Air pollutants NO 2 - and O 3 -induced Dactylis glomerata L. pollen oxidative defences and enhanced its allergenic potential
AbstractAir pollutants impact airborne pollen biochemistry. Oxidative damage to lipids, proteins and nucleic acids or protein nitration are among ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) described deleterious effects possibly causing pollen physiology damage and enhanced allergenic activity, contributing to aggravate pollen driven respiratory allergy in urban areas. The goal of this research was to evaluate the effects of O3, NO2, alone and combined, onDactylis glomerata pollen reactive oxygen species scavenging enzymes, on pollen germination and their potential contribution to the allergenicity.D. glomerata pollen was in vit...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 27, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Antifungal effects of Curcuma longa L. essential oil against pathogenic strains isolated from indoor air
The objective of this work was to evaluate the antifungal activity ofC. longa essential oil on potentially pathogenic and biodegradable strains isolated from the indoor of the food industry. A suspension of 106 spores/mL of the strainsAspergillus flavus,Penicillium brevicompactum andCladosporium cladosporioides was prepared. Two natural biocides (C. longa essential oil and Cuban propolis) and two synthetic ones (antiseptic detergent and Tween 20) at different concentrations (0, 0.001, 0.1 and 1.0% v/v) were evaluated. The superficial growth of the mycelium (cm) and the germination inhibition (%) were the response variables...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 22, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Morphophysiological characteristics of pollen grains produced by bisexual inflorescences of silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth.)
(Source: Aerobiologia)
Source: Aerobiologia - November 21, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Spatiotemporal variation of ambient bioaerosols in a large and industrialized metropolis of Iran and their association with PM 2.5 and meteorological factors
The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of airborne bacteria and fungi and their association with PM2.5 and meteorological parameters in Isfahan. Air samples were collected from seven different locations of Isfahan city using SKC pumps connected to glass impingers containing a buffer solution and analyzed by the cell culture method. The meteorological variables were obtained from the provincial meteorological office, and the data of atmospheric PM2.5 were taken from the Department of Environment. The highest and the lowest bacterial levels were found at station 7 (114.4 (40 –254.2) CFU/m3) and station ...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 19, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
COVID-19 lockdown: a boon in boosting the air quality of major Indian Metropolitan Cities
AbstractThe COVID-19 lockdown has not only helped in combating the community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 but also improved air quality in a very emphatic manner in most of the countries. In India, the first phase of COVID-19 lockdown came into force on March 25, 2020, which was later continued in the next phases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the result of lockdown on air quality of major metropolitan cities —Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Lucknow—from March 25 to May 3, 2020. For this study, the concentration of six criteria air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO2, SO2, a...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 17, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
A preliminary investigation on airborne fungi of pedestrian underpasses
AbstractPedestrian underpasses are the unique environment where air transaction with outdoor is complicated, inducing interest to study the air quality for the presence of microbes. Thus, the study on the presence of airborne fungi from 11 different underpasses in Chennai city was conducted. The airborne fungi was monitored by exposing potato dextrose agar strips in reuter centrifugal sampler (RCS). A total of 1735 colonies were isolated from underpasses and the control site recorded only 1255 colonies. Total average colony forming unit of underpasses and control site was 157.7 CFU/m3 of air and 114.09 CFU/m3 of air, r...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 16, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Assessment of airborne Curvularia propagules in the atmosphere of Havana, Cuba
AbstractEven though the presence ofCurvularia conidia in the tropical air and the role in respiratory allergy symptoms or plant diseases incidence has been reported, traditional aerobiological investigations usually do not consider their profound study. An aeromycological study of theCurvularia propagules in Havana was conducted during the years 2017 and 2018. Monitoring was carried out by means of volumetric viable and non-viable methodologies. Three types of microscopically identifiable airborne spores (Lunata, Geniculata and Maculans) were identified, according to their distinctive features (conidium shape, pigmentation...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 16, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Allergenic fungal spores in the air of urban parks
AbstractUrban green spaces, especially urban parks, are essential for the proper functioning of cities, but they can be a serious source of airborne fungal spores. Aerobiological monitoring was carried out in urban parks of different typology to estimate the risk associated with fungal spores for citizens. Volumetric method was applied with the use of portable Burkard Sampler. In the air of the studied parks, the most dominant spores are strong allergenic or considered as potentially allergenic.Cladosporium spores were found in enormous concentrations in all studied parks, and it affected the low biodiversity of fungal spo...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 11, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Disinfection efficiency of hospital infectious disease wards with chlorine dioxide and hypochlorous acid
AbstractThe disinfection efficiencies of two chemical disinfectants, chlorine dioxide and weak acid hypochlorous water (WAHW), were examined in the soiled room and dishwashing room of a hospital infectious disease ward in Taiwan. The investigations were conducted in two seasons, namely winter and summer, in order to examine the correlation between the bioaerosol concentration and the environmental factors. In addition, a single-daily disinfection mode (SM) and a twice-daily disinfection mode (TM) were applied in this study. The results showed that the bacteria and fungi colony counts were strongly correlated with the tempe...
