High altitude stations are often emphasized as free tropospheric measuring sites but they remain influenced by atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) air masses due to convective transport processes. The ...local and meso-scale topographical features around the station are involved in the convective boundary layer development and in the formation of thermally induced winds leading to ABL air lifting. The station altitude alone is not a sufficient parameter to characterize the ABL influence. In this study, a topography analysis is performed allowing calculation of a newly defined index called ABL-TopoIndex. The ABL-TopoIndex is constructed in order to correlate with the ABL influence at the high altitude stations and long-term aerosol time series are used to assess its validity. Topography data from the global digital elevation model GTopo30 were used to calculate five parameters for 43 high and 3 middle altitude stations situated on five continents. The geometric mean of these five parameters determines a topography based index called ABL-TopoIndex, which can be used to rank the high altitude stations as a function of the ABL influence. To construct the ABL-TopoIndex, we rely on the criteria that the ABL influence will be low if the station is one of the highest points in the mountainous massif, if there is a large altitude difference between the station and the valleys or high plains, if the slopes around the station are steep, and finally if the inverse drainage basin potentially reflecting the source area for thermally lifted pollutants to reach the site is small. All stations on volcanic islands exhibit a low ABL-TopoIndex, whereas stations in the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau have high ABL-TopoIndex values. Spearman's rank correlation between aerosol optical properties and number concentration from 28 stations and the ABL-TopoIndex, the altitude and the latitude are used to validate this topographical approach. Statistically significant (SS) correlations are found between the 5th and 50th percentiles of all aerosol parameters and the ABL-TopoIndex, whereas no SS correlation is found with the station altitude. The diurnal cycles of aerosol parameters seem to be best explained by the station latitude although a SS correlation is found between the amplitude of the diurnal cycles of the absorption coefficient and the ABL-TopoIndex.
The emission of trace metal pollutants by industry and transport takes place on a scale large enough to alter atmospheric chemistry and results in measurable differences between the urban background ...of inhalable particulate matter (PM) in different towns. This is particularly well demonstrated by the technogenic release into the atmosphere of V, Ni, and lanthanoid elements. We compare PM concentrations of these metals in large datasets from five industrial towns in Spain variously influenced by emissions from refinery, power station, shipping, stainless steel, ceramic tiles and brick-making. Increased La/Ce values in urban background inhalable PM, due to La-contamination from refineries and their residual products (fuel oils and petcoke), contrast with Ce-rich emissions from the ceramic related industry, and clearly demonstrate the value of this ratio as a sensitive and reliable tracer for many point source emissions. Similarly, anomalously high V/Ni values (>
4) can detect the influence of nearby high-V petcoke and fuel oil combustion, although the use of this ratio in urban background PM is limited by overlapping values in natural and anthropogenic materials. Geochemical characterisation of urban background PM is a valuable compliment to the physical monitoring of aerosols widely employed in urban areas, especially given the relevance of trace metal inhalation to urban health issues.
Abstract
Background
Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is an IgA-mediated small vessel vasculitis, typical of childhood. It’s a self-limiting disease and it affects different systems. HSP is ...characterized by dermatological, abdominal, joint and renal clinical manifestations. This condition usually occurs upon infections, mainly upper respiratory tract ones, medications, vaccinations and malignancies.
Case presentation
We describe the case of a 11 year-old girl who developed a urticarial rash 12 days after the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech BNT16B2b2 mRNA vaccine and a clear picture of Henoch Schönlein purpura 5 days after administration of the second dose of the same vaccine.
Conclusion
To our knowledge, this is the first description of a pediatric patient with Henoch-Schönlein purpura occurring in association with vaccination against COVID-19.
