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Nowadays, technology permeates every aspect of human activity, from the professional to the recreational side, and the recent pandemic crisis has only amplified a clearly defined trend. Through portable devices, people play, work, and get information. The immediacy of information and of many aspects of our life is a condition that, once acquired, is difficult to give up. However, immediate information must also be correct, and not all issues can easily be simplified to the point of being understandable in the absence of basic theoretical notions to a large audience. This aspect is particularly relevant when dealing with issues related to human health and the communication problems encountered in recent months concerning the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and the vaccination campaign is there to prove it. With the intent of clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of fast and accessible information, in this article, some of the most widespread applications for mobile devices, dedicated to pollen allergens, air quality, parks, gardens, and green areas, were examined. A widespread lack of clarity on the sources of the data and on the criteria used to formulate synthetic judgments-that often confuse the final users-was noted., (© 2022 European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This work reviewed existing literature on airport related activities that could worsen surrounding air quality; its aim is to underline the progress coming from recent-year studies, the knowledge emerging from new approaches, the development of semi-empiric analytical methods as well as the questions still needing to be clarified. To estimate pollution levels, spatial and temporal variability, and the sources relative contributions integrated assessment, using both fixed point measurement and model outputs, are needed. The general picture emerging from the studies was a non-negligible and highly spatially variable (within 2-3 km from the fence line) airport contribution; even if it is often not dominant compared to other concomitant pollution sources. Results were highly airport-specific. Traffic volumes, landscape and meteorology were the key variables that drove the impacts. Results were thus hardly exportable to other contexts. Airport related pollutant sources were found to be characterized by unusual emission patterns (particularly ultrafine particles, black carbon and nitrogen oxides during take-off); high time-resolution measurements allow to depict the rapidly changing take-off effect on air quality that could not be adequately observed otherwise. Few studies used high time resolution data in a successful way as statistical models inputs to estimate the aircraft take-off contribution to the observed average levels. These findings should not be neglected when exposure of people living near airports is to be assessed.

Objectives: to assess air pollution spatial and temporal variability in the urban area nearby the Ciampino International Airport (Rome) and to investigate the airport-related emissions contribute., Design and Setting: the study domain was a 64 km2 area around the airport. Two fifteen-day monitoring campaigns (late spring, winter) were carried out. Results were evaluated using several runs outputs of an airport-related sources Lagrangian particle model and a photochemical model (the Flexible Air quality Regional Model, FARM)., Main Outcome Measures: both standard and high time resolution air pollutant concentrations measurements: CO, NO, NO2, C6H6, mass and number concentration of several PM fractions. 46 fixed points (spread over the study area) of NO2 and volatile organic compounds concentrations (fifteen days averages); deterministic models outputs., Results: standard time resolution measurements, as well as model outputs, showed the airport contribution to air pollution levels being little compared to the main source in the area (i.e. vehicular traffic). However, using high time resolution measurements, peaks of particles associated with aircraft takeoff (total number concentration and soot mass concentration), and landing (coarse mass concentration) were observed, when the site measurement was downwind to the runway., Conclusions: the frequently observed transient spikes associated with aircraft movements could lead to a not negligible contribute to ultrafine, soot and coarse particles exposure of people living around the airport. Such contribute and its spatial and temporal variability should be investigated when assessing the airports air quality impact.

The main objective of this study was to asses the temporal variation (1999 trough 2008) of air quality in Rome, focusing on airborne concentration of selected pollutants (PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentration and particle number concentration, PNC, carbon monoxide, CO, nitrogen oxides, NO and NO2) used for health effects assessment in epidemiological analyses. Time series analysis using Seasonal Kendall test has been applied. A statistically significant decreasing trend was found for primary gaseous pollutants and total particle number concentrations. Moreover a decreasing trend was assessed for PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 measured at traffic oriented sites even if the estimated reduction was lower compared with NO, CO and PNC. The urban background PM10 and NO2 concentrations seem to be practically unchanged since 1999 as no statistically significant trends were found. All the pollutants show higher slope of the estimated trend line at traffic oriented sites compared with those observed at the urban background. Thus a reduction of the intra-city concentration variability throughout the years occurred.

