Numerical simulations compared with measurements are used to investigate the effect of sea breezecirculation on the ozone accumulation over a highly industrialized peninsula in southern Italy, where high levels of ozoneconcentration are often registered. A frequent meteorological phenomenon in this region during weak summer synopticconditions is the development of complex sea breeze systems from the coastlines, with convergence areas within thepeninsula.A case study characterized by strong winds alternating with sea breeze circulations was selected.The simulations show that during weak synoptic conditions, sea breezes transport ozone and its precursors over landfrom the sea, as well as from the coastlines where the largest industrialized districts are localized. The overlapping breezeslead to ozone accumulation in the area where sea breeze convergence occurs. This may explain the high values of ozoneregistered close to the sea breeze convergence lines.The comparison between predictions and experimental data indicates that the numerical system successfully reproducesboth weather and ground level ozone concentration in different meteorological conditions, resulting in a fundamental toolfor both scientific comprehension of the evolution of air contaminants and interpretation of the monitoring data.

Objective: to evaluate the association between daily air pollutant concentration and daily data regarding mortality and hospital admissions among residents of Brindisi (Southern Italy) in the years 2003-2006. Design: the association between the time series of daily mortality (2003-2005) and hospital admissions (2003-2006) and the time series of daily pollutant concentration were analyzed using a case-crossover method and a conditional logistic regression. Bi-directional control periods were selected using a timestratified approach. Models include mean temperature, relative humidity, influence of epidemics, summer decrease of resident population and holidays as confounders. Specific models with the following variables: cause of death or hospital admission,cagender, age and season have been fitted. As hazard periods the following lags have been considered: single lag (from 0 to five) and cumulative lag (lag 0-1 for mortality and 0-3 for hospital admissions). Main outcome measures: a total of 1,792 subjects deceased of all natural causes (including cardiovascular and respiratory causes) and 6,925 hospital admissions for acute conditions (cardiac, cerebrovascular and respiratory diseases) were considered. PM10, NO2 and CO daily pollutant concentration series were examined. Results: PM10 was associated with mortality from all natural causes (10.36%; 95% CI 1.83-19.61 at lag 0-1). The risk was more pronounced for cardiovascular mortality (14.35%; 95% CI 2.11; 28.07 at lag 1). The association with hospitalization for cerebrovascular diseases was statistically significant for PM10 among females (13.4%; 95% CI 1.7; 26.4 at lag 4) and elderly over 75 years old (13.6%; 95% CI 0.4; 28.6 at lag 4). In specific population groups, increased mortality and hospital admissions have been associated with NO2. Conclusion: this study found strong and consistent associations between outdoor air pollution (coming from both industrial emissions and urban traffic) and short-term increases in

Exposure to air pollutants has been associated with increased hospital admissions (HAs) for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This work describes a short-term epidemiological study in Brindisi, a highly industrialized town in Southern Italy. The effects of daily exposure to PM10 and NO2 on daily HAs for cardiac, respiratory, and cerebrovascular diseases were investigated by means of a case-crossover design in the period 2001-2007. Results showed positive associations between PM10 and HAs for cardiac and respiratory diseases and between NO2 and HAs for all the categories of diseases considered, particularly among females. Although not statistically significant, increased risk was observed for wind blowing from the port and the industrial area. Findings confirm the health risks associated with ambient air pollution exposure, even though NO2 and PM10 concentrations were below the legal limits. This may be due to the complex scenario of emissions in the area, which should be better investigated.

Several epidemiological studies have shownthe negative effect of Particulate Matter (PM) onhuman health; in particular, it was shown that thefiner fractions of PM (PM2.5 and PM1) can penetratedeeply into the lung and cause negative effects whichranges from cardiovascular and neurotoxic effects tocancer (Künzli and Perez, 2009).For this reason, plans to suggest right policycontrols for human health protection have to takeninto account the most relevant emission sources forthe area under investigation and how PMconcentrations at receptors can be influenced bytransport, mixing and transformation processes.In this work, the collaboration among differentpartners, such as Apulian Agency for EnvironmentalProtection, University of Bari, University of Lecce,CNR-ISAC, allowed to obtain important results by aPM monitoring campaign performed in ApuliaRegion. PM10 has been collected in five differentsampling sites (Torchiarolo, Galatina, Taranto-Tamburi, Palagiano e Montalbano-Ostuni) atdifferent distance from the iron and steel pole ofTaranto. The main interest on Taranto is due to thepresence of several activities of high impact as verywide industrial area close to the town and thenumerous maritime and military activities in theharbour area (Amodio et al., 2008). Therefore, theaim of this study was the chemical characterizationof PM10 samples in order to estimate emissionsources contributions and to evaluate how thesesources influence pollutants concentrations at thesampling sites.Fifteen daily samples have been collected in theperiod from February 2009 to March 2009. Thechemical characterization of the samples has beenperformed to determine inorganic components,Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, carbonaceousfractions and metals.It was found that the sampling site close to thesteel plant (Taranto-Tamburi) was affected by ironand manganese concentrations greater than thoseobserved in other sites (an order of magnitude) whenthe wind direction allowed the transport from theplant to the receptor.The contribution of crustal matter source hasbeen evaluated by means of titanium and siliconconcentrations: almost the same values wereobserved in the different sites and it was explainedaccording to a regional contribution of this source.On the contrary, the chemical concentrations ofsodium and chlorine allowed to highlight the localcontributions of marine aerosol.Finally, the relevance of biomass burning fordomestic heating in the sampling site of Torchiaroloe Galatina has been shown by high concentrations ofPAHs and potassium, in agreement with highaluminium concentrations.Moreover, SEM - EDS analysis allowed themorphological characterization of PM: the collectedimages were used both to obtain particles statisticalsize and shape distributions and to characterizechemical species.In the sampling period, Comprehensive AirQuality Model with extensi

