Autor: Vítor Manteigas

Foi publicado o livro “Elderly Exposure to Air Pollutants: measuring, assessing and modelling” da autoria de Marina Silva, licenciada em Saúde Ambiental pela Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa (ESTeSL).

Este livro, que resulta da sua tese de doutoramento, tem em conta o estudo da exposição humana a poluentes ambientais com relevância na exposição que ocorre em equipamentos residenciais para pessoas idosas.

This Thesis focuses on the estimation of the human exposure to air pollutants, and gives special attention to one of the most susceptible groups in the general population – elders. To fulfil the goal the work was conducted following the risk assessment paradigm and, consequently, was divided into 5 tasks: 1) characterization of the indoor air quality in (selected) Elderly Care Centers, thereby evaluating an mixture of indoor physical, chemical and biological pollutants; 2) assessment of the daily integrated exposure and inhaled dose; 3) determination of the personal daily exposure; 4) modelled estimation of the particulate matter (PM) deposited dose in the respiratory tract; 5) source apportionment of indoor PM in an Elderly Care Center.
For this thesis was important to better understand the elderly life occupancy pattern: 95% of their time was spent indoors, splitted between bedroom and living-room.
Chapter 2 describes the characteristics of ten selected Elderly Care Centers and its 384 institutionalized elders, located in Lisbon and Loures, Portugal. Some problematic pollutants were identified, such as carbon dioxide, volatile organic compound and particles. Taking PM into account the highest impact period of the day was associated with the elders getting out of bed in the morning and with the people movement at specific periods, such as breakfast and lunch time, in bedrooms and living-rooms, respectively: temporal concentration patterns allowed the identification of hot-spots or problematic periods of the day. Chemical characterization permitted the identification of indoor and outdoor emission sources, and permitted the set-up of mitigation actions to reduce their emissions. The results showed that, although elders may live in the same area, their exposure and inhaled doses can differ significantly. Moreover, the data also showed that an accurate measurement of integrated exposure is essential to provide an adequate evaluation of the particles dose-response relation. The outcomes were important i) to understand the critical areas inside the residences, ii) to identify the microenvironments with highest impact on elderly exposure and dose and iii) also to recognise the importance of the geographical localization of Elderly Care Centers.
In Chapter 3 PM exposure and dose were calculated for autonomous and institutionalized elders. Autonomous elders carried on a real-time PM monitor during four 24 h measuring campaigns and fulfilled an activity diary, simultaneously. Subsequently, the PM deposited dose was assessed using a computational model that estimates transport and deposition of particles into the human respiratory tract. In general, the deposition fraction was higher in males than in females for the same activity level and increased with activity level. The results were important to understand the relevant areas inside the residences where elders are most exposed, to suggest effective mitigation strategies, and thus to reduce PM exposure and adverse health effects to this very sensitive age group.
Chapter 4 presents the results of the indoor PM source apportionment study ‘in a selected Elderly Care Center. To this end, two 2-weeks sampling campaigns were conducted to collect PM10. The elemental composition, ions, and the organic and elemental carbon were determined in order to identify emission sources. Outdoor PM10 concentrations were significantly higher during day-time than at night (p-value <0.05), as well as Ca-2, Fe, Sb and Zn. Both indoor and outdoor PM10 averaged concentrations did not exceed existing guidelines and there were no significantly differences between seasons. The contribution of indoor and outdoor sources was assessed by Principal Component Analysis and showed the importance of the highways and the airport located less than 500 m of the Elderly Care Center.

Related item: doi:10.4233/uuid:06e44124-c5d2-4c06-b8c1-4cfc99ed2c55

Foi publicado o livro “Exposure to Air Pollutants During Physical Activity” da autoria de Carla Ramos, licenciada em Saúde Ambiental pela Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa (ESTeSL).

Este livro, que resulta da sua tese de doutoramento, tem em conta o estudo da exposição humana a poluentes atmosféricos durante a atividade física, seja em ambientes exteriores ou interiores.

The context for this thesis is the concern that people who practice physical activity are more susceptible to air pollution. For the studies presented here, three perspectives of physical activity were considered: in indoor, i) physical activity in fitness centers; in outdoor ii) the use of bicycle in cycle paths; and iii) active transportation. Knowing the effects that air pollution has in the respiratory function, the increased V? (Minute Ventilation) that practitioners experience during exercise, lead to higher inhaled doses of air pollutants. The primary aim of this thesis is to provide information that is needed to deal with air pollutants and to come to better and healthier choices while practice physical activity in indoor and outdoor environments. It is clear that the sport facilities have to be correctly designed, with the aim of reduction of risk exposure and enhancing the benefits of exercise. Chapter 1 summarizes the context for air quality and physical activity, clarifies their relations, and addresses the most relevant topics interpreted in this thesis.

Chapter 2 evaluates the exposure of sport practitioners to air pollutants and their inhaled doses. To achieve this goal, IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) parameters and V? were assessed in eleven fitness centers in Lisbon. After that, the IAQ in three fitness centers was monitored during one week to recognize temporal variations of pollutants and identify pollution sources. The novelty introduced in this chapter was the estimation of the inhaled doses for the typical indoor air pollutants during an aerobic and a holistic fitness class.

Chapter 3 assesses the exposure and the dose to air pollutants while using cycle paths. For this, three different cycle paths in Lisbon were chosen and two complementary techniques were used: the instrumental sampling to evaluate particles (PM: particulate matter) and biomonitoring with lichens to obtain the elemental concentrations along the cycle paths. Pollutant maps were created for particles and for the elemental concentrations in order to visualize spatial distribution of pollutants. Chapter 4 focuses on the alternative mode of active transportation in cities. A typical route of Lisbon was selected to assess five air pollutants in five periods of the day, to observe the variation of those pollutants during the day. The exposure and the inhaled doses during the use of bicycle were compared with the use of motorized modes of transport (car, moto, bus and metro). The pollutant maps were performed for bicycle concentrations to identify the hotspots along the route. Chapter 5 provides an overall discussion and main outcomes of the thesis. 140With the integrated approach given on this thesis, new information on IAQ constrains in fitness centers, and data on V? during fitness classes was presented. New information on what contributes to personal exposure during cycling and the contrasts between travel modes in relation to active transportation during commuting are brought in this work.

Related item: https://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4757.8646