Air Pollution Health Risks Research Articles

Vartalaap

Air pollution is a global challenge for cities across the globe. Understanding the public perception of air pollution can help policymakers engage better with the public and appropriately introduce policies. Accurate public perception can also help people to identify the health risks of air pollution and act accordingly. Unfortunately, current techniques for determining perception are not scalable: it involves surveying few hundred people with questionnaire-based surveys. Using the advances in natural language processing (NLP), we propose a more scalable solution called Vartalaap to gauge public perception of air pollution via the microblogging social network Twitter. We curated a dataset of more than 1.2M tweets discussing Delhi-specific air pollution. We find that (unfortunately) the public is supportive of unproven mitigation strategies to reduce pollution, thus risking their health due to a false sense of security. We also find that air quality is a year-long problem, but the discussions are not proportional to the level of pollution and spike up when pollution is more visible. The information required by Vartalaap is publicly available and, as such, it can be immediately applied to study different societal issues across the world.

Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Sensors for Priority Pollutants.

Globally, there is growing concern about the health risks of water and air pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a list of priority pollutants containing 129 different chemical compounds. All of these chemicals are of significant interest due to their serious health and safety issues. Permanent exposure to some concentrations of these chemicals can cause severe and irrecoverable health effects, which can be easily prevented by their early identification. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) offer great potential for selective adsorption of chemicals from water and air samples. These selective artificial bio(mimetic) receptors are promising candidates for modification of sensors, especially disposable sensors, due to their low-cost, long-term stability, ease of engineering, simplicity of production and their applicability for a wide range of targets. Herein, innovative strategies used to develop MIP-based sensors for EPA priority pollutants will be reviewed.

Assessing the Distribution of Air Pollution Health Risks within Cities: A Neighborhood-Scale Analysis Leveraging High-Resolution Data Sets in the Bay Area, California.

Background:Air pollution-attributable disease burdens reported at global, country, state, or county levels mask potential smaller-scale geographic heterogeneity driven by variation in pollution levels and disease rates. Capturing within-city variation in air pollution health impacts is now possible with high-resolution pollutant concentrations.Objectives:We quantified neighborhood-level variation in air pollution health risks, comparing results from highly spatially resolved pollutant and disease rate data sets available for the Bay Area, California.Methods:We estimated mortality and morbidity attributable to nitrogen dioxide (), black carbon (BC), and fine particulate matter [PM in aerodynamic diameter ()] using epidemiologically derived health impact functions. We compared geographic distributions of pollution-attributable risk estimates using concentrations from a) mobile monitoring of and BC; and b) models predicting annual , BC and concentrations from land-use variables and satellite observations. We also compared results using county vs. census block group (CBG) disease rates.Results:Estimated pollution-attributable deaths per 100,000 people at the grid-cell level ranged across the Bay Area by a factor of 38, 4, and 5 for [ (95% CI: 9, 50)], BC [ (95% CI: 1, 2)], and , [ (95% CI: 33, 64)]. Applying concentrations from mobile monitoring and land-use regression (LUR) models in Oakland neighborhoods yielded similar spatial patterns of estimated grid-cell–level mortality rates. Mobile monitoring concentrations captured more heterogeneity [mobile monitoring (95% CI: 19, 107) deaths per 100,000 people; (95% CI: 30, 167)]. Using CBG-level disease rates instead of county-level disease rates resulted in 15% larger attributable mortality rates for both and , with more spatial heterogeneity at the grid-cell–level [ CBG deaths per 100,000 people (95% CI: 12, 68); (95% CI: 11, 64); (95% CI: 40, 77); and (95% CI: 37, 71)].Discussion:Air pollutant-attributable health burdens varied substantially between neighborhoods, driven by spatial variation in pollutant concentrations and disease rates. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7679

Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment (AP-HRA), Principles and Applications.

