Air pollution is one of the world’s most serious environmental problems. Air pollutants continue to be major contributing factors to chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma), cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. We conducted a systematic literature review to provide some insight into what we currently know about the health problems associated with various air pollutants (especially ozone and particulate matter) and their relationship in promoting chronic respiratory diseases. Additionally, an overview of methodology used for evaluating the impact of air pollution on chronic respiratory diseases was done. A literature search targeted studies on the association between the effects of air pollution and respiratory health endpoints published between January 2000 and June 2010.
On a small closed population of Mis sheep the relationship was studied of the influence of inbreeding on body weight growth from birth to the age of 18 months and sperm DNA fragmentation in rams. Two groups of male lambs were used. First was composed of outbred, while the second of inbred animals with inbreeding coefficient over 25%. Differences in body weight and daily gain related to the presence of inbreeding in the pedigree were not found significant (P>0.05). The mean value of sperm chromatin damage in rams of the outbred group varied from 1.93 to 12.37%, (mean = 7.32%) and in inbred group from 13.76 to 37.67% (mean = 25.23%). Significant difference was identified between the outbred and inbred rams in the mean percentage of sperm damaged (P<0.01).