In spite of the high air quality and health relevance of PM emissions from road dust resuspension in large cities, very little is known on their temporal variability, severely hampering a reliable ...description of population exposure by dispersion models. We have experimentally monitored the mobile dust load (only inhalable fraction) in two different European urban environments resulting in the first empirical description of the temporal variation of road dust emission strength. In Central (The Netherlands) and Southern (Spain) European environments the loadings of mobile road dust particles <10 μm were found to be generally constant on a day-to-day scale, except during and in the hours immediately after rain events when the mobility of particles drops dramatically to values close to zero. After the rain event the mobile dust load increases exponentially tending to reach again the maximum value, result of the equilibrium between mobilization/buildup of dust and moistening/resuspension processes. The mobilization/buildup of particles smaller than 10 μm was found to be three times faster in Barcelona than in Utrecht, in relation to higher solar radiation. In Barcelona the recovery of mobile road dust reached 50%, 75%, and 90% of the maximum value after 8, 16 and 27 h, respectively. These values were independent of amounts of rain. In Utrecht the same thresholds were reached after, 28, 55 and 90 h, respectively. Our observations may suggest that, for reducing road dust emissions, light but frequent moistening of roads might be more effective than intensive occasional cleanings.
Chronic nonbacterial osteomyelitis (CNO) is a rare autoinflammatory bone disorder that mainly involves children and adolescents. The association with other inflammatory disorders, such as ...inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis, and arthritis, has been reported in the literature. In particular, the relationship between bone and intestinal inflammation is still poorly understood. For this purpose, our review aims to describe the cases reported in the literature concerning this association and to compare them with data from our single-center cohort of patients.
We conducted a literature review of published cases of CNO associated with IBD. Eligible articles were identified through a Medline search in the PubMed database until December 2022. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of patients with CNO referred to G. Pini Hospital and compared them with the literature-review-based cohort.
Fifty-seven patients with a defined diagnosis of CNO and associated IBD were described in the literature (female 55%). The median age of onset of the disease (CNO or IBD) was 11 years. In 32/53 (60%), a diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD) was made, while 18 (34%) patients were classified as suffering from ulcerative colitis (UC) and 3 (6%) from undifferentiated IBD. The diagnosis of CNO preceded the diagnosis of IBD in 59% of cases; while in 24%, IBD anticipated CNO; and in 17%, the two conditions appeared simultaneously. The median time between the two events was 24 months. In our Italian cohort (
= 23 patients), no diagnosis of IBD was made. No significant differences were found when comparing clinical and demographical characteristics of the Italian vs. review-based cohort, except for a significant involvement of rachis in the Italian group.
The correlation between autoinflammatory bone disease and intestinal inflammation should be further investigated. It is essential to promote awareness among pediatric rheumatologists and gastroenterologists about this possible association to facilitate the diagnosis and better optimize treatment.
OVERVIEW OF THE NOAA/ESRL FEDERATED AEROSOL NETWORK Andrews, Elisabeth; Sheridan, Patrick J.; Ogren, John A. ...
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
01/2019, Letnik:
100, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
To estimate global aerosol radiative forcing, measurements of aerosol optical properties are made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory ...(ESRL)’s Global Monitoring Division (GMD) and their collaborators at 30 monitoring locations around the world. Many of the sites are located in regions influenced by specific aerosol types (Asian and Saharan desert dust, Asian pollution, biomass burning, etc.). This network of monitoring stations is a shared endeavor of NOAA and many collaborating organizations, including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) program, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), several U.S. and foreign universities, and foreign science organizations. The result is a long-term cooperative program making atmospheric measurements that are directly comparable with those from all the other network stations and with shared data access. The protocols and software developed to support the program facilitate participation in GAW’s atmospheric observation strategy, and the sites in the NOAA/ESRL network make up a substantial subset of the GAW aerosol observations. This paper describes the history of the NOAA/ESRL Federated Aerosol Network, details about measurements and operations, and some recent findings from the network measurements.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Results of a lidar measurement campaign performed at IMAA‐CNR (Potenza, Italy) during the 2002 Etna volcano eruption, are reported. With combined Raman elastic‐backscatter lidar, independent ...measurements of aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients at 355 nm are retrieved, whereas aerosol backscatter coefficient at 532 nm is retrieved from elastic lidar signal. A volcanic aerosol layer has been observed in the free troposphere on 1–2 November. AVHRR images show direct plume transport from Etna to Potenza. Optical depth of 0.1 and lidar ratio of 55 sr at 355 nm have been observed at the moment of direct transport. For the first time, a measurement of the lidar ratio for tropospheric volcanic aerosol has been performed. This lidar ratio value and the estimation of the wavelength dependence of the aerosol backscatter coefficient of 2.4 indicate the presence of young sub‐micron sulfate particles, a low soot content, and the absence of large ash particles.