Air pollution is a major public health problem. A significant number of epidemiological studies have found a correlation between air quality and a wide variety of adverse health impacts emphasizing a considerable role of air pollution in the disease burden in the general population ranging from subclinical effects to premature death. Health risk assessment of air quality can play a key role at individual and global health promotion and disease prevention levels. The Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment (AP-HRA) forecasts the expected health effect of policies impacting air quality under the various policy, environmental and socio-economic circumstances, making it a key tool for guiding public policy decisions. This paper presents the concept of AP-HRA and offers an outline for the proper conducting of AP-HRA for different scenarios, explaining in broad terms how the health hazards of air emissions and their origins are measured and how air pollution-related impacts are quantified. In this paper, seven widely used AP-HRA tools will be deeply explored, taking into account their spatial resolution, technological factors, pollutants addressed, geographical scale, quantified health effects, method of classification, and operational characteristics. Finally, a comparative analysis of the proposed tools will be conducted, using the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) method.

Air pollution increases human health risks of PM2.5-bound PAHs and nitro-PAHs in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Identifying the nature and extent of atmospheric PM2.5-bound toxic organic pollutants is beneficial to evaluate human health risks of air pollution. Seasonal observations of PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-PAHs (NPAHs) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) were investigated, along with criteria air pollutants and meteorological parameters. With the elevated PM2.5 level, the percentage of 4-ring PAHs and typical NPAH including 3-Nitrobiphenyl (3-NBP) and 2-Nitrofluoranthene (2-NFLT) increased by 19–40%. PM2.5-bound 2-NFLT was positively correlated with O3 and NO2, suggesting the contribution of atmospheric oxidation capacity to enhance the secondary formation of NPAHs in the atmosphere. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis indicated that traffic emissions (44.9–48.7%), coal and biomass combustion (27.6–36.0%) and natural gas and volatilization (15.3–27.5%) were major sources of PAHs, and secondary formation (39.8–53.8%) was a predominant contributor to total NPAH concentrations. Backward trajectory analysis showed that air masses from North China transported to the YRD region increased PAH and NPAH concentrations. Compare to clean days, the BaP equivalent concentrations of total PAHs and NPAHs during haze pollution days were enhanced by 10–25 and 2–6 times, respectively. The Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risks (ILCRs) of PAHs by inhalation exposure also indicated high potential health risks in the YRD region. The results implied that the health risks of PM2.5-bound PAHs and NPAHs could be sharply enhanced with the increase of PM2.5 concentrations.

Visualizing and forecasting the association of air quality and health outcomes in Ontario, Canada

Research has shown that air pollution is associated with risks of development and worsening of chronic diseases. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a numerical scale that reports air quality and health risk, and includes messages that advise on health risk reduction actions according to AQHI levels. Our study aimed to (1) characterize geographical variations between air pollution (AQHI) and health outcomes (incidence, prevalence, and health services use) of asthma, COPD, diabetes, and hypertension; (2) forecast the trend of associations using observed data; and (3) develop visualization tools that help the public identify risks of air pollution and health outcomes. Observed trends of AQHI and health outcomes from 2003 to 2014 were plotted and forecasted up to 2025, while maps showed their geographical variations. Overall, the highest incidence and prevalence of each disease were observed in regions with higher annual mean AQHI. Chronic diseases' acute health services use was higher in northern Ontario, while physician office visits were higher in southern Ontario. The positive correlations between AQHI and health outcomes in Ontario suggests that increasing public awareness of potential health risks of air pollution is important, especially among people with chronic diseases.

Development of the National Air Quality Health Index - China, 2013-2018.

Summary What is already known about this topic? While the establishment of an air quality health index (AQHI) in some countries yielded positive outcomes in communicating health risks of air pollution, China lagged behind in developing its own AQHI. Several research studies of AQHI were conducted in China, but this scientific research has not yet been applied to standards. What is added by this report? This report introduced the method of calculation of Chinese AQHI to be launched in pilot cities. The index in this report was established on the basis of fully drawing on international experience and considering Chinese characteristics. What are the implications for public health practice? The purpose of this report is to guide unified application of the AQHI throughout China and translate scientific evidence into public services to promote public health. Based on the AQHI construction method in this report, an AQHI real-time computing platform and data transfer interface will be developed. The release of AQHI aims to communicate health risk of air pollution and provide scientific health protective guidance to the general public, accordingly to protect people’s health.

