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Peter James - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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neighborhood Greenness and burden of non communicable diseases in sub saharan africa a multi country cross sectional study
Environmental Research, 2020Co-Authors: Hari S Iyer, Peter James, Linda Valeri, Francis Bajunirwe, Joan Nankyamutyoba, Marina Njelekela, Faraja S Chiwanga, Vikash Sewram, Ikeoluwapo O Ajayi, Clement AdebamowoAbstract:Population growth, demographic transitions and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will increase non-communicable disease (NCD) burden. We studied the association between neighborhood Greenness and NCDs in a multi-country cross-sectional study. Among 1178 participants, in adjusted models, a 0.11 unit NDVI increase was associated with lower BMI (β: -1.01, 95% CI: -1.35, -0.67), and lower odds of overweight/obesity (aOR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.85), diabetes (aOR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.62, 0.96), and having ≥3 allostatic load components compared to none (aOR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.85). Except for diabetes, these remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction. We observed no association between NDVI and hypertension or cholesterol. Our findings are consistent with health benefits of neighborhood Greenness reported in other countries, suggesting greening strategies could be considered as part of broader public health interventions for NCDs.
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the contribution of residential Greenness to mortality among men with prostate cancer a registry based cohort study of black and white men
Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia Pa.), 2020Co-Authors: Hari S Iyer, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Francine Laden, Linda Valeri, Jarvis T Chen, Michelle D Holmes, Timothy R RebbeckAbstract:Background Black men with prostate cancer (CaP) experience excess mortality compared with White men. Residential Greenness, a health promoting contextual factor, could explain racial disparities in mortality among men with CaP. Methods We identified Pennsylvania Cancer Registry cases diagnosed between January 2000 and December 2015. Totally, 128,568 participants were followed until death or 1 January 2018, whichever occurred first. Residential exposure at diagnosis was characterized using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with 250 m resolution. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) using Cox models, adjusting for area-level socioeconomic status, geographic healthcare access, and segregation. To determine whether increasing residential Greenness could reduce racial disparities, we compared standardized 10-year mortality Black-White risk differences under a hypothetical intervention fixing NDVI to the 75th percentile of NDVI experienced by White men. Results We observed 29,978 deaths over 916,590 person-years. Comparing men in the highest to lowest NDVI quintile, all-cause (adjusted HR [aHR]: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84, 0.92, Ptrend < 0.0001), prostate-specific (aHR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.80, 0.99, Ptrend= 0.0021), and cardiovascular-specific (aHR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.74, 0.90, Ptrend < 0.0001) mortality were lower. Inverse associations between an interquartile range increase in NDVI and cardiovascular-specific mortality were observed in White (aHR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.93) but not Black men (aHR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.06; Phet = 0.067). Hypothetical interventions to increase NDVI led to nonsignificant reductions in all-cause (-5.3%) and prostate-specific (-23.2%), but not cardiovascular-specific mortality disparities (+50.5%). Discussion Residential Greenness was associated with lower mortality among men with CaP, but findings suggest that increasing residential Greenness would have limited impact on racial disparities in mortality.
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the association between neighborhood Greenness and incidence of lethal prostate cancer a prospective cohort study
Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia Pa.), 2020Co-Authors: Hari S Iyer, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Linda Valeri, Michelle D Holmes, Claire H Pernar, Lorelei A MucciAbstract:Background Growing evidence suggests that neighborhood contextual environment could influence risk factors and, therefore, incidence of lethal prostate cancer. We studied the association between neighborhood Greenness and lethal prostate cancer incidence and assessed mediation by vigorous physical activity. Methods A total of 47,958 participants were followed in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 to 2014. Neighborhood Greenness exposure was estimated using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) with 1 km resolution, assigned to home or work addresses at start of follow-up. Adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using sequentially adjusted Cox models with individual and contextual prostate cancer risk factors as covariates. Analyses were compared among those whose addresses were constant over follow-up and stratified by population density and address type. Results We observed 898 cases over 1,054,743 person-years. An interquartile range increase in NDVI was associated with 5% lower rate of lethal prostate cancer (aHR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.88, 1.03), with stronger associations in nonmovers (aHR = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.85, 1.01). Inverse associations were observed among men in high (aHR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.82, 0.99) but not low (aHR = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.95, 1.29, P het = 0.086) population density areas, and those reporting from work (aHR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.75, 1.01) but not home (aHR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.91, 1.17, P het = 0.10) addresses. There was no evidence of mediation by vigorous physical activity. Conclusion We report inverse associations between neighborhood Greenness and lethal prostate cancer when restricting to nonmovers and in high population density areas. Replication could confirm findings and clarify mechanisms.
