New scientific evidence on cardiovascular health risks supports recommendations for stronger European air quality policies. The European research cluster ExpoHealthNet has published its first joint policy brief, “Closing the Ultrafine Particle Gap in EU Air Quality Law”, bringing together scientific evidence from seven Horizon Europe-funded research projects. The brief highlights significant gaps in current European… Continue reading MARKOPOLO contributes to ExpoHealthNet’s First Joint Policy Brief on Ultrafine Particle Pollution
Author: Vanessa Köhler
FEBS Advanced Lecture Course 2026
28 September – 4 October 2026 | Spetses Island, Greece The FEBS Advanced Lecture Course “Redox Signaling in the Physiopathology of the Human Body”, jointly organised with SFRR-Europe, brought together around 20 international experts and 60 young researchers to explore the role of redox signaling in health and disease. The programme covered key topics including… Continue reading FEBS Advanced Lecture Course 2026
From brain 🧠 to heart 🫀 — and back again.
On October 2nd, our MARKOPOLO coordinator Andreas Daiber took the stage at the FEBS Advanced Lecture Course 2026 in Spetses, Greece, with the talk: “Stress response pathways and redox changes in the cardiovascular system – role of the brain-heart axis”. We are proud to see our project contributing to the international scientific community! 🌍
World Heart Day: A healthy heart needs a healthy environment
On World Heart Day, we highlight an often overlooked factor in cardiovascular health: the environment we live in. Air pollution, including fine and ultrafine particulate matter, and traffic noise are important environmental stressors that can affect our cardiovascular and brain health. Yet, their combined effects and the underlying biological mechanisms are not yet fully understood.… Continue reading World Heart Day: A healthy heart needs a healthy environment
Residential road traffic noise and incidence of depression in Denmark: a nationwide cohort study
Background: Evidence linking transportation noise to depression is limited. We investigated associations between road traffic noise at the most (LdenMax) and least (LdenMin) exposed façades and depression risk in Denmark. Methods: We established a nationwide cohort of 2,941,456 adults aged 25–65 years and for sensitivity analyses a nested questionnaire-based cohort, the Danish National Health Survey… Continue reading Residential road traffic noise and incidence of depression in Denmark: a nationwide cohort study
Lärm und psychische Gesundheit: Epidemiologie, Mechanismen und Handlungsansätze / Noise and Mental Health: Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Interventions
Objective: This review summarizes current evidence on the effects of noise exposure on men-tal health and discusses psychological intervention approaches for individual coping. Methods: Narrative review based on a literature search in PubMed on noise exposure andmental health as well as intervention approaches, supplemented by expert knowledge and ad-ditional relevant literature. Results: Metaanalyses show an… Continue reading Lärm und psychische Gesundheit: Epidemiologie, Mechanismen und Handlungsansätze / Noise and Mental Health: Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Interventions
MARKOPOLO at the Danish National Noise Day
Monday 28th September, Mette Sørensen presented new MARKOPOLO results at the Danish National Noise Day, showing the importance of having a quiet façade for protecting against noise-induced depression, to an audience of more than 150 key stakeholders, including officials from the Danish Ministry of the Environment, the Danish EPA, the Danish Road Directorate, local politicians,… Continue reading MARKOPOLO at the Danish National Noise Day
Acute co-exposure to urban particulate matter and aircraft noise elicits lung-centered immune-redox proteomic remodeling in mice
Particulate air pollution and transportation noise frequently co-occur, but their combined molecular effects are poorly defined. We used data-independent acquisition (DIA) LC-MS/MS proteomics to profile lung, brain, and heart from male C57BL/6J mice exposed for 3 days to NIST SRM 1648a urban particulate matter (PM), aircraft noise (NOISE), PM + NOISE, or control conditions. The… Continue reading Acute co-exposure to urban particulate matter and aircraft noise elicits lung-centered immune-redox proteomic remodeling in mice
Non optimal temperatures and chronic cardiovascular diseases
Extreme temperatures are emerging as major climate-sensitive drivers of chronic cardiovascular disease (CVD). Global warming has increased the frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves, while substantial cold-related risk persists, particularly in poorly insulated and socioeconomically vulnerable settings. Together, non-optimal temperatures account for millions of deaths annually, with a large and growing share attributable to CVD.… Continue reading Non optimal temperatures and chronic cardiovascular diseases
No pollutant acts alone: environmental co-exposure and the cardiovascular exposome
Environmental pollution is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, people are rarely exposed to a single pollutant. Air pollution, noise, heat, light pollution, chemicals, and micro- and nanoplastics often occur together and may interact to adversely affect cardiovascular health. This review highlights the concept of the environmental exposome, which considers the combined effects… Continue reading No pollutant acts alone: environmental co-exposure and the cardiovascular exposome
