Research Areas
- Air Pollution and Health
- Harmful substances from both man-made (e.g., industrial facilities, motor vehicles, and household solid fuels) and natural sources (e.g., forest fires and desert dust) pollute the air humans breathe and inevitably bring deleterious effects on human health. We conduct studies (e.g., time series, case crossover, and cohort) to assess the effects of the various air pollution exposures (i.e., particulate matter and different chemical species) to health outcomes (e.g., cardiorespiratory diseases). The findings of these studies are important to evaluate and improve governments’ policies in reducing air pollution and the current standards being implemented.
- Hironori Nishikawa, Xerxes Tesoro Seposo, Lina Madaniyazi, Yoonhee Kim, Aurelio Tobías, Makiko Yamagami, Satbyul Estella Kim, Akinori Takami, Seiji Sugata, Yasushi Honda, Kayo Ueda, Masahiro Hashizume, Chris Fook Sheng Ng. Long-term trends in mortality risk associated with short-term exposure to air pollution in 10 Japanese cities between 1977 and 2015. Environmental Research. 2023, 15: 115108.
- Xerxes Seposo, Kayo Ueda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Lina Madaniyazi, Seiji Sugata, Ayako Yoshino, Akinori Takami. Roles of oxides of nitrogen in the ozone-cardiorespiratory visit association. Environmental Pollution. 2023 Accepted.
- Xerxes Seposo; Kayo Ueda; Chris Fook Sheng Ng; Lina Madaniyazi; Seiji Sugata; Ayako Yoshino; Akinori Takami. Role of oxides of nitrogen in the ozone-cardiorespiratory visit association. Environmental Pollution. 2023-01. 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120802
- Cong Liu , Jing Cai , Renjie Chen , Francesco Sera , Yuming Guo , Shilu Tong , Shanshan Li , Eric Lavigne , Patricia Matus Correa , Nicolas Valdes Ortega , Hans Orru, Marek Maasikmets , Jouni J.K. Jaakkola , Niilo Ryti , Susanne Breitner , Alexandra Schneider , Klea Katsouyanni , Evangelina Samoli , Masahiro Hashizume ; Yasushi Honda , Chris Fook Sheng Ng , Magali Hurtado Diaz , César De la Cruz Valencia , Shilpa Rao , Alfonso Diz-Lois Palomares , Susana Pereira da Silva , Joana Madureira , Iulian Horia Holobâc , Simona Fratianni , Noah Scovronick , Rebecca M. Garland , Aurelio Tobias , Carmen Íñiguez ; Bertil Forsberg , Christofer Åström , Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera , Martina S. Ragettli , Yue-Liang Leon Guo , Shih- Chun Pan , Ai Milojevic , Michelle L. Bell , Antonella Zanobetti , Joel Schwartz , Antonio Gasparrini , Haidong Kan. Coarse Particulate Air Pollution and Daily Mortality: A Global Study in 205 Cities. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2022, 206(8), 999-1007.
- Saira Tasmin, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Andrew Stickley, Shinya Yasumoto, Chiho Watanabe. Acute effects of ambient temperature on lung function of a panel of school children living in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment. 2022; 838: 156139.
- Lina Madaniyazi, Chau-Ren Jung, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Xerxes Seposo, Masahiro Hashizume, Shoji F. Nakayama, and the Japan Environment and Children’s Study Group. Early life exposure to indoor air pollutants and the risk of neurodevelopmental delays: the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. Environmental International. 2022; 158: 107004.
