A study has suggested that increased concentrations of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller — is associated with increased risk of adult atopic dermatitis.
A medical team from Taichung Veterans General Hospital’s Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology said it discovered that when PM2.5 concentration levels increase by 10 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3), the risk of adult atopic dermatitis increases by 60 percent.
Researchers analyzed statistics from the National Health Insurance (NHI) Research Database and the Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network for the study.
Attending physician Tang Kuo-tung (譚國棟) said they randomly sampled 1,023 people older than 20 years from the NHI database for every 1 million people in the population and linked it with air pollutant data collected in the same year from monitoring stations to identify the air quality to which they were exposed.
When the PM2.5 levels reached the Environmental Protection Administration’s “purple” level — more than 71mg/m3 — the risk of adult atopic dermatitis increased by three times, he said.
Previous epidemiology surveys have suggested that atopic dermatitis affects up to 20 percent of children, but about two-thirds of them would see the symptoms gradually diminish as they grow up, Tang said.
However, the medical team observed that more adults have been seeking treatment for atopic dermatitis, he added.
Atopic dermatitis is characterized by rashes that can be severe and persistent, and scaling or lichenification from scratching could also affect a person’s social life, he said.
The division said it has been tracking nearly 50 adults with the condition to understand how treatment has improved their quality of life.
Many of the people have shown significant improvement in quality of life after getting treatment, it said, so adults who have chronic itchy rashes should seek medical attention to relieve the symptoms.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard