Air Pollution and Emission Reductions over the Po-Valley: Air Quality Modelling and Integrated Assessment

The Po-valley located in northern Italy at the footstep of the Alps is characterized by a high density of anthropogenic emissions (inhab) and by the frequent occurrence of stagnant meteorological conditions. The area has therefore been identified as one hot spot place where pollutant levels will remain problematic in spite of application of the current European legislation devoted to air pollution control. By 2020, health impact on population and effects on ecosystems by ozone and eutrophication are indeed calculated to be amongst the highest in Europe and anthropogenic fine particulate matter levels are expected to be responsible for a loss of ten months of life expectancy. In general, long-range transported air pollution in the Po-Valley represents only a fraction of 30-40%, stressing the importance of local control measures in the area to efficiently reduce the impact of air pollution. In the frame of a collaboration agreement between the JRC (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) and the government of the Lombardy region, a Model Inter-comparison exercise over the PO-valley (POMI) is organised to explore the changes in urban air-quality predicted by different air quality models in response to changes in emissions in the Po-Valley. POMI focuses on ambient levels of ozone and PM. Current Legislation (CLE) and Maximum Technically Feasible Reduction (MTFR) Emission scenarios are analysed at different spatial scales together with a set of ¿in-between¿ emission reductions corresponding to the application of regional air-quality plans over the Po-Valley and in particular over the Lombardy region. In parallel to this model inter-comparison exercise, an integrated assessment tool is being developed to design and assess the effectiveness of regional abatement policies. This tool is planed to make use of information available at the local/regional scale (technological costs, emission factors¿) and to allow investigating the efficiency of both technical and non-technical abatement measures. POMI is expected to provide information useful for the development of sectoral regional source relationships and for better accounting of the different sources of model-related uncertainties (emissions, meteorology¿) in the assessment of efficient strategies. In this work, an overview of the structure of the regional integrated assessment tool will be provided and its links with the POMI modelling exercise discussed.JRC.DDG.H.4-Transport and air qualit

PM SOURCE APPORTIONMENT ANALYSIS IN THE VENETIAN AREA

A multi-scenario approach is applied on a CALMET-CAMx System to investigate particular matter (PM10) source apportionment on the wide urban area of Venice and its mainland. The baseline scenarios is verified against measurements of PM10 and chemical speciation of the filters. A nested grid structure is used to separate local contributions to PM10 concentration levels of the different emission sectors from those of middle and long range transports

Lockdown timing and efficacy in controlling COVID-19 using mobile phone tracking

Background Italy's severe COVID-19 outbreak was addressed by a lockdown that gradually increased in space, time and intensity. The effectiveness of the lockdown has not been precisely assessed with respect to the intensity of mobility restriction and the time until the outbreak receded. Methods We used processed mobile phone tracking data to measure mobility restriction, and related those data to the number of new SARS-CoV-2 positive cases detected on a daily base in the three most affected Italian regions, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, from February 1 through April 6, 2020, when two subsequent lockdowns with increasing intensity were implemented by the Italian government. Findings During the study period, mobility restriction was inversely related to the daily number of newly diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 positive cases only after the second, more effective lockdown, with a peak in the curve of diagnosed cases of infection occurring 14 to 18 days from lockdown in the three regions and 9 to 25 days in the included provinces. An effective reduction in transmission must have occurred nearly immediately after the tighter lockdown, given the lag time of around 10 days from asymptomatic infection to diagnosis. The period from lockdown to peak was shorter in the areas with the highest prevalence of the infection. This effect was seen within slightly more than one week in the most severely affected areas. Interpretation It appears that the less rigid lockdown led to an insufficient decrease in mobility to reverse an outbreak such as COVID-19. With a tighter lockdown, mobility decreased enough to bring down transmission promptly below the level needed to sustain the epidemic. Funding No funding sources have been used for this work

Evaluation of a pipeline for simulation, reconstruction, and classification in ultrasound-aided diffuse optical tomography of breast tumors

Significance: Diffuse optical tomography is an ill-posed problem. Combination with ultrasound can improve the results of diffuse optical tomography applied to the diagnosis of breast cancer and allow for classification of lesions. Aim: To provide a simulation pipeline for the assessment of reconstruction and classification methods for diffuse optical tomography with concurrent ultrasound information. Approach: A set of breast digital phantoms with benign and malignant lesions was simulated building on the software VICTRE. Acoustic and optical properties were assigned to the phantoms for the generation of B-mode images and optical data. A reconstruction algorithm based on a two-region nonlinear fitting and incorporating the ultrasound information was tested. Machine learning classification methods were applied to the reconstructed values to discriminate lesions into benign and malignant after reconstruction. Results: The approach allowed us to generate realistic US and optical data and to test a two-region reconstruction method for a large number of realistic simulations. When information is extracted from ultrasound images, at least 75% of lesions are correctly classified. With ideal two-region separation, the accuracy is higher than 80%. Conclusions: A pipeline for the generation of realistic ultrasound and diffuse optics data was implemented. Machine learning methods applied to a optical reconstruction with a nonlinear optical model and morphological information permit to discriminate malignant lesions from benign ones

