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The evaluation of the contribution of coal-fired thermo-electrical power plants to particulate matter (PM) is important for environmental management, for evaluation of health risks, and for its potential influence on climate. The application of receptor models, based on chemical composition of PM, is not straightforward because the chemical profile of this source is loaded with Si and Al and it is collinear with the profile of crustal particles. In this work, a new methodology, based on Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) receptor model and Si/Al diagnostic ratio, specifically developed to discriminate the coal-fired power plant contribution from the crustal contribution is discussed. The methodology was applied to daily PM10 samples collected in central Italy in proximity of a large coal-fired power plant. Samples were simultaneously collected at three sites between 2.8 and 5.8km from the power plant: an urban site, an urban background site, and a rural site. Chemical characterization included OC/EC concentrations, by thermo-optical method, ions concentrations (NH4(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+), SO4(2-), NO3(-), Cl(-)), by high performances ion chromatography, and metals concentrations (Si, Al, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Br), by Energy dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF). Results showed an average primary contribution of the power plant of 2% (±1%) in the area studied, with limited differences between the sites. Robustness of the methodology was tested inter-comparing the results with two independent evaluations: the first obtained using the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) receptor model and the second correlating the Si-Al factor/source contribution of PMF with wind directions and Calpuff/Calmet dispersion model results. The contribution of the power plant to secondary ammonium sulphate was investigated using an approach that integrates dispersion model results and the receptor models (PMF and CMB), a sulphate contribution of 1.5% of PM10 (±0.3%) as average of the three sites was observed., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Recently, inhalable particulate matter has been reported to carry microorganisms responsible for human allergy and respiratory disease. The unique geographical environment and adverse weather conditions of Urumqi cause double pollution of dust and smog, but research on the microbial content of the atmosphere has not been commenced. In this study, 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing were conducted to investigate the microbial composition of Urumqi's PM1 and PM10 pollutants in winter. Results showed that the bacterial community is mainly composed of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria accounted for the most proportion which was significant difference in some aforementioned studies. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota constitute the main part of the fungal microbial community. The difference of bacterial relative abundance in sample point is greater than in particle sizes. The sequences of several pathogenic bacteria and opportunistic pathogens were also detected, such as Acinetobacter, Delftia, Serratia, Chryseobacterium, which may impact on immunocompromised populations (elderly, children and postoperative convalescence patients), and some fungal genera may cause several plant diseases. Our findings may serve an important reference value in the global air microbial propagation and air microbial research in desert., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Over the last decades, changes in dust storms characteristics have been observed in different parts of the world. The changing frequency of dust storms in the southeastern Mediterranean has led to growing concern regarding atmospheric PM10 levels. A classic time series additive model was used in order to describe and evaluate the changes in PM10 concentrations during dust storm days in different cities in Israel, which is located at the margins of the global dust belt. The analysis revealed variations in the number of dust events and PM10 concentrations during 2001-2015. A significant increase in PM10 concentrations was identified since 2009 in the arid city of Beer Sheva, southern Israel. Average PM10 concentrations during dust days before 2009 were 406, 312, and 364 μg m(-3) (median 337, 269,302) for Beer Sheva, Rehovot (central Israel) and Modi'in (eastern Israel), respectively. After 2009 the average concentrations in these cities during dust storms were 536, 466, and 428 μg m(-3) (median 382, 335, 338), respectively. Regression analysis revealed associations between PM10 variations and seasonality, wind speed, as well as relative humidity. The trends and periodicity are stronger in the southern part of Israel, where higher PM10 concentrations are found. Since 2009 dust events became more extreme with much higher daily and hourly levels. The findings demonstrate that in the arid area variations of dust storms can be quantified easier through PM10 levels over a relatively short time scale of several years., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Saccharides are important constituents of atmospheric particulate matter (PM). In order to better understand the sources and seasonal variations of saccharides in aerosols in Beijing, China, saccharide composition was measured in ambient PM samples collected at an urban site in Beijing. The highest concentrations of total saccharides in Beijing were observed in autumn, while an episode with abnormal high total saccharide levels was observed from 15 to 23 June, 2011, due to extensive agricultural residue burning in northern China during the wheat harvest season. Compared to the other two categories of saccharides, sugars and sugar alcohols, anhydrosugars were the predominant saccharide group, indicating that biomass burning contributions to Beijing urban aerosol were significant. Ambient sugar and sugar alcohol levels in summer and autumn were higher than those in spring and winter, while they were more abundant in PM2.5 during winter time. Levoglucosan was the most abundant saccharide compound in both PM2.5 and PM10, the annual contributions of which to total measured saccharides in PM2.5 and PM10 were 61.5% and 54.1%, respectively. To further investigate the sources of the saccharides in ambient aerosols in Beijing, the PM10 datasets were subjected to positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis. Based on the objective function to be minimized and the interpretable factors identified by PMF, six factors appeared to be optimal as to the probable origin of saccharides in the atmosphere in Beijing, including biomass burning, soil or dust, isoprene SOA and the direct release of airborne fungal spores and pollen., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A work on the characterization of the air quality in the city of Turin was carried out in different sampling periods, reflecting early autumn and winter conditions, including a snow episode during the early 2012 European cold wave. The concentrations of 13 elements in eight size fractions of the aerosol were determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The collection was carried out with a Andersen MkII cascade impactor. The size distribution of elements allowed the identification of three main behavioural types: (a) elements associated with coarse particles (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo and Sn); (b) elements found within fine particles (As, Co, Pb and V) and (c) elements spread throughout the entire size range (Ni and Zn). Principal Component Analysis allowed to examine the relationships between the inorganic elements and to infer about their origin. Chemometric investigation and assessment of similarity in the distribution led to similar conclusions on the sources. The concentration of gaseous trace pollutants (O3, NOx and VOCs) was determined. The concentrations of these pollutants are scarcely correlated with the metal contents of all the size classes of the PM. The differences found in the O3, NO2 and VOCs levels of the two winter campaigns due to the high photochemical reactivity in the period after the snow episode, do not reflect in differences in the metals distribution in the PM. Since PM metals, NOx and VOC have common sources, this behaviour is due to relevant differences in the transformation and deposition processes., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Particulate matter (PM) has been of great concern in China due to the increasing haze pollution in recent years. In 2012, the Chinese national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) was amended with a "more strict" regulation on the PM concentrations, i.e., 35 and 70 µg/m(3) for annual PM2.5 and PM10 averages, respectively (Grade-Ⅱ, GB3095-2012). To evaluate the potential of China to attain such new NAAQS and provide a more generalized chemical profile of PM in China, a comprehensive statistical analysis was carried out based on the published data of parallel PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations and chemical compositions of PM2.5 and PM10. The results show that most of the measured concentrations far exceed the new NAAQS. PM2.5 and PM10 show a strong positive correlation (R(2) = 0.87, p < 0.01) with PM2.5 accounting for about 65% of PM10, suggesting that the abatement of PM2.5 is crucial for reducing PM pollution and hence improving air quality in China. Organic carbon (OC), sulfate and crustal species are the three major components of PM. The NO3(-)/SO4(2-) ratios are 0.43 ± 0.26 in PM2.5 and 0.56 ± 0.29 in PM10, and the OC/EC ratios are 3.63 ± 1.73 in PM2.5 and 4.17 ± 2.09 in PM10, signifying that the stationary emissions from coal combustion remain the main PM source. An evaluation of PM2.5 situation in current China was carried out and the results show that it would take about 27 years to meet the limit value of 35 µg/m(3) in the revised standard, implying a rigorous challenge in PM2.5 control in China in the future., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, characterized by recurrent relapses of inflammation that cause mild to severe disability. Exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) has been associated with acute increases in systemic inflammatory responses and neuroinflammation. In the present study, we hypothesize that exposure to PM<10μm in diameter (PM10) might increase the occurrence of MS-related hospitalizations., Methods: We obtained daily concentrations of PM10 from 53 monitoring sites covering the study area and we identified 8287 MS-related hospitalization through hospital admission-discharge records of the Lombardy region, Italy, between 2001 and 2009. We used a Poisson regression analysis to investigate the association between exposure to PM10 and risk of hospitalization., Results: A higher RR of hospital admission for MS relapse was associated with exposure to PM10 at different time intervals. The maximum effect of PM10 on MS hospitalization was found for exposure between days 0 and 7: Hospital admission for MS increased 42% (95%CI 1.39-1.45) on the days preceded by one week with PM10 levels in the highest quartile. The p-value for trend across quartiles was<0.001., Conclusions: These data support the hypothesis that air pollution may have a role in determining MS occurrence and relapses. Our findings could open new avenues for determining the pathogenic mechanisms of MS and potentially be applied to other autoimmune diseases., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Endocrine disrupting chemicals represent a broad class of compounds, are widespread in the environment and can pose severe health effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the overall estrogen activating potential of PM10 air samples at an urban location with high traffic incidence in Flanders, using a human in vitro cell bioassay. PM10 samples (n = 36) were collected on glass fiber filters every six days between April 2013 and January 2014 using a high-volume sampler. Extraction was executed with a hexane/acetone mixture before analysis using a recombinant estrogen-responsive human ovarian carcinoma (BG1Luc4E2) cell line. In addition, several samples and procedural blanks were extracted with ultra-pure ethanol or acetonitrile to compare extraction efficiencies. Results were expressed as bioanalytical equivalents (BEQs) in femtogram 17β-estradiol equivalent (fg E2-Eq) per cubic meter of air. High fluctuations in estrogenic activity were observed during the entire sampling period, with mean and median BEQs of 50.7 and 35.9 fg E2-Eq m(-)(3), respectively. Estrogenic activity was measured in more than 70% of the samples and several sample extracts showed both high BEQs and high cytotoxicity, which could not be related to black carbon, PM10 or heavy metal concentrations. At this moment, it remains unclear which substances cause this toxicity, but comparison of results obtained with different extraction solvents indicated that acetone/hexane extracts contained more compounds that were cytotoxic and suppressive of responses than those extracted using ultra-pure ethanol. Although more research is needed, the use of a more polar extraction solvent seems to be advisable., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A few studies have suggested an association between maternal exposure to ambient air pollution from vehicular traffic and risk of congenital anomalies in the offspring, but epidemiologic evidence is neither strong nor entirely consistent. In a population-based case-control study in a Northern Italy community encompassing 228 cases of birth defects and 228 referent newborns, we investigated if maternal exposure to PM10 and benzene from vehicular traffic during early pregnancy, as estimated through a dispersion model, was associated with excess teratogenic risk. In conditional logistic regression analysis, and with adjustment for the other pollutant, we found that higher exposure to PM10 but not benzene was associated with increased risk of birth defects overall. Anomaly categories showing the strongest dose-response relation with PM10 exposure were musculoskeletal and chromosomal abnormalities but not cardiovascular defects, with Down syndrome being among the specific abnormalities showing the strongest association, though risk estimates particularly for the less frequent defects were statistically very unstable. Further adjustment in the regression model for potential confounders did not considerably alter the results. All the associations were stronger for average levels of PM10 than for their maximal level. Findings of this study give some support for an excess teratogenic risk following maternal exposure during pregnancy to PM10, but not benzene. Such association appears to be limited to some birth defect categories., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study evaluates AERMOD and CALPUFF dispersion calculations of particulate matter emissions from stone quarries in two mountainous regions against TSP and PM10 measurements, using both observational and WRF-modeled meteorological data. Due to different model parameterization, AERMOD dispersion predictions were in better agreement with the measured concentrations than those obtained by CALPUFF. As expected, the smaller the distance between the meteorological station, the source (quarry) and the receptors, the better the predictions of both AERMOD and CALPUFF. In contrast, using in-situ wind field obtained by runs of the WRF meteorological model for the complex terrain study area provided, in general, less accurate dispersion estimates than when using (even remote) meteorological observations. In particular, using the three-dimensional WRF-modeled wind field within CALPUFF did not provide any advantage over using the two-dimensional wind field, which is the common procedure of AERMOD and CALPUFF. Dry deposition was more significant for ambient concentration estimation in AERMOD than in CALPUFF., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Quartz particles are a toxic component of airborne particulate matter (PM). Quartz concentrations were analyzed by X-ray diffraction in eighty-seven airborne PM samples collected from three locations in Beijing before, during, and after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in 2014. The results showed that the mean concentrations of quartz in PM samples from the two urban sites were considerably higher than those from the rural site. The quartz concentrations in samples collected after the APEC meeting, when the pollution restriction lever was lifted, were higher than those in the samples collected before or during the APEC meeting. The quartz concentrations ranged from 0.97 to 13.2 μg/m(3), which were among the highest values amid those reported from other countries. The highest quartz concentration exceeded the Californian Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reference exposure level and was close to the occupational threshold limit values for occupational settings. Moreover, a correlation analysis showed that quartz concentrations were positively correlated with concentrations of pollution parameters PM10, PM2.5, SO2 and NOx, but were negatively correlated with O3 concentration. The results suggest that the airborne quartz particles may potentially pose health risks to the general population of Beijing., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This study presents the observations of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at an agricultural site from April to October 2012 in Dehui city, China. Ambient air was sampled by filter-based samplers and online PM monitors. The filter samples were analyzed to determine the abundance of ionic/inorganic elements, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). The daily PM10 concentrations varied significantly over the monitoring period, with an average of 168±63 (in the range of 52-277)μg/m(3) during the land preparation/planting period (26 April-15 June), 85±65 (36-228)μg/m(3) during the growing season (16 June-25 September), and 207±88 (103-310)μg/m(3) during the harvest period (26 September-31 October). PM2.5 accounted for 44%, 56% and 66% of atmospheric PM10 during these periods, respectively. The PM10 diurnal variation showed a distinct peak from 16:00 to 21:00 (LST) during the growing and harvesting seasons, while a gradual increase throughout the daytime until 17:00 was observed during tilling season. Mineral dust elements (Al, Ca, Fe, and Mg) dominated the PM10 chemical composition during the tilling season; OC, NO3(-), SO4(2-) and NH4(+) during the growing season; and carbonaceous species (i.e., OC and EC) during the harvesting season. Our results indicate that the soil particles emitted by farm tillage and organic matter released from straw burning are the two most significant sources of PM10 emissions contributing to the recurring high pollution events in this region. Therefore, development of agricultural PM inventories from soil tillage and straw burning is prioritized to support air quality modeling., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Assessment of the correlation between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and particulate matter (PM) is critical to satellite remote sensing of air quality, e.g. ground PM10 and ground PM2.5. This study evaluates the impacts of aloft-aerosol-plume and aerosol-type on the correlation of AOD-PM by using synergistic measurement of a polarization-sensitive Raman-Mie lidar, CIMEL sunphotometer (SP) and TEOM PM samplers, as well as the satellite MODIS and CALIPSO, during April to July 2011 in Nanjing city (32.05(○)N/118.77(○)E), southeast China. Aloft-aerosol-layer and aerosol types (e.g. dust and non-dust or urban aerosol) are identified with the range-resolved polarization lidar and SP measurements. The results indicate that the correlations for AOD-PM10 and AOD-PM2.5 can be much improved when screening out the aloft-aerosol-layer. The linear regression slopes show significant differences for the dust and non-dust dominant aerosols in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). In addition, we evaluate the recent released MODIS-AOD product (Collection 6) from the "dark-target" (DT) and "deep-blue" (DB) algorithms and their correlation with the PM in Nanjing urban area. The results verify that the MODIS-DT AODs show a good correlation (R = 0.89) with the SP-AOD but with a systematic overestimate. In contrast, the MODIS-DB AOD shows a moderate correlation (R = 0.66) with the SP-AOD but with a smaller regression intercept (0.07). Furthermore, the moderately high correlations between the MODIS-AOD and PM10 (PM2.5) are indicated, which suggests the feasibility of PM estimate using the MODIS-AOD in Nanjing city., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An increasing number of epidemiological studies suggest that adverse health effects of air pollution may be related to particulate matter (PM) composition, particularly trace metals. However, we lack comprehensive data on the spatial distribution of these elements. We measured PM2.5 and PM10 in twenty study areas across Europe in three seasonal two-week periods over a year using Harvard impactors and standardized protocols. In each area, we selected street (ST), urban (UB) and regional background (RB) sites (totaling 20) to characterize local spatial variability. Elemental composition was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis of all PM2.5 and PM10 filters. We selected a priori eight (Cu, Fe, K, Ni, S, Si, V, Zn) well-detected elements of health interest, which also roughly represented different sources including traffic, industry, ports, and wood burning. PM elemental composition varied greatly across Europe, indicating different regional influences. Average street to urban background ratios ranged from 0.90 (V) to 1.60 (Cu) for PM2.5 and from 0.93 (V) to 2.28 (Cu) for PM10. Our selected PM elements were variably correlated with the main pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, PM2.5 absorbance, NO2 and NOx) across Europe: in general, Cu and Fe in all size fractions were highly correlated (Pearson correlations above 0.75); Si and Zn in the coarse fractions were modestly correlated (between 0.5 and 0.75); and the remaining elements in the various size fractions had lower correlations (around 0.5 or below). This variability in correlation demonstrated the distinctly different spatial distributions of most of the elements. Variability of PM10&#95;Cu and Fe was mostly due to within-study area differences (67% and 64% of overall variance, respectively) versus between-study area and exceeded that of most other traffic-related pollutants, including NO2 and soot, signaling the importance of non-tailpipe (e.g., brake wear) emissions in PM., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The EU daily PM10 limit-value of 50 μg m(-3) is frequently breached in the center of Athens, Greece. A total of 852 daily exceedances were recorded in the city-center during the 6-year period 2001-2006. These exceedances were more frequent in winter, followed by spring and autumn. For the needs of the study, the PM10 episodes (i.e., concentrations 30% above the median value) were grouped in two categories: (a) the City-Center episodes and (b) the Wider Metropolitan Area episodes. It was assumed that City-Center episodes occurred when elevated PM10 values were measured in the city-center exclusively, whereas Wider Metropolitan Area episodes occurred when high PM10 concentrations were also measured in the suburbs. Then back-trajectory cluster analysis was performed in an attempt to associate high PM10 levels with local dispersion or long-range transport. The City-Center episodes were associated according to the origin of air parcels with six types of air-masses (slow and fast moving from northern, northeasterly and southern directions, or stagnated around Athens) and were mainly due to traffic or other local sources, whereas the Wider Metropolitan Area episodes were mainly associated with air-masses coming from southern directions and were linked to long-range transport. On the whole, the analysis provided evidence of Sahara-dust events and sea-spray transportation., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Traffic vehicles are a main source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in urban area. It is vital to understand PAH gas-particle partitioning in real traffic environment and assess PAH vehicular emission factors in developing China. Concentrations of particulate matter, carbonaceous products, gaseous and particulate PAHs were measured during 2011-2012 in a road tunnel of Shanghai, China. Time variation of them reflected basic traffic operation of the tunnel. PAHs approached equilibrium between gas and particle phases and the partitioning was predicted better by a dual sorption model combining absorption into organic matter and adsorption onto black carbon. The influence of black carbon adsorption on the partitioning behavior of PAHs was important. The difference in isomer ratios of gaseous and particulate PAHs was attributed to PAH contributions from different traffic-related PAHs sources. Real-world vehicle emission factors of gaseous and particulate PAHs were quantified based on fuel burned model and vehicle kilometer traveled model., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this work was to provide a chemical characterization of atmospheric particles collected in the vicinity of a steelmaking industry and to identify the sources that affect PM10 levels. A total of 94 PM samples were collected in two sampling campaigns that occurred in February and June/July of 2011. PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 were analyzed for a total of 22 elements by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis and Particle Induced X-ray Emission. The concentrations of water soluble ions in PM10 were measured by Ion Chromatography and Indophenol-Blue Spectrophotometry. Positive Matrix Factorization receptor model was used to identify sources of particulate matter and to determine their mass contribution to PM10. Seven main groups of sources were identified: marine aerosol identified by Na and Cl (22%), steelmaking and sinter plant represented by As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, Pb, Sb and Zn (11%), sinter plant stack identified by NH4(+), K and Pb (12%), an unidentified Br source (1.8%), secondary aerosol from coke making and blast furnace (19%), fugitive emissions from the handling of raw material, sinter plant and vehicles dust resuspension identified by Al, Ca, La, Si, Ti and V (14%) and sinter plant and blast furnace associated essentially with Fe and Mn (21%)., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

While there is growing evidence that air pollution reduces fetal growth, results are inconclusive with respect to the gestational window of effect. We investigated maternal exposure to particulate matter (PM10) in association with birth weight and fetus growth with a focus on the shape of the association and gestational age at birth as a potential effect modifier. The study population consisted of 525,635 singleton live births in Flanders (Belgium) between 1999 and 2009. PM10 exposure at maternal residence was averaged over various time windows. We used robust linear and logistic regression to estimate the effect of PM10 on birth weight and small for gestational age (SGA). Segmented regression models were applied for non-linear associations. Among moderately preterm (32-36 weeks) and term (>36 weeks) births, we found significant lower birth weight for all studied time windows. The estimated reduction in birth weight for a 10 µg/m(3) increase in average PM10 during pregnancy was 39.0 g (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.4, 51.5 g) for moderately preterm births and 24.0 g (95% CI: 20.9, 27.2g) for term births. The corresponding odds ratios for SGA were 1.19 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.32) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06, 1.12) respectively. Segmented regression models showed stronger effects of PM10 on fetal growth at lower concentrations. Maternal PM10 exposure was significantly associated with a reduction in fetal growth among term and moderately preterm births, with a tendency of stronger effects for the latter and a flattening out of the slope at higher PM10 concentrations., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

