Olivia Conniff
9/24/18
Core Biology 10H
Mr. Ippolito
Current Events #1
Howard, Jacqueline. “Is Air Pollution Tied to Higher Dementia Risk?” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 Sept. 2018
I chose to read “Is Air Pollution Tied to Higher Dementia Risk?” written by Jacqueline Howard for my current event. This article discusses a recently released study, that shows how much exposure to high amounts of air and noise pollution could be linked to an increased risk of dementia. The study found that between older people living in London, the people living in areas with the highest amount of annual air pollution concentration were at a higher risk of dementia compared to those living in areas with the lowest amount. In the study, researchers estimated the amount of air pollution at various areas around London in 2004, using a modeling system called KCLurban. A total of 2,181 adults received a first-time diagnosis of dementia. The researchers then estimated how much traffic noise and air pollutants each adult would have been exposed to annually.Next, the researchers took a close look at dementia diagnoses between 2005 and 2013 among a sample of 130,978 adults, 50 to 79 years old, whose various primary care practices and residential postcodes were within greater London. Iain Carey, a senior lecturer of epidemiology in the Population Health Research Institute at St. George's University of London, and lead author of the paper said the study "should encourage further research to investigate this". Scientists say more research is needed to determine what could be the link between environmental factors such as air pollution and dementia risk.
The number of people living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias is estimated to be 47 million, and is expected to increase to 75 million by 2030 and to almost triple by 2050, according to World Health Organization. Dementia involves the loss of cognitive functions and behavioral abilities, and it is the seventh leading cause of death in the world. The most common cause of dementia in adults is Alzheimer’s disease. In the United States, about 5.7 million people have Alzheimer's disease, and in the United Kingdom, there are about 850,000 people living with dementia.
Overall, I found this article extremely informative and easy to comprehend. The author used complex, yet not confusing language. The author also included many quotes from experts to back up statements made. The article was also very well organized as it was easy to understand the purpose of each paragraph. One critique I have would be that there was maybe just a little bit too much information included. By the end of the article my brain was practically overflowing with information. I thought the author maybe could have taken out the paragraph about the similar studies, or at least made it shorter. However, for the most part I found this article to be enjoyable to read and has made me much more informed about dementia, its causes, and its effects.
Maya Brinster
ReplyDelete10/21/18
Core Biology 10H
Mr. Ippolito
Current Events #5
Howard, Jacqueline. “Is Air Pollution Tied to Higher Dementia Risk?” CNN, Cable News
Network, 18 Sept. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/09/18/health/dementia-air-pollution-study/index.html.
For current event #5, I read Olivia's review of the article titled "Is Air Pollution Tied to Higher Dementia Risk?" by Jacqueline Howard. A study recently found that older people who are exposed to greater amounts of air pollution had a higher risk of developing dementia than those who are not exposed to as much air pollution. Olivia did a great job providing enough background information, which helped me understand the article and her review even more. I also like how Olivia’s writing is clear and makes it easy for readers to understand what she is saying. Not one sentence in her review was worded or phrased awkwardly. She also provided many statistics, which serves as evidence for her arguments and makes her points even stronger.
Although Olivia is clearly a strong writer, she had some flaws that could be improved. When critiquing the writer’s errors, she used the phrase “there was maybe just a little bit too much information” which makes her critique seem weak. Instead of writing that, Olivia should’ve written “there was too much information” to make her seem more confident about her point. Olivia also included an entire paragraph with just statistics and evidence. Instead of making it a single paragraph, she should have added it to her first paragraph because the statistics serve better as background information, and not as an entirely new paragraph. This will help to make her review flow better.
After reading Olivia’s review, I realized just how big of a threat air pollution is. Before, I knew that it was damaging, but didn’t realize that it is linked to the risk of dementia and even causes deaths. I have become more aware of this threat and will be more cautious when around greater amounts of air pollution. Overall, Olivia’s review of this article is strong and very impactful.