Impact of primary NO2 emissions at different urban sites exceeding the European NO2 standard limit

A large part of the European population is still exposed to ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels exceeding the European Union (EU) air quality standards, being a key challenge to reduce NO2 concentrations across many European urban areas, particularly close to roads. In this work, a trend analysis of pollutants involved in NO2 processes was done for the period 2003–2014 in traffic sites fromthree Spanish cities (Barcelona,Madrid and Granada) that still exceed the European NO2 air quality standard limits. We also estimated the contributions of primary NO2 emissions and photo-chemically formed NO2 to the observed ambient NO2 concentrations in order to explore their possible role in the observedNO2 concentration trends. TheNOx andNOconcentrations at these traffic sites showed significant decreasing trends during the period 2003–2014, especially at Barcelona (BARTR) andMadrid (MADTR) traffic stations. The NO2 concentrations showed statistically significant downward trends at BARTR and MADTR and remained unchanged at Granada traffic station (GRATR) during the study period. Despite the significant decrease in NO2 concentrations in BCNTR and MADTR during the analysed period, the NO2 concentrations observed over these sites still above the annual NO2 standard limit of 40 μg m−3 and, therefore, more efficient measures are still needed. Primary NO2 emissions significantly influence NO2 concentrations at the three analysed sites. However, as no drastic changes are expected in the after-exhaust treatment technology that can reduce primary NO2 emissions to zero in the near future, only a substantial reduction in NOx emissions will help to comply with the NO2 European air quality standards. Reduction of 78%, 56% and 16% on NOx emissions in Barcelona,Madrid and Granada were estimated to be necessary to comply with the NO2 annual limit of 40 μg m−3

Smartphones and tablets: Reshaping radiation oncologists’ lives

BackgroundSmartphones and tablets are new handheld devices always connected to an information source and capable of providing instant updates, they allow doctors to access the most updated information and provide decision support at the point of care.AimThe practice of radiation oncology has always been a discipline that relies on advanced technology. Smartphones provide substantial processing power, incorporating innovative user interfaces and applications.Materials and methodsThe most popular smartphone and tablet app stores were searched for “radiation oncology” and “oncology” related apps. A web search was also performed searching for smartphones, tablets, oncology, radiology and radiation oncology.ResultsSmartphones and tablets allow rapid access to information in the form of podcasts, apps, protocols, reference texts, recent research and more.ConclusionWith the rapidly changing advances in radiation oncology, the trend toward accessing resources via smartphones and tablets will only increase, future will show if this technology will improve clinical care

Aerosol number fluxes and concentrations over a southern European urban area

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through projects PID2020-120015RB-100, CGL201681092-R, and CGL2017-90884-REDT, by the Andalusia Regional Government through project P18-RT-3820 and P20-00136, by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through project ACTRIS-2 (grant agreement No 654109). This research was partially supported by Project RTI2018.101154.A.I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa". The authors thank the Parque de la Ciencias for making this research possible. Juan Andr ' es Casquero-Vera is supported by BES-2017-080015 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE "El FSE invierte en tu futuro". Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA.Although cities are an important source of aerosol particles, aerosol number flux measurements over urban areas are scarce. These measurements are however important as they can allow us to identify the different sources/sinks of aerosol particles and quantify their emission contributions. Therefore, they can help us to understand the aerosol impacts on human health and climate, and to design effective mitigation strategies through the reduction of urban aerosol emissions. In this work we analyze the aerosol number concentrations and fluxes for particles with diameters larger than 2.5 nm measured by eddy covariance technique at an urban area (Granada city, Spain) from November 2016 to April 2018. This is the first study of particle number flux in an urban area in the Iberian Peninsula and is one of the few current studies that report long-term aerosol number flux measurements. The results suggest that, on average, Granada urban area acted as a net source for atmospheric aerosol particles with median particle number flux of 150 x 10(6) m(-2) s(-1). Downward negative fluxes were observed in only 12% of the analyzed data, and most of them were observed during high aerosol load conditions. Both aerosol number fluxes and concentrations were maximum in winter and 50% larger than those measured in summer due to the increased emissions from domestic heating, burning of residual agricultural waste in the agricultural area surrounding the site, as well as to the lower aerosol dilution effects during winter. The analysis of the seasonal diurnal variability of the aerosol number concentration revealed the significant impact of traffic emissions on aerosol population over Granada urban area in all seasons. It also shows the impact of domestic heating and agricultural waste burning emissions in winter as well as the influence of new particle formation processes in summer and spring seasons. Closer analysis by wind sector demonstrated that both aerosol concentrations and fluxes from urban sector (where high density of anthropogenic sources is located) were lower than those from rural sector (which includes agricultural area but also the main highway of the city). This evidences the strong impact of aerosol emissions from traffic circulating on the highway on aerosol population over our measurement site.Spanish Government PID2020-120015RB-100 CGL201681092-R CGL2017-90884-REDTAndalusia Regional Government P18-RT-3820 P20-00136European Commission 654109MCIN/AEI/FEDER "Una manera de hacer Europa" RTI2018.101154.A.I00FSE "El FSE invierte en tu futuro"Universidad de Granada/CBUA MCIN/AEI BES-2017-08001