A characterization of chemical composition and source contribution of PM10 in three representative environments of southwest Spain related to mining activities (mineral extraction, mining waste and Cu-smelting) has been performed. A study of geochemical anomalies was conducted in the samples collected at the three stations between July 2012 and October 2013. The influence of Cu-smelting processes was compared to other mining activities, where common tracers were identified. The Cu and As concentrations in the study area are higher than in other rural and urban stations of Spain, in which geochemical anomalies of As, Se, Bi, Cd, and Pb have been reported. The results of source contribution showed similar geochemical signatures in the industrial and mining factors. However, the contribution to PM10 is different according to the type of industrial activity. These results have been confirmed performing an arsenic speciation analysis of the PM10 samples, in which the mean extraction efficiency of arsenic depended on the origin of the samples. These finding indicate that the atmospheric particulate matter emitted from Cu-smelting has a high residence time in the atmosphere. This indicates that the Cu-smelter can impact areas of high ecological interest and considered as clean air., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Since a real atmospheric scenario usually represents a system involving multiple pollutants, air pollution studies typically focused on describing adverse effects associated with exposure to individual pollutants cannot reflect actual health risk. Particulate matter (PM10) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are two major pollutants derived from coal combustion processes and co-existing in coal-smoke air pollution, but their potentially synergistic toxicity remains elusive thus far. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic responses of PM10 and SO2, singly and in binary mixtures, using human non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells, followed by clarifying the possible mechanisms for their interaction. The results indicated that the concomitant treatment of PM10 and SO2 at low concentrations led to synergistic injury in terms of cell survival and apoptosis occurrence, while PM10 and SO2 alone at the same concentrations did not cause damage to the cells. Also, radical oxygen species (ROS) production followed by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation was involved in the above synergistic cytotoxicity, which was confirmed by the repression of the actions by an ROS inhibitor (NAC). This implies that assessment of health risk should consider the interactions between ambient PM and gaseous copollutants., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Assessment of the ability of climate policies to produce desired improvements in public health through co-benefits of air pollution reduction can consume resources in both time and research funds. These resources increase significantly as the spatial resolution of models increases. In addition, the level of spatial detail available in macroeconomic models at the heart of climate policy assessments is much lower than that available in traditional human health risk modeling. It is therefore important to determine whether increasing spatial resolution considerably affects risk-based decisions; which kinds of decisions might be affected; and under what conditions they will be affected. Human health risk co-benefits from carbon emissions reductions that bring about concurrent reductions in Particulate Matter (PM10) emissions is therefore examined here at four levels of spatial resolution (Uniform Nation, Uniform Region, Uniform County/city, Health Risk Assessment) in a case study of Taiwan as one of the geographic regions of a global macroeceonomic model, with results that are representative of small, industrialized nations within that global model. A metric of human health risk mortality (YOLL, years of life lost in life expectancy) is compared under assessments ranging from a "uniform simulation" in which there is no spatial resolution of changes in ambient air concentration under a policy to a "highly spatially resolved simulation" (called here Health Risk Assessment). PM10 is chosen in this study as the indicator of air pollution for which risks are assessed due to its significance as a co-benefit of carbon emissions reductions within climate mitigation policy. For the policy examined, the four estimates of mortality in the entirety of Taiwan are 747 YOLL, 834 YOLL, 984 YOLL and 916 YOLL, under Uniform Taiwan, Uniform Region, Uniform County and Health Risk Assessment respectively; or differences of 18%, 9%, 7% if the HRA methodology is taken as the baseline. While these differences are small compared to uncertainties in health risk assessment more generally, the ranks of different regions and of emissions categories as the focus of regulatory efforts estimated at these four levels of spatial resolution are quite different. The results suggest that issues of risk equity within a nation might be missed by the lower levels of spatial resolution, suggesting that low resolution models are suited to calculating national cost-benefit ratios but not as suited to assessing co-benefits of climate policies reflecting intersubject variability in risk, or in identifying sub-national regions and emissions sectors on which to focus attention (although even here, the errors introduced by low spatial resolution are generally less than 40%)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Exposure to ambient particulate matter during pregnancy has been suggested as a risk factor for preterm birth. However results from limited epidemiologic studies have been inconclusive. Very few studies have been conducted in areas with high air pollution levels., Objective: We investigated the hypothesis that high level exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter no larger than 10μm (PM10) during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth., Methods: A birth cohort study was carried out between 2010 and 2012 in Lanzhou, China, including 8969 singleton live births with available information on daily PM10 levels from four monitoring stations, individual exposures during pregnancy were calculated using inverse-distance weighting based on both home and work addresses. Unconditional logistic regression modeling was used to examine the associations between PM10 exposure and risk of preterm birth and its clinical subtypes., Results: Increased risk of very preterm birth was associated with exposure to PM10 during the last two months of pregnancy (OR, 1.07; 95%CI, 1.02-1.13 per 10μg/m(3) increase for last four weeks before delivery; 1.09; 1.02-1.15 for last six weeks before delivery; 1.10; 1.03-1.17 for last eight weeks before delivery). Compared to the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (150μg/m(3)), higher exposure level (≥150μg/m(3)) of PM10 during entire pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of preterm birth (1.48; 1.22-1.81) and the association was higher for medically indicated preterm birth (1.80, 1.24-2.62) during entire pregnancy and for very preterm during last 6weeks before delivery (2.03, 1.11-3.72)., Conclusions and Relevance: Our study supports the hypothesis that exposure to high levels of ambient PM10 increases the risk of preterm birth. Our study also suggests that the risk may vary by clinical subtypes of preterm birth and exposure time windows. Our findings are relevant for health policy makers from China and other regions with high levels of air pollution to facilitate the efforts of reducing air pollution level in order to protect public health., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

PM10 was sampled in a background urban site in Torino, a northern Italian city. PM10 extracts were tested with THP-1 and A-549 cells to evaluate their effects on cell proliferation, LDH activity, TNFα, IL8 and CYP1A1 expression, and genotoxic damage induction (Comet assay). Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), it was observed that (1) the aqueous extracts induced the inhibition of cell proliferation in the warm season that clustered together to total ions, (2) organic extracts determined a winter cell viability reduction and (3) there was a genotoxic effect associated with PAH and metal concentrations. The analysed low PAH levels were unable to induce significant CYP1A1 expression. The results obtained confirmed that PM composition and seasonality play an important role in particle-induced toxicity. The presence of PM10-induced biological effects at a low polluted site suggested that a reduction of PM10 mass did not seem to be sufficient to reduce its toxicity., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A number of studies have focused on urban trees to understand their mitigation capacity of air pollution. In this study particulate matter (PM) deposition on Quercus ilex leaves was quantitatively analyzed in four districts of the City of Terni (Italy) for three periods of the year. Fine (between 0.2 and 2.5 μm) and Large (between 2.5 and 10 μm) PM fractions were analyzed. Mean PM deposition value on Quercus ilex leaves was 20.6 μg cm(-2). Variations in PM deposition correlated with distance to main roads and downwind position relatively to industrial area. Epicuticular waxes were measured and related to accumulated PM. For Fine PM deposited in waxes we observed a higher value (40% of total Fine PM) than Large PM (4% of total Large PM). Results from this study allow to increase our understanding about air pollution interactions with urban vegetation and could be hopefully taken into account when guidelines for local urban green management are realized., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Samples of PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ were synchronously collected from a megacity in China (Chengdu) during the 2011 sampling campaign and then analyzed by an improved three-way factor analysis method based on ME2 (multilinear engine 2), to investigate the contributions and size distributions of the source categories for size segregated particulate matter (PM). Firstly, the synthetic test was performed to evaluate the accuracy of the improved three-way model. The same five source categories with slightly different source profiles were caught. The low AAE (average absolute error) values between the estimated and the synthetic source contributions (<15%) and the approachable estimated PM₂.