Maternal exposure to ambient pollution has been increasingly linked to the risk of congenital anomalies (CAs) in the fetus and newborns. Recently, a descriptive study in the high environmental risk city of Brindisi (Italy) revealed an increased prevalence of total CM, especially congenital heart disease (CHD) and ventricular septal defects (VSDs), both at the local level and in comparison with the pool of EUROCAT registries. This paper concerns a population-based case control study to investigate the association between maternal exposure to air pollutants - sulfur dioxide (SO2) and total suspended particulate (TSP) matter - and the risk of CA. Cases were newborns up to 28 days of age, born to mothers resident in Brindisi between 2001 and 2010, and discharged with a diagnosis of CA. Cases and controls were individually matched according to sex, socio-economic status of the census area of residence of the mother, and year of beginning of pregnancy. Up to four controls were extracted for each case. Concentration data from monitoring stations were used to estimate air pollution exposure. Each case and control was assigned pollutant concentration values as mean and 90th percentile of the daily average values during weeks 3-8 of pregnancy. Exposure as both continuous and categorical variables was considered and a conditional logistic regression model was constructed to quantify the odds ratios of exposure to air pollutants and the occurrence of total CAs, CHDs and VSDs.

Maternal exposure to ambient pollution has been increasingly linked to the risk ofcongenital anomalies (CAs) in fetus and newborns. Recently, a descriptive study(Gianicolo et al., 2012) revealed an increased prevalence of total CAs and in particular,congenital heart diseases (CHDs) and ventricular septal defects (VSDs) in Brindisi,both at local level and in comparison with the pool of EUROCAT registries. Due to thepresence of many sources of pollution near the urban area, in the 1980s, Brindisi andsurrounding municipalities were identifi ed by the Italian Ministry of Environment asan "area at high risk of environmental crisis". Epidemiological studies have revealedseveral critical situations in terms of increasing rates of mortality and morbidity directlyor potentially associated with environmental and occupational exposure to pollutants.This population-based case-control study investigated the association of maternalexposure to air pollutants sulfur dioxide (SO2) and total suspended particulate matter(TSP) with the risk of CA. Cases were newborns to mothers residing in Brindisi between2001 and 2010, up to 28 days of age, and discharged with a diagnosis of CA. Casesand controls were individually matched according to sex, socioeconomic status ofthe census area of residence of the mother, and year of conception. Four controlswere extracted for each case. Concentration data from monitoring stations datawere used to estimate air pollution exposure. Each case and control were assignedpollutant concentration values (weeks 3-8 of pregnancy). Exposure as both continuousand categorical variable was considered and a conditional logistic regression modelwas constructed to quantify the odds ratios of exposure to air pollutants and theoccurrence of total CAs, CHDs and VSDs. We found exposure to SO2 to be associatedwith CHDs and VSDs. Findings for TSP were less consistent.

Introduction Congenital anomalies (CAs) and their primary prevention are a public health issue and both genetic and environmental factors can contribute to their causation. Brindisi is an area "at high risk of environmental crisis". This work aimed at estimating the prevalence of CAs and at evaluating possible association with air pollution.Materials and methods Newborns up to 28 days of age, born between 2001 and 2010 to mothers resident in Brindisi and discharged with a diagnosis of CA have been considered. We classified cases according to the coding system adopted by the European Network for the Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT). We classified cases in the following categories: total CAs, congenital heart disease (CHDs) and other CAs according to the coding system adopted by EUROCAT. We classified CHDs in three classes according to their severity. Prevalence rates of CAs in Brindisi were compared with those reported by EUROCAT. Logistic regression models were adapted to evaluate the association between CAs and municipality of residence of the mother during pregnancy. Total suspended particles, nitrogen and sulfur dioxides were routinely monitored over the ten years. Exposition was then estimated from air quality monitors data as averages and percentiles over pregnancy 3rd-8th weeks. Results and discussion Out of 8,503 newborns we recorded 194 subjects with CAs (228.2/10,000 total births), 1.2 times higher than the one reported by the EUROCAT pool of registries. We observed 83 subjects with congenital heart diseases (CHDs) with an excess of 49.1%. Odds Ratios for CHDs significantly increased for newborns to mothers resident in Brindisi. Out of 83 cases with CHD, we observed 9 cases (10.8%) with medium probability of perinatal mortality (Severity II) and 69 cases (83.1%) with low probability of perinatal mortality (Severity III). No case with high probability of perinatal mortality was registered. Five cases (6%) were not classified because of a poorly specified code. Two cases of CHDs (2.4%) were associated with a chromosomal anomaly. Among 109 cases with CAs observed from 2001 to 2005, 59.6% presented further hospital admissions; of these 38.5% reported the same diagnosis of CAs observed in the first 28 days of life. Our findings indicated an increased prevalence of CAs (especially CHDs) in the city of Brindisi.Averaged exposition for CA cases showed slightly higher values than that for newborns without CA. A case-control analysis might give more detailed results. More research in terms of etiological studies is needed, in order to analyze the role of different risk factors in the possible causation of CAs and to identify the best strategies for primary prevention.