Combined effects of increased O3 and reduced NO2 concentrations on short-term air pollution health risks in Hong Kong.

The reduction of NOx emissions in a VOC-limited region can lead to an increase of the local O3 concentration. An evaluation of the net health effects of such pollutant changes is therefore important to ascertain whether the emission control measures effectively improve the overall protection of public health. In this study, we use a short-term health risk (added health risk or AR) model developed for the multi-pollutant air quality health index (AQHI) in Hong Kong to examine the overall health impacts of these pollutant changes. We first investigate AR changes associated with NO2 and O3 changes, followed by those associated with changes in all four AQHI pollutants (NO2, O3, SO2, and particulate matter (PM)). Our results show that for the combined health effects of NO2 and O3 changes, there is a significant reduction in AR in urban areas with dense traffic, but no statistically significant changes in other less urbanized areas. The increase in estimated AR for higher O3 concentrations is offset by a decrease in the estimated AR for lower NO2 concentrations. In areas with dense traffic, the reduction in AR as a result of decreased NO2 is substantially larger than the increase in AR associated with increased O3. When additionally accounting for the change in ambient SO2 and PM, we found a statistically significant reduction in total AR everywhere in Hong Kong. Our results show that the emission control measures resulting in NO2, SO2, and PM reductions over the past decade have effectively reduced the AR over Hong Kong, even though these control measures may have partially contributed to an increase in O3 concentrations. Hence, efforts to reduce NOx, SO2, and PM should be continued.

Convergence of COVID-19 and chronic air pollution risks: Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequities in the U.S

Recent research suggests greater COVID-19 prevalence in areas burdened with higher exposure to chronic air pollution, but previous studies have not examined if socially disadvantaged populations are more likely to reside in communities located at the convergence of both COVID-19 and air pollution health risks. This article presents a national scale U.S. study that investigates whether racial/ethnic minorities, socioeconomically deprived residents, and other vulnerable groups are significantly overrepresented in counties where significantly higher COVID-19 incidence spatially coincides with higher respiratory health risks from outdoor exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). COVID-19 data from the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering database are linked to respiratory risk estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Air Toxics Assessment and variables from the 2018 American Community Survey. Bivariate local measures of spatial association are implemented to identify county clusters representing relationships between COVID-19 incidence rate and respiratory risk from HAP exposure. Socio-demographic characteristics of these clusters are compared using bivariate statistical tests and multivariable generalized estimating equations. Counties where greater COVID-19 incidence coincides significantly with higher HAP respiratory risk contain disproportionately higher percentages of non-Hispanic Black, socioeconomically deprived, and uninsured residents than all other U.S. counties, after controlling for spatial clustering, population density, older age, and other contextual factors. These significant socio-demographic inequities represent an important starting point for more detailed investigations of places facing the double burden of elevated COVID-19 prevalence and air pollution exposure, and also emphasize the urgent need to develop mitigation strategies for addressing both COVID-19 and chronic air pollution in socially vulnerable communities.

Air Pollution Characteristics and Health Risks in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China during Winter.

The air pollution characteristics of six ambient criteria pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) and trace gases, in 29 typical cities across the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) from December 2017 to February 2018 are analyzed. The overall average mass concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 are 73, 104, 16, 1100, 47, and 62 µg/m3, respectively. PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 are the dominant major pollutants to poor air quality, with nearly 83%, 86%, and 59%, exceeding the Chinese Ambient Air Quality Standard Grade I. The situation of PM pollution in the middle and lower reaches is more serious than that in the upper reaches, and the north bank is more severe than the south bank of the Yangtze River. Strong positive spatial correlations for PM concentrations between city pairs within 300 km is frequently observed. NO2 pollution is primarily concentrated in the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou urban agglomeration and surrounding areas. The health risks are assessed by the comparison of the classification of air pollution levels with three approaches: air quality index (AQI), aggregate AQI (AAQI), and health risk-based AQI (HAQI). When the AQI values escalate, the air pollution classifications based on the AAQI and HAQI values become more serious. The HAQI approach can better report the comprehensive health effects from multipollutant air pollution. The population-weighted HAQI data in the winter exhibit that 50%, 70%, and 80% of the population in the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the YREB are exposed to polluted air (HAQI > 100). The current air pollution status in YREB needs more effective efforts to improve the air quality.

