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Motor vehicle traffic is an important source of particulate pollution in cities of the developing world, where rapid growth, coupled with a lack of effective transport and land use planning, may result in harmful levels of fine particles (PM(2.5)) in the air. However, a lack of air monitoring data hinders health impact assessments and the development of transportation and land use policies that could reduce health burdens due to outdoor air pollution. To address this important need, a study of traffic-related PM(2.5) was carried out in the city of Nairobi, Kenya, a model city for sub-Saharan Africa, in July 2009. Sampling was carried out using portable filter-based air samplers carried in backpacks by technicians on weekdays over two weeks at several sites in and around Nairobi ranging from high-traffic roadways to rural background. Mean daytime concentrations of PM(2.5) ranged from 10.7 at the rural background site to 98.1 μg/m(3) on a sidewalk in the central business district. Horizontal dispersion measurements demonstrated a decrease in PM(2.5) concentration from 128.7 to 18.7 μg/m(3) over 100 meters downwind of a major intersection in Nairobi. A vertical dispersion experiment revealed a decrease from 119.5 μg/m(3) at street level to 42.8 μg/m(3) on a third-floor rooftop in the central business district. Though not directly comparable to air quality guidelines, which are based on 24-hour or annual averages, the urban concentrations we observed raise concern with regard to public health and related policy. Taken together with survey data on commuting patterns within Nairobi, these results suggest that many Nairobi residents are exposed on a regular basis to elevated concentrations of fine particle air pollution, with potentially serious long-term implications for health.

Zinc sorption on sheathed Leptothrix discophora bacterium, the isolated extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) sheath, and Mn oxide-coated bacteria was investigated with macroscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Complexation with L. discophora was dominated by the outer membrane phosphoryl groups of the phospholipid bilayer while sorption to isolated EPS was dominated by carboxyl groups. Precipitation of nanoparticulate Mn oxide coatings on the cell surface increased site capacity by over twenty times with significant increase in metal sorption. XAS analysis of Zn sorption in the coated system showed Mn oxide phase contributions of 18 to 43% through mononuclear inner-sphere complexes. The coordination environments in coprecipitation samples were identical to those of sorption samples, indicating that, even in coprecipitation, Zn is not incorporated into the Mn oxide structure. Rather, through enzymatic oxidation by L. discophora, Mn(II) is oxidized and precipitated onto the biofilm providing a large surface for metal sequestration. The nanoparticulate Mn oxide coating exhibited significant microporosity (75%) suggesting contributions from intraparticle diffusion. Transient studies conducted over 7 months revealed a 170% increase in Zn loading. However, the intraparticle diffusivity of 10(-19) cm(2) s(-1) is two orders of magnitude smaller than that for abiotic Mn oxide which we attribute to morphological changes such as reduced pore sizes in the nanoparticulate oxide. Our results demonstrate that the cell-bound Mn oxide particles can sorb significant amounts of Zn over long periods of time representing an important surface for sequestration of metal contaminants.