Special Issue Sources and Composition of Ambient Particulate Matter

Lung Toxicity of Ambient Particulate Matter from Southeastern U.S. Sites with Different Contributing Sources: Relationships between Composition and Effects

BACKGROUND Exposure to air pollution and, more specifically, particulate matter (PM) is associated with adverse health effects. However, the specific PM characteristics responsible for biological effects have not been defined. OBJECTIVES In this project we examined the composition, sources, and relative toxicity of samples of PM with aerodynamic diameter </= 2.5 microm (PM2.5) collected from ...

Bioassay of extracts of ambient particulate matter.

Organic extracts from airborne particles collected at various sites in Scandinavia have been tested for mutagenicity in the Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. Extracts from particles in the respirable size fraction (diameter less than 3 microns) were mutagenic with and without metabolic activation. The mutagenic activity varied from day to day, mainly due to variations in meteorological parameter...

Exposure to ambient particulate matter alters the microbial composition and induces immune changes in rat lung

BACKGROUND Ambient particulate matter exposure has been shown to increase the risks of respiratory diseases. However, the role of the lung microbiome and the immune response to inhaled particulate matter are largely unexplored. We studied the influence of biomass fuel and motor vehicle exhaust particles on the lung microbiome and pulmonary immunologic homeostasis in rats. METHODS Fifty-seven ...

Special issue of Atmospheric Environment on findings fromEPAâ•Žs Particulate Matter Supersites Program

Global Chemical Composition of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter for Exposure Assessment

Epidemiologic and health impact studies are inhibited by the paucity of global, long-term measurements of the chemical composition of fine particulate matter. We inferred PM2.5 chemical composition at 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution for 2004-2008 by combining aerosol optical depth retrieved from the MODIS and MISR satellite instruments, with coincident profile and composition information from th...