Innovative experimental approach for spatial mapping of source-specific risk contributions of potentially toxic trace elements in PM.

Exposure to potentially toxic trace elements (PTTEs) in inhalable particulate matter (PM) is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiorespiratory diseases. Therefore, in multi-source polluted urban contexts, a spatially-resolved evaluation of health risks associated with exposure to PTTEs in PM is essential to identify critical risk areas. In this study, a very-low volume device for high spatial resolution sampling and analysis of PM was employed in Terni (Central Italy) in a wide and dense network (23 sampling sites, about 1 km between each other) during a 15-month monitoring campaign.

The roles of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids in the process of aggregation of natural marine organic matter investigated by means of 2D correlation spectroscopy applied to infrared spectra.

In this paper the marine organic matter soluble in an alkaline medium called extractable humic substance (EHS), was extracted from three sediment samples of Tyrrhenian Sea and separated by precipitation at pH 2 in the two fractions of fulvic acids (FAs) and humic acids (HAs). FAs were further fractionated in seven sub-samples of different molecular weight (mw) by means of seven different ultrafiltration membranes operating in the range between mw<1 kDa and mw>100 kDa. Then the qualitative composition of each sample of fractionated FAs and HAs was studied by means of one-dimensional Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in reflectance mode (FTIR-DRIFT) and by two-dimensional (2D) correlation spectroscopy both in wavelength-wavelength (WW) and in sample-sample (SS) mode.