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air pollution associated respiratory mortality risk alleviated by residential Greenness in the chinese elderly health service cohort
Environmental Research, 2020Co-Authors: Shengzhi Sun, Peter James, Chinmoy Sarkar, Sarika Kumari, Wangnan Cao, Ruby S Y Lee, Linwei Tian, Chris WebsterAbstract:Abstract Background Although residing in lower surrounding Greenness and transient exposure to air pollution are independently associated with higher risk of adverse health outcomes, little is known about their interactions. Objectives We examine whether residential neighborhood Greenness modifies the short-term association between air pollution and respiratory mortality among the participants of Chinese Elderly Health Service Cohort in Hong Kong. Methods We estimated residential surrounding Greenness by measuring satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from Landsat within catchments of residential addresses of participants who died of respiratory diseases between 1998 and 2011. We first dichotomized NDVI into low and high Greenness and used a time-stratified case-crossover approach to estimate the percent excess risk of respiratory mortality associated with fine particulate matter (PM2.5), respirable particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3). We further classified NDVI into Greenness quartiles and introduced an interaction term between air pollution and the assigned median values of the NDVI quartiles into the models to assess the trend of Greenness modification on the air pollution and respiratory mortality associations. Results Among 3159 respiratory deaths during the follow-up, 2058 were from pneumonia and 947 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Elders living in the low Greenness areas were associated with a higher risk of pneumonia mortality attributed to NO2 (p = 0.049) and O3 (p = 0.025). The mortality risk of pneumonia showed a decreasing trend for NO2 (p for trend = 0.041), O3 (p for trend = 0.006), and PM2.5 (p for trend = 0.034) with Greenness quartiles increasing from Quartile 1 (lowest) to Quartile 4 (highest). Conclusions Our findings suggest that elders living in higher Greenness areas are less susceptible to pneumonia mortality associated with air pollution, which provides evidence for optimizing allocation, siting, and quality of urban green space to minimize detrimental health effects of air pollution.
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neighborhood Greenness attenuates the adverse effect of pm2 5 on cardiovascular mortality in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019Co-Authors: Maayan Yitshaksade, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Francine Laden, Kelvin C Fong, Itai Kloog, Joel Schwartz, Kevin J Lane, Patricia M Fabian, Antonella ZanobettiAbstract:Features of the environment may modify the effect of particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) on health. Therefore, we investigated how neighborhood sociodemographic and land-use characteristics may modify the association between PM2.5 and cardiovascular mortality. We obtained residence-level geocoded cardiovascular mortality cases from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (n = 179,986), and PM2.5 predictions from a satellite-based model (2001–2011). We appended census block group-level information on sociodemographic factors and walkability, and calculated neighborhood Greenness within a 250 m buffer surrounding each residence. We found a 2.54% (1.34%; 3.74%) increase in cardiovascular mortality associated with a 10 µg/m3 increase in two-day average PM2.5. Walkability or Greenness did not modify the association. However, when stratifying by neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics, smaller PM2.5 effects were observed in greener areas only among cases who resided in neighborhoods with a higher population density and lower percentages of white residents or residents with a high school diploma. In conclusion, the PM2.5 effects on cardiovascular mortality were attenuated by higher Greenness only in areas with sociodemographic features that are highly correlated with lower socioeconomic status. Previous evidence suggests health benefits linked to neighborhood Greenness may be stronger among lower socioeconomic groups. Attenuation of the PM2.5–mortality relationship due to Greenness may explain some of this evidence.
