Urban-associated diseases: Candidate diseases, environmental risk factors, and a path forward

Flies, Emily J.; Mavoa, Suzanne; Zosky, Graeme R.; Mantzioris, Evangeline; Williams, Craig R.; Eri, Rajaraman; Brook, Barry W.; Buettel, Jessie C.

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.105187

Cited by 106 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 154 publications

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“…The negative effects of screentime are related to disturbances such as irritability, cognitive disorders and obesity, to mention just a few [20]. This phenomenon of our modern age-also called digital pollution-is shaking the concept of healthy aging, and several studies have focussed on this area, identifying urban-associated diseases [21][22][23]. In the same way, the interest in studying the role of artificial VIS in skin aging is increasing, and several studies report oxidative stress, damage and mitochondria dysfunction induced by artificial VIS in skin cells [4,8,9].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protective Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Deschampsia antarctica (EDAFENCE®) on Skin Cells against Blue Light Emitted from Digital Devices

Lorrio

Rodríguez-Luna

Delgado-Wicke

et al. 2020

IJMS

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Skin is being increasingly exposed to artificial blue light due to the extensive use of electronic devices. This, together with recent observations reporting that blue light—also known as high-energy visible light—can exert cytotoxic effects associated with oxidative stress and promote hyperpigmentation, has sparked interest in blue light and its potential harmful effects on skin. The photoprotective properties of new extracts of different botanicals with antioxidant activity are therefore being studied. Deschampsia antarctica (Edafence®, EDA), a natural aqueous extract, has shown keratinocyte and fibroblast cell protection effects against ultraviolet radiation and dioxin toxicity. In this regard, we studied the protective capacity of EDA against the deleterious effects of artificial blue light irradiation in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) and melanocytes. We analyzed the impact of EDA on viability, cell morphology, oxidative stress, melanogenic signaling pathway activation and hyperpigmentation in HDF and melanocytes subjected to artificial blue light irradiation. Our results show that EDA protects against cell damage caused by artificial blue light, decreasing oxidative stress, melanogenic signaling pathway activation and hyperpigmentation caused by blue light irradiation. All these findings suggest that EDA might help prevent skin damage produced by artificial blue light exposure from screen of electronic devices.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protective Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Deschampsia antarctica (EDAFENCE®) on Skin Cells against Blue Light Emitted from Digital Devices

Lorrio

Rodríguez-Luna

Delgado-Wicke

et al. 2020

IJMS

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“…The global burden of urban‐associated diseases, such as many auto‐immune and inflammatory diseases (reviewed in Flies et al ), have partly been attributed to a loss of human microbial diversity. This loss is evident in the decrease of diversity in urban versus rural populations (von Hertzen et al ; Lehtimäki et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revegetation of urban green space rewilds soil microbiotas with implications for human health and urban design

Mills

Bissett

Gellie

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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Many noncommunicable diseases are linked to degraded diversity in the human and environmental microbiota and are rising globally in epidemic proportions in industrialized urban populations. Reducing this disease burden may be aided by the ecological restoration of microbiota and their habitat in urban green spaces—a process termed microbiome rewilding. Microbiome rewilding could serve as a mechanism to increase urban exposure to biodiversity; biodiversity could introduce microbiota species or functional diversity to improve immune training and regulation in urban populations. As a first step in examining this hypothesis, we explored the microbial diversity and composition of a variety of urban green space vegetation types relative to urban revegetated woodlands of varying levels of vegetation diversity, including lawns, vacant lots, parklands, and remnant woodlands. We generated amplicon sequence variant community profiles from bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA, fungal ITS1 region, and eukaryotic 18S rRNA marker genes. We also made trophic‐mode predictions of the fungal amplicon sequence variants. Across sites, soil microbiotas in revegetated urban green spaces were similar to remnant woodland microbiotas and differed greatly from lawns and vacant lots. There were several differentially abundant genera likely driving these differences that had strong correlations to plant species richness, soil pH, and conductivity. We provide the first evidence, as far as we know, that revegetation can improve urban soil microbiota diversity toward a more natural, biodiverse state by creating more wild habitat conditions. This evidence supports initiating further studies within the growing field of microbiome rewilding.

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“…This may partly explain the determined frequencies for ABPA in patients <18 years in the studied residential area types. In future, the majority of people will live in urban areas, spending most of their time indoors (Rydin et al, 2012;Leung and Lee, 2016;Flies et al, 2019). Many issues are connected with this progress and the influence of urban environment associated factors will increase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Until now, diagnosis of ABPA in patients with CF remains challenging (Janahi et al, 2017). In future, approximately 70 % of the world´s population will live in urban areas and modern urbanites will spend approximately 90 % of their times indoors (Rydin et al, 2012;Leung and Lee, 2016;Flies et al, 2019). If the patient's environment poses a potential risk to Aspergillus colonization, preventive measures could be identified.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Life as Risk Factor for Aspergillosis

Grehn

Eschenhagen

Temming

et al. 2020

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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Aspergillus fumigatus (Af) frequently colonizes the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and can cause severe diseases, such as allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, Af bronchitis or even Af pneumonia. However, risk factors, including environmental factors, for acquiring Af in the respiratory tract of patients with CF are rarely studied and described. The aim of this study was to investigate whether urban or rural life could affect colonization with Af in the respiratory tract of patients with CF. Due to privacy policy, registry data are usually not linked to patients´home addresses. It is therefore very difficult to analyze the influence of the patient´s residential environment. This prospective questionnaire survey was carried out in 31 German CF centers in 2018. Only completed surveys, including a clearly assigned type of residential area were included. Statistical analysis was performed by chi-squared test and logistic regression models. A total of 1016 questionnaires were analyzed (Patients`age: 23 ± 13; 0-88 years; female gender: n=492; 48%). The majority of patients with CF live in large cities (n =314; 30.9%) or urban districts (n=461; 45.4%). Prevalence of 30.2% was found for Af, within the 12 months of investigation period. Af colonization was significantly associated with urban life (p=0.004). Urban live should be considered as possible new risk factor for colonization with Af in the respiratory tract of patients with CF. These new results may raise the awareness of the influence of environmental factors on patient outcomes and should be included in patient guidance and preventive measures.

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Urban-associated diseases: Candidate diseases, environmental risk factors, and a path forward

Cited by 106 publications

References 154 publications

Protective Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Deschampsia antarctica (EDAFENCE®) on Skin Cells against Blue Light Emitted from Digital Devices

Protective Effect of the Aqueous Extract of Deschampsia antarctica (EDAFENCE®) on Skin Cells against Blue Light Emitted from Digital Devices

Revegetation of urban green space rewilds soil microbiotas with implications for human health and urban design

Urban Life as Risk Factor for Aspergillosis

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