Proximity to road traffic involves higher health risks because of atmospheric pollutants. In addition to outdoor air, indoor air quality contributes to overall exposure. In the framework of the ...BREATHE study, indoor and outdoor air pollution was assessed in 39 schools in Barcelona. The study quantifies indoor and outdoor air quality during school hours of the BREATHE schools. High levels of fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), equivalent black carbon (EBC), ultrafine particle (UFP) number concentration and road traffic related trace metals were detected in school playgrounds and indoor environments. PM2.5 almost doubled (factor of 1.7) the usual urban background (UB) levels reported for Barcelona owing to high school-sourced PM2.5 contributions: 1 an indoor-generated source characterised mainly by organic carbon (OC) from organic textile fibres, cooking and other organic emissions, and by calcium and strontium (chalk dust) and; 2 mineral elements from sand-filled playgrounds, detected both indoors and outdoors. The levels of mineral elements are unusually high in PM2.5 because of the breakdown of mineral particles during playground activities. Moreover, anthropogenic PM components (such as OC and arsenic) are dry/wet deposited in this mineral matter. Therefore, PM2.5 cannot be considered a good tracer of traffic emissions in schools despite being influenced by them. On the other hand, outdoor NO2, EBC, UFP, and antimony appear to be good indicators of traffic emissions. The concentrations of NO2 are 1.2 times higher at schools than UB, suggesting the proximity of some schools to road traffic. Indoor levels of these traffic-sourced pollutants are very similar to those detected outdoors, indicating easy penetration of atmospheric pollutants. Spatial variation shows higher levels of EBC, NO2, UFP and, partially, PM2.5 in schools in the centre than in the outskirts of Barcelona, highlighting the influence of traffic emissions. Mean child exposure to pollutants in schools in Barcelona attains intermediate levels between UB and traffic stations.
Display omitted
•39 schools in Barcelona monitored (indoor and outdoor) for air quality assessment.•Higher levels of traffic pollutants at schools than at urban background station.•OC, Ca & Sr are mainly school sourced: organic emissions, textile fibres and chalk.•Mineral matter (mixed with urban pollutants) is resuspended by children activities.•BC, NO2, UFP & few metals good traffic tracers but not PM2.5 due to school sources.
Henna (Lawsonia inermis L.) tattooing has been used in Egypt and India since ancient times. Today this temporary body art is becoming increasingly popular among young people. Various chemicals are ...added to henna to darken and enhance the definition of tattoos, especially para-phenylenediamine (PPD), which is a strong sensitizer known to cause cross sensitive reactions to azoic dyes and other para-amino compounds. We present the case of an 18-year-old girl who became clinically sensitive to textile dyes after having showed a serious reaction both to her first hair dying when she was 16 years old and following the application of a temporary henna tattoo when she was a kid. The evidence from our literature review showed 33 cases of manifest sensitization to hair dye and only one of observable contact allergy to both hair and textile dyes from henna tattoos. The sensitization of children may have long-life lasting consequences, because of cross-reaction to dyes and other chemicals contained in hair colourants, clothes and drugs. Since tattoos are very popular and globalization has increased the circulation of unauthorized products we point out the need for informative campaigns about the risk of sensitization caused by temporary tattoos.
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