Temporal variations and spatial distributions of gaseous and particulate air pollutants and their health risks during 2015-2019 in China.

Air quality has been significantly improved in China in recent years; however, our knowledge of the long-term changes in health risks from exposure to air pollutants remain less understood. Here we investigated the temporal variations and spatial distributions of six criteria pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, CO, PM2.5 and PM10) in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) during 2015-2019. SO2 showed 36-60% reductions in three regions, comparatively, NO2 decreased by 3-17% in BTH and YRD and had a 5% increase in PRD. PM2.5 and PM10 showed the largest reductions in BTH (30-33%) and the lowest in PRD (7-13%), while O3 increased by 9% during 2015-2019 particularly in BTH and YRD. Assuming that only air pollutants above given thresholds exert excess risk (ERtotal) of mortality, we found that the different variations of pollutants have caused ERtotal in BTH decreasing significantly from 4.8% in 2015 to 2.0% in 2019, while from 1.9% to 1.0% in YRD, and a small change in PRD. These results indicate substantially decreased health risks of mortality from exposure to air pollutants as a response to improved air quality. Overall, PM2.5 dominated ERtotal accounting for 42-53% in BTH and 58-64% in YRD with steadily increased contributions, yet ERtotal presented strong seasonal dependence on air pollutants with largely increased contribution of O3 in summer. The ERtotal caused by SO2 was decreased substantially and became negligible except in winter in BTH, while NO2 only played a role in winter. We also found that ERPM2.5 was compositional dependent with organics being the major contributor at low ERPM2.5 while nitrate was more important at high ERPM2.5. Our results highlight that evaluation of public health risks of air pollution needs to consider chemical differences of PM in different regions in addition to dominant air pollutants in different seasons.

Evaluating the U.S. Air Quality Index as a risk communication tool: Comparing associations of index values with respiratory morbidity among adults in California

BackgroundThe Air Quality Index (AQI) in the United States is widely used to communicate daily air quality information to the public. While use of the AQI has led to reported changes in individual behaviors, such behavior modifications will only mitigate adverse health effects if AQI values are indicative of public health risks. Few studies have assessed the capability of the AQI to accurately predict respiratory morbidity risks.Methods and findingsIn three major regions of California, Poisson generalized linear models were used to assess seasonal associations between 1,373,165 respiratory emergency department visits and short-term exposure to multiple metrics between 2012–2014, including: daily concentrations of NO2, O3, and PM2.5; the daily reported AQI; and a newly constructed health-based air quality index. AQI values were positively associated (average risk ratio = 1.03, 95% CI 1.02–1.04) during the cooler months of the year (November-February) in all three regions when the AQI was very highly correlated with PM2.5 (R2 ≥ 0.89). During the warm season (March-October) in the San Joaquin Valley region, neither AQI values nor the individual underlying air pollutants were associated with respiratory morbidity. Additionally, AQI values were not positively associated with respiratory morbidity in the Southern California region during the warm season, despite strong associations of the individual underlying air pollutants with respiratory morbidity; in contrast, health-based index values were observed to be significantly associated with respiratory morbidity as part of an applied policy analysis in this region, with a combined risk ratio of 1.02 (95% CI: 1.01–1.03).ConclusionsIn regions where individual air pollutants are associated with respiratory morbidity, and during seasons with relatively simple air mixtures, the AQI can effectively serve as a risk communication tool for respiratory health risks. However, the predictive ability of the AQI and any other index is contingent upon the monitored values being representative of actual population exposures. Other approaches, such as health-based indices, may be needed in order to effectively communicate health risks of air pollution in regions and seasons with more complex air mixtures.

