This information must be surprising to anyone who has never heard of it, but it is also reliable because it is the result of an elaborate study on a large scale and has just been published in British science journal BMJ (British Medical Journal). , March 24, 2015).

Nowadays, people only know that modern cities face a fearsome enemy, super-fine dust or ultra-fine, mainly produced by vehicles or production activities. That is, this dust causes eye irritation, runny nose, throat discomfort. Or, it may be more widely known that the effects of this micro dust on the respiratory or cardiovascular system of humans.

Recently, however, researchers have found that ultra-fine dust can also cause psychological disorders . That is, ultra-small dust capacity, once penetrated into the circulatory system, through the respiratory pathway, can cause brain cell inflammation.

Further, scientists conducted for the first time a large-scale survey that clarified the link between air pollution and anxiety of people at a certain time in that dusty environment. . Thus, this phenomenon follows a completely biochemical mechanism!

The author is the research group at two famous universities in the United States, Johns-Hopkins (Baltimore, Maryland) and Harvard (Cambridge, Massachussetts). The researchers used survey data with a large audience of more than 70,000 American nurses over a long period of time since 1976.

At the same time, use a questionnaire with specific sentences such as: "Do you have an anxious mood without knowing the cause?" or "Are you reluctant to go out alone?" Or " blurred by a disease with no cure?" Or " are you worried when your relatives are late?" .

The researchers also identified the whereabouts of the survey participants. At those addresses, they collected data on the number of microscopic dust particles PM10 and PM2.5 , about weather conditions to assess the level of dust contamination for each individual.

Finally, they collated the data tables obtained and drew the correlation between the numbers recorded in the mood with figures on the degree of super dust contamination. Collected data showed that the level of anxiety among nurses participating in the study was proportional to the degree of micro-dust exposure with PM2.5 size, about a month before answering the questionnaire. ask. In contrast, the degree of dust contamination during 3 months, 6 months or 12 months before answering, has no effect on the level of anxiety. The effect of such dust exposure is clearly short-term. Another remarkable thing is that there is no significant sign that the PM10 dust type affects the mood (anxiety).

Clearly, the above conclusions are real and scientific. However, the researchers are still very cautious with this result, and called for more studies to better define the relationship between PM2.5 micro dust and the human mood.

It should also be added that, according to some articles in the BMJ magazine, the level of road pollution and the content of micro dust is directly proportional to the level of hospitalization due to stroke . On the other hand, 108 studies in 28 countries conducted by Scottish scientists show that air in poor and middle-income countries is more polluted in developed countries.

No matter how much further research will yield new and accurate results, the multi-faceted harm of the environment to the dust in the air is obvious. Therefore, preventing the production and increasing dust content; Notably, ultra-fine dust, should be done and must be positive for all humanity on this earth. It is the responsibility of every nation, every field of activity . and the duty of every human being.

The concept of 'superfine'

People divide dust in the air into different types according to the size or diameter of each type of dust: ordinary dust is 'coarse dust' , big dust, then ' fine dust ' and ' super fine dust ' .

Specifically, the dust with a diameter of each particle is 10μm, denoted as PM10 dust which is considered as fine or very fine dust . The type of dust with the diameter of each particle is 2.5 μm and PM2.5 symbol, or, in general, the size in micrometer (μm) is considered super fine dust.

The atmosphere tens of meters thick from the ground filled with super-fine dust will create a gloomy image like light drizzles dripping the sky. The following two pictures are considered typical examples, one in Vietnam (Photo 1) and one in the West (Photo 2).

Photo 1

Photo 2