Evaluating the extent of exposure to chemicals in absence of continuous measurements of their concentration in air and direct measures of personal exposure is crucial for epidemiological studies. Dispersion models can be a useful tool for reproducing spatio-temporal distribution of contaminants emitted by a specific source. However, they cannot easily be applied to short-term epidemiological studies because they require precise information on daily emission scenarios for a long time, which are generally not available. The aim of this study was to better assess the exposure in the industrial area of Brindisi, which suffers from various critical epidemiological situations, by integrating air pollution concentration data, emissions and model simulations concerning a specific point source. The results suggest that in the absence of direct exposure data and detailed information on specific pollutants associated to an emission, population exposure may be better assessed by taking into account proxy pollutants and the wind (direction and speed) as a potential health effects modifier.

Presentiamo il secondo contributo sul progettoManfredoniaAmbiente e Salute, una indagineepidemiologica basata su un approccio partecipativo avviata nel febbraio 2015.Un grave incidente industriale accaduto nel 1976, durante il quale diverse tonnellatedi arsenico si sono riversate nell'ambiente circostante causando problemi ambientali,ha generato sfiducia e sospetto verso le istituzioni, sentimenti ancora vivi nellasocietà civile.Il Progetto si basa su un forte impegno pubblico in ogni fase della ricerca epidemiologica.In questo articolo riportiamo la seconda fase dello studio, nella quale gli stakeholderdefiniscono i quesiti a cui l'indagine deve rispondere e prendono in considerazione tuttii possibili risultati e le implicazioni in termini di piani d'azione per la salute. Si tratta diun passo importante per riconoscere i limiti dello studio epidemiologico dovuti alle incertezzee assicurare trasparenza nei processi decisionali.

The Lagrangian description of turbulence is very important in studies of mixing and dispersion. The following study focuses on the main aspects using data from high resolution Large Eddy Simulations and investigating basic results in Kolmogorov similarity giving an estimation of inertial subrange universal constants. It was possible to evaluate the velocity structure functions and the Lagrangian spectra in the inertial subrange, under different stability conditions, by tracking an ensemble of Lagrangian particles in the PBL simulated with a Large Eddy Simulation model. This allows a direct estimation of the inertial subrange constants and their dependence on the Planetary Boundary Layer stability conditions

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) isapplied to simulate an intense Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over the Southern Italy in March 2016.The WRF model is found to reproduce well the synoptic meteorological conditions driving the dust outbreak: an omegalikepressure configuration associated with a weak cyclogenesis in the Iberian Peninsula. At the end of the simulatedperiod the merging of two minima produce a large depression in the Peninsular Italy.The model performances in reproducing the atmospheric desert dust load is evaluated using a multi-platformobservational dataset of aerosol and desert dust properties, including optical properties from satellite and ground-basedsun-photometers, plus in-situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. This comparison allows us to investigatethe model ability in reproducing both the horizontal and the vertical displacement of the dust plume, and its evolutionin time. The preliminary comparison with satellite (MODIS-AQUA) and sunphotometers (AERONET) showed thatthe model is able to reproduce well the horizontal field of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its evolution in time.The routinely measurements of ARPA-Puglia revealed the intense dust outbreak with peak PM10 value larger than300 µg/m3 during march 23. On the other side, the model-measurements comparison for PM10 shows a good temporalmatching.The model-to-measurements comparisons allows the evaluation and the tuning of physics-based emission scheme thatis part of the WRF-Chem package release.

Pubblicare studi sulla relazione fra salute e inquinamento suscita reazioni e interesse nell'opinione pubblica coinvolta, fino alle più alte istituzioni nazionali. Questo intervento, ispirato da una discussione parlamentare che ha riguardato anche un nostro recente articolo scientifico pubblicato su Environmental Research sull'associazione tra anomalie congenite e esposizione materna ad alcuni inquinanti atmosferici nella città di Brindisi, si propone di contribuire a rispondere ai seguenti quesiti: la tipologia e la qualità dei dati utilizzati nelle stime di esposizione deve essere certificata da organismi istituzionali? Si possono escludere effetti sanitari negativi in popolazioni esposte a inquinanti entro i limiti di legge? In conclusione, vengono espresse alcune considerazioni sulle misure a tutela della salute pubblica e sulla relazione fra l'operato dei ricercatori pubblici e le istituzioni.