Inflammatory responses of urban air PM modulated by chemical composition and different air quality situations in Nanjing, China

The health risks of air pollutants and ambient particulate matter (PM) are widely known. PM composition and toxicity have shown substantial spatiotemporal variability. Yet, the connections between PM composition and toxicological and health effects are vaguely understood. This is a crucial gap in knowledge that needs to be addressed in order to establish air quality guidelines and limit values that consider the chemical composition of PM instead of the current assumption of equal toxicity per inhaled dose. Here, we demonstrate further evidence for varying toxicological effects of urban PM at equal mass concentrations, and estimate how PM composition and emission source characteristics influenced this variation.We exposed a co-culture model mimicking alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages with size-segregated urban ambient PM collected before, during, and after the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games 2014. We measured the release of a set of cytokines, cell cycle alterations, and genotoxicity, and assessed the spatiotemporal variations in these responses by factorial multiple regression analysis. Additionally, we investigated how a previously identified set of emission sources and chemical components affected these variations by mixed model analysis.PM-exposure induced cytokine signaling, most notably by inducing dose-dependent increases of macrophage-regulating GM-CSF and proinflammatory TNFα, IL-6, and IL-1β concentrations, modest dose-dependent increase for cytoprotective VEGF-A, but very low to no responses for anti-inflammatory IL-10 and immunoregulatory IFNγ, respectively. We observed substantial differences in proinflammatory cytokine production depending on PM sampling period, location, and time of day. The proinflammatory response correlated positively with cell cycle arrest in G1/G0 phase and loss of cellular metabolic activity. Furthermore, PM0.2 caused dose-dependent increases in sub-G1/G0 cells, suggesting increased DNA degradation and apoptosis. Variations in traffic and oil/fuel combustion emissions contributed substantially to the observed spatiotemporal variations of toxicological responses.

Construction and verification of air quality health index in china

Background: Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) was established in several countries and areas, and has showed validity in communicating health risks of air pollution. But there is a lack of unified AQHI in China. Methods: We contructed six indexes: AQHI_99, AQHI_98, AQHI_95, AQHI_log99, AQHI_log_98, and AQHI_log_95, by summing the excess total non-accidental mortality risks associated with PM2.5,O3, NO2, and SO2 and adjusting them to an arbitratry scale (1-10+). To adjust the distribution of the index, we logarithmic convert the sum of health risks. To avoied the maximun interference, we use the 99%, 98%, and 95% percentile of excess total non-accidental mortality risks of all counties in China as normalization factor. To verification the validity of communicating morbality and morbidity risk, we calculated the relationship between the AQHIs and morbality, anount of hospitalization, and outpatient number. According to the results, we chose the best AQHI. To test the ability of the AQHI to indicated a typical contamination event, we plotted the AQHI and air pollution concentration in several typical contamination event. And we also checked the consistency of AQHI and AQI. Results: AQHI_98 and AQHI_99 performed better in validity of communicating morbality and morbidity risk than AQI and other AQHIs. Given the current state of air pollution in China, we tended to opt for stricter standards: AQHI_98. An IQR increase of AQHI_98 was associated with a 1.0% (95% CI: 0.6 to 1.5) increase of non-accidental mortality in China and 2.0% (95% CI:1.8 to 2.1) increase of all causes hospital admissions in Beijing. This AQHI permforms good in indicating typical contamination events and does not conflict with AQI. Conclusions: We recommend AQHI_98 as Chinese AQHI. The AQHI is a more effective tool to communicate the health risk of air pollution in China.

