北京市大气细颗粒污染物与老年呼吸系统疾病急诊就医关系的病例交叉研究

目的:探讨北京市大气细颗粒污染物对呼吸系统疾病急诊的影响。方法:收集2013年3月-2014年3月解放军305医院以及西三环的总参军训部北京第八干休所门诊部的临床病例急诊数据、北京市环境监测中心的大气细颗粒污染物和气象条件数据资料,应用病例交叉设计研究方法进行数据分析。结果:在控制气温、相对湿度的影响后,单向回顾性1:1配对病例交叉分析结果显示,滞后0天细颗粒物污染对慢性支气管炎、哮喘、慢性阻塞性肺病急诊影响的OR值最大,细颗粒物日平均浓度每升高10μg/m3,对应的OR值分别为1.032、1.033、1.035。结论:该研究区域内大气细颗粒物污染物浓度升高可以导致呼吸系统疾病相关的慢性支气管炎、哮喘、慢性阻塞性肺病疾病的急诊增加。     

Relationships of fungal spore concentrations in the air and meteorological factors

High concentrations of airborne fungal spores are associated with human health concerns. Environmental variables, such as temperature and moisture, can influence growth and reproduction in fungi and airborne spore concentrations can fluctuate seasonally. However, we do not understand how long-term changes in climate affect fungal abundance in the air. Here, we sampled annually (at peak season, in September, over a 20-yr period) for airborne fungal spores in two North American cities (New York and Toronto), and related fungal abundance to local variation in climate. We found that at both locations, the total precipitation during the 2- month period prior to sampling (Jul.–Aug.) was negatively related to observed fungal spore concentrations. Considering that climate predictions for these two regions indicate an increase in drought events in summer, we expect airborne fungal concentrations to increase in future years, potentially exacerbating human health concerns.     

Methods for Comparing Nutrients in Beebread Made by Africanized and European Honey Bees and the Effects on Hemolymph Protein Titers

Honey bees obtain nutrients from pollen they collect and store in the hive as beebread. We developed methods to control the pollen source that bees collect and convert to beebread by placing colonies in a specially constructed enclosed flight area. Methods were developed to analyze the protein and amino acid composition of the pollen and beebread. We also describe how consumption of the beebread was measured and methods used to determine adult worker bee hemolymph protein titers after feeding on beebread for 4, 7 and 11 days after emergence. Methods were applied to determine if genotype affects the conversion of pollen to beebread and the rate that bees consume and acquire protein from it. Two subspecies (European and Africanized honey bees; EHB and AHB respectively) were provided with the same pollen source. Based on the developed methods, beebread made by both subspecies had lower protein concentrations and pH values than the pollen. In general, amino acid concentrations in beebread made by either EHB or AHB were similar and occurred at higher levels in beebread than in pollen. Both AHB and EHB consumed significantly more of the beebread made by AHB than by EHB. Though EHB and AHB consumed similar amounts of each type of beebread, hemolymph protein concentrations in AHB were higher than in EHB. Differences in protein acquisition between AHB and EHB might reflect environmental adaptations related to the geographic region where each subspecies evolved. These differences could contribute to the successful establishment of AHB populations in the New World because of the effects on brood rearing and colony growth.     

Spatial Modeling of Air Pollution in Studies of Its Short‐Term Health Effects

Summary In studies that estimate the short‐term effects of air pollution on health, daily measurements of pollution concentrations are often available from a number of monitoring locations within the study area. However, the health data are typically only available in the form of daily counts for the entire area, meaning that a corresponding single daily measure of pollution is required. The standard approach is to average the observed measurements at the monitoring locations, and use this in a log‐linear health model. However, as the pollution surface is spatially variable this simple summary is unlikely to be an accurate estimate of the average pollution concentration across the region, which may lead to bias in the resulting health effects. In this article, we propose an alternative approach that jointly models the pollution concentrations and their relationship with the health data using a Bayesian spatio‐temporal model. We compare this approach with the simple spatial average using a simulation study, by investigating the impact of spatial variation, monitor placement, and measurement error in the pollution data. An epidemiological study from Greater London is then presented, which estimates the relationship between respiratory mortality and four different pollutants.     

Purification and properties of glutamate dehydrogenase in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) needles

NADH-dependent glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH. EC 1. 4. 1.2) was isolated from the needles of Scots pine (Pinus sylverstris L.) grown on a rural and on a heavily polluted industrial area, and it was purified about 500 fold. The purification procedure included salt I'ractionation, ion exchange and affinity chromatography. Miehaelis constants for 2-oxoglularale (1.7 mM). for ammonium sultate (19 mM ) and for NADH (42.5 resp. 53 μM) the pH optimum (8.5) the requirements for Ca²⁺ ions, the temperature dependence ofl the enzyme activity (incubation from 0 to 82°C). and the relation between forest region and electrophoretie isoenzyme pattern were determined. The possible role of GDH in the adaptation of plants to ammonia assimilation (detoxification) under stress conditions, particularly with respect to air pollution, is discussed.     

