Apparent Temperature and Air Pollution vs. Elderly Population Mortality in Metro Vancouver

Background: Meteorological conditions and air pollution in urban environments have been associated with general population and elderly mortality, showing seasonal variation. Objectives: This study is designed to evaluate the relationship between apparent temperature (AT) and air pollution (PM2.5) vs. mortality in elderly population of Metro Vancouver. Methods: Statistical analyses are performed on moving sum daily mortality rates vs. moving average AT and PM 2.5 in 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, and 7-day models for all seasons, warm temperatures above 15uC, and cold temperatures below 10uC. Results: Approximately 37 % of the variation in all-season mortality from circulatory and respiratory causes can be explained by the variation in 7-day moving average apparent temperature (r 2 = 0.37, p,0.001). Although the analytical results from air pollution models show increasingly better prediction ability of longer time-intervals (r 2 = 0.012, p,0.001 in a 7-day model), a very weak negative association between elderly mortality and air pollution is observed. Conclusions: Apparent temperature is associated with mortality from respiratory and circulatory causes in elderly population of Metro Vancouver. In a changing climate, one may anticipate to observe potential health impacts from the projected high- and particularly from the low-temperature extremes

A First Assessment of the Elemental Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols in the Canadian Oil Sands Region

Canadian Oil Sands, which comprise 97% of Canada’s 176 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, are located beneath 140,200 km2 of boreal forests, prairies and wetlands, and are the second largest known deposit of crude oil in the world. As such, this region has experienced rapid industrial development, which resulted also in increasing industrial air emissions, primarily from bitumen upgrading and mine vehicle fleet operations. This rapid development has led to concerns regarding health risk to humans, and other terrestrial and aquatic wildlife associated with exposure to toxic contaminants, especially metals and polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) particularly along the Athabasca River and its watershed. Canada’s Minister of the Environment announced that Environment Canada (EC) will jointly lead, in collaboration with Government of Alberta and relevant stakeholders, the development and implementation of an enhanced monitoring system in the Oil Sands region to provide information on the state of the air, water, land andbiodiversity. This work presents preliminary data on the first assessment of elemental composition of fine particulate matter (particles<2.5 mm in diameter; PM2.5) at 3 air quality sites in close proximity to Oil Sands processing activities. Since December 2010, integrated 24 hour air samples were collected every sixth day on a 47-mm Teflon filters using Thermo Fisher Partisol 2000-FRM samplers operated by the National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) network that involves EC and the Canadian provinces and territories. All samples including laboratory, travel and field blanks were subjected to gravimetric determination of PM2.5 mass and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) analysis for 46 elements. Since ED-XRF is a non-destructive technique, PM2.5 samples were subsequently analyzed for 37 trace elements including rare earth elements using inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combined with microwave-assisted acid digestion. The resulting data will be discussed

Separation of carbonyl 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones by capillary electrochromatography with diode array detection

The applicability of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with photodiode array detection for the analysis of carbonyl hydrazones is presented. The CEC separation of thirteen hydrazones was optimized by a systematic variation of conditions using a commercially available CE system and a 3-μm porous C18-bonded silica capillary column. The separation profile obtained under optimal isocratic conditions (60% actonitrile-4% tetrahydrofuran-5 mM Tris, pH 8) is similar to those reported for gradient HPLC, with significant improvements in efficiency (to 150 000-250 000 theoretical plates/m) and analysis time (by a factor of 4). The retention time reproducibility is better than 0.2% (RSD) from run to run and 1% from day to day. The limits of detection for individual carbonyl hydrazones range between 0.1 and 0.5 μg/ml. Applications to ambient air and automobile exhaust are shown. Copyright (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V

CE-MS: A useful tool for the identification of water-soluble polar organics in air and vehicular emitted particulate matter.

A CE-ESI/quadrupole-MS method using an ammonium acetate-based BGE (pH 4.7) was developed for the determination of isomeric benzoic acids in atmospheric aerosols and vehicular emission. UltraTrol (TM) LN was employed as the pre-coating polymer to suppress the EOF (0.3 x 10(-9) m(2) V-1 s(-1)) and achieve a baseline separation of the studied acids. Good repeatability for migration time (RSD &lt; 1%, N = 10) was obtained without coating regeneration. The high pre-coating stability allowed coupling of CE to MS without ion suppression in the MS. In scanning mode and using field-amplified sample injection with electrokinetic injection (-5 kV for 60 s), LODs (S/N = 3) ranged from 2.5 to 6 mu g/L for standard target analytes prepared in DI water. In the presence of 100 mg/L of sulfate (added to simulate a sample matrix), LODs ranged from 8 to 90 mu g/L. Several isomeric aromatic acids could be separated in atmospheric and diesel-engine-emitted particulate matter extracts based on their different acidities. Additional measurements with a flow infusion ESI Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance MS were used for further structural information acquisition on the unknown compounds and allowed their formula to be proposed

Concentrations of Platinum Group Elements (Pt, Pd, Rh) in Airborne Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10-2.5) Collected at Selected Canadian Urban Sites: a Case Study

