A biomonitoring study of air pollution was developed in an urban-industrial area (Seixal, Portugal) using leaves of strawberry plants ( Duchesne ex Rozier) as biomonitors to identify the main sources and hotspots of air pollution in the study area. The distribution of exposed strawberry plants in the area was based on a citizen science approach, where residents were invited to have the plants exposed outside their homes. Samples were collected from a total of 49 different locations, and their chemical composition was analyzed for 22 chemical elements using X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
November 2023
Along with climate change, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems affecting everyone in the world today [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrban vegetable gardens are very often a feature of cities that want to offer their citizens a more sustainable lifestyle by producing their own food products. However, cities can have significant pollution levels (or pollution hotspots) due to specific sources of pollution, such as traffic. Among the various pollutants, microplastics (MPs) are emerging as a consensual concern due to the awareness of the environmental contamination, their bioaccumulation potential and human intake, and, consequently unknown human health impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSource apportionment (SA) for indoor air pollution is challenging due to the multiplicity and high variability of indoor sources, the complex physical and chemical processes that act as primary sources, sinks and sources of precursors that lead to secondary formation, and the interconnection with the outdoor environment. While the major indoor sources have been recognized, there is still a need for understanding the contribution of indoor versus outdoor-generated pollutants penetrating indoors, and how SA is influenced by the complex processes that occur in indoor environments. This paper reviews our current understanding of SA, through reviewing information on the SA techniques used, the targeted pollutants that have been studied to date, and their source apportionment, along with limitations or knowledge gaps in this research field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe lockdowns held due to the COVID-19 pandemic conducted to changes in air quality. This study aimed to understand the variability of PM levels and composition in an urban-industrial area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and to identify the contribution of the different sources. The composition of PM was assessed for 24 elements (by PIXE), secondary inorganic ions and black carbon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
October 2022
This study aimed to understand the knowledge of Portuguese citizens about air quality and the extent to which the concerns about specific environmental problems can motivate their acquaintance of information. Moreover, this study also allowed to understand which information about air quality needs further dissemination to provide the citizens with all the available tools and the correct knowledge. For this, a national online survey about air quality perception was conducted, where 1131 answers were obtained and two different populations were compared: the general population and a sub-population from an urban-industrial area of Lisbon metropolitan area that had experienced frequent air pollution events in the past.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study aims to investigate the sources of particulate pollution in indoor and outdoor environments, with focus on determining their contribution to the exposure of children to airborne particulate matter (PM). To this end, parallel indoor and outdoor measurements were carried out for a selection of 40 homes and 5 schools between September 2017 and October 2018. PM2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to understand the influence of industries (including steelworks, lime factories, and industry of metal waste management and treatment) on the air quality of the urban-industrial area of Seixal (Portugal), where the local population has often expressed concerns regarding the air quality. The adopted strategy was based on biomonitoring of air pollution using transplanted lichens distributed over a grid to cover the study area. Moreover, the study was conducted during the first period of national lockdown due to COVID-19, whereas local industries kept their normal working schedule.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
February 2022
Particulate matter (PM) pollution is one of the major environmental concerns due to its harmful effects on human health. As children are particularly vulnerable to particle exposure, this study integrates the concentration of PM chemical compounds measured in the micro-environments (MEs) where children spend most of their time to assess the daily exposure and inhaled dose. PM samples were analysed for organic and elemental carbon and for major and trace elements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtmospheric particles are a major environmental health risk. Assessments of air pollution related health burden are often based on outdoor concentrations estimated at residential locations, ignoring spatial mobility, time-activity patterns, and indoor exposures. The aim of this work is to quantify impacts of these factors on outdoor-originated fine particle exposures of school children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAir pollution is one of the major environmental health problems that people face nowadays, affecting everyone in the world [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA wider characterization of indoor air quality during sleep is still lacking in the literature. This study intends to assess bioburden before and after sleeping periods in Portuguese dwellings through active methods (air sampling) coupled with passive methods, such as electrostatic dust cloths (EDC); and investigate associations between before and after sleeping and bioburden. In addition, and driven by the lack of information regarding fungi azole-resistance in Portuguese dwellings, a screening with supplemented media was also performed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2020
Understanding air pollution in urban areas is crucial to identify mitigation actions that may improve air quality and, consequently, minimize human exposure to air pollutants and their impact. This study aimed to assess the temporal evolution of the air quality in the city of Setúbal (Portugal) during a time period of 10 years (2003-2012), by evaluating seasonal trends of air pollutants (PM, PM, O, NO, NO and NO) measured in nine monitoring stations. In order to identify emission sources of particulate matter, PM and PM were characterized in two different areas (urban traffic and industrial) in winter and summer and, afterwards, source apportionment was performed by means of Positive Matrix Factorization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
May 2020
