This work presents the results of a PM2.5 source apportionment study conducted in urban background sites from 16 European and Asian countries. For some Eastern Europe and Central Asia cities this was ...the first time that quantitative information on pollution source contributions to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been performed. More than 2200 filters were sampled and analyzed by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) to measure the concentrations of chemical elements in fine particles. Samples were also analyzed for the contents of black carbon, elemental carbon, organic carbon, and water-soluble ions. The Positive Matrix Factorization receptor model (EPA PMF 5.0) was used to characterize similarities and heterogeneities in PM2.5 sources and respective contributions in the cities that the number of collected samples exceeded 75. At the end source apportionment was performed in 11 out of the 16 participating cities. Nine major sources were identified to have contributed to PM2.5: biomass burning, secondary sulfates, traffic, fuel oil combustion, industry, coal combustion, soil, salt and “other sources”. From the averages of sources contributions, considering 11 cities 16% of PM2.5 was attributed to biomass burning, 15% to secondary sulfates, 13% to traffic, 12% to soil, 8.0% to fuel oil combustion, 5.5% to coal combustion, 1.9% to salt, 0.8% to industry emissions, 5.1% to “other sources” and 23% to unaccounted mass. Characteristic seasonal patterns were identified for each PM2.5 source. Biomass burning in all cities, coal combustion in Krakow/POL, and oil combustion in Belgrade/SRB and Banja Luka/BIH increased in Winter due to the impact of domestic heating, whereas in most cities secondary sulfates reached higher levels in Summer as a consequence of the enhanced photochemical activity. During high pollution days the largest sources of fine particles were biomass burning, traffic and secondary sulfates.
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•Data on source apportionment in Eastern European and Central Asian countries is sparse.•The average PM2.5 concentrations measured in the 16 cities exceeded the WHO guidelines.•Biomass burning, traffic and secondary sulfates were the main sources in high pollution days.•Key targets towards healthy cities: clean energy and sustainable transports.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The contribution of main PM pollution sources and their geographic origin in three urban sites of the Danube macro-region (Zagreb, Budapest and Sofia) were determined by combining receptor and ...Lagrangian models. The source contribution estimates were obtained with the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) receptor model and the results were further examined using local wind data and backward trajectories obtained with FLEXPART. Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF) analysis was applied to identify the geographical source areas for the PM sources subject to long-range transport. Gas-to-particle transformation processes and primary emissions from biomass burning are the most important contributors to PM in the studied sites followed by re-suspension of soil (crustal material) and traffic. These four sources can be considered typical of the Danube macro-region because they were identified in all the studied locations. Long-range transport was observed of: a) sulphate-enriched aged aerosols, deriving from SO2 emissions in combustion processes in the Balkans and Eastern Europe and b) dust from the Saharan and Karakum deserts. The study highlights that PM pollution in the studied urban areas of the Danube macro-region is the result of both local sources and long-range transport from both EU and no-EU areas.
•The Danube Region encompasses one of Europe's air pollution “hot spots”.•Causes of PM pollution were studied in the pilot cities: Zagreb, Budapest and Sofia.•PM sources and their geographical origin were estimated using PMF and FLEXPART.•Main PM sources in the Danube are aged aerosols, biomass burning, soil and traffic.•Long-range transport of PM from non-EU areas is a key issue in the Danube Region.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This study aimed to identify possible sources of settled dust events that occurred in an urban area nearby an industrial park, which alarmed the local population. Settled dust was collected in ...January 2019 and its chemical characterization was assessed by micro-PIXE, focusing on a total of 29 elements. Comparison with chemical profiles of particulate matter from different types of environment was conducted, along with the assessment of crustal enrichment factors and Spearman correlations, allowing to understand which sources were contributing to this settled dust event. A nearby industrial area’s influence was identified due to the contents of Fe, Cr and Mn, which are typical tracers of iron and steel industries.
