Researchers from London’s Queen Mary University studied how participants were affected by pollution based on where they live. In the journal Circulation on Friday, the scientists revealed that air pollution can harm the heart to the point where it resembles (类似) the early stages of heart failure.

According to Emory Healthcare, deaths have decreased around 12 percent per decade on average over the past 50 years, but 287,000 people die frorn heart failure each year. There are more hospitalizations from heart failure each year than all cancers combined.

In this study, the scientists examined information from 4,000 participants that were in the UK Biobank study. Volunteers had blood tests, health scans and heart MRIs, which measured the function, size and weight of their hearts. They also recorded their lifestyle, health record and where they’ve lived.

The team found participants had larger right and left ventricles (心室) in the heart when they lived closer to busy roads and were exposed to nitrogen dioxide(NOz), which enters the air when fuel is burned. The right and left ventricles are crucial for pumping blood. They were healthy but resembled the ventricles in early-stage heart failure. The scientists found that the higher the exposure to the pollutants, the greater the changes in the heart.

“Air pollution should be seen as a modifiable risk factor,” Dr. Nay Aung, who led the data analysis of the study, said in a statemnent from Queen Mary University. “The public all need to be aware of their exposure when they think about their heart health, just like they think about their blood pressure and their weight.”

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation said in the statement from Queen Mary University, “We can’t expect people to move home to avoid air pollution, so government and public bodies must act right now to make all areas safe and protect the population from these harm.”

The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems,【小题1】Pollution means making things dirty. It comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

Man has been polluting the earth.【小题2】Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place，Man moved to another place. But this is no longer true. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

【小题3】It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.

【小题4】They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it.【小题5】And we must take care of the rise in population at the same time.

E-waste is fast becoming a serious global problem. 【小题1】

The source of e-waste

We live in a society that constantly produces and consumes electronic products. It is often cheaper to buy new pieces of equipment than to repair old ones. Also, through clever advertising, companies persuade consumers to replace their old TVs, mobile phones and computers for the latest models. E-waste is created when we throw away electronic equipment like this. In the EU alone, about 8.7 million tonnes of e-waste is produced each year. 【小题2】

The problem with e-waste

Burying e-waste in landfills or burning it causes serious problems for the environment. 【小题3】 These substances can then leak into the ground in landfills or pollute the air when they are burnt.

Global recycling schemes (计划)

【小题4】 However, their schemes are not always managed properly and sometimes electronics are just sent to poor countries such as Ghana. Here they are often burnt in public areas, which is very bad for people’s health. Setting up recycling programs in the countries that create e-waste could solve this problem. E-cycling centres could recycle the parts that we can reuse and properly dispose of the rest.

Take-back policy

Another solution to e-waste is to make manufacturers responsible for their used products. This could mean forcing them to take back old products which are no longer wanted. 【小题5】

Consuming less

We can all reduce the amount of waste we produce by buying electrical products only when we have to.