John D Spengler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the effect of surrounding Greenness on type 2 diabetes mellitus a nationwide population based cohort in taiwan
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020Co-Authors: Huiju Tsai, Wenchi Pan, Tsung Chieh Yao, Yinq Rong Chern, John D SpenglerAbstract:This study determines whether surrounding Greenness is associated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in Taiwan. A retrospective cohort study determines the relationship between surrounding Greenness and the incidence of T2DM during the study period of 2001-2012 using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database. The satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the global MODIS database in the NASA Earth Observing System is used to assess Greenness. Cox proportional hazard models are used to determine the relationship between exposure to surrounding Greenness and the incidence of T2DM, with adjustment for potential confounders. A total of 429,504 subjects, including 40,479 subjects who developed T2DM, were identified during the study period. There is an inverse relationship between exposure to surrounding Greenness and the incidence of T2DM after adjustment for individual-level covariates, comorbidities, and the region-level covariates (adjusted HR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.79-0.82). For the general population of Taiwan, greater exposure to surrounding Greenness is associated with a lower incidence of T2DM.
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Greenness and depression incidence among older women
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2019Co-Authors: Rachel F Banay, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Laura D Kubzansky, John D Spengler, Donna Spiegelman, Olivia I Okereke, Francine LadenAbstract:Background: Recent evidence suggests that higher levels of residential Greenness may contribute to better mental health. Despite this, few studies have considered its impact on depression, and most...
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how is environmental Greenness related to students academic performance in english and mathematics
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2019Co-Authors: Wing Tuen Veronica Leung, Wenchi Pan, Tuen Yee Tiffany Tam, Shihchun Candice Lung, John D SpenglerAbstract:Abstract Background Previous studies point out a positive association between academic performance and school surrounding Greenness, but the population included in these studies only recruited single-grade students. Objectives To design a more all-rounded investigation of the association between school surrounding Greenness and students’ academic performance in general in Massachusetts, USA. Methods We included a total of 27,493 3rd–10th grade students from public schools over 9 years (2006–2014) in the study. Academic performance (i.e. English and Mathematics achievement level) were primarily based on Composite Performance Index (CPI) as well as the percentage of students who scored “Proficient and Higher” (AP%) in the examination. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and green land use area (within 250–2000 m circular buffer) were used to server the index of school surrounding Greenness). We applied generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to investigate the relationship between surrounding Greenness and academic performance with adjustment on socio-economic and demographic factors. Results We found a significant positive association (p Conclusions A higher surrounding Greenness contributes a better academic performance in students of all grades. This finding could serve as a reference for designing green landscape especially near school areas.
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linking student performance in massachusetts elementary schools with the Greenness of school surroundings using remote sensing
PLOS ONE, 2014Co-Authors: Eileen Mcneely, Wenchi Pan, Shihchun Candice Lung, Jose Guillermo Cedenolaurent, Gary Adamkiewicz, Francesca Dominici, John D SpenglerAbstract:Various studies have reported the physical and mental health benefits from exposure to “green” neighborhoods, such as proximity to neighborhoods with trees and vegetation. However, no studies have explicitly assessed the association between exposure to “green” surroundings and cognitive function in terms of student academic performance. This study investigated the association between the “Greenness” of the area surrounding a Massachusetts public elementary school and the academic achievement of the school’s student body based on standardized tests with an ecological setting. Researchers used the composite school-based performance scores generated by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to measure the percentage of 3rd-grade students (the first year of standardized testing for 8–9 years-old children in public school), who scored “Above Proficient” (AP) in English and Mathematics tests (Note: Individual student scores are not publically available). The MCAS results are comparable year to year thanks to an equating process. Researchers included test results from 2006 through 2012 in 905 public schools and adjusted for differences between schools in the final analysis according to race, gender, English as a second language (proxy for ethnicity and language facility), parent income, student-teacher ratio, and school attendance. Surrounding Greenness of each school was measured using satellite images converted into the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in March, July and October of each year according to a 250-meter, 500-meter, 1,000-meter, and 2000-meter circular buffer around each school. Spatial Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) estimated the impacts of surrounding Greenness on school-based performance. Overall the study results supported a relationship between the “Greenness” of the school area and the school-wide academic performance. Interestingly, the results showed a consistently positive significant association between the Greenness of the school in the Spring (when most Massachusetts students take the MCAS tests) and school-wide performance on both English and Math tests, even after adjustment for socio-economic factors and urban residency.