₅/PM₁₀ ratios with the simulated ratios might indicate that the results of the improved three-way factor analysis might be satisfactory. Then, for the ambient PM samples, the mean levels were 206.65 ± 69.90 μg/m(3) (PM₁₀) and 130.47 ± 43.67 μg/m(3) (PM₂.₅). The average ratio of PM₂.₅/PM₁₀ was 0.63. PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ in Chengdu were influenced by the same source categories and their percentage contributions were in the same order: crustal dust & coal combustion presented the highest percentage contributions, accounting for 58.20% (PM₁₀) and 53.73% (PM2.5); followed by vehicle exhaust & secondary organic carbon (18.45% for PM₁₀ and 21.63% for PM₂.₅), secondary sulfate and nitrate (17.06% for PM₁₀ and 20.91% for PM₂.₅) and cement dust (6.30% for PM₁₀ and 3.73% for PM₂.₅). The source profiles and contributions presented slightly different distributions for PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅, which could better reflect the actual situation. The findings based on the improved three-way factor analysis method may provide clear and deep insights into the sources of synchronously size-resolved PM., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: China has experienced increasingly severe levels of air pollution in the past decades, yet studies on the health effects of air pollution in China at a national study level, remain limited. This study assess the sub-chronic effect of ambient air pollution on respiratory mortality in the 32 largest Chinese cities., Methods: We employ two-way fixed effects panel data analysis and monthly air pollution and mortality panel data. We estimate associations between monthly respiratory mortality and air pollution; pollution is defined as particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10μm. We adjust for city characteristics, seasonality (monthly effects), and weather conditions (precipitation and temperature). We examine the associations between monthly injury mortality and air pollution to check for robustness., Results: The results show positive and statistically significant associations of air pollution with respiratory mortality. During the study period (2006-2010) a 10μg/m(3) increase in monthly PM10 concentration is associated with a 1.05% (95% CI, 0.08-2.04%) increase in adult respiratory mortality rate. The air pollution effect is the most salient in northern cities (with central heating system) during the cold season (October-April); a 10μg/m(3) increase in monthly PM10 concentrations is associated with a 1.62% (95% CI, 0.22-3.46%) increase in the elderly respiratory mortality rate. There is no statistically significant association between the young adult respiratory mortality and air pollution., Conclusions: The elderly respiratory mortality rate in China is positively and statistically significantly associated with air pollution. The effect is largest in northern cities during cold months when coal is burned for heating., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Particulate matter (PM) is a key indicator of air pollution brought into the air by a variety of natural and human activities. As it can be suspended over long time and travel over long distances in the atmosphere, it can cause a wide range of diseases that lead to a significant reduction of human life. The size of particles has been directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Small particles of concern include "inhalable coarse particles" with a diameter of 2.5 to 10μm and "fine particles" smaller than 2.5μm in diameter. As the source-effect relationship of PM remains unclear, it is not easy to define such effects from individual sources such as long-range transport of pollution. Because of the potent role of PM and its associated pollutants, detailed knowledge of their human health impacts is of primary importance. This paper summarizes the basic evidence on the health effects of particulate matter. An in-depth analysis is provided to address the implications for policy-makers so that more stringent strategies can be implemented to reduce air pollution and its health effects., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An experimental assessment of personal exposure to PM10 in 59 office workers was carried out in Dublin, Ireland. 255 samples of 24-h personal exposure were collected in real time over a 28 month period. A series of modelling techniques were subsequently assessed for their ability to predict 24-h personal exposure to PM10. Artificial neural network modelling, Monte Carlo simulation and time-activity based models were developed and compared. The results of the investigation showed that using the Monte Carlo technique to randomly select concentrations from statistical distributions of exposure concentrations in typical microenvironments encountered by office workers produced the most accurate results, based on 3 statistical measures of model performance. The Monte Carlo simulation technique was also shown to have the greatest potential utility over the other techniques, in terms of predicting personal exposure without the need for further monitoring data. Over the 28 month period only a very weak correlation was found between background air quality and personal exposure measurements, highlighting the need for accurate models of personal exposure in epidemiological studies., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

The concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were monitored at a central urban area of Yongsan (YS), Seoul, Korea during 2013. The daily average concentrations of both PM2.5 and PM10 fractions, were 26.6±12.6 and 45.0±20.4 μg m(-3), respectively. The observed PM2.5 concentration slightly exceeded the annual standard value (25 μg m(-3)) set by the Korean Ministry of Environment (KMOE), while that of PM10 was slightly lower than its guideline value (50 μg m(-3)). Comparison of the monthly mean values (μg m(-3)) of both PM fractions showed maximum concentrations in January (PM2.5: 36.9 and PM10: 59.7) and minimum concentrations in September (PM10: 28.1) and October (PM2.5: 14.9). The existence of strong correlations between the concentrations of PM and some gaseous pollutants (e.g., CO, SO2, and NOx) indicated the commonality of contributing source processes, such as traffic and industrial emissions. The results of a back-trajectory (BT) analysis also suggests that the PM pollution in the study area is likely to have been affected by many sources such as Asian dust, volcanic emissions, and industrial activities in the surrounding countries (China, Russia, and Japan)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A new simple, robust and low-cost wet laboratory method for the generation of the <10 μm (PM10) particle size fraction is reported. A sedimentation method is directly compared with a centrifugation method for generation of the PM10 fraction. Both approaches are based on an integrated form of Stokes' law. Subsequently the sedimentation method was adopted. The results from the sedimentation method were corroborated using particle size distribution measurements. This approach for the generation of the PM10 fraction was applied to soil and mine waste samples from Mitrovica, Kosovo as part of an investigation in to the human risk assessment from inhalation of the PM10 fraction containing potentially harmful elements (PHEs). The average daily dose for Cd from the inhalation of suspended soil particles was calculated to be 0.021 and 0.010 μg kg(-1) BW d(-1) for a child and an adult, respectively. This corresponded to an inhalation dose of 0.50 and 0.70 μg Cdd(-1) for a child (20 kg) and an adult (70 kg), respectively., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Saharan dust incursions and particulates emitted from human activities degrade air quality throughout West Africa, especially in the rapidly expanding urban centers in the region. Particulate matter (PM) that can be inhaled is strongly associated with increased incidence of and mortality from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and cancer. Air samples collected in the capital of a Saharan-Sahelian country (Bamako, Mali) between September 2012 and July 2013 were found to contain inhalable PM concentrations that exceeded World Health Organization (WHO) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) PM2.5 and PM10 24-h limits 58 - 98% of days and European Union (EU) PM10 24-h limit 98% of days. Mean concentrations were 1.2-to-4.5 fold greater than existing limits. Inhalable PM was enriched in transition metals, known to produce reactive oxygen species and initiate the inflammatory response, and other potentially bioactive and biotoxic metals/metalloids. Eroded mineral dust composed the bulk of inhalable PM, whereas most enriched metals/metalloids were likely emitted from oil combustion, biomass burning, refuse incineration, vehicle traffic, and mining activities. Human exposure to inhalable PM and associated metals/metalloids over 24-h was estimated. The findings indicate that inhalable PM in the Sahara-Sahel region may present a threat to human health, especially in urban areas with greater inhalable PM and transition metal exposure., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This study examines the influence of urban parks on air quality and noise in the city of Tel-Aviv, Israel, by investigation of an urban park, an urban square and a street canyon. Simultaneous monitoring of several air pollutants and noise levels were conducted. The results showed that urban parks can reduce NOx, CO and PM10 and increase O3 concentrations and that park's mitigation