- Pierre Masselot, Francesco Sera, Rochelle Schneider, Haidong Kan, Éric Lavigne, Massimo Stafoggia, Aurelio Tobias, Hong Chen, Richard T. Burnett, Joel Schwartz, Antonella Zanobetti, Michelle L. Bell, Bing- Yu Chen, Yue-Liang Leon Guo, Martina S. Ragettli, Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, Christofer Åström, Bertil Forsberg, Carmen Íñiguez, Rebecca M. Garland, Noah Scovronick, Joana Madureira, Baltazar Nunes, César De la Cruz Valencia, Magali Hurtado Diaz, Yasushi Honda, Masahiro Hashizume, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Evangelia Samoli, Klea Katsouyanni, Alexandra Schneider, Susanne Breitner, Niilo R.I. Ryti, Jouni J.K. Jaakkola, Marek Maasikmets, Hans Orru, Yuming Guo, Nicolás Valdés Ortega, Patricia Matus Correa, Shilu Tong, Antonio Gasparrini. Differential mortality risks associated with PM2.5 components: a multi-country multi-city study. Epidemiology. 2022; 33(2): 167-175. https://doi.org/10.1097/ede.0000000000001455 Differential mortality risks associated with PM2.5 components: a multi-country multi-city study. Epidemiology. 2022; 33(2): 167-175.
- Yoonhee Kim, Eun Ha Park, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Yeonseung Chung, Kunio Hashimoto, Kasumi Tashiro, Hideki Hasunuma, Masataka Doi, Kei Tamura, Hiroyuki Moriuchi, Yuji Nishiwaki, Hwajin Kim, Seung-Muk Yi, Ho Kim, Masahiro Hashizume. Respiratory function declines in children with asthma associated with chemical species of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Nagasaki, Japan. Environmental Health. 2021; 20: 110.
- Hironori Nishikawa, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Lina Madaniyazi, Xerxes Tesoro Seposo, Bhim Gopal Dhoubhadel, Dhiraj Pokhrel, Amod K Pokhrel, Sharat Chandra Verma, Dhruba Shrestha, Ganendra Bhakta Raya, Masahiro Hashizume. Ambient PM2.5 and daily hospital admission for acute respiratory infections: effect modification by weight status of children. Atmosphere 2021; 12: 1009.
- Xia Meng, Cong Liu, Renjie Chen, Francesco Sera, Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, Ai Milojevic, Yuming Guo, Shilu Tong, Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, Eric Lavigne, Patricia Matus Correa, Nicolas Valdes Ortega, Samuel Osorio Garcia, Jan Kyselý, Aleš Urban, Hans Orru, Marek Maasikmets, Jouni Jaakkola, Niilo Ryti, Veronika Huber, Alexandra Schneider, Klea Katsouyanni, Antonis Analitis, Masahiro Hashizume, Yasushi Honda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Baltazar Nunes, João Paulo Teixeira, Iulian Horia Holobaca, Simona Fratianni, Ho Kim, Aurelio Tobias, Carmen Íñiguez, Bertil Forsberg, Christofer Åström, Martina S. Ragettli, Yue-Liang Leon Guo, Shih-Chun Pan, Shanshan Li, Michelle L. Bell, Antonella Zanobetti, Joel Schwartz, Tangchun Wu, Antonio Gasparrini, Haidong Kan. Short term associations of ambient nitrogen dioxide with daily total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality: a multi-location analysis in 398 cities. British Medical Journal. 2021; 372: n534.
- Ayesha Ferdosi Kabir, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Shinya Yasumoto, Taiichi Hayashi, Chiho Watanabe. Effect of ambient temperature on daily nebulized asthma hospital visits in a tropic city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(3): 890.
- Murano Y, Ueno R, Shi S, Kawashima T, Tanoue Y, Tanaka S, Nomura S, Shoji H, Shimizu T, Nguyen H, Miyata H, Gilmour S, Yoneoka D. Impact of domestic travel restrictions on transmission of COVID-19 infection using public transportation network approach. Scientific Reports. 2021; 11(1): 3109.
- Masahiro Hashizume, Yoonhee Kim, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Yeonseung Chung, Lina Madaniyazi, Michelle L Bell, Yue Leon Guo, Haidong Kan, Yasushi Honda, Seung-Muk Yi, Ho Kim, Yuji Nishiwaki. Health effects of Asian dust: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2020; 128(6): 066001.