Source: Aerobiologia - November 5, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Testing the Raman parameters of pollen spectra in automatic identification
AbstractPollen identification and quantification are used in many fields of application and research has been conducted to attain accurate automatic pollen recognition aiming to reduce the laborious work and subjectivity in human identification. The aim of our study was to evaluate the capacity of Raman parameters of pollen spectra, calculated for only 7 common band intervals in a limited spectral range, to be used as future technique in pollen automatic identification. There were analyzed 15 different pollen species considered to induce allergic reactions. Raman spectra were acquired at an excitation wavelength of 785 n...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 28, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
The EUMETNET AutoPollen programme: establishing a prototype automatic pollen monitoring network in Europe
AbstractOperational pollen monitoring networks have developed across Europe, and the world more generally, in response to the increasing prevalence of pollen allergy and asthma. Routine pollen observations are in large part currently still based on time-intensive manual techniques developed in the 1950s. These methods suffer from low temporal resolution and long delays in data availability. Recent technological developments are revolutionising the field making real-time high-temporal resolution measurements possible. This paper describes the rationale behind the EUMETNET AutoPollen programme, which aims to develop a protot...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 20, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Forecasting olive ( Olea europaea L.) production using aerobiological and meteorological variables in T étouan (NW Morocco)
This study describes the first forecasting models of the olive fruit production based on pre-peak airborne annual pollen integral (APIn) fromOlea europaea L. and meteorological data prior and during the flowering and ripening olive trees in T étouan (NW of Morocco) over a period of 11 years (2008–2018). Aerobiological sampling was conducted using Burkard volumetric Hirst trap. The data were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. Several forecasting models developed were validated using data of 2018 (not included in the models) and compared with real olive crop data obtained from the Provincial Directions of Agricult...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 20, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Pollen calendars and regional gradients as information tools in the Extremadura pollen monitoring network (SW Spain)
AbstractPollen allergies are one of the most important problems among respiratory diseases in today ’s society. The creation and development of aerobiological information tools are useful to provide information to patients and doctors. In this work, we analysed the pollen spectrum of Extremadura to generate pollen calendars for Badajoz, Cáceres, Don Benito, Plasencia and Zafra. Additionally, we analysed regional pollen gradients and plotted the main pollen season (MPS) characteristics (start date, peak date, end date and duration) in each city. In Extremadura, 35–40 different types of pollen are frequently identified,...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 19, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Airborne fungal phytopathological spore assessment in three European vineyards from different bioclimatic areas
AbstractThe most common fungal diseases ofVitis vinifera are powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator (Schw.) Burr.), grey mould (Botrytis cinerea Pers.) and downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola (Berk. and Curt.) Berk. and de Toni). Knowledge about the concentration of their spores in the atmosphere of the vineyard is important in order to ascertain the fungal load in the vineyard during the reproductive vine cycle. An aerobiological study was conducted in three vineyards across Europe: in North-Western Spain (Cenlle), South Spain (Montilla) and South-Eastern Poland (Rzesz ów). During 2016, three Hirst-type spore traps sampled the a...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 12, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Influence of Phleum pratense pollen grains rupture on lipids extraction
AbstractIn this work, we completed the first identification and quantification of internal lipids for allergenicPhleum pratense pollen grains (PGs). We have extracted PGs with aqueous solvent under different extraction procedures and observed release of extra amount of unsaturated fatty acids (α-linolenic and linoleic acids) when PGs were broken during extraction. We showed that rupture of PGs is necessary for the release of higher quantity of bioactive compounds. Organic solvent extraction of crushed PGs confirmed the predominance of unsaturated fatty acids in the inner parts of PGs as well as a different distribution of...
Source: Aerobiologia - October 6, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
