Modeling hay fever risk factors caused by pollen from Ambrosia spp. using pollen load mapping in Ukraine

The paper provides a simulation of the occurrence of Ambrosia pollen in Ukraine both in terms of a determination of the regions with high pollen concentrations and the time when the high pollen load occurs. Simulation was performed using the SILAM system and the following pollen mapping using the Grid Analysis and Display System. Simulation results were compared with the aerobiological data available from six monitoring stations in Ukraine. A decrease in the concentrations of Ambrosia pollen, the duration of the Ambrosia season, and patient exposure to the Ambrosia pollen were apparent from SE to NW of Ukraine. A close correlation between the modeled and actually registered pollen concentration values and ragweed pollen release periods was observed in all the cities for which the Ambrosia pollen monitoring data had been collected. Further investigations are required to provide accurate forecasts for other types of airborne allergens

Airborne pollen spectrum and hay fever type prevalence in Vinnitsa, central Ukraine

The article deals with the main pollen spectrum in relation to patients’ sensitivity determined in the ambient air of Vinnitsa city located in central Ukraine. The study performed by gravimetric sampling in the years 1999–2000 and by volumetric sampling in the years 2009–2014 showed that Urtica, Betula, Pinus, Alnus, Fraxinus, Ambrosia, Artemisia, Juglans, Carpinus, Populus, Quercus, Acer, Salix, Poaceae, Amarathaceae, and Polygonaceae pollen grains are prevalent among the airborne allergen types in the urban atmosphere. The principal pollen types remain the same but over time their quantities have changed. The relative abundance of Carpinus and Amaranthaceae airborne pollen decreased while the fraction of Urtica pollen increased in the last decade. From 50 to 69 pollen types were determined in the ambient air depending on the season. From 24 to 27 pollen types represented woody plants and from 22 to 46 pollen types belonged to the herbaceous plants. A considerable decrease in herbal pollen types is noted in the Vinnitsa air at present. It was shown that children were sensitive to weed pollen grains, including ragweed, mugwort, and grass, while adults were more sensitive to tree and grass pollen grains. Further studies of the pollen spectrum in the ambient air of this city are required in order to control the hay fever symptoms

Assessment of Google Trends terms reporting allergies and the grass pollen season in Ukraine

International audienceBackground: Grass pollen allergy is an important trigger for the development of respiratory disorders. Defining the grass pollen season onset is critical for correct allergy diagnosis and personalized therapy. The development of a pan-European sentinel network for allergic diseases has raised the problem of translating the Google search terms into different European languages as well as defining specific pollen season characteristics in different regions. Grass pollen allergy was investigated due to high allergenicity and wide expansion of grass pollen in Europe. Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine which translations of “hay fever”, “grass”, and “rhinitis” could be used in the native Cyrillic languages, especially in Ukrainian and Russian, and to compare the seasonality of allergic respiratory queries in Ukraine with the grass pollen counts. Methods: Google Trends (GT) was used to search Google queries concerning grass pollen allergy: “allergy”, “hay fever”, “runny nose”, “grass”, “asthma”, and “pollen”. The Cyrillic terms in Ukrainian and Russian were used. The search was done for the period from 2013 to 2017. Pollen collection from 2013 to 2016 was conducted using volumetric methods. Average daily temperatures were obtained from http://gismeteo.ua. Correlations were assessed by Spearman (R) test. Results: The Ukrainian Google users searched the Cyrillic equivalents for “runny nose”, “grass”, and “asthma”. Due to the GT queries profile, Ukraine had a “D” pattern according to the classification, developed by Bousquet J et al (2017). In Ukraine, the Poaceae pollen season generally occurred between the second ten-day period of May and the last ten-day period of July. The Poaceae pollen season started with a concentration of pollen grains of 8.0 m−3. This concentration provoked the growth of GT “grass”, “allergy”, “hay fever”, and “asthma” queries. Conclusions: The terms “grass”, “allergy”, “hay fever”, and “asthma” (in their Cyrillic equivalents) are required in Ukraine to account for the grass pollen exposure by GT. The study of GT may be a useful tool to make an assessment of the grass pollen season for the prevention and minimization of exposure to significant grass pollen concentrations

Seasonal changes in plant pollen concentrations over recent years in Vinnytsya, Central Ukraine

The control of plant pollen season patterns is especially important in the expectation of climate change, as the timing of potential varying pollen seasons affects the human population. An ever-increasing number of people suffer from hay fever symptoms with varying severity during the pollen season. This paper presents data on the seasonal variations of pollen concentration and the factors which are the likely causes of these variations in Vinnytsya, a city in Central Ukraine, in order to establish the apparent pattern of this variation and so improve the efficiency of hay fever control in Ukraine. Pollen counts were obtained by gravimetric and volumetric methods employing a Hirst-type volumetric spore trap. Alder (Alnus) and birch (Betula) peaks of pollen release occurred approximately 1 month earlier than was observed at the end of the twentieth century. This was due to the seasonal heat accumulation related to the appropriate temperature regimen registered in January and February prior to the growing season. Other trees – including poplar (Populus), maple (Acer), walnut (Juglans), common hazel (Corylus) – did not show distinct changes in pollen season pattern over the past decades. Mean daily temperature seems to be the leading factor promoting early season onset and a seasonal pollen peak shift of the grass and herb flora such as ragweed (Ambrosia). The shift of the ragweed seasonal pollen maximum towards later in the season correlated with higher temperatures during September. Our study has shown that droughts may also significantly decrease the ragweed pollen concentration

Biochemical aspects of KB-28 compound on physically loaded study subjects

In previous studies of actoprotective activity of 5-R-thio-tetrazolo[1,5]quinazoline derivatives in normal and complicated experimental conditions, sodium 2-(tetrazolo [1,5-c]quinazoline-5-ylthio)acetate (KB-28) was found to be the leader of the experiment. The objective of the current study was to characterize the effects of KB-28 compounds on carbohydrate and lipid exchange indices under the conditions of physical load as a possible mechanism of actoprotective effect. In the course of the experiment, the indices of carbohydrate and lipid exchange in the muscle, blood and liver of animal models were determined following a 15-day physical load course. In doing so, glucose, glycogen and total lipid concentrations were assessed. The KB-28 compound was administered daily at levels determined during the course of regular physical load normalized metabolic processes in rats. The results were then compared to a control which received intraperitoneally the equivolume 0.9% sodium chloride solution. The phenomenon of actoprotection consisted in enhancing concentrations of glycogen in skeletal muscles and liver. Compared to the control figures, this increase was 28.8% and 25.0%, accordingly. Moreover, the course of KB-28 caused a statistically significant reduction (by 32.1%) of the total serum lipid concentration in the animals under physical load. The effect may be a sign of the ability of this substance to utilize active lipolysis for improvement of the skeletal muscle performance. Having analyzed the results obtained, we can draw a conclusion that influencing the biochemical processes in the study models is one of the mechanisms of the KB-28 actoprotective effect

Towards standardisation of automatic pollen and fungal spore monitoring : best practises and guidelines

Standards for manual pollen and fungal spore monitoring have been established based on several decades of experience, tests, and research. New technological and methodological advancements have led to the development of a range of different automatic instruments for which no standard yet exist. This paper aims to provide an overview of aspects that need to be considered for automatic pollen and fungal spore monitoring, including a set of guidelines and recommendations. It covers issues relevant to developing an automatic monitoring network, from the instrument design and calibration through algorithm development to site selection criteria. Despite no official standard yet existing, it is essential that all aspects of the measurement chain are carried out in a manner that is as standardised as possible to ensure high-quality data and information can be provided to end-users