Protecting Child Health From Air Pollution in India

Exposure to criteria pollutants such as fine particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) results in various health issues, encompassing morbidity and mortality related to cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and many other ailments [1,2]. Children under five years of age (U5) are among the most vulnerable groups being impacted by exposure to air pollution due to their developing bodies and immature immune systems [3,4]. In India, the longstanding challenge of poor air quality has had alarming impacts on the health of children [3,5,6]. Despite the implementation of multiple policies intended to mitigate air pollutant emissions, the country grapples with persistently high levels of air pollution. Over the past two decades, i.e., between 2000 and 2018, the population-weighted exposure to ambient PM2.5 in India has risen significantly, after which it seems to show a sign of stabilization [7]. This pattern sharply contrasts with the global pattern of improving air quality [8]. Concurrently, NO2 exposure within India surged by 17% during this timeframe, in contrast to the 10% global decrease. These decreasing global trends are largely attributed to successful policy implementations in the global West and East Asia, contributing to improvements in global air qualitypublishedVersio

Tensile strain induced brightening of momentum forbidden dark exciton in WS2_2

Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) host tightly bound quasi-particles called excitons. Based on spin and momentum selection rules, these excitons can be either optically bright or dark. In tungsten-based TMDs, momentum-forbidden dark exciton is the energy ground state and therefore it strongly affect the emission properties. In this work, we brighten the momentum forbidden dark exciton by placing WS$_2$ on top of nanotextured substrates which put the WS$_2$ layer under tensile strain, modifying electronic bandstructure. This enables phonon assisted scattering of exciton between momentum valleys, thereby brightening momentum forbidden dark excitons. Our results will pave the way to design ultrasensitive strain sensing devices based on TMDs

Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF): The ‘Kyoto Consensus’-Steps From Asia

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a condition associated with high mortality in the absence of liver transplantation. There have been various definitions proposed worldwide. The first consensus report of the working party of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) set in 2004 on ACLF was published in 2009, and the APASL ACLF Research Consortium (AARC) was formed in 2012. The AARC database has prospectively collected nearly 10,500 cases of ACLF from various countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This database has been instrumental in developing the AARC score and grade of ACLF, the concept of the \u27Golden Therapeutic Window\u27, the \u27transplant window\u27, and plasmapheresis as a treatment modality. Also, the data has been key to identifying pediatric ACLF. The European Association for the Study of Liver-Chronic Liver Failure (EASL CLIF) and the North American Association for the Study of the End Stage Liver Disease (NACSELD) from the West added the concepts of organ failure and infection as precipitants for the development of ACLF and CLIF-Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and NACSELD scores for prognostication. The Chinese Group on the Study of Severe Hepatitis B (COSSH) added COSSH-ACLF criteria to manage hepatitis b virus-ACLF with and without cirrhosis. The literature supports these definitions to be equally effective in their respective cohorts in identifying patients with high mortality. To overcome the differences and to develop a global consensus, APASL took the initiative and invited the global stakeholders, including opinion leaders from Asia, EASL and AASLD, and other researchers in the field of ACLF to identify the key issues and develop an evidence-based consensus document. The consensus document was presented in a hybrid format at the APASL annual meeting in Kyoto in March 2024. The \u27Kyoto APASL Consensus\u27 presented below carries the final recommendations along with the relevant background information and areas requiring future studies

Early Life Exposure to Pollution: Eect of Seasonal Open Biomass Burning on Child Health in India

This paper examines effect of outdoor air pollution on child health in India by combining satellite PM2.5 data with geo-coded Demographic and Health Survey of India(2016). Pollution levels vary due to seasonal open biomass burning events (like crop-burning and forest res) which are a common occurrence. Our identification strategy relies on spatial and temporal differences in these biomass burning events to identify the effect air pollution on child health. Our results indicate that children ex- posed to higher levels of PM2.5 during their first trimester and during the post-natal period of first three months after birth have lower Height-for-age and Weight-for-age; the effect is not limited to just rural areas, but prominent for Northern states of India which have higher incidence of such events

Early Life Exposure to Pollution: Eect of Seasonal Open Biomass Burning on Child Health in India

This paper examines effect of outdoor air pollution on child health in India by combining satellite PM2.5 data with geo-coded Demographic and Health Survey of India(2016). Pollution levels vary due to seasonal open biomass burning events (like crop-burning and forest res) which are a common occurrence. Our identification strategy relies on spatial and temporal differences in these biomass burning events to identify the effect air pollution on child health. Our results indicate that children ex- posed to higher levels of PM2.5 during their first trimester and during the post-natal period of first three months after birth have lower Height-for-age and Weight-for-age; the effect is not limited to just rural areas, but prominent for Northern states of India which have higher incidence of such events