Spatial and temporal variations of trace element distribution in soils and street dust of an industrial town in NW Spain: 15years of study

Extensive spatial and temporal surveys, over 15 years, have been conducted in soil in urban parks and street dusts in one of the most polluted cities in western Europe, Avilés (NW Spain). The first survey was carried out in 1996, and since then monitoring has been undertaken every five years. Whilst the sampling site is a relatively small town, industrial activities (mainly the steel industry and Zn and Al metallurgy) and other less significant urban sources, such as traffic, strongly affect the load of heavy metals in the urban aerosol. Elemental tracers have been used to characterise the influence of these sources on the composition of soil and dust. Although PM10 has decreased over these years as a result of environmental measures undertaken in the city, some of the “industrial” elements still remain in concentrations of concern for example, up to 4.6% and 0.5% of Zn in dust and soil, respectively. Spatial trends in metals such as Zn and Cd clearly reflect sources from the processing industries. The concentrations of these elements across Europe have reduced over time, however the most recent results from Avilés revealed an upward trend in concentration for Zn, Cd, Hg and As. A risk assessment of the soil highlighted As as an element of concern since its cancer risk in adults was more than double the value above which regulatory agencies deem it to be unacceptable. If children were considered to be the receptors, then the risk nearly doubles from this element

The management of acute venous thromboembolism in clinical practice. Results from the European PREFER in VTE Registry

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in Europe. Data from real-world registries are necessary, as clinical trials do not represent the full spectrum of VTE patients seen in clinical practice. We aimed to document the epidemiology, management and outcomes of VTE using data from a large, observational database. PREFER in VTE was an international, non-interventional disease registry conducted between January 2013 and July 2015 in primary and secondary care across seven European countries. Consecutive patients with acute VTE were documented and followed up over 12 months. PREFER in VTE included 3,455 patients with a mean age of 60.8 ± 17.0 years. Overall, 53.0 % were male. The majority of patients were assessed in the hospital setting as inpatients or outpatients (78.5 %). The diagnosis was deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in 59.5 % and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 40.5 %. The most common comorbidities were the various types of cardiovascular disease (excluding hypertension; 45.5 %), hypertension (42.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (21.1 %). Following the index VTE, a large proportion of patients received initial therapy with heparin (73.2 %), almost half received a vitamin K antagonist (48.7 %) and nearly a quarter received a DOAC (24.5 %). Almost a quarter of all presentations were for recurrent VTE, with >80 % of previous episodes having occurred more than 12 months prior to baseline. In conclusion, PREFER in VTE has provided contemporary insights into VTE patients and their real-world management, including their baseline characteristics, risk factors, disease history, symptoms and signs, initial therapy and outcomes

First European Quality Assurance Programme for Sulphur Dioxide, Black Smoke and Suspended Particulates Measurements

Abstract not availableNA-NOT AVAILABL

Neugestaltung der Energieverbrauchskennzeichnung von neuen Personenkraftwagen in Deutschland

Das Gutachten beschreibt und analysiert Optionen für eine Neugestaltung des Labels, das laut Pkw-Energieverbrauchskennzeichnungsverordnung (Umsetzung der Richtlinie 1999/94/EG) in der unmittelbaren Nähe neuer Pkw anzubringen ist. Ziel dieser Neugestaltung ist eine verbesserte Effizienz des Instruments, wobei soweit wie möglich die Pläne für die in der neuen EU-CO2&Cars-Strategie vorgesehenen gesetzgeberischen Maßnahmen berücksichtigt wurden

Dynamic modeling of vehicle populations: An engineering approach for emissions calculations

A model initially developed for forecasts of air pollutant emissions from motor vehicles is presented, with special emphasis on its vehicle dynamics module. Vehicle density forecasts are performed separately for passenger cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles. Combined with estimates of vehicle usage parameters they are used to predict the total traffic volume up to the year 2010. The internal turnover of the vehicle fleet is simulated with a modified Weibull function, and the technology substitution process is determined nonanalytically. Although more refined approaches have been developed for the prediction of the dynamic behavior of car populations, the one presented here has been designed in such a way that it can be applied to countries where detailed information is lacking or too difficult to find, and even nonexperts can implement it reasonably well

Entwicklung eines gesetzgeberischen Ansatzes für die Begrenzung der spezifischen CO2-Emissionen von Personenkraftwagen in der EU

Das Gutachten wurde vom Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit vor dem Hintergrund der Revision der CO2&Cars Strategie der Europäischen Kommission beauftragt. Darin wurden zwei Optionen und verschiedene Bezugsparameter für den gesetzgeberischen Ansatz zur Verminderung der CO2-Emissionen von neuen Pkw überprüft. Der gesetzgeberische Ansatz soll die Emissionen der EU-Neuwagenflotten von derzeit ca. 160 gCO2/km auf durchschnittlich 130 gCO2/km im Jahr 2012 herabsenken

Improvement in the design and operation of a sampler for the measurement of suspended particulate matter in the ambient atmosphere (phase II)

The performance of the candidate EC reference sampler for thoracic and inhalable particles has been assessed under ambient field conditions. Comparability and precision are at a very acceptable level of a few percent only. The inhalable samples mode does meet a compliance criterium of 10% with the target CEN/ISO convention for inhaled particles. The thoracic option clearly overestimates the pertinent target concentrations (between 20 and 50%).<br