Aluminium and iron air pollution near an iron casting and aluminium foundry in Turin district (Italy)

This work reports the results of an environmental survey carried out in an industrial area in the Province of Turin: its main aim is to assess the levels of iron and aluminium in the outside air during the period from July to September to assess the influence of industrial activity (a cast-iron and aluminium foundry) which is interrupted during the month of August, on the level of metals present in the air. Conducting the analysis during this period of time made it possible to avoid the confounding effect of pollution due to domestic central heating. The measurements were taken from nine areas at different distances from the foundry in the area and according to the direction of the prevailing winds, as deduced from the historical data. The results of this survey show a statistically significant difference in iron and aluminium levels in the outside air in the geographic areas between the two main periods examined: during August (no foundry activity) v/s July-September (foundry activity). The values recorded are: Aluminium 0.4+/-0.45 microg/m(3) v/s 1.12+/-1.29 microg/m(3) (p<0.0001); Iron 0.95+/-0.56 microg/m(3) v/s 1.6+/-1.0 microg/m(3) (p<0.0001). There were no statistically significant differences between the nine sampling points from the point of view of the sampling sites, climate conditions and wind directions. We found no correlation with car traffic, in terms of the number of vehicles, and metals. The values of iron tended to be higher in the areas farther away from the foundry site in the areas located along the path of the prevailing winds.     

High-temperature biotrickling filtration of hydrogen sulphide

Biofiltration of malodorous reduced sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide has been confined to emissions that are at temperatures below 40°C despite the fact that there are many industrial emissions (e.g. in the pulp and paper industry) at temperatures well above 40°C. This paper describes our study on the successful treatment of hydrogen sulphide gas at temperatures of 40, 50, 60 and 70°C using a microbial community obtained from a hot spring. Three biotrickling filter (BTF) systems were set up in parallel for a continuous run of 9 months to operate at three different temperatures, one of which was always at 40°C as a mesophilic control and the other two were for exploring high-temperature operation up to 70°C. The continuous experiment and a series of batch experiments in glass bottles (250 ml) showed that addition of glucose and monosodium glutamate enhanced thermophilic biofiltration of hydrogen sulphide gas and a removal rate of 40 g m⁻³ h⁻¹ was achieved at 70°C. We suggest that the glucose is acting as a carbon source for the existing microbial community in the BTFs, whereas glutamate is acting as a compatible solute. The use of such organic compounds to enhance biodegradation of hydrogen sulphide, particularly at high temperatures, has not been demonstrated to our knowledge and, hence, has opened up a range of possibilities for applying biofiltration to hot gas effluent.     

Air movement preferences observed in office buildings

Office workers’ preferences for air movement have been extracted from a database of indoor environmental quality surveys performed in over 200 buildings. Dissatisfaction with the amount of air motion is very common, with too little air movement cited far more commonly than too much air movement. Workers were also surveyed in a detailed two-season study of a single naturally ventilated building. About one-half the building’s population wanted more air movement and only 4% wanted less. This same ratio applied when the air movement in workspaces was higher than 0.2 m/s, the de facto draft limit in the current ASHRAE and ISO thermal environment standards. Preference for “less air motion” exceeded that for “more” only at thermal sensations of −2 (cool) or colder. These results raise questions about the consequences of the ASHRAE and ISO standards’ restrictions on air movement, especially for neutral and warm conditions.     

Evolution of spatially structured host–parasite interactions

Spatial structure has dramatic effects on the demography and the evolution of species. A large variety of theoretical models have attempted to understand how local dispersal may shape the coevolution of interacting species such as host–parasite interactions. The lack of a unifying framework is a serious impediment for anyone willing to understand current theory. Here, we review previous theoretical studies in the light of a single epidemiological model that allows us to explore the effects of both host and parasite migration rates on the evolution and coevolution of various life‐history traits. We discuss the impact of local dispersal on parasite virulence, various host defence strategies and local adaptation. Our analysis shows that evolutionary and coevolutionary outcomes crucially depend on the details of the host–parasite life cycle and on which life‐history trait is involved in the interaction. We also discuss experimental studies that support the effects of spatial structure on the evolution of host–parasite interactions. This review highlights major similarities between some theoretical results, but it also reveals an important gap between evolutionary and coevolutionary models. We discuss possible ways to bridge this gap within a more unified framework that would reconcile spatial epidemiology, evolution and coevolution.