Seasonal bioaerosol load and statistical analysis within different microenvironments of an academic institute situated in the Indo-Gangetic Plain
AbstractBioaerosols have gained importance in atmospheric sciences in the past few decades. Their exposure upsurges the health problems in sensitive population and is also known to participate in atmospheric chemistry. The present study assesses the monthly distribution of bioaerosol load at four different microenvironments inside an academic institute in Kanpur situated in Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). The study duration was from November 2017 to April 2018. The measured total bioaerosol concentrations were highest during April (418 –610 CFU/m3) at all sites followed by the post-monsoon month of November (369 –577 CFU/...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Trends in pollen season characteristics of Alnus, Poaceae and Artemisia allergenic taxa in Bratislava, central Europe
This study aimed to analyse the changes in the intensity, timing, and duration of pollen seasons of three allergological important plant taxa (Alnus, Poaceae,Artemisia) in the study area over 18 years. The pollen sampling was performed using a Hirst-type sampler. Mann–Kendall tau test was used to determine trends in pollen season characteristics, while Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to identify the relationships between the characteristics of pollen seasons and both air temp erature and precipitation trends. The notable changes in the pollen-season-related features were observed for all analysed taxa. TheAl...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Antibiotic resistance and biofilm synthesis genes in airborne Staphylococcus in commercial aircraft cabins
AbstractPassenger air transport is one of the main routes for the global spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. This may be due to airborne pathogen transmission, which may occur within the commercial aircraft cabin. Because of this, we performed an investigation of aerial contamination byStaphylococcus species in 166 commercial aircraft and analyzed the presence of antibiotic resistance and biofilm synthesis genes in the collected isolates. Bacterial identification was performed by using species-specific primers and partial sequencing of 16S rRNA andtuf genes. The antibiotic resistance genes screened were:mecA,mecC,blaZ,...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Spline interpolation as a way of mapping pollen emission sources
AbstractThe article develops a new method of spatiotemporal modelling of possible locations of ragweed areas and estimation of pollen emission intensity of these areas. The method uses spline approximation with automatic computations of typical pollen production models in the R language. It applies a number of approaches eliminating the uncertainty of various parameters that should be taken into consideration for this modelling. The authors have consolidated some experimental data on the amount ofAmbrosia pollen in the air depending on environmental conditions, and found some new possible ragweed pollen sources on the terr...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Diversity and spatial –temporal distribution of airborne fungi at the world culture heritage site Maijishan Grottoes in China
In this study, a systematic investigation was carried out to detect the seasonal variation and diversity of airborne fungal concentration at the World Cultural Heritage Site Maijishan Grottoes in western China. A bio-aerosol sampler was deployed to collect samples over four seasons in 2016. The culturable airborne fungi were isolated, purified and then identified with the extraction of genomic DNA, PCR amplification of ITS rRNA region, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. The concentrations of culturable fungi ranged from 216 to 1389 CFU/m3, which varied seasonally with significant differences among the sampling sites....
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Seasonal variation and size distribution in the airborne indoor microbial concentration of residential houses in Delhi and its impact on health
AbstractExposure of microbial agents in the air of indoor dwellings is associated with effects on respiratory and general health. The current study was conducted in the urban area of Delhi Metropolis for the seasonal quantitative assessment of viable microbial indoor air quality. Bioaerosol measurement was conducted by using Anderson six stage impactor with cut-off diameters of 7.0, 4.7, 3.3, 2.1, 1.1, and 0.65 µm) throughout the all the seasons (April 2019 to March 2020). Meteorological parameters such as temperature and relative humidity were measured to check their effect on microbial survival. Air quality index data...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
A first evaluation of multiple automatic pollen monitors run in parallel
AbstractA range of commercially available automatic pollen monitors were run in parallel and evaluated for the first time during the 2019 spring season; this includes the Droplet Measurement Technologies WIBS-NEO, Helmut-Hund BAA-500, the Plair Rapid-E, two Swisens Poleno, and two Yamatronics KH-3000 devices. The instruments were run from 19 April to 31 May 2019 and located in Payerne, Switzerland, representative of a semi-rural site on the Swiss plateau. The devices were validated against Hirst-type traps in terms of total pollen counts for daily and sub-daily averages. While the manual measurements cannot be considered a...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 21, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Spatiotemporal distribution and the passive dispersal of fungal spores through HVAC systems
This study presents results from ex situ experiments conducted to a better understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution, passive dispersal and removal of fungal spores through HVAC systems. The study was conducted in a 50 square meters by 3 m high instrument room in a research building with HVAC systems. Plates withAspergillus flavus colony were attached upside down on the edge of the ceiling vent to imitate the mildew growing. Fungal spores were released for 10 min, collected and counted by the settle plate method in 2 h. Results show thatA. flavus spores dispersed to 3.6 m in 2 min and were evenly distributed...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 21, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
A first evaluation of multiple automatic pollen monitors run in parallel
AbstractA range of commercially available automatic pollen monitors were run in parallel and evaluated for the first time during the 2019 spring season; this includes the Droplet Measurement Technologies WIBS-NEO, Helmut-Hund BAA-500, the Plair Rapid-E, two Swisens Poleno, and two Yamatronics KH-3000 devices. The instruments were run from 19 April to 31 May 2019 and located in Payerne, Switzerland, representative of a semi-rural site on the Swiss plateau. The devices were validated against Hirst-type traps in terms of total pollen counts for daily and sub-daily averages. While the manual measurements cannot be considered a...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 21, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Spatiotemporal distribution and the passive dispersal of fungal spores through HVAC systems
This study presents results from ex situ experiments conducted to a better understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution, passive dispersal and removal of fungal spores through HVAC systems. The study was conducted in a 50 square meters by 3 m high instrument room in a research building with HVAC systems. Plates withAspergillus flavus colony were attached upside down on the edge of the ceiling vent to imitate the mildew growing. Fungal spores were released for 10 min, collected and counted by the settle plate method in 2 h. Results show thatA. flavus spores dispersed to 3.6 m in 2 min and were evenly distributed...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 21, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Evaluating inaccurate pollen concentrations caused by turbulence using passive sampler
In this study, the relationship between wind speed and sampling efficiency was investigated to determine whether the influence of ambient wind speed on sampling efficiency was significant. To this end, the influence of wind speed was analyzed by comparing a volumetric sampler and a gravitational sampler. The experimental results indicate that an increase in the wind speed results in an increase in the sampling efficiency of the gravitational sampler because of fluctuations in the turbulence. Our simulation shows that when pollen is entrained in the turbulence, the changes in the wind speed, turbulence amplitude, and turbul...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 6, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Analysis of allergenic pollen data, focusing on a pollen load threshold statement
AbstractAirborne allergenic pollen affects a significant part of the population and the information on pollen load is a valuable tool for public health prevention. The messages should be provided in a form easily understandable for the population. The study provides new insight for the categorisation of pollen load by defining thresholds solely from aerobiological data. Using the long-term airborne pollen data ofCorylus,Alnus,Betula, Poaceae,and Artemisia have been evaluated the regionality of pollen concentrations in Lithuania. SPIn and peak values of the main pollen season highlighted as regionality indicators. The large...
Source: Aerobiologia - September 29, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