effect is greater at higher NOx and PM10 levels. During extreme events, mean values of 413 ppb NOx and 80 μG/m3 PM10 were measured in the street while mean values of 89 ppb NOx and 24 μG/m3 PM10 were measured in the park. Whereas summer highest O3 values of 84 ppb were measured in the street, 94 ppb were measured in the park. The benefit of the urban park in reducing NOx and PM10 concentrations is more significant than the disadvantage of increased O3 levels. Furthermore, urban parks can reduce noise by ∼5 dB(A)., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Concentrations of nine phthalate diesters in 24-h airborne PM2.5 and PM10 were determined from October 2011 to August 2012 in a suburban area in Shanghai, China. Dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-iso-butyl phthalate (DIBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BzBP), and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were frequently detected in airborne particulate matter at sum concentrations of these six compounds ranging from 13.3 to 186 ng/m(3), with an average value of 59.8 ng/m(3) in PM2.5, and from 10.1 to 445 ng/m(3), with an average value of 132 ng/m(3) in PM10. DEHP, DBP, and DIBP were the major phthalate diesters found in PM samples. DEHP was found predominantly in coarse (size fraction of between PM2.5 and PM10) particles, whereas DMP, DEP, DBP, DIBP, and BzBP were found predominantly in fine (PM2.5) particles. The concentrations of phthalates in PM during warm months (207 ng/m(3) for PM10 and 71.9 ng/m(3) for PM2.5, on average) were significantly higher than those during cold months (76.9 ng/m(3) for PM10 and 50.4 ng/m(3) for PM2.5). Significant positive correlations were found between concentrations of total phthalates, DEHP, and BzBP, with the total mass and organic carbon content of PM. Based on the concentrations of DEHP, incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCR) from inhalation exposure were estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation. Although the 95% probabilities for the ILCR values for the general population were below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) threshold of 10(-6), our result is an underestimate of the actual health risk because we only considered the outdoor inhalation exposure to DEHP in this study., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Thirteen air pollutant concentrations were measured hourly for 13 years (2000-2013) at an urban background site of a large city in the eastern Po Valley (Italy) and results were chemometrically analysed. The pollutant list includes CO, NO, NO2, NOx, O3, SO2, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-, m- and p-xylenes and PM10, all known or suspected of having adverse effects on human health. The hourly data were statistically processed to detect the long-term trends in relation to the changes in the emission scenarios occurred in the last decade. The most probable emission sources and atmospheric photochemical processes were investigated by analyzing the seasonal, weekly, diurnal cycles of pollutants and the lagged correlations amongst pollutants. The role of micro-meteorological factors upon the air quality was assessed by analyzing the relationships with key weather parameters, while the location of the potential sources was studied by matching atmospheric circulation and pollution data through bivariate polar plots and conditional probability functions. In addition, a new statistical procedure is presented and tested to analyze the periods when common mitigation measures were adopted in the city (e.g., the total stop of traffic and car-free days) and to evaluate their real effect upon the air quality. By providing direct information on the levels and trends of key pollutants, this study finally enables some general considerations about air pollution in an important hotspot of Southern Europe, the eastern Po Valley, where the levels of some key pollutants are still far from meeting the EC limit and target values. It may help policy-makers to take successful mitigation measures., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Atmospheric pollution has become a significant challenge in Beijing metropolitan region, China. In this study, wavelet analysis and gray analysis were proposed to explore the temporal characteristics of particulate matter (PM10) and its relationships with meteorological factors during 2001-2012. The analysis indicated that air quality had got better significantly over the last decade. It was clearly interannual, seasonal, and monthly variation of atmospheric pollution, which represented that the air quality was the worst in spring, and got better in summer, subsequently tended to be more serious in autumn and winter. Generally atmospheric pressure was the most important meteorological feature influencing on PM10, followed by relative humidity and wind speed. However, the dominant meteorological factors influencing the atmospheric pollution were different in the four seasons. The results suggest that urban design and effective measures based on the relationship between meteorological factors and PM10 would be effective for improving atmospheric pollution., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An approach for assessing the inhalation bioaccessibility of Pb in the PM10 size fraction is presented, using an in vitro simulated epithelial lung fluid to represent the extracellular environment of the lung. The developed inhalation bioaccessibility method (IBM) is applied to a range of urban surface soils and mining wastes obtained from Mitrovica, Kosovo, a site where impacts upon human health following exposure to Pb have been internationally publicised. All Pb determinations were undertaken by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The pseudo-total concentration of Pb (microwave acid digestion using aqua-regia) varied between matrices: smelter (20,900-72,800mgkg(-1)), topsoil (274-13,700mgkg(-1)), and tailings (2990mgkg(-1)-25,300mgkg(-1)). The in vitro inhalation bioaccessibility was typically several orders of magnitude lower: smelter (7.0-965mgkg(-1)), topsoil (9.8-1060mgkg(-1)), and tailings (0.7mgkg(-1)-49.2mgkg(-1)). The % inhalation bioaccessibility ranged from 0.02 to 11.0%, with the higher inhalation bioaccessible Pb concentrations being observed for samples from the Bosniak Mahalla area of Mitrovica (an area proposed for the relocation of internally displaced peoples). The estimated inhalation dose (for adults) calculated from the PM10 pseudo-total Pb concentration ranged from 0.369 to 1.284μgkg(-1)BWday(-1) (smelter), 0.005-0.242μgkg(-1)BWday(-1) (topsoil), and 0.053-0.446μgkg(-1)BWday(-1) (tailings). When daily inhalation doses were calculated using the bioaccessible Pb concentration the modelled exposure doses were much lower: smelter (0.0001-0.0170μgkg(-1)BWday(-1)), topsoil (0.0002-0.0187μgkg(-1)BWday(-1)) and tailings (0.0001-0.0009μgkg(-1)BWday(-1)). Modelled for the neutral pH conditions of the interstitial lung environment, the results indicate a low potential inhalation bioaccessibility for Pb in these samples. Given the already elevated environmental Pb burden experienced by the local population, where significant prolonged dust or particulate generating activities are taking place, or where the inhaled particles are phagocytized, then inhalation exposure has the potential to significantly add to the overall Pb burden. Such data are important for local policy makers to better enable them to assess risk, especially in areas where soils/dusts have elevated levels of contamination., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Air pollution is an important risk factor for global burden of disease. There has been recent interest in its possible role in the etiology of diabetes mellitus. Experimental evidence is suggestive, but epidemiological evidence is limited and mixed. We therefore explored the association between air pollution and prevalent diabetes, in a population-based Swiss cohort. We did cross-sectional analyses of 6392 participants of the Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Diseases in Adults [SAPALDIA], aged between 29 and 73 years. We used estimates of average individual home outdoor PM10 [particulate matter <10μm in diameter] and NO2 [nitrogen dioxide] exposure over the 10 years preceding the survey. Their association with diabetes was modeled using mixed logistic regression models, including participants' study area as random effect, with incremental adjustment for confounders. There were 315 cases of diabetes (prevalence: 5.