Francine Laden - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the contribution of residential Greenness to mortality among men with prostate cancer a registry based cohort study of black and white men
Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia Pa.), 2020Co-Authors: Hari S Iyer, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Francine Laden, Linda Valeri, Jarvis T Chen, Michelle D Holmes, Timothy R RebbeckAbstract:Background Black men with prostate cancer (CaP) experience excess mortality compared with White men. Residential Greenness, a health promoting contextual factor, could explain racial disparities in mortality among men with CaP. Methods We identified Pennsylvania Cancer Registry cases diagnosed between January 2000 and December 2015. Totally, 128,568 participants were followed until death or 1 January 2018, whichever occurred first. Residential exposure at diagnosis was characterized using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with 250 m resolution. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) using Cox models, adjusting for area-level socioeconomic status, geographic healthcare access, and segregation. To determine whether increasing residential Greenness could reduce racial disparities, we compared standardized 10-year mortality Black-White risk differences under a hypothetical intervention fixing NDVI to the 75th percentile of NDVI experienced by White men. Results We observed 29,978 deaths over 916,590 person-years. Comparing men in the highest to lowest NDVI quintile, all-cause (adjusted HR [aHR]: 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84, 0.92, Ptrend < 0.0001), prostate-specific (aHR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.80, 0.99, Ptrend= 0.0021), and cardiovascular-specific (aHR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.74, 0.90, Ptrend < 0.0001) mortality were lower. Inverse associations between an interquartile range increase in NDVI and cardiovascular-specific mortality were observed in White (aHR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.93) but not Black men (aHR: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.06; Phet = 0.067). Hypothetical interventions to increase NDVI led to nonsignificant reductions in all-cause (-5.3%) and prostate-specific (-23.2%), but not cardiovascular-specific mortality disparities (+50.5%). Discussion Residential Greenness was associated with lower mortality among men with CaP, but findings suggest that increasing residential Greenness would have limited impact on racial disparities in mortality.
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neighborhood Greenness attenuates the adverse effect of pm2 5 on cardiovascular mortality in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019Co-Authors: Maayan Yitshaksade, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Francine Laden, Kelvin C Fong, Itai Kloog, Joel Schwartz, Kevin J Lane, Patricia M Fabian, Antonella ZanobettiAbstract:Features of the environment may modify the effect of particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) on health. Therefore, we investigated how neighborhood sociodemographic and land-use characteristics may modify the association between PM2.5 and cardiovascular mortality. We obtained residence-level geocoded cardiovascular mortality cases from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (n = 179,986), and PM2.5 predictions from a satellite-based model (2001–2011). We appended census block group-level information on sociodemographic factors and walkability, and calculated neighborhood Greenness within a 250 m buffer surrounding each residence. We found a 2.54% (1.34%; 3.74%) increase in cardiovascular mortality associated with a 10 µg/m3 increase in two-day average PM2.5. Walkability or Greenness did not modify the association. However, when stratifying by neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics, smaller PM2.5 effects were observed in greener areas only among cases who resided in neighborhoods with a higher population density and lower percentages of white residents or residents with a high school diploma. In conclusion, the PM2.5 effects on cardiovascular mortality were attenuated by higher Greenness only in areas with sociodemographic features that are highly correlated with lower socioeconomic status. Previous evidence suggests health benefits linked to neighborhood Greenness may be stronger among lower socioeconomic groups. Attenuation of the PM2.5–mortality relationship due to Greenness may explain some of this evidence.