OBIETTIVO: costruzione di indicatori ambientali di inquinamento aerodiffuso per finalità di sorveglianza epidemiologica in 25 città italiane per il progetto EpiAir2 (2006-2010) e presentazione dei dati di dieci anni di sorveglianza in 10 città italiane (2001-2010).DISEGNO: sono stati raccolti dati di particolato (nelle frazioni PM10 e PM2.5 ), biossido di azoto (NO2 ) e ozono (O3 ), considerati fattori di rischio per la salute. I dati meteorologici considerati come confondenti nell'analisi dell'effetto degli inquinanti sono stati: temperatura, umidità relativa (e la variabile derivata "temperatura apparente") e pressione barometrica. I criteri per la selezione delle stazioni di monitoraggio e i metodidi calcolo per la costruzione di indicatori ambientali a partire dalle serie giornaliere disponibili sono stati scelti in continuità con la precedente edizione di EpiAir. Per tutte le città, è stata verificata l'omogeneità dei dati selezionati nel rappresentare l'esposizione delle popolazioni.SETTING E PARTECIPANTI: il progetto EpiAir2 coinvolge per gli anni 2006-2010 le città di Milano, Mestre Venezia,Torino, Bologna, Firenze, Pisa, Roma,Taranto,Cagliari e Palermo, già presenti nello studio EpiAir. A questo elenco vanno aggiunte le città di Treviso, Trieste, Padova, Rovigo, Piacenza, Parma, Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Genova, Rimini, Ancona, Bari, Napoli e Brindisi.RISULTATI: nel periodo considerato è stato osservato un decremento delle concentrazioni di particolato nella maggior parte delle città in analisi, mentre non si può giungere a conclusioni così nette per NO2 e ozono. L'analisi dell'andamento temporale degli indicatori ha evidenziato valori medi annuali di PM10 superiori ai 40 ?g/m3 in alcune città della Pianura Padana, e valori medi annuali di NO2 costantemente superiori ai 40 ?g/m3 nelle città di Trieste, Milano, Padova, Torino, Modena, Bologna, Roma e Napoli.CONCLUSIONE: l'ampliamento del progetto EpiAir, con l'inclusione di ulteriori 13 città, ha permesso di evidenziarepeculiarità legate alle differenti aree geografiche in studio e numerose situazioni di criticità con superamenti dei valori di concentrazione limite fissati dalla legislazione corrente.I risultati dello studio EpiAir2 confermano la necessità di un sistema di sorveglianza dell'inquinamento aerodiffuso nei centri urbani e industriali al fine di ottenere stime affidabili dell'esposizione della popolazione residente e di monitorarne l'andamento nel tempo.

Epidemiological studies often assume that air pollution is spatially homogeneous within urban areas and estimate population exposure by using monitored data from averaged data from a few stations. This approach may present critical issues in industrialised areas, characterized by huge emissions. The purpose of this work is to study time-space variability of pollutants in order to refine population exposure and consequent health effects assessment. Time series of meteorological and pollution data (SO2, NO2 and PM10) measured in different sites within two industrialised cities are analysed through descriptive and statistical analyses. Results show inhomogeneous impact of the industrial and harbour sites on separate areas of cities, especially regarding SO2 data rather than PM10 values, showing higher concentration values downwind the higher emission sites. Implications on population exposure assessment are discussed.

OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of various predictors to explain spatial mortality heterogeneity in Taranto.METHODS:Direct age-adjusted death rates (ADR) at a neighbourhood level for the period 1998-2010 were examined. SO2, PM10, distance from pollution sources, and socioeconomic status (SES) were tested as predictors within a meta-regression framework. We used ? (2) to quantify heterogeneity in ADR and I (2) statistic with 95 % confidence intervals to estimate the proportion of total variation across neighbourhoods attributable to the between-neighbourhood heterogeneity.RESULTS:High heterogeneity resulted for all and natural causes of death for both genders. One neighbourhood (Paolo VI) was detected as an outlier for all predictors except SO2, among males. After accounting for SES, moderate heterogeneity among residuals was observed for all-causes of death and was correlated with SO2. Higher concentrations of PM10 were observed in neighbourhoods close to the industrial site and higher concentrations of SO2 in neighbourhoods more distant from the industrial site.CONCLUSIONS:SES and air pollutants were predictors of spatial heterogeneity in ADR. Different distributions of SO2 and PM10 in the city suggested two exposure patterns.

Nel gennaio 1977 moriva Giulio Alfredo Maccacaro, conoscenza. Una conoscenza diffusa che, insiemescienziato, medico, fondatore di Epidemiologia e pre- alla conoscenza locale, mette in discussione il ruolovenzione e di Medicina democratica, direttore di Sa- dello scienziato come unico depositario della possipere,organizzatore sociale e cul- bilità di produzione scientifica.turale, rinnovatore del sistema sa- Probabilmente in futuro la battanitarioitaliano. Abbiamo chiesto glia per la prevenzione parteciaMaria Luisa Clementi, direttrice pata si farà con una più pressanresponsabiledella rivista Epide- te richiesta di accessibilità ai datimiologia e prevenzione, che ruo- (open data) e mediante la rivenloha avuto Maccacaro allora e dicazione della possibilità di elacosalo rende ancora attuale.

