The unification of East and West Germany in 1990 resulted in sharp decreases in emissions of major air pollutants. This change in air quality has provided an opportunity for a natural experiment to evaluate the health impacts of air pollution. We evaluated airborne particle size distribution and gaseous co-pollutant data collected in Erfurt, Germany, throughout the 1990s and assessed the extent...

On occasion of the project YOGAM (year of gas phase and aerosol measurements), the spatial and temporal variation of selected aerosol and gas phase parameters was assessed for the Z ¨ urich (Switzerland) area with a new mobile pollutant measurement laboratory. This assessment based on on-road measurements along a specified route 5 on selected days during different seasons in 2001/2002, covering...

Motor vehicle emissions usually constitute the most significant source of ultrafine particles (diameter <0.1 microm) in an urban environment, yet little is known about the concentration and size distribution of ultrafine particles in the vicinity of major highways. In the present study, particle number concentration and size distribution in the size range from 6 to 220 nm were measured by a con...

Highly dispersive and ultrafine Au nanoparticles were effectively immobilized on the surface of hierarchical double-walled nickel silicate hollow nanofibers assembled by ultrathin nanosheets, which showed remarkable catalytic performances as an efficient and reusable hydrogenation catalyst.

As part of exposure assessment for an ongoing epidemiologic study of heart disease and fine particle exposures in aluminum industry, area particle samples were collected in production facilities to assess instrument reliability and particle size distribution at different process areas. Personal modular impactors (PMI) and Minimicro-orifice uniform deposition impactors (MiniMOUDI) were used. The...

The ULTRA Study, a study investigating the association between fine and ultrafine particulate air pollution and cardiorespiratory health, was conducted during the winter of 1998-1999 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Erfurt, Germany; and Helsinki, Finland. At each study center, a panel of elderly subjects with coronary heart disease recorded cardiac and respiratory symptoms in a diary. Exposure to...

BACKGROUND Electrocautery, laser tissue ablation, and ultrasonic scalpel tissue dissection all generate a 'surgical smoke' containing ultrafine (<100 nm) and accumulation mode particles (< 1 mum). Epidemiological and toxicological studies have shown that exposure to particulate air pollution is associated with adverse cardiovascular and respiratory health effects. METHODS To measure the amoun...

Recently the synthesis of ultrafine powders has drawn considerable attention because these powders can have physical and chemical properties superior to those of bulk specimens. In particular, emphasis is on the preparation of ultrafine ceramic powders for their applications in the development of sintered products having higher density and lower sintering temperature. One such industrially impo...

Wheat bran fibers are considered beneficial to human health through their impact on gut microbiota composition and activity. Here, we assessed the prebiotic potential of selected bran fractions by performing a series of fecal slurry anaerobic fermentation experiments using aleurone as well as total, ultrafine, and soluble wheat bran (swb) as carbon sources. By combining amplicon-based community...