Research progress on aerobiology in the last 30 years. A focus on methodology and occupational health

Aerobiology, as a scientific discipline, developed during the last century and has been applied to different types of organisms and scenarios. In the context of the Integrated Evaluation of Indoor Particulate Exposure (VIEPI) project, we conducted a bibliometric study of the scientific literature on aerobiology from the last three decades, establishing the recent advances and the critical issues regarding the application of aerobiological methods to occupational settings. The data were collected from Scopus,Web of Science and PubMed. We explored the distribution of the articles in different years and research areas and realized a bibliometric analysis using the CiteSpace software. The results indicated that the number of publications is increasing. The studies related to environmental sciences were the most represented, while the number of occupational studies was more limited. The most common keywords were related to pollen, fungal spores and their relation with phenology, climate change and human health. This article shows that aerobiology is not restricted to the study of pollen and spores, extending the discipline and the application of aerobiological methods to occupational settings, currently under-explored

Climate change, vector-borne diseases and working population

Introduction. Risks associated with climate change are increasing worldwide and the global effects include altered weather and precipitation patterns, rising temperatures and others; human health can be affected directly and indirectly. This paper is an overview of literature regarding climate changes, their interaction with vector-borne diseases and impact on working population. Materials and methods. Articles regarding climate changes as drivers of vector-borne diseases and evidences of occupational cases have been picked up by public databank. Technical documents were also included in the study. Results. Evidences regarding the impact of climate changes on vector-borne diseases in Europe, provided by the analysis of the literature, are presented. Discussion. Climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases are likely to be emerging due to climate modifications, with impacts on public and occupational health. However, other environmental and anthropogenic drivers such as increasing travelling and trade, deforestation and reforestation, altered land use and urbanization can influence their spread. Further studies are necessary to better understand the phenomenon and implementation of adaptation strategies to protect human health should be accelerated and strengthened

Hyperbaric exposure and oxidative Stress in occupational activities (HEOxS): the study protocol

Background: Hyperbaric exposure (HE) is proven to be a stressor to several mechanisms in living cells. Even if after homeostasis restoration, harmful effects are expected, in particular a presence of free radicals. These latter are the stimulus to negative phenomenon as inflammation or cancer. In Italy, with 7500 km of sea shores, a large quantity of workers is exposed to HE during occupational activities. A deep knowledge of HE and bodily effects is not well defined; hence a multidisciplinary assessment of risk is needed. To detect one or more indicators of HE a research group is organised, under the INAIL sponsorship. The research project focused on the oxidative stress (OxS) and this paper details on the possible protocol to estimate, with a large amount of techniques on several human liquids, the relationship between OxS and HE. Specific attention will be paid to identify confounding factors and their influence. Methods: Blood and urine will be sampled. Several lab techniques will be performed on samples, both targeted, to measure the level of well-known biomarkers, and untargeted. Regard the formers: products of oxidation of DNA and RNA in urine; inflammation and temperature cytokines and protein carbonyles in blood. Untargeted evaluation will be performed for a metabolomics analysis in urine. Confounding factors: temperature, body fat, fitness, allergies and dietary habits. These factors will be assessed, directly or indirectly, prior and after HE. The final scope of the project is to determine one or more indicators that relates to HE in hits twofold nature: depth and duration. Conclusion: The relationship between OxS and HE is not deeply investigated and literature proposes diverging results. The project aims to define the time dependence of biomarkers related to OxS, to rise knowledge in risk assessment in workers exposed to HE

Balance between Health Risks and Benefits for Outdoor Workers Exposed to Solar Radiation: An Overview on the Role of Near Infrared Radiation Alone and in Combination with Other Solar Spectral Bands

