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Human thermophysiological models: Quantification of uncertainty in the output quantities of the passive system due to uncertainties in the control equations of the active system via the Monte Carlo method. J Therm Biol 2021; 100:103045. [PMID: 34503792 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2021.103045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 04/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Uncertainty propagation analysis in the Fiala thermophysiological model is performed by the Monte Carlo Method. The uncertainties of the output quantities of the passive system, due to imported uncertainties in the coefficients of the control equations of the active system, caused by the variation of the experimental data, are computed. The developed and implemented in-house code is accordingly validated. The effect of the input uncertainties, in each of the four main responses (shivering, vasodilatation, vasoconstriction, sweating) of the active system, is separately examined by simulating the human exposure from neutral conditions to cold and hot environments. It is predicted that the maximum output uncertainties of the response mechanisms may be of the same order of magnitude as the imported ones, while the corresponding maximum uncertainties in core and skin temperatures always remain less than 2%. The maximum absolute deviations of the rectal (core) temperatures from their estimated mean values may be up to 0.72 °C and 0.22 °C, due to input uncertainties in shivering and sweating respectively, while the corresponding deviations due to uncertainties in vasomotion processes are negligible. The deviations, particularly the ones due to shivering, are significant, since differences of a few tenths of a degree may have large impact in human health. The maximum absolute deviations of the skin temperatures are 0.42 °C in the hands due to uncertainties in shivering and 0.69 °C in the feet due to uncertainties in vasodilatation. These deviations are less significant than the core ones, but they may still affect human thermal sensation and comfort. The present analysis provides a better insight in the dynamic response of the model and indicates which response mechanism needs to be further investigated by more accurate estimates in order to improve model reliability. It can be also applied in other human thermophysiological models.
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Urban A, Di Napoli C, Cloke HL, Kyselý J, Pappenberger F, Sera F, Schneider R, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Acquaotta F, Ragettli MS, Íñiguez C, Tobias A, Indermitte E, Orru H, Jaakkola JJK, Ryti NRI, Pascal M, Huber V, Schneider A, De' Donato F, Michelozzi P, Gasparrini A. Evaluation of the ERA5 reanalysis-based Universal Thermal Climate Index on mortality data in Europe. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2021; 198:111227. [PMID: 33974842 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111227] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Air temperature has been the most commonly used exposure metric in assessing relationships between thermal stress and mortality. Lack of the high-quality meteorological station data necessary to adequately characterize the thermal environment has been one of the main limitations for the use of more complex thermal indices. Global climate reanalyses may provide an ideal platform to overcome this limitation and define complex heat and cold stress conditions anywhere in the world. In this study, we explored the potential of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) based on ERA5 - the latest global climate reanalysis from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) - as a health-related tool. Employing a novel ERA5-based thermal comfort dataset ERA5-HEAT, we investigated the relationships between the UTCI and daily mortality data in 21 cities across 9 European countries. We used distributed lag nonlinear models to assess exposure-response relationships between mortality and thermal conditions in individual cities. We then employed meta-regression models to pool the results for each city into four groups according to climate zone. To evaluate the performance of ERA5-based UTCI, we compared its effects on mortality with those for the station-based UTCI data. In order to assess the additional effect of the UTCI, the performance of ERA5-and station-based air temperature (T) was evaluated. Whilst generally similar heat- and cold-effects were observed for the ERA5-and station-based data in most locations, the important role of wind in the UTCI appeared in the results. The largest difference between any two datasets was found in the Southern European group of cities, where the relative risk of mortality at the 1st percentile of daily mean temperature distribution (1.29 and 1.30 according to the ERA5 vs station data, respectively) considerably exceeded the one for the daily mean UTCI (1.19 vs 1.22). These differences were mainly due to the effect of wind in the cold tail of the UTCI distribution. The comparison of exposure-response relationships between ERA5-and station-based data shows that ERA5-based UTCI may be a useful tool for definition of life-threatening thermal conditions in locations where high-quality station data are not available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleš Urban
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Claudia Di Napoli
- School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom; Forecast Department, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom.
