AIS LIFE 

​Beneficiary responsible for implementation: UNIPI Beneficiary responsible for implementation:

 

UNIPI Completed action

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Foreseen start date: June 1st 2014                              Actual start date: June 1st 2014

Foreseen end date: September 30th 2015                  Actual end date: September 30th 2015

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Responsibilities in case several beneficiaries are implicated: beneficiaries in Pisa, Paris and Vienna are all involved in the set up of the IIS systems in their areas. UNIFI provides input to Pisa demonstration area.

This  action  sets  up  the  Integrated  Information  System  (IIS)  (aerobiological/chemical  air quality and medical recommendations) for the improvement of allergic respiratory diseases management in general population samples. The action provides the installation of pollen sampling and air pollutants monitoring system in Pisa, Vienna and Paris. Leader: UNIPI, in collaboration with UPCM, INSERM, MUW and RNSA. UNIFI provides input to Pisa demonstration area.

Update

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1. Installation of system for monitoring pollen - fungal spores

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Monitoring systems for pollen and fungal spores have been set up in Pisa, Paris, and Vienna and are currently providing data to the project according to a common protocol, addressing the families to be monitored and their classification in concentration classes according to specific threshold levels. An additional pollen monitoring system has been set up in Paris (Laboratoire d'Hygiène de la ville de Paris) and in Lyon (Hopitâl Edouard Heriot) by RNSA and is currently providing data using the same common protocol agreed for the other systems.

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2. Setting up of data collection of conventional chemical pollutants concentrations

The involved units have contacted air quality agencies in Italy, France and Austria to obtain the  conventional  chemical  pollutants  concentrations  that  they  monitor  routinely.  The requested data have been provided and will be analysed as planned, with the exception of SO2 concentration  in  Pisa,  where the agency in  charge of  air  quality monitoring (ARPAT  – Agenzia  Regionale  per  la  Protezione  del  Territorio)  no  longer  measures  this  chemical pollutant. A request to restart SO2 monitoring has been made by the local coordinator to ARPAT. Vienna is obtaining data from Umweltbundesamt, Paris from Air Parif and Lyon from Air Rhône-Alpes.

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3. Installation and development of the non conventional air pollutants (ultrafine particles) monitoring system. Paris, Vienna and Pisa units are using a TSI's P-TRAK Ultrafine Particle Counter to provide data in spot campaign (see Annex 7.2.2). This instrument is used for outdoors measurements as reported in Garcia – Algar et al. (2015) and Abraham et al. (2002).

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4. Description of the cycle of pollination and sporulation and the air pollutants concentration in atmosphere

Pollen and spore data have been processed since their acquisition and weekly and monthly graphs describing the cycle of pollination and sporulation for the agreed families are produced regularly in Pisa, Paris, and Vienna.

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5. Integration of the aerobiological and chemical information with meteorological data

This activity started on 1st September 2015, as planned hence aerobiological and chemical

data have been processed and meteorological data have been collected and processed in Pisa, Paris, and Vienna. UNIPI (Pisa) got data from their own weather station, whose installation was delayed until November 2014; missing data for September-October 2014 were obtained by nearby stations. Vienna is obtaining data from Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik, Paris and Lyon from Meteo France.

The deliverable A1.1 is completed (see Annex 7.2.1); the milestones “Monitoring systems set up and working in Pisa, Vienna and Paris and detailed report for IIS/PPI implementation completed is reached.

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Results:

1. Installation of system for monitoring pollen - fungal spores and description of the cycles of pollination and sporulation
Monitoring systems for pollen and fungal spores have been set up in Pisa, Paris, and Vienna to provide data to the project according to a common protocol, addressing the families to be monitored and their classification in concentration classes according to specific threshold levels. The initial delay in the setup of the monitoring system in Pisa caused a lack of pollen data in September and October 2014.