Abstract Urban green is an important aspect in the quality of life of citizens of modern cities. Nevertheless some ornamental plants cause allergic diseases in sensitive subjects that may be worsened by air pollution. Studies on air quality are usually addressed to the evaluation of single substances and their specific effects: little is known about the cumulative effect that different pollutants may have on human health. Even less is known about possible combined action of traditional air pollutants with pollen and spores that have huge effects, in terms of allergies and asthma, on citizenship of the urban areas. In this work the synergistic effect of PM 10 , PM 2.5 , NO 2 , O 3 and airborne pollens (belonging to 4 taxa : Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Graminaceae, Olea and Urticaceae) was studied in the city of Rome during six years (from 2010 to 2015). For air pollutants, concentration values recorded by air-quality monitoring network of Rome were used. Pollens and spores data were detected by the Aerobiological Monitoring Centre of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Effects on human health were evaluated on a group of 100 patients (aged between 4 and 18) by the Allergymonitor ™ã application that records daily symptoms of hay fever, bronchial asthma and the prescribed therapies. Data collected in the medical record were processed by 2 different Symptom Medication daily Scores and compared with time series of air concentration of mentioned pollutants, pollen and spores. Statistical analysis allowed highlighting when concomitant high levels of allergenic species and air pollution occur, the influence of meteorological parameters, of the flowering calendar, of taking drugs and how these aspects affect symptoms in patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution measurements of ultrafine particle concentrations in ambient air are needed for the study of health human effects of long-term exposure. This work, carried out in the framework of the VIEPI project (Integrated Evaluation of Indoor Particulate Exposure), aims to extend current knowledge on small-scale spatio-temporal variability of Particle Number Concentration (PNC, considered a proxy of the ultrafine particles) at a local scale domain (1 km × 1 km). PNC measurements were made in the university district of San Lorenzo in Rome using portable condensation particle counters for 7 consecutive days at 21 sites in November 2017 and June 2018. Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) were performed in the area for winter, summer and the overall period. The log-transformed two-hour PNC averages constitute the response variable, and covariates were grouped by urban morphology, land use, traffic and meteorology. Winter PNC values were about twice the summer ones. PNC recorded in the university area were significantly lower than those observed in the external routes. GAMs showed a rather satisfactory result in order to capture the spatial variability, in accordance with those of other previous studies: variances were equal to 71.1, 79.7 and 84%, respectively, for winter, summer and the overall period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the small scale spatial variability of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and selected VOCs (benzene, toluene, acrolein and formaldehyde) concentrations using Land Use Regression models (LURs) in a complex multi sources domain (64 km 2 ), containing a mid-size airport: the Ciampino Airport, located in Ciampino, Rome, Italy. 46 diffusion tube samplers were deployed within a domain centred in the airport over two 2-weekly periods (June 2011–January 2012). GIS-derived predictor variables, with varying buffer size, were evaluated to model spatial variation of NO 2 , benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and acrolein annual average concentrations. The airport apportionment to air quality was investigated using a Lagrangian dispersion model (SPRAY). A stepwise selection procedure was used to develop the linear regression models. The models were validated using leave one out cross validation (LOOCV) method. In this study, the use of LURs was found to be effective to explain spatial variability of NO 2 (adjusted-R 2 = 0.72), benzene (adjusted-R 2 = 0.53), toluene (adjusted-R 2 = 0.50) and acrolein (adjusted-R 2 = 0.51), while limited power was achieved with the formaldehyde modeling (adjusted-R 2 = 0.24). For all pollutants LURs output showed that the small scale spatial variability was mainly explained by local traffic. The airport contribution to the observed spatial variability was adequately quantified only for acrolein (0.43 (±0.69) μg/m 3 in an area of about 6 km 2 , SW located to the airport runway), while for NO 2 and formaldehyde, only a little portion of the spatial variability in a limited portion of the study domain was attributable to airport related emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]