No description available.

No description available.

Distributions of air pollutants and their precursors in the troposphere are driven largely by meteorological conditions (e.g., wind, cloud convection, lightning, and precipitation) and emissions such as those of NOx from anthropogenic sources (e.g., fossil fuel combustion) and natural sources (e.g., soils and lightning). As the most polluted regions in the world, North America and East Asia significantly contribute to climate change on both regional and global scales. Therefore, it deserves to investigate the vertical and horizontal distributions of the air pollutants in the troposphere over these two regions to better quantify the interaction between air pollution and climate change, which remains until now largely uninvestigated. Here, a Regional chEmical trAnsport Model (REAM) was developed and applied to examine the uncertainties in modeling the effect of convective transport and lightning NOx production on upper tropospheric chemical tracer distributions over North America, and to identify the features of air pollutions over East Asia.

Michel M. Benarie. / Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Observational studies have consistently demonstrated associations between exposure to air pollution and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These associations are strongest for fine particulate matter (PM), of which particulates from the combustion of fossil fuels are an important component. In Europe, the contribution to urban PM from diesel emissions is increasing with the popularity of diesel engines for road transport. Despite the strength of the epidemiological evidence and the emergence of promising hypotheses, the important constituents and biological mechanisms responsible for the cardiovascular effects of air pollution are largely unknown. It is possible that nanoparticulates or soluble components of PM may translocate into the bloodstream, resulting in direct effects on the vascular endothelium and thrombotic pathways. I investigated the potential for inhaled radiolabelled nanoparticulates to translocate into the circulation in man. Using two unique human exposure facilities I assessed the effects of exposure to combustion-derived particulates in dilute diesel exhaust and concentrated ambient fine and ultrafine particles on vascular endothelial, endogenous fibrinolytic and myocardial function in healthy volunteers and patients with stable coronary artery disease. In total, forty-two healthy men and thirty-two patients with stable coronary artery disease were exposed to particulates or filtered air for 1-2 hours in a series of double blind randomised crossover studies. At levels encountered in an urban environment, inhalation of dilute diesel exhaust impaired two important and complementary aspects of vascular function in man: the regulation of vascular tone and endogenous fibrinolysis. Vascular dysfunction persisted for up to 24-hours following exposure and was associated with an increase in systemic inflammatory cytokines. In patients with coronary heart disease exposure to diesel exhaust did not aggravate pre-existing vasomotor dysfunction, but did exacerbate exercise-induced myocardial ischemia and reduce acute endothelial tissue plasminogen activator release. In contrast, exposure to concentrated ambient particulates, low in combustion component, did not affect vascular function in either healthy volunteers or patients. I found little evidence that inhaled radiolabelled nanoparticles translocate into the circulation and suggest the adverse vascular effects of combustion derived air pollution are mediated primarily by their soluble components rather than by a direct interaction between nanoparticles and the vasculature. My findings have identified ischemic, vascular and thrombotic mechanisms that may explain in part the observations that exposure to combustion-derived air pollution is associated with adverse cardiovascular events including acute myocardial infarction. Ongoing research in this area will provide further insight into the adverse effects of PM, with the possibility of targeted interventions, such as the use of retrofit particle traps on diesel powered vehicles, to reduce the impact of environmental air pollution on cardiovascular disease a realistic goal.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

A new analytical method has been developed for the determination of inorganic species or arsenic (arsenite and arsenate); in addition, a new sample preparation method for the determination of these species in atmospheric particulate matter has also been developed. In this procedure, As(III) and As(V) are efficiently separated in a two-step reduction procedure from a solution of HCl. In the first step, a slurry of Zn metal powder is used to reduce As(III) to arsine (AsH₃). Immediately following, NaBH₄ is used to reduce As(V) to AsH₃. The arsine produced during each reduction is detected in an N₂-H₂ air-entrained flame by atomic absorption spectroscopy. In the sample preparation method, sections of quartz or PTFE filters containing atmospheric particulate matter are leached in 10⁻⁴ N HCl for up to 1 hour at 90°C. This procedure quantitatively removes As(III) and As(V) from either filter type. However, small changes in the As(III)/As(V) ratio i.e., oxidation of As(III) were observed when the arsenic species were leached from quartz filters. Therefore, it appears that PTFE would be the preferred filter medium if arsenic speciation is to be performed. When atmospheric particles are present on either filter type, the technique of standard addition is necessary in order to obtain the most accurate results. The combined sample preparation and analysis procedure has a precision of about 10%, 8% and 13% for As(III), As(V) and the As(III)/As(V) ratio, respectively. Atmospheric particulate matter samples collected in Tucson, Arizona, were analyzed for As(III) and As(V) concentrations using the newly developed method. The results of this study indicate that both As(III) and As(V) are present in collected samples of atmospheric particulate matter. Arsenic (V) was observed in all 14 of the samples, while As(III) was measurable in half of the samples. The As(III)/As(V) ratio was determined to be in the range from less than 0.05 to 1. An atmospheric detection limit for either species of 0.09 ng m⁻³ was obtained.