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Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPDs) constitute a social problem of widespread interest. These diseases increase slowly and constantly. Air pollution and its impact on public health continually repropose certain absolute priorities, such as the pin-pointing of strategies to control the pollution sources, the planning of observational studies and the epidemic control. This work shows that a climate marked by always windy weather and low humidity and with low chemical pollutant concentrations (Pietracupa; Molise, Italy) is connected to smaller prevalence of COPDs in comparison with big cities like Rome. Living in non-polluted areas, the benefits of a healthy climate in terms of an improvement in breathing and bronchial hyperactivity reduction, may only in part be backed up by epidemic evidence; however, they are a solid base on which to build definite research projects which can effectively validate it even from an experimental point of view supported by statistics.

The Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometry (DOAS) is a remote-sensing technique finding greater consents in these last years. The analytical principle of the DOAS system is based on the light absorption in the near-UV and Vis regions of those pollutants with fine vibrational structures such as SO2, NO2, O3, nitrous acid, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, etc.. The relationship among the adsorbed light intensity and the xompound concentrations is ruled by the Lambert-Beer's law. The DOAS analysis allows to study and to interpretate the complex mechanisms of the formation and transformation of the pollutants and particularly of those of secondary origin. In this paper we have reported and discussed the behaviors of NO2, O3, HNO2, formaldehyde, benzene and toluene measured by this system during the 2000--2003 period in the Rome area (an area highly influenced by anthropogenic sources) and in Pietracupa (Molise) area (considered as remote site). The results show how the DOAS system highlight very well the secondary pollution evolution; this, described by the profiles of NO2 and O3 being at the same time products and precursors of the photochemical smog, is not influenced by the emission flow intensity and consequently assumes homogeneous values in the whole urban area.

Carbonaceous material is a large fraction of urban aerosol and it is classified into Elemental Carbon (EC) and Organic Carbon (OC). EC particles are emitted from combustion sources. Because most combustion sources are anthropogenic and generally EC does not undergo chemical transformations, EC is a good indicator of primary anthropogenic primary pollution. OC particles species are emitted from primary emission sources either anthropogenic or biogenic sources. In this paper we have measured the ground concentration of Particulate Matter (PM), Total Carbon (TC), EC and OC in two Monitoring Stations in Rome. The first station is situated downtown Rome (near S.M. Maggiore Cathedral) where the traffic emission flux is strong. The second station is located in the inner a green park (Villa Ada Park): this site is not directly influenced by anthropogenic emissions. The results show that in Rome the TC contribution is about 30% of PM and the OC/EC vary between 0.5 and 1.5 according to the site we are considering. About the chemical particle composition the long-chain carboxylic have been identified as major constituent of organic aerosol and a range values are reported for two important compound class, the Polyciclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and the nitro-PAHs wich are at very low levels.

The Aromatic Sulfur Compounds (ASCs) are considered as "markers" of the crude oil age. In this frame, we have considered ASCs as "markers" of remote crude oil sea water pollution for their chemical characteristics, good solubility in water and resistance to the biodegradation. Gas chromatography of ASCs in distilled water and sea water samples has been performed after adsorption from a 80 mL water sample on to a cartridge containing 100 mg NH2-bonded porous silica. The ASCs are desorbed with 2 mL acetone-trichloromethane (1:1), which is concentrated and analysed by GC-FID or GC-MS in SIM mode. The average recovery of 0.1 microg mL(-1) of each ASC from distilled water and 0.04-0.2 microg mL(-1) from sea water samples is > or = 96.3% with a standard deviation < or = 2.2. The limits of detection are 0.06-0.05 ng mL(-1) for thiophen-2-carboxaldehyde and benzothiophene, and 0.006-0.004 ng mL(-1) for dibenzothiophene and thiantrene in GC-FID whereas they are 0.02 ng mL(-1) for thiophen-2-carboxaldehyde and benzothiophene, and 0.003 ng mL(-1) for dibenzothiophene and thiantrene in GC-MS (SIM) with a relative standard deviation < or =7.

In this paper the results of seasonal monitoring campaign for primary (benzene and carbon monoxide) and secondary (nitrogen dioxide and ozone) pollutants and for the natural radioactivity of the particulate matter in the urban area of Rome, are reported to investigate acute atmospheric pollution episodes. Comparing the daily concentration trends of primary and secondary pollutants with those of the natural radioactivity, considered as index of the vertical diffusion in the low boundary layer, it has been evidenced that the acute pollution episodes in Rome occur in the winter period for the high atmospheric stability (primary pollution) and in the summer period for the strong diurnal atmospheric remixing (secondary pollution).

The ground concentrations of particulate matter, total carbon, elemental carbon and organic carbon were measured in a monitoring station located inner a park in downtown Rome. The description of the evolution of the boundary layer is given by radon concentration measurements. The results show that the particulate matter of Rome contains about 30% of carbonaceous matter. The elemental and organic carbon behaviours show that elemental carbon is essentially a primary pollutant emitted directly from vehicular traffic and organic carbon behaviour instead can be primary (combustion and biogenic emission) and secondary. A chemical fine particulate matter mass balance is given; an organic carbon investigation has been carried out in order to determine n-alkanes, n-alkanoic acids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Carbonaceous material in the particulate matter was measured in Rome urban area. The carbonaceous material constitutes a significant component of total aerosol mass (30-40%) and it is composed by two main fractions, elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC). EC is essentially a primary pollutant emitted directly from incomplete combustion processes whereas OC has both primary and secondary origin. A chemical OC investigation has been carried out in order to determine the nalkanes, the n-alkanoic acids, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nitro-PAHs by means an HRGC-MS procedure. A different seasonal distribution of these compound classes attributed to photochemical radical activity (n-alkanes and PAH decrease in spring- and summertime) and to biogenic plant emission (n-alkanoic acid increase in summertime) has been evidenced.

A simple, accurate and reproducible analytical method is described for the extraction and the simultaneous determination of 18 amino acids in different for geographical origin Spirulina alga samples using phenylisothiocianate as derivatizating agent in natural feed. The best experimental hydrolysis conditions have been studied varying the temperature, the time and the hydrolyzing reagent. The separation and the quantitative analysis of the by-products have been carried out by HPLC analysis and UV detection. An amino acid pattern is compared with that proposed by the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) for an ideal protein and with those of some traditional feed.