The hydrographic basin of Ribeira Grande (S. Miguel Island, Azores) has a set of characteristics that enhance the occurrence of shallow slides that have been triggered by rainfall and earthquakes. Two landslide inventories were built according to the landslide triggers: Landslide Inventory 2 (LI 2), which includes 174 earthquake-triggered shallow slides occurred in 2005; and Landslide Inventory 1 (LI 1), which includes 442 shallow slides triggered by rainfall in several periods from 2005 to 2016. Both landslide inventories were characterized and compared from the morphometric point of view and were used individually to produce susceptibility models to failure using a simple bivariate state-of-the-art statistical method (the Information Value). The landslide susceptibility Models were validated using success rates, prediction rates, and Kappa statistics. The results show that shallow slides triggered by rainfall and earthquakes in the study area have different morphometric characteristics. It was verified that models produced with LI 1 are very effective in predicting the spatial location of LI 2, but the same does not happen in the inverse situation. Finally, landslide susceptibility models developed with LI 1 and LI 2 for the upper sector of the hydrographic basin (where most landslides occurred), and latter applied to the complete watershed, present more modest predictive results but are more reliable to characterize the landslide susceptibility in the study area.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are important neurodegenerative disorders, especially in an aging population context that prevails in high-developed countries and Europe in particular. It is known that exposure to particulate matter (PM) leads to the production and deposition of aggregate clusters of proteins, which are linked to neurological disorders and impediments. Nonetheless, only a few works study the short-term exposure to PM and its association with hospital admissions or mortality due to AD or PD. This study assesses the association between exposure to PM and emergency hospital admissions for AD and PD in an aging metropole, serving as a case study for most European big cities. Daily emergency hospital admissions due to AD and PD data were obtained for the 2012 to 2015 period and multivariate Poisson regression models were used to evaluate the association between PM and admissions while controlling for the day of the week, seasonality, and environmental factors. Furthermore, lagged observations were assessed. Results show that an increase in exposure to PM_2.5 resulted in a percentage increase in emergency hospital admissions due to AD and PD. Also, age was an effect modifier for PD admissions. Additionally, greater effects were felt at shorter lags for AD and delayed/longer lags for PD. This study found a relationship between short-term exposure to PM and AD and PD hospital admissions in an urban context, drawing attention to the importance of air pollution for urban health, especially in areas with an aged population structure.

The relevance of air pollution in the public health agenda has recently been reinforced—it is known that exposure to it has negative effects in the health of individuals, especially in big cities and metropolitan areas. In this article we observed the evolution of air pollutants (CO, NO, NO₂, O₃, PM₁₀) emissions and we confront them with health vulnerabilities related to respiratory and circulatory diseases (all circulatory diseases, cardiac diseases, cerebrovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, all respiratory diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, acute upper respiratory infections). The study is supported in two databases, one of air pollutants and the other of emergency hospital admissions, in the 2005–2015 period, applied to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The analysis was conducted through Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, while also using semi-elasticity to quantify associations. Results showed positive associations between air pollutants and admissions, tendentially higher in respiratory diseases, with CO and O₃ having the highest number of associations, and the senior age group being the most impacted. We concluded that O₃ is a good predictor for the under-15 age group and PM10 for the over-64 age group; also, there seems to exist a distinction between the urban city core and its suburban areas in air pollution and its relation to emergency hospital admissions.

A exposição ao material particulado (PM) leva à criação das condições que dão origem a distúrbios e impedimentos neurológicos. No entanto, poucos trabalhos estudam a exposição de curto-prazo a PM e a sua associação com admissões hospitalares ou mortalidade por doença de Alzheimer (DA) ou doença de Parkinson (DP). Assim, este estudo analisa a associação entre a exposição a PM e admissões hospitalares em urgência por DA e DP numa metrópole envelhecida, servindo como caso de estudo para a maioria das grandes cidades com mais envelhecidas, sendo particularmente importante para aquelas onde a concentração de emissões tende a não ultrapassar os limites legais. Foram recolhidas informações sobre as admissões hospitalares em urgência diárias por DA e DP, sobre as concentrações de PM e variáveis meteorológicas para o período 2012-2015. Foram desenvolvidos modelos multivariados de regressão de Poisson para avaliar a associação entre PM e admissões, controlando o dia da semana, sazonalidade e fatores ambientais, tendo sido analisadas observações defasadas. Os resultados mostram que um aumento de IQR na exposição a PM2.5 resultou no crescimento do risco relativo (RR) de admissão hospitalar em urgência devido a DA e DP. Ademais, maiores efeitos foram sentidos em defasagens mais curtas para a DA e defasagens mais longas para a DP. Este estudo encontrou uma relação entre exposição de curto-prazo a PM e admissões hospitalares em urgência por DA e DP num contexto urbano e de baixas concentrações de PM, assinalando a importância da poluição atmosférica na saúde urbana.Palavras-chave: admissões hospitalares em urgência; análise de risco; doença de Alzheimer; doença de Parkinson; material particulado. Short-Term Exposure to Particulate Matter and Emergency Hospital Admissions for Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. The impacts of air pollution within legal limits – An assessment from Lisbon, Portugal A B S T R A C TExposure to particulate matter (PM) leads to the creation of conditions that give rise to neurological disorders and impairments. However, few studies analyze short-term exposure to PM and its association with hospital admissions or mortality from Alzheimer's disease (DA) or Parkinson's disease (DP). Thus, this study analyzes the association between exposure to PM and emergency hospital admissions for DA and DP in an aging metropolis, serving as a case study for most large cities with an aged population structure, being particularly important for those where the concentration of emissions tends to not exceed the legal limits. Information was collected on daily emergency hospital admissions due to AD and PD, PM concentrations, and meteorological variables for the period 2012-2015. Multivariate Poisson regression models were developed to assess the association between PM and admissions, controlling for the day of the week, seasonality, and environmental factors, and lagged observations were analyzed. The results show that an IQR increase on exposure to PM2.5 resulted in an increase in the relative risk (RR) of emergency hospital admission due to AD and PD. Furthermore, greater effects were felt at shorter lags for AD and longer lags for PD. This study found a relationship between short-term exposure to PM and emergency hospital admissions for AD and PD in an urban context with low PM concentrations, highlighting the importance of air pollution in urban health.Keywords: emergency hospital admissions; risk assessment; Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; particulate matter.