Impact of urban aerosols on the cloud condensation activity using a clustering model

The indirect effect of aerosols on climate through aerosol-cloud-interactions is still highly uncertain and limits our ability to assess anthropogenic climate change. The foundation of this uncertainty is in the number of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which itself mainly stems from uncertainty in aerosol sources and how particles evolve to become effective CCN. We analyze particle number size distribution (PNSD) and CCN measurements from an urban site in a two-step method: (1) we use an unsupervised clustering model to classify the main aerosol categories and processes occurring in the urban atmosphere and (2) we explore the influence of the identified aerosol populations on the CCN properties. According to the physical properties of each cluster, its diurnal timing, and additional air quality parameters, the clusters are grouped into five main aerosol categories: nucleation, growth, traffic, aged traffic, and urban background. The results show that, despite aged traffic and urban background categories are those with lower total particle number concentrations (Ntot) these categories are the most efficient sources in terms of contribution to the overall CCN budget with activation fractions (AF) around 0.5 at 0.75%supersaturation (SS). By contrast, road traffic is an important aerosol sourcewith thehighest frequency of occurrence (32 %) and relatively high Ntot, however, its impact in the CCN activity is very limited likely due to lower particlemean diameter and hydrophobic chemical composition. Similarly, nucleation and growth categories, associated to new particle formation (NPF) events, present large Ntot with large frequency of occurrence (22%and 28%, respectively) but the CCN concentration for these categories is about half of the CCN concentration observed for the aged traffic category, which is associated with their small size. Overall, our results show that direct influence of traffic emissions on the CCN budget is limited, however, when these particles undergo ageing processes, they have a significant influence on the CCN concentrations and may be an important CCN source. Thus, aged traffic particles could be transported to other environments where clouds form, triggering a plausible indirect effect of traffic emissions on aerosol-cloud interactions and consequently contributing to climate change.BioCloud project - MCIN/AEI RTI2018.101154.A.I00FEDER "Unamanera de hacer Europa" European Commission 871115 ATMO_ACCESS 101008004Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (MICINN) Spanish Government PID2020-12001-5RB-I00 GL2016-81092-R CGL2017-90884REDTJunta de AndaluciaUGREuropean Commission B-RNM- 474-UGR18NIMBUS B- RNM-496UGR18Junta de Andalucia P2000136 AEROPRE P-18-RT-3820University of Granada Plan Propio PPVS2018-04 LS2022-1Spanish Government FPU19/05340Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (MICINN)Spanish Government PRE2019-09082

Working memory of emotional stimuli: electrophysiological characterization

Memorizing emotional stimuli in a preferential way seems to be one of the adaptive strategies brought on by evolution for supporting survival. However, there is a lack of electrophysiological evidence on this bias in working memory. The present study analyzed the influence of emotion on the updating component of working memory. Behavioral and electrophysiological indices were measured from a 3-back task using negative, neutral, and positive faces. Electrophysiological data evidenced an emotional influence on the working memory sensitive P3 component, which presented larger amplitudes for negative matching faces compared to neutral ones. This effect originated in the superior parietal cortex, previously reported to be involved in N-back tasks. Additionally, P3 results showed a correlation with reaction times, where higher amplitudes were associated with faster responses for negative matching faces. These findings indicate that electrophysiological measures seem to be very suitable indices of the emotional influence on working memory

Role of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT in head and neck oncology: the point of view of the radiation oncologist

