Association of air pollution with osteoporotic fracture risk among women over 50 years of age.

INTRODUCTION: Air particulate matter (PM) is an environmental exposure associated with oxidation and inflammation. Whether particulate matter is associated with risk of osteoporotic bone fracture is unclear. We investigated the association between exposure to PM and risk of bone fractures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected data of 44,602 participants living in three metropolitan cities in Republic of Korea from National Health Insurance Service database. We examined the association of 2 year averaged concentrations of PM and osteoporotic fracture over 4 years. Exposure to 2-year averaged air pollution [PM2.5 (< 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter), PM10 [< 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter], PM coarse (PM ranging from 2.5 µm to 10 µm)] concentrations were estimated from 2008 to 2009 in Air Korea data. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for osteoporotic fractures were calculated using the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, household income, and Charlson Comorbidity Index, PM 2.5 in one pollutant model increased the risk of osteoporotic fractures, compared to the first quartile group (4th quartile group aHR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.02-1.24). Also, PM 2.5 increased the risk of spine and non-spine fractures compared to the first quartile group (4th quartile group aHR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.00-1.38, aHR = 1.16, 95% CI 1.01-1.33). We found no association between PM10/PM coarse and osteoporotic fractures. CONCLUSION: We found that PM2.5 is a risk factor for osteoporotic bone fractures.

IrO2 nanodot formation by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition as a charge storage layer.

IrO2 nanodot (ND) growth by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition as a charge storage layer has been investigated. As-deposited IrO2 NDs showed a high density of 2.38 x 10(12)/cm2 and a small mean diameter of 3.22 nm, and turned into a spherical shape with a large dot-to-dot separation after annealing. The metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor with Al2O3 blocking and IrO2 ND charge storing layers showed a memory window of 7.2 V. Compared with the sample without Ir2O3 NDs, the sample with NDs showed superior memory characteristics.