LCA studies have the strength to investigate the life cycle to detect any relevant process and related emission that may impact on ecosystems and human health; but, almost all LCA has taken the shortcut of first summing the emissions over all stages and then multiplying the result by site independent impact indices (reaching at best the national or continental resolution); spatial and temporal details at the local scale impacted by site specific emissions (e.g. stack emissions) are not accounted for. Some procedures have been proposed to couple the LCA approach with methods that could provide more spatially detailed damage estimations. One is the IPA (impact pathway analysis) developed under the Externe project and following works; it aimed to track the fate of a pollutant from where it is emitted to the affected receptors (population, crops, forests, buildings, etc.). This work involves a multidisciplinary system analysis, with inputs from engineers, dispersion modellers, epidemiologists, ecologists and economists. Whether an IPA of a single source or an LCA of an entire cycle is required, in general depends on the policy decision in question. One of the most relevant part of such a coupled IPA and LCA approach is the modeling of pollutant spatio-temporal fate in actual environment and human populated areas. In recent decades there was a huge development in modeling technical knowledge, that allows to reconsider the results achieved by the Externe project and that is promising in providing new ways to be coupled with the LCA approach. Some of these features will be shown in a specific study regarding a relevant local emitter activity, one of the biggest European coal power plant located in Apulia, Italy: the LCA approach can help in identifying relevant emitted species at the site, while a well assessed dispersion modeling system with adequate information input categories (orography, meteorology, land use and georeferenced population) provides a detailed space-time exposure fields to estimate actual damage response. How to integrate and make a robust new procedure with the "good" of both the approach is the perspective of this work.

In the present work we use an Eulerian diffusion approach as the base for a micro-meteorologicaldispersion parametrisation for short range radioactive contamination modelling in the An-gra dos Reis nuclear power plant site. The closure of the diffusion equation is implementedby means of eddy diffusivity (K-theory). The parametrisations for the eddy diffusivity co-efficients are determined from micro-meteorological parameters that were extracted frommeso-scale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulations. The model is based onTaylors statistical theory together with a model for Eulerian turbulence spectra from a su-perposition of a buoyant and a shear contribution. We implement an interface between aLES model for the planetary boundary layer and orography related features of WRF andsimulate four days, from February, the 1st to the 4th of 2010, for the environment aroundthe nuclear power plant site at Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. After extractionof micro-meteorological data we determined the eddy diffusivities under the hypothesis ofhomogeneous turbulence. As the principal result we show the time dependence (for the timescale of a day) of the dimensionless vertical eddy diffusivity coefficients.

On September 26th 1976 in Manfredonia (Italy), a mixture containing arsenic compounds was released into the atmosphere due to an accident in a fertilizer production plant. 39 years later, the municipality promoted an epidemiological study to investigate possible long-term health effects in the population. Aim of this work is to reconstruct dispersion of the cloud to estimate population exposure to the arsenic release. A participatory research approach was implemented with a group of citizens which supported every phase of the research, providing data and information on the event and territory. Cloud dispersion was simulated with the RAMS/CALMET/CALPUFF modeling system. Meteorological measurements and arsenic deposition data in soils around the town were used to test the model inputs. The modelling system is capable to reproduce the mean flow and dispersion with some uncertainties due to the hypothesis on the release characterization. Comparison with the deposition data shows that area affected by fallout is larger than it was supposed to in the days following the accident. This is partially confirmed by arsenic deposition data collected some months after the accident. The case study confirms the need to run a dispersion model during the early phase of an accident and to collect contamination data consequently. Otherwise, the real extension of contamination can be underestimated leading to a misclassification of exposure. Participatory approach allowed a better reconstruction both of meteorology and accident dynamic

The aim of this study is to support decision makers and stakeholdersin the management of air quality in an industrial area located in a valley insouthern Italy, where neither air quality nor meteorological parameters areroutinely monitored. The first phase focused on the inventory of emissionsthrough monitored data at stacks, permissions to emit from local authorities,and life cycle assessment inventories. Then, the air quality modelling systemRAMS-CALMET-CALPUFF was used to simulate local meteorology andatmospheric dispersion of pollutants emitted from the industrial sites and thehighway. Preliminary results have provided practical recommendations toequip the area with monitors for both meteorological parameters andconcentrations of NOx and PM10, since industrial and vehicle (from bothhighway and local roads) emissions, added to domestic sources, maypotentially infringe air quality standards.

The modelling system RAMS/CALMET/CALPUFF was used to simulate the atmospheric dispersion and deposition of dioxins emitted from industrial sources over the Province of Lecce (Italy). Comparison between data and predictions shows that the model reasonably simulates the deposition patterns. Dry deposition of PCDD/F extends mainly downwind of the sources following the prevailing wind direction. Wet deposition of PCDD/F is limited to the neighborhood of the emission sources and is associated with the highest PCDD/F deposition values.