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Greenness and depression incidence among older women
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2019Co-Authors: Rachel F Banay, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Laura D Kubzansky, John D Spengler, Donna Spiegelman, Olivia I Okereke, Francine LadenAbstract:Background: Recent evidence suggests that higher levels of residential Greenness may contribute to better mental health. Despite this, few studies have considered its impact on depression, and most...
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residential Greenness and birthweight in the state of massachusetts usa
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2018Co-Authors: Kelvin C Fong, Francine Laden, Itai Kloog, Brent A Coull, Petros Koutrakis, Joel Schwartz, Peter JamesAbstract:Natural vegetation, or Greenness, may benefit maternal health and consequently, fetal growth, by providing opportunities for physical activity and psychological restoration, and decreasing detrimental environmental exposures. We retrieved Massachusetts Birth Registry data from 2001–2013 and investigated the association between residential Greenness and birthweight in full-term births (≥37 weeks gestation). We calculated average residential Greenness during pregnancy using 250 m normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from satellites. We estimated associations between Greenness and continuous birthweight, term low birthweight (TLBW: <2500 g), and small for gestational age (SGA: <10th percentile of birthweight stratified by sex and gestational age) adjusted for individual and neighborhood covariates and considered nonlinearity and effect modification. Higher Greenness exposure was associated with higher birthweight with stronger associations in the lower than higher range of Greenness. Greenness was associated with lower odds of TLBW (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.97, 0.99 per 0.1 increase in NDVI) and SGA (OR 0.98; 95% 0.97, 0.99) and associations varied by population density (TLBW) and socioeconomic status (TLBW, SGA). Our results suggest that Greenness is beneficial to fetal growth exhibited by higher birthweight and lower odds of TLBW and SGA. Unlike prior studies, associations with TLBW and SGA appeared stronger among those with higher socioeconomic status.
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the relationship between surrounding Greenness in childhood and adolescence and depressive symptoms in adolescence and early adulthood
Annals of Epidemiology, 2018Co-Authors: Carla P Bezold, Peter James, Rachel F Banay, Jaime E Hart, Brent A Coull, Laura D Kubzansky, Stacey A Missmer, Francine LadenAbstract:Abstract Purpose Exposure to nature, particularly vegetation (Greenness), may be beneficial for mental health. We investigated whether higher surrounding Greenness in early life was associated with subsequent reduced risk of depressive symptoms and whether this association was modified by age, sex, or population density. Methods Participants from the Growing Up Today Study were included if they reported on depressive symptoms between 1999 and 2013. Greenness exposure was characterized as the cumulative average normalized difference vegetation index value (1000 m resolution) from 1989 until 2 years before outcome assessment or age 18 based on geocoded addresses. We defined high depressive symptoms as the top 10% of scores on the McKnight Risk Factor Survey or the Center for Epidemiologic Studies of Depression scale, depending on the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for socioeconomic status and other confounders. Results There was a 6% lower incidence of high depressive symptoms associated with an interquartile range increase in Greenness (95% confidence interval, 11%–0%). This relationship was stronger in higher population density areas (>1000 people/mi2, 8% lower incidence, 95% confidence interval 15%–1%). Conclusions Living in an area with greater surrounding Greenness during childhood may be beneficial for mental health, particularly in more urban areas.