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.8, 7.2%]). Both PM10 and NO2 were associated with prevalent diabetes with respective odds ratios of 1.40 [95% CI: 1.17, 1.67] and 1.19 [95% CI: 1.03, 1.38] per 10μg/m(3) increase in the average home outdoor level. Associations with PM10 were generally stronger than with NO2, even in the two-pollutant model. There was some indication that beta blockers mitigated the effect of PM10. The associations remained stable across different sensitivity analyses. Our study adds to the evidence that long term air pollution exposure is associated with diabetes mellitus. PM10 appears to be a useful marker of aspects of air pollution relevant for diabetes. This association can be observed at concentrations below air quality guidelines., (Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This paper highlights the development and application of the probabilistic model (IAPPEM), which predicts PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the indoor environments. A number of features are detailed and justified through simulated comparison, which are shown to be necessary when modelling indoor PM concentrations. A one minute resolution predicts up to 20% higher peak concentrations compared with a 15 min resolution. A modified PM10 deposition method, devised to independently analyse the PM2.5 fraction of PM10, predicts up to 56% higher mean concentrations. The application of the model is demonstrated by a number of simulations. The total PM contribution, from different indoor emission sources, was analysed in terms of both emission strength and duration. In addition, PM concentrations were examined by varying the location of the emission source. A 24-hour sample profile is simulated based on sample data, designed to demonstrate the combined functionality of the model, predicting PM10 and PM2.5 peak concentrations up to 1107±175 and 596±102 μg m(-3) respectively, whilst predicting PM10 and PM2.5 mean concentrations up to 259±21 and 166±11 μg m(-3) respectively., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Previous studies reported significant variability of air pollutants across Europe with the lowest concentrations generally found in Northern Europe and the highest in Southern European countries. Within the MED-PARTICLES project the spatial and temporal variations of long-term PM and gaseous pollutants data were investigated in traffic and urban background sites across Southern Europe. The highest PM levels were observed in Greece and Italy (Athens, Thessaloniki, Turin and Rome) while all traffic sites showed high NO2 levels, frequently exceeding the established limit value. High PM2.5/PM10 ratios were calculated indicating that fine particles comprise a large fraction of PM10, with the highest values found in the urban background sites. It seems that although in traffic sites the concentrations of both PM2.5 and PM10 are significantly higher than those registered in urban background sites, the coarse fraction PM2.5-10 is more important at the traffic sites. This fact is probably due to the high levels of resuspended road dust in sites highly affected by traffic, a phenomenon particularly relevant for Mediterranean countries. The long-term trends of air pollutants revealed a significant decrease of the concentration levels for PM, SO2 and CO while for NO2 no clear trend or slightly increasing trends were observed. This reduction could be attributed to the effectiveness of abatement measures and strategies and also to meteorological conditions and to the economic crisis that affected Southern Europe., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The association between air pollution exposure and occurrence of venous thromboembolism is a matter of debate. This retrospective case-control study investigated the associations between one month's exposure to elevated levels of different pollutants (i.e. PM10, CO, NOx, O3, SO2, Benzene, Benzoapyrene, Nickel, Lead Arsenic) and the development of acute isolated pulmonary embolism (PE)., Methods: The cases included 33 patients consecutively admitted to Padua Hospital with an objectively proven diagnosis of acute unprovoked (i.e. without predisposing conditions) isolated (i.e. without deep vein thrombosis) PE. The control group consisted of 72 consecutive patients with objectively proven acute provoked (i.e. associated to predisposing conditions) isolated PE. Average mean concentrations of pollutants in the month before PE diagnosis were computed by monitors located at 2 different sites throughout the city of Padua, and were obtained from the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection., Results: Individuals who had PM10, NOx, Benzene, Benzoapyrene, Cadmium, and Lead exposure equal/above the 2nd tertile, measured in controls, showed a significant increase in the risk of unprovoked PE. In case of PM10 and Benzoapyrene this risk was not affected after adjustment for possible confounders. In fact, in the multivariate logistic regression analysis, the OR values were 5.24 (95% CI: 1.52-18.12) for PM10 and 3.95 (95% CI: 1.06-14.71) for Benzoapyrene exposure in the month before PE diagnosis., Conclusions: Our results, although preliminary, identify short-term (i.e. one month) exposure to elevate levels of air pollutants as a possible risk factor for the development of acute isolated PE. Larger studies are needed to confirm our results., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In January 2011, Brisbane, Australia, experienced a major river flooding event. We aimed to investigate its effects on air quality and assess the role of prompt cleaning activities in reducing the airborne exposure risk. A comprehensive, multi-parameter indoor and outdoor measurement campaign was conducted in 41 residential houses, 2 and 6 months after the flood. The median indoor air concentrations of supermicrometer particle number (PN), PM10, fungi and bacteria 2 months after the flood were comparable to those previously measured in Brisbane. These were 2.88 p cm(-3), 15 μg m(-3), 804 cf um(-3) and 177 cf um(-3) for flood-affected houses (AFH), and 2.74 p cm(-3), 15 μg m(-3), 547 cf um(-3) and 167 cf um(-3) for non-affected houses (NFH), respectively. The I/O (indoor/outdoor) ratios of these pollutants were 1.08, 1.38, 0.74 and 1.76 for AFH and 1.03, 1.32, 0.83 and 2.17 for NFH, respectively. The average of total elements (together with transition metals) in indoor dust was 2296 ± 1328 μg m(-2) for AFH and 1454 ± 678 μg m(-2) for NFH, respectively. In general, the differences between AFH and NFH were not statistically significant, implying the absence of a measureable effect on air quality from the flood. We postulate that this was due to the very swift and effective cleaning of the flooded houses by 60,000 volunteers. Among the various cleaning methods, the use of both detergent and bleach was the most efficient at controlling indoor bacteria. All cleaning methods were equally effective for indoor fungi. This study provides quantitative evidence of the significant impact of immediate post-flood cleaning on mitigating the effects of flooding on indoor bioaerosol contamination and other pollutants., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Atmospheric particulate have deleterious impacts on human health. Predicting dust and aerosol emission and transport would be helpful to reduce harmful impacts but, despite numerous studies, prediction of dust events and contaminant transport in dust remains challenging. In this work, we show that relative humidity and wind speed are both determinants in atmospheric dust concentration. Observations of atmospheric dust concentrations in Green Valley, AZ, USA, and Juárez, Chihuahua, México, show that PM10 concentrations are not directly correlated with wind speed or relative humidity separately. However, selecting the data for high wind speeds (>4m/s at 10 m elevation), a definite trend is observed between dust concentration and relative humidity: dust concentration increases with relative humidity, reaching a maximum around 25% and it subsequently decreases with relative humidity. Models for dust storm forecasting may be improved by utilizing atmospheric humidity and wind speed as main drivers for dust generation and transport., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

PM10 (particulate matter 10 μm or less in aerodynamic diameter) has consistently been linked with adverse human health effects, but the physicochemical properties responsible for this effect have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential for carbon black (CB) particles and PM to generate ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) and to identify the physicochemical properties of the particles responsible for in vitro oxidative reactivity (OR). PM10 was collected in 11 size fractions at a traffic site in Swansea, UK, using an Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI). The PM physicochemical properties (including size, morphology, type, and transition metals) were tested. The plasmid scission assay (PSA) was used for OR testing of all particles. The ultrafine and fine PM fractions (N28-2399; 28-2399 nm) caused more DNA damage than coarse PM (N2400-10,000), and the increased capacity of the smaller particles to exhibit enhanced (OR) was statistically significant (p<0.05). The most bioreactive fraction of PM was N94-155 with a toxic dose (TD50; mass dose capable of generating 50% plasmid DNA damage) of 69 μg/ml. The mean TD35 was lower for PM than CB particles, indicating enhanced OR for PM. A difference between CB and PM in this study was the higher transition metal content of PM. Zn was the most abundant transition metal (by weight) in the ultrafine-fine PM fractions, and Fe in the fine-coarse PM. Through this comparison, part of the observed increased PM OR was attributed to Zn (and Fe). In this study PM-derived DNA damage was dependent upon; 1) particle size, 2) surface area, and 2) transition metals. This study supports the view that ROS formation by PM10 is related to physicochemistry using evidence with an increased particle size resolution., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper aims to decompose the profile of particulates in Karlsruhe and Potsdam (Germany), focusing on the localization of PM potential transboundary sources. An air mass cluster analysis was implemented, followed by a study of air mass residence time on a grid of a 0.5° × 0.5° resolution. Particulate/gaseous daily air pollution and meteorological data were used to indicate PM local sources. Four Principal Component Analysis (PCA) components were produced: traffic, photochemical, industrial/domestic and particulate. PM2.5/PM10 ratio seasonal trends, indicated production of PMCOARSE (PM10-PM2.5) from secondary sources in Potsdam during warm period (WP). The residing areas of incoming slow moving air masses are potential transboundary PM sources. For Karlsruhe those areas were