In this study, metal threads from Romanian religious embroideries and precious velvet brocades dated from 15th to 18th century were analyzed by using IBA methods (PIXE and RBS) which, in comparison ...to the traditional analytical techniques (XRF, EDS), allowed the detection of their structures and accurate identification of the trace elements (detection limits of few tens of ppm). PIXE results confirmed that both types of the metal threads studied - wires and strips - have layered structures being made of fine silver, refined by cupellation, and gilded most probably with pure gold, and not of Au-Ag alloy, or gilded Ag-Cu alloy or Au-Ag-Cu alloy, as resulted from the previously performed SEM-EDS analysis. Trace elements of historical interest like lead, mercury and bismuth have been also possible to be detected by PIXE. The resulting elemental maps allowed us to identify the areas from which the metal thread structure and quantitative composition could be accurately determined. RBS measurements revealed that the gilding layer is separated from the silver bulk by an interface layer resulting through atomic diffusion of silver into the gold, which lead to the conclusion that the methods used for gilding were probably either the diffusion bonding or the fire gilding. The gilding layers thicknesses were estimated by PIXE with the GUPIX software and also determined from RBS measurements.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We report on the visualization of the penetration of sunscreen formulations containing TiO
2 nanoparticles (about 20
nm primary particle size) into hair follicles of both human and porcine skin using ...the complementary methods of ion microscopy (PIXE, RBS, STIM) and autoradiography. Particles were found as deep as approx. 400
μm in the follicle, obviously introduced mechanically rather than by a diffusive process. No particles were observed in vital tissue nor in sebaceous glands.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
An inversion method has been developed in order to quantify the emission fluxes of certain aerosol pollution sources across a wide region in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly in Europe and western ...Asia. The data employed are the aerosol contribution factors deducted by positive matrix factorization (PMF) on a PM2.5 chemical composition dataset from 16 European and Asian cities for the period 2014 to 2016. The spatial resolution of the method corresponds to the geographic grid cell size of the Lagrangian particle dispersion model (Flexible Particle Dispersion Model, FLEXPART, 1∘ × 1∘) which was utilized for the air mass backward simulations. The area covered is also related to the location of the 16 cities under study. Species with an aerodynamic geometric mean diameter of 400 nm and 3.1 µm and a geometric standard deviation of 1.6 and 2.25, respectively, were used to model the secondary sulfate and dust aerosol transport. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis and generalized Tikhonov regularization were applied so as to acquire potential source areas and quantify their emission fluxes. A significant source area for secondary sulfate on the east of the Caspian Sea is indicated, when data from all stations are used. The maximum emission flux in that area is as high as 10 × 10−12 kg m−2 s−1. When Vilnius, Dushanbe, and Kurchatov data were excluded, the areas with the highest emission fluxes were the western and central Balkans and southern Poland. The results display many similarities to the SO2 emission maps provided by the OMI-HTAP (Ozone Monitoring Instrument-Hemispheric Transport Air Pollution) and ECLIPSE (Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants) databases. For dust aerosol, measurements from Athens, Belgrade, Debrecen, Lisbon, Tirana, and Zagreb are utilized. The west Sahara region is indicated as the most important source area, and its contribution is quantified, with a maximum of 17.6 × 10−12 kg m−2 s−1. When we apply the emission fluxes from every geographic grid cell (1∘ × 1∘) for secondary sulfate aerosol deducted with the new method to air masses originating from Vilnius, a useful approximation to the measured values is achieved.
Around a quarter of the global adult population have metabolic syndrome (MetS) and therefore increased risk of cardiovascular mortality and diabetes. Docosahexaenoic acid, oat beta-glucan and grape ...anthocyanins have been shown to be effective in reducing MetS risk factors when administered as isolated compounds, but their effect when administered as bioactive-enriched foods has not been evaluated.
The overall aim of the PATHWAY-27 project was to evaluate the effectiveness of bioactive-enriched food consumption on improving risk factors of MetS. A pilot study was conducted to assess which of five bioactive combinations provided within three different food matrices (bakery, dairy or egg) were the most effective in adult volunteers. The trial also evaluated the feasibility of production, consumer acceptability and gastrointestinal tolerance of the bioactive-enriched food.
The study included three monocentric, parallel-arm, double-blind, randomised, dietary intervention trials without a placebo. Each recruiting centre tested the five bioactive combinations within a single food matrix.
The study was completed by 167 participants (74 male, 93 female). The results indicated that specific bioactive/matrix combinations have effects on serum triglyceride or HDL-cholesterol level without adverse effects.
The study evidenced that bioactive-enriched food offers a promising food-based strategy for MetS prevention, and highlighted the importance of conducting pilot studies.
There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that genes involved in cell fate decisions and pattern formation during development also play a key role in the continuous cell fate decisions ...made by adult tissue stem cells. Here we show that prolonged in vitro culture (14 days) of murine bone marrow lineage negative cells in medium supplemented with three early acting cytokines (stem cell factor, Flk-2/Flt-3 ligand, thrombopoietin) and with immobilized Notch ligand, Jagged-1, resulted in robust expansion of serially transplantable hematopoietic stem cells with long-term repopulating ability. We found that the absolute number of marrow cells was increased ∼8 to 14-fold in all cultures containing recombinant growth factors. However, the frequency of high quality stem cells was markedly reduced at the same time, except in cultures containing growth factors and Jagged-1-coated Sepharose-4B beads. The absolute number of hematopoietic cells with long-term repopulating ability was increased ∼10 to 20-fold in the presence of multivalent Notch ligand. These results support a role for combinatorial effects by Notch and cytokine-induced signaling pathways in regulating hematopoietic stem cell fate and to a potential role for Notch ligand in increasing cell numbers in clinical stem cell transplantation.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The reliable monitoring of field virus infections of crop species is important for both farmers and plant breeders. The aim of this study was to detect virus infections of winter wheat in the ...2006/2007 season. Twelve well-known winter wheat varieties were sown on two different dates (11 th of October and 3 rd of November 2006). Leaves of two individuals from each genotype were collected on 23rd of April 2007 to detect the virus infections (Barley stripe mosaic virus â BSMV, Barley yellow dwarf virus â BYDV-PAV, Wheat dwarf virus â WDV and Wheat streak mosaic virus â WSMV) after an extra mild autumn- and wintertime. Virus infections were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The aphid-transmitted BYDV-PAV was found frequently whereas other viruses were presented very rarely or were not detected. Forty-six per cent of the tested wheat plants proved to be infected by BYDV-PAV in ELISA, while using PCR, the virus infections with BYDV-PAV was found in 58% of the samples. Further, these results suggest that the optimal sowing time is critical in the control of cereal virus diseases, and additionally, that wheat varieties respond to the virus infections differently.
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