Living in areas of high urban air pollution could trigger a rise in blood pressure. Source pollution can come from motor vehicles, dust, or pollutants from power plants.

The researchers conducted a study with 5000 people on the incidence of heart disease. The analysis was performed by observing the effects of air pollution on the blood pressure between 2000 and 2003.

“Air pollution is not only a trigger for heart attacks and strokes, but also influence the occurrence of the disease process,” said Dr. Barbara Hoffmann, the lead researcher.

High blood pressure is a risk factor ateroklerosis or hardening of the blood vessels that lead to heart disease and stroke. From previous studies have found that increased air pollution, blood pressure is increased, but long-term effect is unknown.

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In an extensive review of six years of emergency department (ED) data, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that many children with severe allergic reactions related to food need a second dose adrenaline, suggesting that patients should have two doses of EpiPen instead of one. Since 1997, the number of school-age children with food allergies has grown by 20 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study, published in the April issue of Pediatrics, is the largest to date to investigate the emergency treatment of food anaphylaxis in children, researchers said.

“Food allergies are an increasingly important issue in pediatrics,” said Susan Helms, MD, Division of Children of Allergy and Immunology and first author of the article. “There is not much data on the epidemiology of food allergies because it is a difficult thing to study.” Constraints imposed on the previous studies included clinical trials insensitive to food allergies – for example, using a skin test or a test blood – and the absence of a universally accepted definition of anaphylaxis.

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