Following the suggestions made during the kick-off meeting, the missing pollen data were replaced by data obtained in a nearby station (Lido di Camaiore, located in the same ecogeographical region as Pisa: Northern and Central Tyrrhenian section). At the same meeting, it was agreed that: 1) the concerned period occures at the end of the pollination season, when pollen concentration is generally low, and 2) pollen data from Lido di Camaiore will be compared with those obtained in Pisa after the installation of the pollen trap to ensure that data from Lido di Camaiore are comparable with those from Pisa. Adjustments will be made if the pollination curves appear to diverge. These measures, by a general consensus of the project group, have been deemed appropriate to solve the problem. The monitoring systems in Paris and Vienna have been providing data regularly as scheduled.
The devices mounted in terraces located at the top of buildings (see the poster: Ruggiero F, et al. 2015. Aerobiological Information System and allergic respiratory disease management - LIFE13ENV/IT/001107), away from walls and guards and where the local atmospheric circulation is not affected by the presence of nearby obstacles. The monitored area is about 20 km in diameter.
The instrument made entirely of aluminum. They include a tripod that serves to support and stabilize the entire instrument in case of strong winds. The tripod is linked to a fixed shell, inside which the electric motor is responsible for aspiration. On top of this structure there is a rotating hollow turret connected with the outside through a small slit, which is continuously oriented in the direction of the movement of air masses due to the presence of a rudder. A pump makes sure that a known volume of air, 10 liters per minute, is sucked through the slit. This is checked weekly with a flow meter applied to the slot, for 24 hours for seven days.
The airborne particulates impact against a transparent plastic tape Melinex ® (see the UNI 11108) measuring 336 mm sprinkled with a thin film of a 3% solution of silicone fluid (polydimethylsiloxanes - 2,500,000 centistokes viscosity) in carbon tetrachloride. The high viscosity silicone fluid maintains its physical and chemical properties within a temperature range between - 20 and + 125 ° C. The strip is placed in correspondence to the slit and fixed to a rotating drum (also in correspondence to the slit) that rotates once in a week (the drum rotates at a speed of 2 mm / hour). At the end of this period the "old" tape is replaced with a new one and then transported to the laboratory, where biological samples will be prepared through treating and colouring with magenta's glycerol, placed on a slide and between the tape and the cover slip objects. This step is done at a temperature of about 50 ° C on a thermostatic plate to dissolve the glycerin jelly with basic fuchsine. The reading of the slide is carried out under the optical microscope using 400X magnification.
The counting of the granules is not total for the entire sampling surface, but it is statistical: observed horizontal lines (for microscope fields tangent to each other or for continuous sweep), 2 mm apart, chosen so as to avoid the top and bottom margins (usually the poorest particles). The minimum number of horizontal lines of reading should be approximately 18% of the sampled area. The pollen count values relative to the surface and examined individual species or identified families are compared to the entire surface sampling. For this calculation it is necessary to know the diameter of the microscopic field used for the readings. The value of the diameter depends on the microscope used, then the data needed for the calculation are the diameter of the field, the number of horizontal lines of reading, the number of grains counted for pollen type, the reading for tangent fields or for swiping, the sampling area, the volume of air sampled in a day (UNI 11108) (Deliverable A1).
Description of the cycle of pollination and sporulation and the air pollutants concentration in atmosphere
Pollen and spore data have been processed since their acquisition and weekly and monthly graphs describing the cycle of pollination and sporulation for the agreed families produced regularly in Pisa, Paris, Lyon and Vienna (see Deliverable A1).
2. Setting up of data collection of conventional chemical pollutants concentrations and description of the cycle of air pollutants concentration in atmosphere (particulate, O3, NO2, SO2) from monitoring stations of the Agency for Environmental Protection
The involved units have contacted air quality agencies in Italy, France and Austria to obtain the conventional chemical pollutants concentrations that they monitor routinely. The requested data have been provided and analysed as planned, with the exception of SO2 concentration in Pisa, where the agency in charge of air quality monitoring (ARPAT) no longer measures this chemical pollutant (see Deliverable A1)..
3. Installation and development of the non conventional air pollutants (ultrafine particles) monitoring system
Contrary to previous communications, Paris, Vienna Units will not receive ultrafine particles data from the respective air quality agencies. The three units will make spot measurements of ultrafine particles with the TSI's P-TRAK Ultrafine Particle Counter made available by UPMC, so that all measurements will be taken with the same instrument. The instrument will be calibrated before it is used. (see Deliverable A1).
4. Integration of the aerobiological and chemical information with meteorological data
This activity has started at the beginning of 2nd quarter of the current year, as expected. Each unit is obtaining data from their own equipment. The installation of the weather station in Pisa was delayed until November 2014; missing data for September-October 2014 were obtained by nearby stations.
Data processing:

The scientific information obtained from the analysis of daily aerobiological samples have been used in the creation of the weekly bulletin of aero-allergenic airborne pollen and spores implemented in Action B1, as described in Deliverable A1.1.