In the frame of the project EDOC@WORK3.0, Education and Work on Cloud, a monitoring plan has been carried out in the highly industrialized town of Taranto (one of the most polluted sites of Italy) in order to investigate contemporary indoor and outdoor concentrations of NO2 and SO2 by passive sampling devises (Radiello). Simultaneously indoor and outdoor samplings of NO2 and SO2 were performed from 2nd November 2015 to 2nd December 2015 in nine sites scattered in the investigated area at different quotes and distances from the industrial complex. Our findings show substantial differences between the spatial distributions of the two pollutants and support the hypothesis of two different prevalent sources for NO2 and SO2. In particular, we find diffusive sources of NO2 linked mainly to the vehicular traffic and secondarily to industrial sources. In contrast, SO2 was mainly associated to industrial sources present in the area, representing also a proxy of the mixture of air contaminants associated to industrial processes. Our hypothesis is also confirmed by analysis of data measured by ARPA air quality monitoring stations. Comparison between indoor and outdoor concentrations confirms that outdoor pollutants infiltrate to indoor environments, moreover it highlights potential NO2 indoor sources basically linked to cooking activities, representing adverse health effects for population risk categories such as children or cooks. Considering that urban people spend a lot of their time in indoors, attention should be paid both to outdoor pollutant sources and to indoor sources. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

A group of researchers of public national research council cooperated with different CSOs and authorities to debate and research on pollution and health risk evaluation, knowledge, and decision making. They are committed on such themes and were involved at different stages (scientific knowledge dissemination, debates, legal issues, education, and research).Can it the beginning for a science shop ?

Epidemiological studies have reported adverse associations between long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM<inf>2.5</inf>) and several health outcomes. One issue in this field is exposure assessment and, in particular, the role of secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf>, often neglected in environmental and health risk assessment. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the long-term environmental and health impact of primary and secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf> concentrations originating from a single industrial source. As a case study, we considered a coal power plant which is a large emitter of both primary PM<inf>2.5</inf> and secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf> precursors. PM<inf>2.5</inf> concentrations were estimated using the Calpuff dispersion model. The health impact was expressed in terms of number of non-accidental deaths potentially attributable to the power plant. Results showed that the estimated secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf> extended over a larger area than that related to primary PM<inf>2.5</inf> with maximum concentration values of the two components well separated in space. Exposure to secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf> increased significantly the estimated number of annual attributable non-accidental deaths. Our study indicates that the impact of secondary PM<inf>2.5</inf> may be relevant also at local scale and ought to be considered when estimating the impact of industrial emissions on population health.

The Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate a severe Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over Southern Italy in March 2016. Numerical experiments have been performed applying a physics-based dust emission model, with soil properties generated from three different Land Surface Models, namely Noah, RUC and Noah-MP. The model performance in reproducing the severe desert dust outbreak is analysed using an observational dataset of aerosol and desert dust features that includes optical properties from satellite and ground-based sun-photometers, and in-situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. The results reveal that the combination of the dust emission model with the RUC Land Surface Model significantly over-predicts the emitted mineral dust; on the other side, the combination with Noah or Noah-MP Land Surface Model (LSM) gives better results, especially for the daily averaged PM10.

The Brindisi area is characterized by the presence of industries with high environmental impact, located along its eastern border. Epidemiological studies have revealed several critical situations: two short-term (2003-2005) epidemiological studies have shown that PM(10) and NO(2) are adversely associated with daily hospital admissions: one of the two pointed to the associations with wind blowing from the southern, eastern and western sectors. This study aims to expand the time span of available air quality data in order to provide a more complete and extensive epidemiological study. Multi-year series (from 1992 to 2007) of SO(2), NO(2), and TSP concentration data are presented and analyzed. Data show a significant downward trend of SO(2) from 1992 to 2007, while for the TSP series, the downward trend is limited to the period 1992-1994. Marked seasonal trends are evident for all three pollutants, especially for NO(2) and TSP. The NO(2) series shows higher levels in winter. Inversely, the TSP series shows its maximum values during the summer months, associated with a moderate correlation with temperature and a poor correlation with other pollutants. Analysis of the series for wind sectors revealed the influence of the industrial site and of the harbor. The concentration series exhibit high concentration values and stronger correlations between them and with meteorology for wind blowing from the eastern sectors. Overall analysis supports the hypothesis of a different origin for TSP during the year and for different wind regimes and therefore possible size and chemical differences in TSP, which should be further investigated due to their health implications.

