Smallest Air Pollution Fragments Affect Heart
We are all concerned of the various aspects of heart diseases and also of its different causes. But it must be said, with the passage of years, perhaps there is also an increase in the new forms of causes, of heart diseases. This newer perception has been supported in the recent days, by a newer U.S. study, that has stated the smallest fragments of air pollution from the exhaust of the vehicle may be the most dangerous to the heart's health of the concerned individual. The study was conducted by a team, comprised of eminent researchers, of the University of California, Los Angeles. To their assessment, those particles that happen to be about one-thousandth the size of a human hair, are found to cause plaque build-up in the arteries. This very condition, according to them, is called atherosclerosis, that can lead to heart attack and stroke. It is also to be noted in the same context, that these particles do also contribute in the solidification of the arteries by the means of shutting down the protective qualities of so-called "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.
Over five weeks at a stretch, the researchers were engaged in exposing the mice with high cholesterol to larger fine pollution particles ( 2.5 micrometers in size) or ultrafine particles (less than 0.18 micrometers), and it was followed by their comparison to mice exposed to filtered air. What has also been found, the mice exposed to ultrafine particles had 25 percent more arterial plaque development, when compared to the mice exposed to fine particles and 55 percent more than mice that breathed filtered air.
Speaking on this Dr. Jesus Araujo, the concerned study author and also an assistant professor of medicine and director of environmental cardiology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement., "This suggests that ultrafine particles are the most toxic air pollutants in promoting events leading to cardiovascular disease."
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