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Stay in if you're having a bad air day

Studies show diesel smog increases chances of deadly blood clots.

Study after study has shown a connection between smoggy days and an increase in deaths. Now two experiments, one on mice and the other in men, clarify why. Diesel fumes, they find, encourage blood clots that can bring on heart attacks and strokes.

Read the story here.

Posted by Nicola Jones on September 20, 2007 10:00 PM |

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Comment from one of the interviewees:

The author of this news item wrote a good piece. In his journalist's wisdom/freedom, and by necessity, he chose to quote only a few points from a 30 min long interview. In that conversation, I evoked the translocation of ultrafine particles into the blood as one possibility to explain the systemic effects of particulates, but I also said that the jury is still out on this issue and that translocation is certainly not the sole mechanism. So far, our own experimental work and that of others (including that of Ghökhan Mutlu et al.) indicate that pulmonary inflammation is probably the most important mechanism to explain how inhaled particulates affect the blood and other organs.
Ben Nemery

Posted by: Ben Nemery | September 24, 2007 04:36 PM

I was interested to hear that soot might enter the bloodstream and affect the heart. I have very occasional exercise related tachycardia. Last time it was a hot bad air day (I live near Paris where there is a lot of diesel pollution). Could the carbon in the soot affect electrical pathways in the heart?

Posted by: Neil Mcnaughton | September 24, 2007 11:41 PM

Hi,
Air pollution is obviously not healthy however its assessment on mortality rate is difficult. What pollutants, where, climate factors. What’s worrying is the Chinese toys perpetrating low-level lead poising in children, this has course for concern.
Regards Dr. Terence Hale

Posted by: Terence Hale | September 25, 2007 09:47 AM

nice super site I was interested to hear that soot might enter the bloodstream and affect the heart. I have very occasional exercise related tachycardia. Last time it was a hot bad air day (I live near Paris where there is a lot of diesel pollution). Could the carbon in the soot affect electrical pathways in the heart?

Posted by: yarismalar | January 8, 2008 08:09 AM

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