Dataset Information

Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City.

ABSTRACT: More than 7 thousand wildfires were recorded over Mexico in 2019, affecting almost 640 thousand hectares. Most of these fires occurred during the spring season generating dense smoke plumes, impacting urban areas in the central part of the Mexican plateau. From May 10 to 17, 2019, biomass burning (BB) plumes affected Mexico City (MC) and diffused across the basin, producing PM_2.5 levels ~ 2 times higher than the nation's air quality standards. Average PM_2.5 concentrations increased sharply from 29.4 ± 7.2 µg m^-3 to 65.1 ± 13.6 µg m^-3 when the dense smoke plumes were detected. The higher particle concentration impacted the aerosol optical depth (AOD) as values ~ 3 times greater than the annual mean (0.32 ± 0.12) were measured, which resulted in a 17% loss of global horizontal irradiation (GHI). Under these severe pollution conditions, the visibility (V_a) was reduced by ~ 80%. The high incidence of strong absorbent particles, such as soot and tarballs was revealed through electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. These techniques show chemical similarities between MC aerosols and those from the high-altitude (~ 4010 m. a. g. l.) Altzomoni Atmospheric Observatory, evidencing a strong influence of the BB emissions, suggesting a regional transport of these pollutants.

SUBMITTER: Carabali G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8602652 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City.

Carabali Giovanni G Villanueva-Macias José J Ladino Luis A LA Álvarez-Ospina Harry H Raga Graciela B GB Andraca-Ayala Gema G Miranda Javier J Grutter Michel M Silva Ma Montserrat MM Riveros-Rosas David D

Scientific reports 20211118 1

More than 7 thousand wildfires were recorded over Mexico in 2019, affecting almost 640 thousand hectares. Most of these fires occurred during the spring season generating dense smoke plumes, impacting urban areas in the central part of the Mexican plateau. From May 10 to 17, 2019, biomass burning (BB) plumes affected Mexico City (MC) and diffused across the basin, producing PM<sub>2.5</sub> levels ~ 2 times higher than the nation's air quality standards. Average PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentrations i ...[more]

PMID: 34795342

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Project description:BackgroundEnvironmental exposures are associated with a number of outcomes including adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although inflammation is hypothesized to play a role, the mechanistic pathways between environmental exposures and adverse health outcomes, including associations between exposures and longitudinal measures of systemic and reproductive tract inflammation, need elucidation.ObjectivesThis study was conducted to evaluate whether exposure to air pollution is associated with immunologic responses in the systemic circulation and lower reproductive tract, and to evaluate whether systemic and reproductive tract immunologic responses are similar.MethodsWe quantified repeated measures of cytokines from cervico-vaginal exudates and serum obtained concurrently among 104 women with term pregnancies and estimated PM10 and CO exposure using the monitor nearest each participant's residence. Serum and cervico-vaginal cytokines were compared using Wilcoxon signed-ranks test and Spearman rank correlations for select gestational months. We used intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) to quantify reproducibility of cytokine measurements, and Tobit regression to estimate associations between air pollution and cytokines.ResultsMedian cervico-vaginal levels of IL-6, Eotaxin, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1α, MIP-1β, and TNFα were higher than corresponding serum cytokines, significantly so for IL-6 and IP-10. Cervico-vaginal and serum cytokines were not correlated, but cytokines from the same fluid were correlated. ICCs for most serum cytokines were ≤0.40, while ICCs were higher in cervico-vaginal cytokines (range 0.52-0.83). IP-10 and Eotaxin had the highest ICCs for both cytokine sources. In adjusted models, PM10 was positively associated with serum cytokines IL-6, IP-10, MIP-1β and Eotaxin but inversely associated with cervico-vaginal cytokine TNFα, IP-10, MIP-1β, MCP-1 and Eotaxin, controlling for false discovery rate. CO was inversely associated with cervico-vaginal TNFα, IL-6, MIP-1β, MCP-1 and Eotaxin.ConclusionsInflammatory processes are compartment-specific. Systemic inflammatory markers may provide information on immunologic processes and response to environmental exposures, but are not proxies for lower reproductive tract inflammation.

Dataset Information

Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City.

Publications

Characterization of aerosol particles during a high pollution episode over Mexico City.

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