Upper limb artery segmental occlusions due to chronic use of ergotamine combined with itraconazole, treated by thrombolysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The ergotamine tartrate associated with certain categories of drugs can lead to critical ischemia of the extremities. Discontinuation of taking ergotamine is usually sufficient for the total regression of ischemia, but in some cases it could be necessary thrombolytic and anticoagulant therapy to avoid amputation.</p> <p>Case report</p> <p>A woman of 62 years presented with a severe pain left forearm appeared 10 days ago, with a worsening trend. The same symptoms appeared after 5 days also in the right forearm. Physical examination showed the right arm slightly hypothermic, with radial reduced pulse in presence of reduced sensitivity. The left arm was frankly hypothermic, pulse less on radial and with an ulnar humeral reduced pulse, associated to a decreased sensitivity and motility.</p> <p>Clinical history shows a chronic headache for which the patient took a daily basis for years Cafergot suppository (equivalent to 3.2 mg of ergotamine).</p> <p>From about ten days had begun therapy with itraconazole for vaginal candidiasis. The Color-Doppler ultrasound shown arterial thrombosis of the upper limbs (humeral and radial bilateral), with minimal residual flow to the right and no signal on the humeral and radial left artery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Angiography revealed progressive reduction in size of the axillary artery and right humeral artery stenosis with right segmental occlusions and multiple hypertrophic collateral circulations at the elbow joint. At the level of the right forearm was recognizable only the radial artery, decreased in size. Does not recognize the ulnar, interosseous artery was thin. To the left showed progressive reduction in size of the distal subclavian and humeral artery, determined by multiple segmental steno-occlusion with collateral vessels serving only a thin hypotrophic interosseous artery.</p> <p>Arteriographic findings were compatible with systemic drug-induced disease. The immediate implementation of thrombolysis, continued for 26 hours, with heparin in continuous intravenous infusion and subsequent anticoagulant therapy allowed the gradual disappearance of the symptoms with the reappearance of peripheral pulses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Angiography showed regression of vasospasm and the resumption of flow in distal vessels. The patient had regained sensitivity and motility in the upper limbs and bilaterally radial and ulnar were present.</p

Assessing multiple sources of cadmium exposure in an Italian population.

Assessing multiple sources of cadmium exposure in an Italian population

On the Calculation of Urban Morphological Parameters Using GIS. An Application to Italian Cities

The identification of parameters that can quantitatively describe the different characteristics of urban morphology is fundamental to studying urban ventilation and microclimate at the local level and developing parameterizations of the dynamic effect of an urban area in mesoscale models. This paper proposes a methodology to calculate four morphological parameters, namely mean height, aspect ratio, sky view factor, and plan area ratio, of five cities located in southern (Bari and Lecce), central (Naples and Rome), and northern (Milan) Italy. The calculation is performed using the Geographical Information System (GIS), starting from morphological and land use data collected and analyzed in shapefiles. The proposed methodology, which can be replicated in other cities, also presents in detail the procedure followed to properly build input data to calculate the sky view factor using the UMEP GIS tool. The results show a gradual increase in the plan area index, λp, and mean building height, (Formula presented.), moving from the south to the north of Italy. Maximum values of λp and (Formula presented.) are obtained in the regions of Milan, Rome, and Naples, where the highest spatially-averaged values are also found, i.e., λp = 0.22, (Formula presented.) = 10.9 m in Milan; λp = 0.19, (Formula presented.) = 12.7 m in Rome; λp = 0.20, (Formula presented.) = 12 m in Naples. Furthermore, for all the cities investigated, areas characterized by the Corine Land Cover class as “continuous urban fabric” are those with medium sky view factor SVF values (around 0.6–0.7) and λp values (around 0.3) typical of intermediate/compact cities. The methodology employed here for calculating morphological parameters using GIS proves to be replicable in different urban contexts. This opens to a better classification of cities in local climate zones (LCZ), as shown for the Lecce region, useful for urban heat island (UHI) studies and to the development of parameterizations of the urban effects in global and regional climate models

A deep learning approach for Spatio-Temporal forecasting of new cases and new hospital admissions of COVID-19 spread in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy

Since February 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic has rapidly spread throughout Italy. Some studies showed an association of environmental factors, such as PM10, PM2.5, NO2, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and mobility with the spread of the epidemic. In this work, we aimed to predict via Deep Learning the real-time transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the province of Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy, in a grid with a small resolution (12&nbsp;km&nbsp;×&nbsp;12&nbsp;km), including satellite information