Citizens’ perception, concerns and interests with respect to air pollution and health-related risks: Mapping out a local epidemiological research agenda using results from online surveys and community meetings in Barcelona, Spain

Background: Health risks of air pollution have attracted considerable attention, both scholarly and within the lay public. However, the latter remains rarely involved in defining the air pollution-related research agenda. We aim to present the results from the first stages of a citizen science epidemiological study in Barcelona within CitieS-Health project. The objectives were to shed light on matters of concern, perceptions and interests amongst Barcelona residents regarding air pollution and health, to translate them into a meaningful research question for the community, and to determine with the citizens a type of experimental design for which they would be interested to participate.Methods: An online survey was shared during summer 2019 and 488 Barcelona residents responded. Responses were analyzed using a mixed-method including descriptive statistics, word frequency count and qualitative coding. A total of 557 residents responded to the second survey to choose which question they would like to investigate with scientists. Community meetings were organized to narrow down the research question topics, and to pinpoint the experimental design type that citizens would like to engage.Results: Results show that almost 95% of the sample perceived the air as polluted. Respiratory problems and mental health emerged as the main health preoccupations and priorities of investigation. The most popular research question was "How does air pollution together with noise and green/blue spaces affect mental health?". The preferred study design was an observational study in which citizens provide daily repeated measures of mental health outcomes (cognition, stress and mood) and relate them to the air pollution concentrations.Conclusions: The co-created formulation of a locally-relevant environmental health research question ensures that the epidemiological study will focus on issues of interest to the community. The first version of the study protocol will soon be publicly shared for citizens to incorporate their feedback.

Assessing the distribution of air pollution health risks within cities: a neighborhood-scale analysis leveraging high resolution datasets in the Bay Area, California.

Background: Air pollution-attributable disease burdens are typically reported at country, state, or county levels, masking potential smaller scale geographic heterogeneity driven by non-uniform pollution levels and disease rates. Estimating the variation in air pollution health impacts within cities is now possible with high resolution pollutant concentrations derived from satellite remote sensing, modeling, and mobile monitoring. Objectives: We quantify neighborhood-level variation in air pollution health risks, using highly spatially resolved pollutant and disease rate datasets available for the Bay Area, California. Methods: We estimate mortality and morbidity attributable to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), black carbon (BC), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the Bay Area using epidemiologically derived health impact functions. We compare geographic distributions of pollution-attributable risk estimates using pollutant concentrations from different sources: (1) mobile monitoring of NO2 and BC, covering roadways over a one-year period; and (2) models predicting annual NO2, BC and PM2.5 concentrations from land use variables and satellite observations, with full spatial coverage. We also compare the application of county versus census block group (CBG) level disease rates. Results: Across Bay Area counties, estimated pollution-attributable mortality rates (attributable deaths per 100,000 people) ranged by a factor 15, 13 and 8 for NO2, BC and PM2.5 (NO2 range=40-570, median=219; BC range=3-40, median=13; PM2.5 range=60-470, median=305). Applying concentrations from mobile monitoring and land use regression datasets resulted in similar spatial patterns of estimated NO2-attributable mortality rates, though the mobile monitoring concentrations yielded more spatial heterogeneity. Using CBG disease rates revealed spatial heterogeneity in estimated NO2 and PM2.5-attributable mortality rates that is masked when using county-level disease rates. Discussion: Estimated air pollutant attributable health burdens vary considerably between neighborhoods in the Bay Area, driven by spatial heterogeneity in both concentrations and disease rates. Future research should test the generalizability of these findings for other cities.

Air pollution characteristics, health risks, and source analysis in Shanxi Province, China.

China is confronting an unprecedented air pollution problem. This study discussed the characteristics of air pollution and its risks on human health and conducted source analysis combined with local development in Shanxi Province in 2016 and 2017. Results demonstrated that the air pollution situation in Shanxi was deteriorating, with Taiyuan, Yangquan, Changzhi, Jincheng, Jinzhong, and Linfen being heavily polluted districts. Particulate matter (PM) was considered the major pollutant, but nitrogen dioxide and ozone showed a dominant trend recently. Furthermore, the health risks evaluated on the basis of a comprehensive air quality index (AAQI) and an aggregated risk index revealed a relatively high-risk level in Shanxi. Among the pollutants, the largest contributor was PM, followed by sulfur dioxide and ozone. Southern Shanxi had the largest pollution level and health risks, whereas Datong was the least polluted region. Source analysis suggested that the main driving forces of air pollution, besides natural factors, were urbanization, population size, civil vehicles, coal-based heavy industries, and high-energy consumption. Therefore, strengthening urban greening, vigorously adjusting and optimizing the industrial structure, and formulating a multi-domain cooperative control regime on air pollution, especially PM and ozone, should be promoted.