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common malignant tumour of the head and neck. The initial TNM staging, the evaluation of the tumour response during treatment, and the long-term surveillance are crucial moments in the approach to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Thus, at each of these moments, the choice of the best diagnostic tool providing the more precise and larger information is crucial. Positron emission tomography with fluorine-18 fludeoxyglucose integrated with CT (F-18-FDG-PET/CT) rapidly gained clinical acceptance, and it has become an important imaging tool in routine clinical oncology. However, controversial data are currently available, for example, on the role of F-18-FDG-PET/CT imaging during radiotherapy planning, the prognostic value or its real clinical impact on treatment decisions. In this article, the role of F-18-FDG-PET/CT imaging in HNSCC during pre-treatment staging, radiotherapy planning, treatment response assessment, prognosis and follow-up is reviewed focusing on current evidence and controversial issues. A proposal on how to integrate F-18-FDG-PET/CT in daily clinical practice is also described

Spatial and temporal variability of carbonaceous aerosols: assessing the impact of biomass burning in the urban environment

Biomass burning (BB) is a significant source of atmospheric particles in many parts of the world. Whereas many studies have demonstrated the importance of BB emissions in central and northern Europe, especially in rural areas, its impact in urban air quality of southern European countries has been sparsely investigated. In this study, highly time resolved multi-wavelength absorption coefficients together with levoglucosan (BB tracer) mass concentrations were combined to apportion carbonaceous aerosol sources. The Aethalometer model takes advantage of the different spectral behaviour of BB and fossil fuel (FF) combustion aerosols. The model was found to be more sensitive to the assumed value of the aerosol Ångström exponent (AAE) for FF (AAEff) than to the AAE for BB (AAEbb). As result of various sensitivity tests the model was optimized with AAEff = 1.1 and AAEbb = 2. The Aethalometer model and levoglucosan tracer estimates were in good agreement. The Aethalometer model was further applied to data from three sites in Granada urban area to evaluate the spatial variation of CMff and CMbb (carbonaceous matter from FF or BB origin, respectively) concentrations within the city. The results showed that CMbb was lower in the city centre while it has an unexpected profound impact on the CM levels measured in the suburbs (about 40%). Analysis of BB tracers with respect to wind speed suggested that BB was dominated by sources outside the city, to the west in a rural area. Distinguishing whether it corresponds to agricultural waste burning or with biomass burning for domestic heating was not possible. This study also shows that although traffic restrictions measures contribute to reduce carbonaceous concentrations, the extent of the reduction is very local. Other sources such as BB, which can contribute to CM as much as traffic emissions, should be targeted to reduce air pollution.This research was partially supported by the Andalusia Regional Government through projects P10-RNM-6299 and P12-RNM-2409, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER through project CGL2013_45410-R; by EUREKA and the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology grants (Eurostars grant E!4825 FC Aeth, JR-KROP grant 3211-11-000519); and by European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 654109, ACTRIS-2. The authors would like to thank Air Quality Service from Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del Territorio) and Vicerrectorado de Política Científica e Investigación from the University of Granada for their support in the installation of the Aethalometer at PC and GV, respectively.G. Titos was partially funded by Programa del Plan Propio de Investigación “Contrato Puente” of the University of Granada and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under postdoctoral program Juan de la Cierva – Formación (FJCI-2014-20819)

Detection of risk factors that influence weight loss in patients undergoing radiotherapy

AbstractAimTo identify risk factors that influence weight loss in patients receiving radiotherapy.BackgroundIt is a well-known fact that cancer patients can be affected by malnutrition at the onset of the disease and during treatment due to the toxicity. Pretreatment weight loss alone does not predict those who will need nutritional supplementation. Instead, a variety of nutritional and tumor related factors needs to be taken into account.Material and methodsA retrospective study was conducted on 129 patients with different tumor locations. Weight loss was evaluated during radiotherapy and one month after treatment. The impact of age, ECOG, chemotherapy, pretreatment weight loss, tumor location, previous surgery and TNM were analyzed. We aimed to identify a high-risk group of patients before starting treatment.ResultsThe average net weight loss during radiotherapy and one month after treatment for this group of patients was 0.68kg and 1.6kg, respectively. Median weight loss during radiotherapy was 2.6 kg for head and neck (HN) patients and 0.27 kg for other tumor sites (p=0.028). Median weight loss one month after radiotherapy was 3.7kg for HN patients and 1.1kg for the rest of the patients (p=0.034). The median weight loss one month after treatment was 3.2 kg for patients receiving chemotherapy and 0.5kg for those patients who did not receive chemotherapy (p<0.001). A regression analysis determined that HN tumor location and the use of chemotherapy were independent risk factors.ConclusionsNutritional status must be monitored and managed before, during and after treatment. A variety of nutritional and tumor-related factors must be considered. According to our results, head and neck tumors and the use of chemotherapy are the only two factors considered statistically significant. Because patients continue to lose weight after treatment, we recommend close surveillance after radiotherapy