Nuno Carvalhais - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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codominant water control on global interannual variability and trends in land surface phenology and Greenness
Global Change Biology, 2015Co-Authors: Matthias Forkel, Mirco Migliavacca, Kirsten Thonicke, Markus Reichstein, Sibyll Schaphoff, Ulrich Weber, Nuno CarvalhaisAbstract:Identifying the relative importance of climatic and other environmental controls on the interannual variability and trends in global land surface phenology and Greenness is challenging. Firstly, quantifications of land surface phenology and Greenness dynamics are impaired by differences between satellite data sets and phenology detection methods. Secondly, dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) that can be used to diagnose controls still reveal structural limitations and contrasting sensitivities to environmental drivers. Thus, we assessed the performance of a new developed phenology module within the LPJmL (Lund–Potsdam–Jena managed Lands) DGVM with a comprehensive ensemble of three satellite data sets of vegetation Greenness and ten phenology detection methods, thereby thoroughly accounting for observational uncertainties. The improved and tested model allows us quantifying the relative importance of environmental controls on interannual variability and trends of land surface phenology and Greenness at regional and global scales. We found that start of growing season interannual variability and trends are in addition to cold temperature mainly controlled by incoming radiation and water availability in temperate and boreal forests. Warming-induced prolongations of the growing season in high latitudes are dampened by a limited availability of light. For peak Greenness, interannual variability and trends are dominantly controlled by water availability and land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) in all regions. Stronger greening trends in boreal forests of Siberia than in North America are associated with a stronger increase in water availability from melting permafrost soils. Our findings emphasize that in addition to cold temperatures, water availability is a codominant control for start of growing season and peak Greenness trends at the global scale.
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identifying environmental controls on vegetation Greenness phenology through model data integration
Biogeosciences, 2014Co-Authors: Matthias Forkel, Mirco Migliavacca, Sibyll Schaphoff, Nuno Carvalhais, Werner Von Bloh, Martin Thurner, Kirsten ThonickeAbstract:Existing dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) have a limited ability in reproducing phenology and decadal dynamics of vegetation Greenness as observed by satellites. These limitations in reproducing observations reflect a poor understanding and description of the environmental controls on phenology, which strongly influence the ability to simulate longer-term vegetation dynamics, e.g. carbon allocation. Combining DGVMs with observational data sets can potentially help to revise current modelling approaches and thus enhance the understanding of processes that control seasonal to long-term vegetation Greenness dynamics. Here we implemented a new phenology model within the LPJmL (Lund Potsdam Jena managed lands) DGVM and integrated several observational data sets to improve the ability of the model in reproducing satellite-derived time series of vegetation Greenness. Specifically, we optimized LPJmL parameters against observational time series of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (FAPAR), albedo and gross primary production to identify the main environmental controls for seasonal vegetation Greenness dynamics. We demonstrated that LPJmL with new phenology and optimized parameters better reproduces seasonality, inter-annual variability and trends of vegetation Greenness. Our results indicate that soil water availability is an important control on vegetation phenology not only in water-limited biomes but also in boreal forests and the Arctic tundra. Whereas water availability controls phenology in water-limited ecosystems during the entire growing season, water availability co-modulates jointly with temperature the beginning of the growing season in boreal and Arctic regions. Additionally, water availability contributes to better explain decadal greening trends in the Sahel and browning trends in boreal forests. These results emphasize the importance of considering water availability in a new generation of phenology modules in DGVMs in order to correctly reproduce observed seasonal-to-decadal dynamics of vegetation Greenness.
Kelvin C Fong - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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disparities in exposure to surrounding Greenness related to proportion of the population that were immigrants to the united states
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2020Co-Authors: Kelvin C Fong, Neil Mehta, Michelle L BellAbstract:The proportion of the United States (US) population who are immigrants (i.e., foreign-born) has been rising. Compared to the US-born, immigrants have different health risks, and prior studies could not fully explain these differences by diet and socioeconomic status. Surrounding Greenness, an environmental exposure linked to better health, potentially contributes to differences in health risks between immigrants and the US-born. Using satellite imagery, we assessed exposure to surrounding Greenness, as estimated by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI), in US Census tracts in 2000 and 2010. We then investigated the association between the percentage of the population that were immigrants and Greenness using spatial error regression. Adjusted for median household income, urbanicity, educational attainment, unemployment, elderly and youth population proportion, and ecozone, Census tracts with ~10% higher overall immigrant percentage points were, on average, ~0.06 NDVI/EVI interquartile range lower, indicating lower Greenness. The pattern of negative associations was most consistent when the immigrant country of origin was in Latin America. Conversely, when the immigrant country of origin was in Europe, we found mostly positive associations. Our findings suggest an environmental exposure disparity by immigrant status, motivating future work on environmental contributions to health disparities between immigrants and the US-born.