Air pollution could drive global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.

Antibiotic-resistant pathogens pose a significant threat to human health. Several dispersal mechanisms have been described, but transport of both microbes and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) via atmospheric particles has received little attention as a pathway for global dissemination. These atmospheric particles can return to the Earth's surface via rain or snowfall, and thus promote long-distance spread of ARGs. However, the diversity and abundance of ARGs in fresh snow has not been studied and their potential correlation with particulate air pollution is not well explored. Here, we characterized ARGs in 44 samples of fresh snow from major cities in China, three in North America, and one in Europe, spanning a gradient from pristine to heavily anthropogenically influenced ecosystems. High-throughput qPCR analysis of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) provided strong indications that dissemination of ARGs in fresh snow could be exacerbated by air pollution, severely increasing the health risks of both air pollution and ARGs. We showed that snowfall did effectively spread ARGs from point sources over the Earth surface. Together our findings urge for better pollution control to reduce the risk of global dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes.

Urban air quality and meteorology on opposite sides of the Alps: The Lyon and Torino case studies

Several European urban areas are characterised by low air quality due to high local emission per unit surface. A further key feature can be related to the pollutant load due to adverse local meteo-climatic conditions. This study aims to compare the two urban agglomerations of Torino and Lyon – located on opposite sides of the Alps and characterised by similar size and population – to enlighten the role of meteorology on local pollutant dispersion. The assessment of air quality has been developed by monitoring network data, emissions analysis and the SIRANE urban dispersion model. Although the two agglomerations have similar NOX and PM10 emissions, the simulation results show higher ground level concentrations in Torino. To quantify the effect of meteorology on this excess of concentrations, we run simulations in Torino imposing the meteorological conditions of Lyon and vice versa. This implies an overall reduction of ground level concentrations in the city centre of Torino between 20% and 40% (analogously, Lyon concentrations increase by a similar amount). These results show the peculiar difficulties faced by Po valley's cities in maintaining pollution levels below regulatory thresholds and highlight the need of systemic policies and site-specific mitigation to reduce air pollution health risks.

Air pollution health risk assessment: the role of benzene

Abstract Benzene is an aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbon (C6H6) ubiquitously present in the environment which results from the emissions of fires and volcanoes. However, the primary source is anthropogenic, mainly from industrial emissions and combustion. The aim of this study is to summarize the current evidence on benzene exposure in the Italian regions and the main health effects. A retrospective observational study was conducted. Environmental data provided by ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) relating to benzene pollution and the trend of national emissions of substance by region and sector of origin were analyzed. Data available to date (1990-2016) show a significant decrease, over 91%, mainly due to the reduction in the transport sector. In 2016, the main share of substance relates to road transport (1,492 t), followed by use of solvents (1,100 t), and production processes (463 t). Much lower are the emissions due to the extraction and distribution of fossil fuels/geothermal (19 t) and combustion in the energy and transformation industries (5 t). The highest absolute values in 2015 were recorded in the Italian regions of Lombardia (751.4 t), Lazio (367.2 t), and Puglia (339.0 t). The lower values were in Valle d'Aosta (7.9 t), Molise (15,5 t) and Basilicata (25,3 t). The largest decrease in benzene exposure between 1990 and 2015 was recorded in Campania (-94.5%), Calabria (-93.9%) and Valle d'Aosta (-93.4%). All Italian regions recorded a significant decrease in the absolute values of benzene emissions, mainly due to both the decrease of benzene in fuel composition during the 1990s and to the renewal of circulating cars equipped with energy saving systems (start and stop) and more optimized for low fuel consumption. The global reduction of energy sources based on fossil fuels, as well as a primary environmental objective to reduce Global Warming, would certainly constitute a way to decrease the impact of benzene on the environment. Key messages Additional efforts are needed to reduce energy sources based on fossil fuels. An information, training and health education policy through the environment aimed at implementing awareness and empowerment of the population would be desirable.