The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and heat-not-burn tobacco (HNBT), as popular nicotine delivery systems (NDS), has increased among adult demographics. This study aims to assess the effects on indoor air quality of traditional tobacco cigarettes (TCs) and new smoking alternatives, to determine the differences between their potential impacts on human health. Measurements of particulate matter (PM, PM and PM), black carbon, carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO) were performed in two real life scenarios, in the home and in the car.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to provide a comprehensive characterisation of the indoor air quality during the sleeping period of 10 couples at Lisbon dwellings, using a multi-pollutant approach, and to understand how the compliance with legislation and guidelines was to assure a good indoor air quality. The assessment of indoor air quality was conducted in the cold season using real time monitors during the sleeping period for comfort parameters (temperature and relative humidity) and air pollutants (carbon dioxide - CO, carbon monoxide - CO, formaldehyde - CHO, total volatile organic compounds - VOCs, and particulate matter - PM and PM), together with active sampling of bioaerosols (fungi and bacteria) before and after the sleeping period. Lower compliance (less than 50% of the cases) with the Portuguese legislation was found for temperature, CO (3440 ± 1610 mg m), VOCs (1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to identify determinants of aldehyde and volatile organic compound (VOC) indoor air concentrations in a sample of more than 140 office rooms, in the framework of the European OFFICAIR research project. A large field campaign was performed, which included (a) the air sampling of aldehydes and VOCs in 37 newly built or recently retrofitted office buildings across 8 European countries in summer and winter and (b) the collection of information on building and offices' characteristics using checklists. Linear mixed models for repeated measurements were applied to identify the main factors affecting the measured concentrations of selected indoor air pollutants (IAPs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeople spend one third of their life sleeping, but the bedroom, as a specific micro-environment, is often neglected when assessing human exposure to air pollutants. However, exposure during sleep may be significant in the long-term to the integrated individual exposure. This study aimed to assess the exposure during sleep, focusing on a multi-pollutant approach (comfort parameters, carbon dioxide - CO, carbon monoxide - CO, formaldehyde (CHO), total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter - PM and PM - and ultrafine particles, particle number concentrations - PNC - and lung deposited surface area - LDSA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDomestic biofuel combustion is one of the major sources of regional and local air pollution, mainly regarding particulate matter and organic compounds, during winter periods. Mutagenic and carcinogenic activity potentials of the ambient particulate matter have been associated with the fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their oxygenated (OPAH) and nitrogenated (NPAH) derivatives. This study aimed at assessing the mutagenicity potential of the fraction of this polycyclic aromatic compound in particles (PM10) from domestic combustion by using the Ames assays with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe European project OFFICAIR aimed to broaden the existing knowledge regarding indoor air quality (IAQ) in modern office buildings, i.e., recently built or refurbished buildings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDomestic biofuel combustion is one of the major sources of regional and local air pollution, mainly regarding particulate matter and organic compounds, during winter periods. Mutagenic and carcinogenic activity potentials of the ambient particulate matter have been associated with the fraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and their oxygenated (OPAH) and nitrogenated (NPAH) derivatives. This study aimed at assessing the mutagenicity potential of the fraction of this polycyclic aromatic compound in particles (PM10) from domestic combustion by using the Ames assays with Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to characterize the relationship between Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and ventilation in French classrooms. Various parameters were measured over one school week, including volatile organic compounds, aldehydes, particulate matter (PM2.5 mass concentration and number concentration), carbon dioxide (CO2 ), air temperature, and relative humidity in 51 classrooms at 17 schools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Toxicol Environ Health A
September 2014
Monitoring particulate matter (PM) and its chemical constituents in classrooms is a subject of special concern within the scientific community in order to control and minimize child exposure. Regulatory sampling methods have presented several limitations in their application to larger number of classrooms due to operational and financial constraints. Consequently, passive sampling methodologies using filters were developed for indoor sampling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Toxicol Environ Health A
May 2013
This study focused on examination of ventilation rates in classrooms with two different types of ventilation systems: natural and mechanical. Carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements were conducted in primary schools of Portugal characterized by natural ventilation and compared to Finland where mechanical ventilation is the norm. The winter period was selected since this season exerts a great influence in naturally ventilated classrooms, where opening of windows and doors occurs due to outdoor atmospheric conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThroughout the world, epidemiological studies were established to examine the relationship between air pollution and mortality rates and adverse respiratory health effects. However, despite the years of discussion the correlation between adverse health effects and atmospheric pollution remains controversial, partly because these studies are frequently restricted to small and well-monitored areas. Monitoring air pollution is complex due to the large spatial and temporal variations of pollution phenomena, the high costs of recording instruments, and the low sampling density of a purely instrumental approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe study was conducted to characterize mineralogical and elemental composition of mine tailings in order to evaluate the environmental hazards, and identify the metal accumulation potential of native plant species from São Domingos mine, one of the long-term activity mines of the Iberian Pyrite Belt dating back to pre-Roman times. The mine tailings including soils and different plant species from São Domingos were analyzed for determination of tailings characteristics and chemical element contents in tailings and plants. The large amounts of mining wastes are causing significant adverse environment impacts due to acid mine drainage production and mobilization of potentially toxic metals and metalloids in residential areas, agricultural fields, downstreams, and rivers.
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