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neighborhood Greenness attenuates the adverse effect of pm2 5 on cardiovascular mortality in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019Co-Authors: Maayan Yitshaksade, Peter James, Jaime E Hart, Francine Laden, Kelvin C Fong, Itai Kloog, Joel Schwartz, Kevin J Lane, Patricia M Fabian, Antonella ZanobettiAbstract:Features of the environment may modify the effect of particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) on health. Therefore, we investigated how neighborhood sociodemographic and land-use characteristics may modify the association between PM2.5 and cardiovascular mortality. We obtained residence-level geocoded cardiovascular mortality cases from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (n = 179,986), and PM2.5 predictions from a satellite-based model (2001–2011). We appended census block group-level information on sociodemographic factors and walkability, and calculated neighborhood Greenness within a 250 m buffer surrounding each residence. We found a 2.54% (1.34%; 3.74%) increase in cardiovascular mortality associated with a 10 µg/m3 increase in two-day average PM2.5. Walkability or Greenness did not modify the association. However, when stratifying by neighborhood sociodemographic characteristics, smaller PM2.5 effects were observed in greener areas only among cases who resided in neighborhoods with a higher population density and lower percentages of white residents or residents with a high school diploma. In conclusion, the PM2.5 effects on cardiovascular mortality were attenuated by higher Greenness only in areas with sociodemographic features that are highly correlated with lower socioeconomic status. Previous evidence suggests health benefits linked to neighborhood Greenness may be stronger among lower socioeconomic groups. Attenuation of the PM2.5–mortality relationship due to Greenness may explain some of this evidence.
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residential Greenness and birthweight in the state of massachusetts usa
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2018Co-Authors: Kelvin C Fong, Francine Laden, Itai Kloog, Brent A Coull, Petros Koutrakis, Joel Schwartz, Peter JamesAbstract:Natural vegetation, or Greenness, may benefit maternal health and consequently, fetal growth, by providing opportunities for physical activity and psychological restoration, and decreasing detrimental environmental exposures. We retrieved Massachusetts Birth Registry data from 2001–2013 and investigated the association between residential Greenness and birthweight in full-term births (≥37 weeks gestation). We calculated average residential Greenness during pregnancy using 250 m normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from satellites. We estimated associations between Greenness and continuous birthweight, term low birthweight (TLBW: <2500 g), and small for gestational age (SGA: <10th percentile of birthweight stratified by sex and gestational age) adjusted for individual and neighborhood covariates and considered nonlinearity and effect modification. Higher Greenness exposure was associated with higher birthweight with stronger associations in the lower than higher range of Greenness. Greenness was associated with lower odds of TLBW (OR 0.98; 95% CI 0.97, 0.99 per 0.1 increase in NDVI) and SGA (OR 0.98; 95% 0.97, 0.99) and associations varied by population density (TLBW) and socioeconomic status (TLBW, SGA). Our results suggest that Greenness is beneficial to fetal growth exhibited by higher birthweight and lower odds of TLBW and SGA. Unlike prior studies, associations with TLBW and SGA appeared stronger among those with higher socioeconomic status.
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a review of epidemiologic studies on Greenness and health updated literature through 2017
Current Environmental Health Reports, 2018Co-Authors: Kelvin C Fong, Jaime E Hart, Peter JamesAbstract:Purpose of Review Many studies suggest that exposure to natural vegetation, or Greenness, may be beneficial for a variety of health outcomes. We summarize the recent research in this area.