Near infrared or infrared A (IRA) accounts for over 40% of the solar spectrum (SS) and is able to reach subcutaneous tissue as well as the retina. Outdoor workers are occupationally exposed to solar radiation (SR), but the level of exposure may differ widely depending on the job performed, time spent outdoors, latitude, altitude, season, personal protection, etc. Until now, risk assessment and management for outdoor workers has focused on the prevention of both acute and long-term effects on the eye and the skin due to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) with little consideration of the other components of the SS (a possible exception is represented by visible radiation with reference to the eye). A growing body of evidence coming from in vitro studies indicates that IRA is involved in cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and may interfere with the respiratory chain in the mitochondria. Moreover, it can modulate gene expression and some metabolic pathways. The biological action of IRA is only partly attributable to a thermal mechanism, should it be also involved in photochemical ones. The cellular and molecular pathways affected by IRA are partly similar and partly different with respect to those involved in the case of visible ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Consequently, the net effect of the SS is very difficult to predict at different levels of the biological organization, making more difficult the final balance of health risk and benefits (for the skin, eye, immune system, blood pressure, etc.) in a given exposure situation. Moreover, few in vivo studies and no epidemiological data are presently available in this regard. Investigating this topic may contribute to better defining the individual exposome. More practically, it is expected to bring benefits to the risk assessment and management for outdoor workers exposed to SS, contributing to: (1) better definition of the individual profiles of susceptibility, (2) more focused preventive and protective measures, (3) better implementation of the health surveillance and (4) a more effective information and training

Pollen and Fungal Spores Evaluation in Relation to Occupants and Microclimate in Indoor Workplaces

Indoor air quality depends on many internal or external factors mutually interacting in a dynamic and complex system, which also includes indoor workplaces, where subjects are exposed to many pollutants, including biocontaminants such as pollen and fungal spores. In this context, the occupants interact actively with their environment through actions, modifying indoor environmental conditions to achieve their own thermal comfort. Actions such as opening/closing doors and windows and turning on/off air conditioning could have effects on workers’ health. The present study explored the contribution of human occupants to pollen and fungal spore levels in indoor workplaces, combining aerobiological, microclimate, and worker monitoring during summer and winter campaigns. We evaluated the overall time spent by the workers in the office, the workers’ actions regarding non-working days and working days, and non-working hours and working hours, during two campaigns of pollen and fungal spore monitoring. Our results showed that the biocontaminant values depend on many mutually interacting factors; hence, the role of all of the factors involved should be investigated. In this regard, aerobiological monitoring should be a valid tool for the management of occupational allergies, providing additional information to improve occupational health protection strategies

Aerobiological Monitoring in an Indoor Occupational Setting Using a Real-Time Bioaerosol Sampler

Aerobiological monitoring is a crucial tool for human and environmental health. Real-time bioaerosol samplers are major innovative techniques for aerobiological monitoring. In this study, we evaluate the use of a real-time bioaerosol sampler to monitor the exposure in an indoor occupational environment. We used a WIBS-NEO sampler, continuously operating during working and non-working days. The fluorescent particles were 16.5% of the total, identifiable as bioparticles. There was a significant difference between working and non-working days regarding bioparticles (+19% on average), especially in the morning (+91% on average), the part of the day mostly associated to worker presence. In working days, there is a difference between working and non-working-hours, reinforced by a strong correlation between the time of occupation of the room and the number of particles identified as pollen and fungal spores (R2 = 0.741, p < 0.01). The bacterial component does not seem to be influenced by the presence of workers; however, it follows the general distribution of bioparticles. Our results indicate the reliability of the real-time instrument for the monitoring of different biocomponents, and the role of workers in the distribution of some types of bioaerosol particles, like pollen and fungal spores, which can have several health impacts, such as allergies

The integrated evaluation of indoor particulate exposure (VIEPI) project: Main goals and campaign description

Preliminary results concerning the VIEPI (Integrated Evaluation of Indoor Particulate Exposure) project are described. VIEPI project aimed at evaluating indoor air quality and exposure to particulate matter (PM) of humans within workplaces. Infiltration factors of PM in indoor environments of different sizes with different air ventilation regimes as well as their dependence on outdoor and indoor micrometeorology characteristics are some of the goals of the project. For these purposes, several indoor environments located on different sites of the Rome area were considered for the analysis. To evaluate the influence of the micrometeorological parameters on PM concentrations, four seasonal field campaigns were carried out simultaneously indoor and outdoor during short- and long-term study periods