mainly around the city. An air mass residence time secondary peak was observed over Stuttgart. For Potsdam, areas with increased dwelling time of the arriving air parcels were detected particularly above E/SE Germany., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Daily PM10 samples were collected during a one-month sampling campaign from February 13 to March 12, 2008 at eight different sampling sites in Augsburg, Southern Germany. Source apportionment was performed to identify the main sources and related contributions by analysis of organic and inorganic tracers. Nine factors were separated comprising: solid fuel combustion, traffic-related emissions, secondary inorganics, and mixed sources. Spatiotemporal variation of the source contributions was evaluated using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and coefficient of divergence (COD). All factors (except hopanes and mixed sources) showed moderate to high (0.60.8) correlation coefficients between the eight sites and were distributed heterogeneously. Secondary sulfate and secondary nitrate factors were relatively more uniformly distributed (compared to other factors) with lower medians of COD value (0.47 and 0.56, respectively) and higher correlation values (r=0.97 and 0.85, respectively). The maximum daily average contribution for coal & wood combustion factor was observed at the LfU suburban site (4.0 μg m(-3)); wood combustion factor at the LSW residential site (5.1 μg m(-3)) ; diesel & fuel oil consumption factor at the Bifa suburban and BP urban sites (both 2.5 μg m(-3)); road dust & tram factor at the KP traffic site (16.2 μg m(-3)) and the BP urban site (6.6 μg m(-3)); hopanes factor at the BP urban and Bifa suburban sites (both 0.7 μg m(-3)); and de-icing NaCl factor at the KP traffic site (4.8 μg m(-3)). Secondary sulfate and secondary nitrate factors had approximately similar contributions (6.2 μg m(-3) and 4.3 μg m(-3), respectively) at all sites. Mixed sources factor had the highest daily average contribution to PM10 mass at the KP traffic site (7.0 μg m(-3))., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to determine the microbiological quality of particulate matter (PM) in an urban area in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during December 2012 to April 2013. This was achieved by the determination of airborne bacteria, fungi, and actinobacteria associated PM10 and PM2.5, as well as their relationships with gaseous pollutants, O3, SO2 and NO2, and meteorological factors (T°C, RH% and Ws). High volume samplers with PM10 and PM2.5 selective sizes, and glass fiber filters were used to collect PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. The filters were suspended in buffer phosphate and aliquots were spread plated onto the surfaces of trypticase soy agar, malt extract agar, and starch casein agar media for counting of bacteria, fungi and actinobacteria-associated PM, respectively. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations averaged 159.9 μg/m(3) and 60 μg/m(3), respectively, with the ratio of PM2.5/PM10 averaged ~0.4. The concentrations of O3, SO2 and NO2 averaged 35.73 μg/m(3), 38.1μg/m(3) and 52.5 μg/m(3), respectively. Fungi and actinobacteria associated PM were found in lower concentrations than bacteria. The sum of microbial loads was higher in PM10 than PM2.5, however a significant correlation (r=0.57, P ≤ 0.05) was found between the sum of microbial loads associated PM10 and PM2.5. Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus niger were the common fungal types associated PM. Temperature significantly correlated with both PM10 (r=0.44), and PM2.5 (r=0.5). Significant negative correlations were found between O3 and PM2.5 (r=-0.47), and between SO2 with PM10 (r=-0.48). Wind speed positively correlated with airborne microorganisms associated PM. The regression model showed that the inverse PM2.5 concentration (1/PM2.5) was a significant determinant of fungal count associated PM. Chemical processes and environmental factors could affect properties of PM and in turn its biological quality., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Bayan Obo mine, located in Inner Mongolia, China, is the largest light rare earth body ever found in the world. The research for rare earth elements (REEs) enrichment in atmospheric particulates caused by mining and ore processing is fairly limited so far. In this paper, atmospheric particulates including total suspended particulate (TSP) matter and particles with an equivalent aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10) were collected around the Bayan Obo mine region, in August 2012 and March 2013, to analyze the levels and distributions of REEs in particles. The total concentrations of REEs for TSP were 149.8 and 239.6 ng/m(3), and those for PM10 were 42.8 and 68.9 ng/m(3), in August 2012 and March 2013, respectively. Enrichment factor was calculated for all 14 REEs in the TSP and PM10 and the results indicated that REEs enrichment in atmosphere particulates was caused by anthropogenic sources and influenced by the strong wind in springtime. The spatial distribution of REEs in TSP showed a strong gradient concentration in the prevailing wind direction. REE chondrite normalized patterns of TSP and PM10 were similar and the normalized curves inclined to the right side, showing the conspicuous fractionation between the light REEs and heavy REE, which supported by the chondrite normalized concentration ratios calculated for selected elements (La(N)/Yb(N), La(N)/Sm(N), Gd(N)/Yb(N))., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Measurements of ambient particulate matters (viz., PM10 and PM2.5) were made with an hourly sampling frequency at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), New Delhi Branch (a residential area) during a period from December 2010 to November 2011. The data so generated were analyzed to understand frequency distribution of their concentrations and the impact of meteorological parameters on the distribution of particulate matters on different time scales. It is found that the particulate matters with cut off aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm (PM10) preferentially occurred in the concentration range of 301-350 μg/m(3) during winter and post-monsoon, 251-300 μg/m(3) during summer and 51-100 μg/m(3) during monsoon season. The particulate matters with cut off aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm (PM2.5) preferentially occurred in the concentration range of 201-250 μg/m(3) during winter and 51-100 μg/m(3) during the remaining seasons. The concentration of particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5) remained always above the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) except during monsoon season. Annual distribution of the concentration of particulate matters showed seasonality with maximum in winter and minimum in monsoon season. Diurnal variation of PM10 and PM2.5 showed bimodal distribution with one maximum in the forenoon and the other at around mid-night. The observed seasonality and diurnal variability in the distribution are attributed mainly to the meteorology., (Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

To investigate the association and effects of air pollution level on male semen quality in urban and rural areas, this study examines the outdoor concentrations of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrous dioxide (NO2) and semen quality outcomes for 1346 volunteers in both urban and rural areas in Chongqing, China. We found the urban area has a higher pollution level than the rural area, contrasted with better semen quality in the rural residents, especially for sperm morphology and computer assistant semen analysis (CASA) motility parameters. A multivariate linear regression analysis demonstrates that concentrations of PM10, SO2, and NO2 significantly and negatively are associated with normal sperm morphology percentage (P < 0.001) and sperm kinetic parameters. In conclusion, exposure to higher concentrations of PM10, SO2, and NO2 in urban ambient air may account for worse semen quality in urban males., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 10 μm (PM10), organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were measured simultaneously in the indoor and outdoor air of 4 residences located in urban and sub-urban areas in northwestern Portugal. The residences were studied with occupants. One residence was also studied without any indoor activity, taking advantage of the fact that the occupants had moved into a new home. First, 48-h aerosol samples were collected on quartz fiber filters with low-volume samplers equipped with size selective inlets. The filters were weighed and then analyzed for OC and EC using a thermal-optical transmittance method. The average indoor and outdoor PM10 concentrations in the occupied residences were 71.9 ± 38.3 μg/m(3) and 54.0 ± 13.3 μg/m(3), respectively. Despite the higher concentration of PM10 indoors, outdoor sources were found to be a significant contributor to indoor concentrations. An estimate based on data from the residence studied under different occupancy conditions indicated that outdoor sources can account for 68% of the indoor PM10 mass concentration. Average indoor to outdoor (I/O) ratios for OC ranged from 1.7 to 5.6 in occupied residences, showing that indoor sources, such as cooking, smoking, biomass burning and movement of people, strongly influenced indoor OC concentrations. In contrast, I/O ratios for EC were close to 1, except for a smokers' residence, suggesting that indoor concentrations were mainly controlled by outdoor sources, most likely from vehicular emissions and biomass burning., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)