- Keita Shimmei, Takahiro Nakamura, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Masahiro Hashizume, Yoshitaka Murakami, Aya Maruyama, Takako Misaki, Nobuhiko Okabe, Yuji Nishiwaki. Association Between Seasonal Influenza and Absolute Humidity: Time-Series Analysis with Daily Surveillance Data in Japan. Scientific Reports. 2020; 10: 7764.
- Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera, Francesco Sera, Cong Liu, Ben Armstrong, Ai Milojevic, Yuming Guo, Shilu Tong, Eric Lavigne, Jan Kyselý, Aleš Urban, Hans Orru, Ene Indermitte, Mathilde Pascal, Veronika Huber, Alexandra Schneider, Klea Katsouyanni, Evangelia Samoli, Massimo Stafoggia, Matteo Scortichini, Masahiro Hashizume, Yasushi Honda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Magali Hurtado-Diaz, Julio Cruz, Susana Silva, Joana Madureira, Noah Scovronick, Rebecca M. Garland, Ho Kim, Aurelio Tobias, Carmen Íñiguez, Bertil Forsberg, Christofer Åström, Martina S Ragettli, Martin Röösli, Yue-Liang Leon Guo, Bing-Yu Chen, Antonella Zanobetti, Joel Schwartz, Michelle L Bell, Haidong Kan, and Antonio Gasparrini. Short term association between ozone and mortality: global two stage time series study in 406 locations in 20 countries. British Medical Journal. 2020; 368: m108.
- Hashizume M, Kim Y, Ng CFS, Chung Y, Madaniyazi L, Bell ML, Guo YL, Kan H, Honda Y, Yi SM, Kim H, Nishiwaki Y. Health effects of Asian dust: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2020 Jun;128(6):66001. doi: 10.1289/EHP5312.
- Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Masahiro Hashizume, Yasushi Obase, Masataka Doi, Kei Tamura, Shinya Tomari, Tetsuya Kawano, Chizu Fukushima, Hiroto Matsuse, Yeonseung Chung, Yoonhee Kim, Kenichi Kunimitsu, Shigeru Kohno, Hiroshi Mukae. Associations of chemical composition and sources of PM2.5 with lung function of severe asthmatic adults in a low concentration environment in Nagasaki, Japan. Environmental Pollution. 2019; 252: 599-606
- Saira Tasmin, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Andrew Stickley, Md Nasiruddin, Golam Saroar, Shinya Yasumoto, Chiho Watanabe. Effects of short-term exposure to ambient particulate matter on the lung function of school children in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Epidemiology. 2019; 30 Suppl 1: S15-S23.
- Roksana Khan, Shoko Konishi, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Masahiro Umezaki, Ayesha Ferdosi Kabir, Saira Tasmin, Chiho Watanabe. Association between short-term exposure to fine particulate matter and daily emergency room visits at a cardiovascular hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment. 2019; 646: 1030-1036.
- Yoonhee Kim, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Yeonseung Chung, Ho Kim, Yasushi Honda, Yue Leon Guo, Youn-Hee Lim, Bing-Yu Chen, Lisa A. Page, Masahiro Hashizume. Air pollution and suicide in 10 cities in Northeast Asia: a time-stratified case-crossover analysis. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2018; 126(3): 037002. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP2223.
- Soyoko Sakata, Shoko Konishi, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Reiko Kishikawa, Chiho Watanabe. Association of Asian Dust with daily medical consultations for pollinosis in Fukuoka City, Japan. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine. 2017; 22, 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-017-0623-x.
- Andrew Stickley, Chris Fook Sheng Ng *, Shoko Konishi, Ai Konayagi, Chiho Watanabe. Airborne pollen and suicide mortality in Tokyo, 2001-2011. Environmental Research. 2017; 155: 134–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2017.02.008.
- Daisuke Goto, Kayo Ueda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Akinori Takami, Toshinori Ariga, Keisuke Matsuhashi, Teruyuki Nakajima. Estimation of excess mortality due to long-term exposure to PM2.5 in Japan using a high-resolution model for present and future scenarios. Atmospheric Environment. 2016; 140: 320–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.06.015.
- Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Andrew Stickley, Shoko Konishi, Chiho Watanabe. Ambient air pollution and suicide in Tokyo, 2001-2011. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2016; 201: 194–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.05.006.
- Shoko Konishi, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Andrew Stickley, Chiho Watanabe. Pollinosis and all-cause mortality among middle-aged and elderly Japanese: a population-based cohort study. Clinical and Experimental Allergy. 2016; 46, 1083–1089. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.12638
- Teruyuki Nakajima, Ryoichi Imasu, Akinori Takami, Daisuke Goto, Haruo Tsuruta, Junya Uchida, Tie Dai, Shota Misawa, Kayo Ueda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Chiho Watanabe, Shoko Konishi, Yousuke Sato, Atsushi Higuchi, Yuji Masutomi, Akinobu Murakami, Kazuaki Tsuchiya, Hiroaki Kondo, Yousuke Niwa, Kei Yoshimura, Toshimasa Ohara, Yu Morino, Nick Schutgens, Kengo Sudo, Toshihiko Takemura, Toshiro Inoue, Yutaka Arai, Ryo Murata, Ryoma Yonemoto, Trieu Tran Thi Ngoc, Mitsuo Uematsu, Masaki Satoh, Hirofumi Tomita, Hisashi Yashiro, Hara Masayuki. Development of Seamless Chemical Assimilation System and Its Application for Atmospheric Environmental Materials. Journal of the Japan Society for Simulation Technology. 2015; 34(2): 104-114.
- Daisuke Goto, Tie Dai, Masaki Satoh, Hirofumi Tomita, Junya Uchida, Shoto Misawa, Toshiro Inoue, Haruo Tsuruta, Kayo Ueda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Akinori Takami, Nobuo Sugimoto, Atsushi Shimizu, Toshimasa Ohara, Teruyuki Nakajima. Application of a global nonhydrostatic model with a stretched-grid system to regional aerosol simulations around Japan. Geoscientific Model Development 2015. 2015; 8: 235–259. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-235-2015.
- Shoko Konishi, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Andrew Stickley, Shinichi Nishihata, Chisa Shinsugi, Kayo Ueda, Akinori Takami, Chiho Watanabe. Particulate matter modifies the association between airborne pollen and daily medical consultations for pollinosis in Tokyo. Science of the Total Environment. 2014; 499: 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.08.045
- Ng CFS, Hashizume M, Obase Y, Doi M, Tamura K, Tomari S, Kawano T, Fukushima C, Matsuse H, Chung Y, Kim Y, Kunimitsu K, Kohno S, Mukae H. Associations of chemical composition and sources of PM2.5 with lung function of severe asthmatic adults in a low air pollution environment of urban Nagasaki, Japan. Environ Pollut. 2019;252(Pt A):599-606. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2019.05.117.
- Kim Y, Ng CFS, Chung Y, Kim H, Honda Y, Guo YL, Lim YH, Chen BY, Page LA, Hashizume M. Air pollution and suicide in 10 cities in northeast Asia: A time-stratified case-crossover analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2018;126(3):037002. doi: 10.1289/EHP2223.
- Nakamura T, Hashizume M, Ueda K, Shimizu A, Takeuchi A, Kubo T, Hashimoto K, Moriuchi H, Odajima H, Kitajima T, Tashiro K, Tomimasu K, Nishiwaki Y. Asian dust and pediatric emergency visits due to bronchial asthma and respiratory diseases in Nagasaki, Japan. J Epidemiol. 2016;26(11):593-601.
- Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Kayo Ueda, Hiroshi Nitta, Ayano Takeuchi. Seasonal variation in the acute effects of ozone on premature mortality among elderly Japanese. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 2013; 185(10): 8767–76.
- Kayo Ueda, Chris Fook Sheng Ng, Hiroshi Nitta. The health effects of photochemical oxidant: results of 20 cities study and overseas findings. Journal of Japan Society for Atmospheric Environment. 2012; 47(1): A9–A11.