Epidemiological studies typically use monitored air pollution data from a single station or as averaged data from several stations to estimate population exposure. In industrialized urban areas, this approach may present critical issues due to the spatial complexities of air pollutants which are emitted by different sources. This study focused on the city of Taranto, which is one of the most highly industrialized cities in southern Italy. Epidemiological studies have revealed several critical situations in this area, in terms of mortality excess and short-term health effects of air pollution. The aims of this paper are to study the variability of air pollutants in the city of Taranto and to interpret the results in relation to the applicability of the data in assessing population exposure. Meteorological and pollution data (SO2, NO2, PM10), measured simultaneously and continuously during the period 2006-2010 in five air quality stations, were analyzed. Relative and absolute spatial concentration variations were investigated by means of statistical indexes. Results show significant differences among stations. The highest correlation between stations was observed for PM10 concentrations, while critical values were found for NO2. The worst values were observed for the SO2 series. The high values of 90th percentile of differences between pairs of monitoring sites for the three pollutants index suggest that mean concentrations differ by large amounts from site to site. The overall analysis supports the hypothesis that various parts of the city are differently affected by the different emission sources, depending on meteorological conditions. In particular, analysis revealed that the influence of the industrial site may be primarily identified with the series of SO2 data which exhibit higher mean concentration values and positive correlations with wind intensity when the monitoring station is downwind from the industrial site. Results suggest evaluating the population exposure to air pollutants in industrialized cities by taking into account the possible zones of influence of different emission sources. More research is needed to identify an indicator, which ought to be a synthesis of several pollutants, and take into account the meteorological variables.

OBIETTIVI: valutare lo stato di salute della popolazione residente nel comune di Manfredonia dal 1970 al 2013. DISEGNO: analisi descrittiva dell'andamento temporale della mortalita generale, per gruppi di cause, dal 1970 al 2013. SETTING E PARTECIPANTI: i dati di mortalita e le popolazioni residenti sono di fonte Istat. Sono state esaminate 55 cause di decesso. Le analisi sono disaggregate per sesso e periodo. PRINCIPALI MISURE DI OUTCOME: sono stati elaborati i rapporti standardizzati di mortalita (SMR%), con i rispettivi intervalli di confidenza al 90% (IC90%), e i tassi di mortalita standardizzati col metodo diretto (TSD ). RISULTATI: lo stato di salute misurato dal tasso di mortalita per tutte le cause migliora nel tempo: i TSD passano da 92 x10.000 negli anni 1970-1974 a 52 x10.000 nel biennio 2012-2013 negli uomini, da 70 x10.000 a 39 x10.000 nelle donne. Tuttavia, rispetto alla media regionale Manfredonia perde progressivamente il suo vantaggio, passando da -20% a -10% negli uomini, e da -20% a +1,5% nelle donne. Questo andamento e molto evidente per il complesso delle cause cardiovascolari, mentre i tumori maligni sono in generale nella media regionale. Nell'ultimo periodo disponibile per causa di decesso (2006-2011), la mortalita per infarto miocardico e stata pio alta della media regionale (uomini: +35%; donne: +54%). I rapporti standardizzati di mortalita (SMR) mostrano tra gli uomini valori in crescita, in particolar modo rispetto al riferimento provinciale, con un eccesso a cominciare dal periodo 2006-2011 (22 decessi/anno e 19 attesi; SMR%: 117,2; IC90% 101,1-135,2; riferimento: provincia di Foggia). Anche tra le donne gli SMR% superano i riferimenti provinciali negli ultimi periodi esaminati (nel 2012-2013: 7 decessi/ anno e 4,2 attesi; SMR%: 116,4; IC90% 97,0-260,7; riferimento: provincia di Foggia). CONCLUSIONI: la mortalita a Manfredonia e diminuita in misura minore rispetto a quella osservata nei riferimenti provinciali e regionali. Il vantaggio che si osservava negli anni Sessanta si e, infatti, ridotto nel tempo, fino ad anarsi negli ultimi anni. Dal 1970, Manfredonia ha progressivamente perso il vantaggio che aveva. Dagli anni Duemila, la mortalita per infarto del miocardio e in eccesso sulla media regionale e provinciale. Da casi documentati in letteratura si osserva che le popolazioni che sperimentano catastrofi di origine naturale o antropica possono fronteggiare un aumento di patologie cardiovascolari. La mortalita per tumore polmonare mostra un eccesso sulla media regionale, in particolare provinciale, a cominciare dal 2000, coerentemente con i tempi di latenza legati all'esposizione ad arsenico negli anni Settanta.

In a recent study on mortality on municipalities at high risk of environment crisis, significant excesses concerning all causes of death have been localized in the municipality of Brindisi. Focusing on cardiac pathology, we investigated the time course of the daily occurrences of acute cardiovascular events (OCE) leading to unscheduled hospitalization of subjects residents in Brindisi, during years 2001-2008. OCE series was analyzed by Detrended Fluctuation Analysis. The results indicate presence of long-term positive correlation, suggesting a role of atmospheric agents and air quality effects: increase/decrease of OCE following persistent high/low levels of air pollution.