Increasing environmental concentrations of platinum group elements (PGEs), in particular platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh), from catalytic converters has been reported worldwide. Initially it was believed that the emitted PGEs remain in the roadside environment, but recent studies have shown that fine PGE-containing particles can be transported and distributed at regional and long-range levels. Therefore, the monitoring of PGEs in airborne particulate matter (PM) is important for the estimation of potential risks to human health and to the ecosystem. The aim of this study is to present the first results from an analysis on the concentration and distribution of Pt, Pd and Rh in PM collected on Teflon filters at two selected urban sites (Toronto, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta) collected within the Canadian National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) network. In this work, a quadruple inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), combined with microwave assisted acid digestion using aqua regia was used. A cation exchange separation was used to alleviate the matrix-induced spectral and nonspectral interferences prior to ICP-MS analysis. To obtain sufficient material needed for PGEs analysis, fine PM (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 mm; PM2.5) and coarse PM (with aerodynamic diameter between 2.5 and 10 mm; PM10-2.5) samples were combined into composite samples on a seasonal basis. The obtained results will be discussed and compared with literature data

Structural characterization of organic aerosol using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry: Aromaticity equivalent approach.

RATIONALE: A challenge of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) analysis is the understanding of the sources and chemistry of complex organic aerosols, especially the water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) fraction, a key component of atmospheric fine PM (PM2.5 ). The sources of WSOC are not well understood and, thus, the molecular characterization of WSOC is important because it provides insight into aerosol sources and the underlying mechanisms of secondary organic aerosols formation and transformation. METHODS: In this study, molecular characterization of WSOC was achieved using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. The aromaticity equivalent (Xc ), a new parameter calculated from the assigned molecular formula, is introduced to improve the identification and characterization of aromatic and condensed aromatic compounds in WSOC. Diesel PM (DPM) and atmospheric PM samples were used to study the applicability of the proposed method. RESULTS: Threshold values of Xc &ge;2.5000 and Xc &ge;2.7143 are proposed as unambiguous minimum criteria for the presence of aromatics and condensed aromatics, respectively. By using these criteria, 36% of precursors were defined as aromatics and condensed aromatics in the DPM. For comparison, 21% of aromatic and condensed aromatic compounds were defined using the Aromaticity Index (AI) classification. The lower estimates by the AI approach are probably due to the failure to recognize aromatics and condensed aromatics with longer alkyl chains. The estimated aromatic and condensed aromatic fractions in the atmospheric aerosol samples collected in an industrial area affected by biomass burning events were 51.2 and 50.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The advantage of employing this parameter is that Xc would have a constant value for each proposed core structure regardless of the degree of alkylation, and thus visual representation and structural interpretations of the spectra become advantageous for characterizing and comparing complex samples. In addition, the proposed parameter complements the AI classification and identification of aromatic and condensed aromatic structures in complex matrices

Identification of weak and strong organic acids in atmospheric aerosols by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry and ultra-high-resolution fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

A novel approach using a combination of capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry (CE/MS) and off-line Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS) revealed the structural details of acidic constituents of atmospheric organic aerosol. Both techniques utilized electrospray ionization (ESI), a soft ionization method, to facilitate the analysis of complex mixtures of organic compounds. CE/ESI-MS using an UltraTrol LN-precoated capillary and acidic background electrolytes at different pH values (2.5 and 4.7) was used to differentiate between weak (carboxylic) and strong (sulfonic) organic acids. On the basis of the electrophoretic mobility, m/z constraints from CE/ESI(-)-MS, and elemental composition information retrieved from off-line FTICR-MS, a variety of aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids (CHO-bearing molecules), nitrogen-containing carboxylic acids (CHON-bearing molecules), organosulfates (CHOS-bearing molecules), and (nitrooxy)organosulfates (CHONS-bearing molecules) were tentatively identified in the Oasis-HLB-extracted urban PM(2.5) (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of &lt;2.5 &mu;m). The chemical known/unknown structures of detected compounds were confirmed by the semiempirical Offord model (effective mobility linearly correlated to Z/M(2/3)). The majorities of the identified compounds are products of atmospheric reactions and are known contributors to secondary organic aerosols

Capillary electrophoresis characterization of molecularly imprinted polymer particles in fast binding with 17β-estradiol

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) submicron particles were synthesized, using either ethylene glycol dimethacrylate or trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate as a cross-linker, specifically for recognition of 17β-estradiol (E2). HPLC with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) results showed that 90(±5)% of E2 bound onto these particles after 2 min of incubation, and 96(±3)% after long equilibrium. The binding capacity was 8(±3) μmol/g for MIP particles prepared using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and 33-43(±8) μmol/g for using trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate. CE separation of MIP and non-imprinted polymer particles was successful when 50mM borate buffer (pH 8.5) containing 0.005% w/v EOTrol™ LN in reverse polarity (-30 kV) was used. The electrophoretic mobilities of MIP and non-imprinted polymer particles, together with dynamic light scattering measurement of particle sizes, allowed for an estimation of their surface charges. Automated injection of E2 and particles in mixture set a lower limit of 20(±1) s on incubation time for the study of fast binding kinetics. The presence of E2 and bisphenol A (BPA) together tested the selectivity of MIP particles, when the two compounds competed for available binding cavities or sites. Addition of E2 after BPA confirmed E2 occupation of the specific binding cavities, via displacement of BPA