| | - Hannah L Cloke
- Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom; Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom; Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden; Centre of Natural Hazards and Disaster Science, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jan Kyselý
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic; Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Florian Pappenberger
- Forecast Department, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco Sera
- Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Rochelle Schneider
- Forecast Department, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom; Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Ф-Lab, European Space Agency (ESA-ESRIN), Frascati, Italy; The Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ana M Vicedo-Cabrera
- Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | | | - Martina S Ragettli
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Carmen Íñiguez
- Department of Statistics and Computational Research, Universitat de València, València, Spain
| | - Aurelio Tobias
- Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research, Spanish Council for Scientific Research, Barcelona, Spain; School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Ene Indermitte
- Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Hans Orru
- Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Jouni J K Jaakkola
- Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland; Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research (CERH), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu (MRC Oulu), Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Niilo R I Ryti
- Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research (CERH), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Medical Research Center Oulu (MRC Oulu), Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland; Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Mathilde Pascal
- Santé Publique France, Department of Environmental Health, French National Public Health Agency, Saint Maurice, France
| | - Veronika Huber
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany; Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Alexandra Schneider
- Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Francesca De' Donato
- Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service ASL Roma 1, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Michelozzi
- Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service ASL Roma 1, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Gasparrini
- Department of Public Health, Environments and Society, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; The Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Centre for Statistical Methodology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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Ohashi Y, Katsuta T, Tani H, Okabayashi T, Miyahara S, Miyashita R. Human cold stress of strong local-wind "Hijikawa-arashi" in Japan, based on the UTCI index and thermo-physiological responses. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY 2018; 62:1241-1250. [PMID: 29602964 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-018-1529-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2017] [Revised: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 03/14/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
We investigated the cold stress caused by a strong local wind called "Hijikawa-arashi," through in situ vital measurements and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). This wind is a very interesting winter phenomenon, localized in an area within 1 km of the seashore in Ozu City, Ehime Prefecture in Japan. When a strong Hijikawa-arashi (HA) occurred at 14-15 m s-1, the UTCI decreased to - 30 °C along the bridge where commuting residents are the most exposed to strong and cold winds. On the bridge, most participants in our experiment felt "very cold" or "extremely cold." The UTCI of HA can be predicted from a multiple regression equation using wind speed and air temperature. The cold HA wind is also harmful to human thermo-physiological responses. It leads to higher blood pressure and increased heart rate, both of which act as cardiovascular stress triggers. Increases of 6-10 mmHg and 3-6 bpm for every 10 °C reduction in UTCI were seen on all observational days, including HA and non-HA days. In fact, the participants' body skin temperatures decreased by approximately 1.2 to 1.7 °C for every 10 °C reduction in UTCI. Thus, the UTCI variation due to the HA outbreak corresponded well with the cold sensation and thermo-physiological responses in humans. This result suggests that daily UTCI monitoring enables the prediction of thermo-physiological responses to the HA cold stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukitaka Ohashi
- Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan.
| | - Takumi Katsuta
- Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan
| | - Haruka Tani
- Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan
| | - Taiki Okabayashi
- Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama, 700-0005, Japan
| | - Satoshi Miyahara
- Institute of Environmental Informatics, IDEA Consultants, Inc., 2-2-2 Hayabuchi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 224-0025, Japan
| | - Ryoji Miyashita
- Institute of Environmental Informatics, IDEA Consultants, Inc., 2-2-2 Hayabuchi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 224-0025, Japan
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Gao C, Kuklane K, Östergren PO, Kjellstrom T. Occupational heat stress assessment and protective strategies in the context of climate change. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY 2018; 62:359-371. [PMID: 28444505 PMCID: PMC5854720 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-017-1352-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 04/01/2017] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Global warming will unquestionably increase the impact of heat on individuals who work in already hot workplaces in hot climate areas. The increasing prevalence of this environmental health risk requires the improvement of assessment methods linked to meteorological data. Such new methods will help to reveal the size of the problem and design appropriate interventions at individual, workplace and societal level. The evaluation of occupational heat stress requires measurement of four thermal climate factors (air temperature, humidity, air velocity and heat radiation); available weather station data may serve this purpose. However, the use of meteorological data for occupational heat stress assessment is limited because weather stations do not traditionally and directly measure some important climate factors, e.g. solar radiation. In addition, local workplace environmental conditions such as local heat sources, metabolic heat production within the human body, and clothing properties, all affect the exchange of heat between the body and the environment. A robust occupational heat stress index should properly address all these factors. This article reviews and highlights a number of selected heat stress indices, indicating their advantages and disadvantages in relation to meteorological data, local workplace environments, body heat production and the use of protective clothing. These heat stress and heat strain indices include Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, Discomfort Index, Predicted Heat Strain index, and Universal Thermal Climate Index. In some cases, individuals may be monitored for heat strain through physiological measurements and medical supervision prior to and during exposure. Relevant protective and preventive strategies for alleviating heat strain are also reviewed and proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuansi Gao
- Thermal Environment Laboratory, Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
| | - Kalev Kuklane
- Thermal Environment Laboratory, Division of Ergonomics and Aerosol Technology, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Per-Olof Östergren
- Social Medicine and Global Health, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Tord Kjellstrom
- Centre for Technology Research and Innovation (CETRI Ltd), Lemesos, Cyprus
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