Several epidemiological studies have reportedadverse associations between exposure to ambientparticulate matter (PM) and mortality and morbidity forseveral causes. A crucial issue in the integratedenvironmental health impact assessment is the prognosisof PM pollution and, in particular, the way to accountfor secondary PM2.5 formation in presence of largeemissions of SO2 and NOx.Due to the complex non-linear gas-particlechemistry, modelling the formation of secondary PM2.5from a single point source would require theimplementation of complex photochemical grid models,which need as input all the emissions of the area andcontributions from external sources. These data arealmost never available. Consequently, the estimation ofthe impact of a single point source in forming secondaryPM2.5 is often disregarded in environmental and healthimpact assessments.The aim of this work was to estimate primary andsecondary PM2.5 originating from a single source usingthe dispersion model CALPUFF (Scire at al., 2000) intwo different simplified configurations and to assess theimpact in terms of attributable deaths. In Case A thechemical mechanism MESOPUFF was activated. Underthis chemical five species scheme (SO2, SO4+, NOx,HNO3, NO3-), daytime SO2 and NOx oxidation arehourly varying functions of background ozoneconcentration, solar radiation, atmospheric stability andplume NOx concentration. In Case B specific SO2 andNOx offset ratios (10:1 for SO2 and 100:1 for NO2) wereconsidered (Guerra et al. 2014), converting emissions ofprecursors into equivalent amounts of direct PM2.5emissions.As case of study, we considered the emissions ofthe coal power plant located in the municipality ofBrindisi in southern Italy (Figure 1). The study area is105x135 km2 wide and comprises two towns (Brindisiand Lecce) and 125 villages with a total population of1,152,000 individuals. We considered a 105 km x 135km Calmet/Calpuff modelling domain with a resolutionof 1.5 km x 1.5 km. Simulations were performed for theyear 2006.Figure 1. The area of studyThe estimated annual average and annual localmaximum values of primary PM2.5 were 0.02 and 0.22?g/m3 respectively. Primary PM2.5 decreases at half of itsmaximum values within 10 km from the source. In CaseA the estimated total (primary plus secondary) PM2.5extended over a larger area with annual average andannual spatial maximum values of 0.09 ?g/m3 and 0.43?g/m3, respectively. In Case B the total PM2.5 patternresembles that of the primary PM2.5; the estimatedannual average and maximum values of total PM2.5become 0.04 ?g/m3 and 0.55 ?g/m3, respectively.The number of estimated natural deaths potentiallyattributable to annual increased PM2.5 levels was derivedby a three-step procedure (Künzli et al., 1999, Beelen etal. 2014). This resulted in 4 deaths (95% CI 1-7)attributable to primary PM2.5 and increased respectivelyto 19 (95%

A fully coupled meteorology-chemistry-aerosol model (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate the Saharan dust outbreak over the Mediterranean regions. Two dust emission schemes, namely, those of Jones et al., (2010), and Shao (2001) are evaluated using the the GOCART aerosol model. To investigate the performance of each dust emission scheme, a case study was carried out for a Mediterranean dust event that took place between 21 and 23 May 2014. Considering the time average Aerosol Optical Depth, simulation results reproduced satisfactorily the outbreak and transport pattern of dust plumes. However, the estimated dust emission amounts in each scheme differ greatly due to the presence of several tuning parameters, that must be adjusted considering satellite and ground based experimental data.

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model with online coupled chemistry (WRF-Chem) is applied to simulate an intense Saharan dust outbreak event that took place over the Mediterranean in May 2014. Comparison of a simulation using a physics-based desert-dust emission scheme with a numerical experiment using a simplified (minimal) emission scheme is included to highlight the advantages of the former. The model was found to reproduce well the synoptic meteorological conditions driving the dust outbreak: an omega-like pressure configuration associated with a cyclogenesis in the Atlantic coasts of Spain. The model performances in reproducing the atmospheric desert dust load were evaluated using a multi-platform observational dataset of aerosol and desert dust properties, including optical properties from satellite and ground-based sun-photometers and lidars, plus in-situ particulate matter mass concentration (PM) data. This comparison allowed us to investigate the model ability in reproducing both the horizontal and the vertical displacement of the dust plume, and its evolution in time. The comparison with satellite (MODIS-TERRA) and sunphotometers (AERONET) showed that the model is able to reproduce well the horizontal field of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and its evolution in time (temporal correlation coefficient with AERONET of 0.85). On the vertical scale, the comparison with lidar data at a single site (Rome, Italy) confirms that the desert dust advection occurs in several, superimposed 'pulses' as simulated by the model. Cross-analysis of the modeled AOD and desert-dust emission fluxes further allowed to infer the source regions of the observed plumes. The vertical displacement of the modeled dust plume was in rather good agreement with the lidar soundings, with correlation coefficients among aerosol extinction profiles up to 1 and mean discrepancy of about 50%. The model-measurements comparison for PM10 and PM2.5 showed a good temporal matching, although it revealed a marked overestimation of PM10 and PM2.5 (of the order of 70% during the dust peak). For PM10, it was also possible to investigate the accordance between the model- and the measurements-based dust-PM10, this confirming the model PM10 overestimation to be related to over-predicted dust mass up to a factor of 140%. In all the model-to-measurements comparisons performed, the enhanced capabilities of the physics-based emission scheme with respect to its simplified, minimal version were evident and are documented.