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Background: There is mounting evidence that diabetic-related cardiac metabolism abnormalities with oxidative stress and inflammatory mechanism activation align with the functional impairments that result in atherosclerotic lesion formation. Among the possible non-traditional coronary lesion risk factors, environmental exposure may be significant, especially in diabetic patients. Methods: A total of 140 diabetic patients (115 (82%) males and 25 (18%) females) with a mean age of 65 (60–71) underwent surgical revascularization due to multivessel coronary disease. The possible all-cause mortality risk factors, including demographical and clinical factors followed by chronic air pollution exposure, were identified. Results: All patients were operated on using the off-pump technique and followed for 5.6 (5–6.1) years. The multivariable model for 5-year mortality prediction presented the nitrogen dioxide chronic exposure (HR: 3.99, 95% CI: 1.16–13.71, p = 0.028) and completeness of revascularization (HR: 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04–0.86, p = 0.031) as significant all-cause mortality risk factors. Conclusions: Ambient air pollutants such as an excessive chronic nitrogen dioxide concentration (>15 µg/m3) may increase 5-year all-cause mortality in diabetic patients following surgical revascularization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The progression of global warming results in an increased exposure to extreme heat, leading to exaggeration of preexisting diseases and premature deaths. The aim of the study was to present possible risk factors for all-cause long-term mortality in patients who underwent surgical revascularization, including an assessment of the influence of ambient temperature exposure. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis included 153 (123 (80%) males and 30 (20%) females) patients who underwent off-pump revascularization and were followed for a median time of 2533 (1035–3250) days. The demographical, clinical data and ambient temperature exposure were taken into analysis for prediction of all-cause mortality. Individual exposure was calculated based on the place of habitation. Results: In the multivariate logistic regression model with backward stepwise elimination method, risk factors such as dyslipidaemia (p = 0.001), kidney disease (p = 0.005), age (p = 0.006), and body mass index (p = 0.007) were found to be significant for late mortality prediction. In addition to traditional factors, environmental characteristics, including tropical nights (p = 0.043), were revealed to be significant. Conclusions: High night-time ambient temperatures known as tropical nights may be regarded as additional long-term mortality risk factor after surgical revascularization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic packaging waste (PPW) can be considered as solid waste with harmful effects on the environment or as a material with recycling potential in terms of sustainable development in a circular economy. Knowing the amount of PPW generated is very important as it is related to the availability of this material for recycling and determines the actual recycling rate (denominator of a fraction). PPW is very heterogeneous and contains a certain number of impurities (e.g., product residues, direct printing, glue, labels, plastic sleeves, cap, etc.). According to EU law, an annual report (for the data in 2021) on the masses of both the PPW actually recycled (PPWR) ("targeted materials") and impurities ("non-targeted materials") must be prepared and submitted to the European Commission. The PPWR is used for the calculation of the recycling rate (the numerator in a fraction). The impurities should be considered for the calculation of own resources (national contributions to the general EU budget based on the uniform call rate of 0.80/kg of non-recycled PPW). To date, the Council of the EU has not proposed a method for calculating these amounts, so they have only been estimated. The present study (the first of its kind in Poland) aimed to estimate the number of impurities in PPW and the actual amount of PPWR at the calculation point using a method accepted by the EU. In the installations, PPW (plastic packaging (15 01 02), multi-material packaging (15 01 05) and mixed packaging waste (15 01 06)) is recycled together with other plastic waste (plastic (16 01 19), plastic (17 02 03), plastic and rubber (19 12 04), and plastics (20 01 39)). It was assumed that the proportions of the mass of individual types of PPW in the total mass of plastic waste processed in the installation were proportional to the mass of impurities in these individual types of PPW. It was found that the average percentage of impurities in PPW was 4.40–6.90%, which seems to be relatively low. However, this means that, when calculating the PPWR, the mass of impurities should be subtracted from the mass of PPW entering the recycling process. As a result, the mass of PPWR at the calculation point in 2021 in Poland was almost 30,000 tonnes lower than the original mass entering the installation. Thus, applying the uniform call rate to the weight of impurities in the PPW increases Poland's own resources by approx. 24 million euros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the definition of bioindustry, in particular biorefinery. The technology for obtaining synthetic fuel EtG (Ethanol to Gasoline) in a plant using bioethanol from food waste was presented. The physicochemical properties of EtG fuel were presented. EtG fuel stands out due to its limited content of benzene and sulfur and a low content of mechanical impurities and heavy metals. EtG fuel can be considered a replacement fuel for motor gasoline. The results of exhaust emissions tests from vehicles with spark-ignition engines in the WLTC test on a hot and cold engine were presented. It was found that EtG fuel is characterized by lower specific distance emissions of CO, NOx, and CH4 and slightly higher specific distance emissions of NMHC when starting a cold engine compared to gasoline, while the specific distance emission of CO2 for both fuels were very similar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries are obliged by international regulations to conduct annual pollutant emissions inventories. Road transport is one of the sectors for which an inventory of pollutant emissions is carried out. Determining pollutant emissions from road transport is possible only by modeling these emissions – that is why unified emission models are used. In this work, the COPERT and HBEFA INFRAS software are used to determine pollutant emissions characteristics for various vehicle traffic models. The article presents the principles of modeling pollutant emissions from road vehicles. The rules for qualifying road vehicles into elementary and cumulative categories have been systematized. Models of road vehicle traffic and ways of taking them into account in modeling pollutant emissions are presented. The following emissions of pollutants harmful to the health and life of living organisms are considered: carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and total suspended particles. The trends of the national annual emissions of the tested pollutants for the years 2000–2020 and the results of simulation tests of pollutant emissions models are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Global warming is claimed to be an important cardiovascular disease risk factor. The air pollution and ambient temperatures are believed to have a significant influence on increased morbidity and premature deaths., Aim: To point out possible causative factors for coronary angiography progression in patients presenting with chronic coronary syndrome., Material and Methods: There were 66 patients (41 [62%] men and 25 [38%] women) with a median age of 71.5 (62-76) years, who underwent repeated coronary angiographies due to chronic coronary syndrome within a median time interval of 145 (96-296) days. In 18 (27%) patients coronary artery lesion progression was observed despite optimal pharmacotherapy. The demographical, clinical, and personalised epidemiological factors including air pollution particles and ambient temperature exposure were taken into account in the analysis., Results: In the multivariate logistic regression model with backward stepwise elimination method, tropical nights ( p = 0.047) and mean daily temperatures ( p = 0.043) were revealed as predictors of coronary lesion progression > 30%. The analysis of seasonal temperature changes showed significant differences related to minimal winter temperatures between both groups ( p = 0.018)., Conclusions: Coronary artery lesion progression can be related to either high values of daily temperatures or to low ambient temperature. The dichotomous characteristics of temperature exposure to atherosclerosis progression suggest a detrimental role of environmental extremities on human health., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Termedia Sp. z o. o.)