Relation between airborne pollen concentrations and daily cardiovascular and respiratory-disease mortality

AbstractMonitoring of airborne pollen concentrations provides an important source of information for the globally increasing number of hay fever patients. Airborne pollen is traditionally counted under the microscope, but with the latest developments in image recognition methods, automating this process has become feasible. A challenge that persists, however, is that many pollen grains cannot be distinguished beyond the genus or family level using a microscope. Here, we assess the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to increase taxonomic accuracy for airborne pollen. As a case study we use the nettle family (Urticaceae), which contains two main genera (Urtica and Parietaria) common in European landscapes which pollen cannot be separated by trained specialists. While pollen from Urtica species has very low allergenic relevance, pollen from several species of Parietaria is severely allergenic. We collect pollen from both fresh as well as from herbarium specimens and use these without the often used acetolysis step to train the CNN model. The models show that unacetolyzed Urticaceae pollen grains can be distinguished with > 98% accuracy. We then apply our model on before unseen Urticaceae pollen collected from aerobiological samples and show that the genera can be confidently distinguished, despite the more challenging input images that are often overlain by debris. Our method can also be applied to other pollen families in the future and will thus help to make allergenic pollen monitoring more specific.

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Spatial interpolation of current airborne pollen concentrations where no monitoring exists

Atmospheric Environment ◽

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.11.045 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 199 ◽

pp. 435-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jose Oteros ◽

Karl-Christian Bergmann ◽

Annette Menzel ◽

Athanasios Damialis ◽

Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Interpolation ◽

Airborne Pollen ◽

Pollen Concentrations

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Ozone, Fine Particulate Matter, and Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease Mortality in the United States

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine ◽

10.1164/rccm.201410-1852oc ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 192 (3) ◽

pp. 337-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Yongping Hao ◽

Lina Balluz ◽

Heather Strosnider ◽

Xiao Jun Wen ◽

Chaoyang Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Particulate Matter ◽

Respiratory Disease ◽

Fine Particulate Matter ◽

The United States ◽

Fine Particulate ◽

Disease Mortality ◽

Lower Respiratory Disease

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The late flowering of invasive species contributes to the increase of Artemisia allergenic pollen in autumn: an analysis of 25 years of aerobiological data (1995–2019) in Trentino-Alto Adige (Northern Italy)

Aerobiologia ◽

10.1007/s10453-020-09663-7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 669-682 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Antonella Cristofori ◽

Edith Bucher ◽

Michele Rossi ◽

Fabiana Cristofolini ◽

Veronika Kofler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Pollen Season ◽

Airborne Pollen ◽

Pollen Grains ◽

Late Summer ◽

Natura 2000 ◽

Allergenic Pollen ◽

Pollen Concentration ◽

Pollen Concentrations ◽

Negative Impacts

AbstractArtemisia pollen is an important aeroallergen in late summer, especially in central and eastern Europe where distinct anemophilous Artemisia spp. produce high amounts of pollen grains. The study aims at: (i) analyzing the temporal pattern of and changes in the Artemisia spp. pollen season; (ii) identifying the Artemisia species responsible for the local airborne pollen load.Daily pollen concentration of Artemisia spp. was analyzed at two sites (BZ and SM) in Trentino-Alto Adige, North Italy, from 1995 to 2019.The analysis of airborne Artemisia pollen concentrations evidences the presence of a bimodal curve, with two peaks, in August and September, respectively. The magnitude of peak concentrations varies across the studied time span for both sites: the maximum concentration at the September peak increases significantly for both the BZ (p < 0.05) and SM (p < 0.001) site. The first peak in the pollen calendar is attributable to native Artemisia species, with A. vulgaris as the most abundant; the second peak is mostly represented by the invasive species A. annua and A. verlotiorum (in constant proportion along the years), which are causing a considerable increase in pollen concentration in the late pollen season in recent years.. The spread of these species can affect human health, increasing the length and severity of allergenic pollen exposure in autumn, as well as plant biodiversity in both natural and cultivated areas, with negative impacts on, e.g., Natura 2000 protected sites and crops.

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Spearman Correlation between the NDVI and Quercus Airborne Pollen in the SW of the Iberian Peninsula

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/proceedings2201519 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (20) ◽

pp. 1519

Author(s):

Rocío González-Naharro ◽

Elia Quirós ◽

Santiago Fernández-Rodríguez ◽

Inmaculada Silva-Palacios ◽

Rafael Tormo-Molina ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Iberian Peninsula ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Airborne Pollen ◽

Training Data ◽

Oak Trees ◽

Pollen Concentrations ◽

Moderate Resolution ◽

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽

Spearman Test

New space technologies as Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have been used to display several phenological cycles of ecosystems around the world. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI, associated to oak trees within three training data polygons (15, 25 and 50 km-distance to the volumetric sampler Hirst), and the daily average Quercus airborne pollen concentrations in 20 years. The study was developed in Badajoz (SW Iberian Peninsula) with a continuous pollen recording in the period from 1994 to 2013. The main novelty of this study has been the analysis of the correlation between the two-time series, using Spearman test. Within the 20 studied years, 12 years obtained significant values in the Spearman test in the whole studied area.

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Periodontitis increases the risk of respiratory disease mortality in older patients

Experimental Gerontology ◽

10.1016/j.exger.2020.110878 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 133 ◽

pp. 110878

Author(s):

Yifeng Qian ◽

Weijun Yuan ◽

Nianrou Mei ◽

Jiaqing Wu ◽

Qingyu Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Respiratory Disease ◽

Older Patients ◽

Disease Mortality

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Integrating Phenological, Aerobiological and Weather Data to Study the Local and Regional Flowering Dynamics of Four Grapevine Cultivars

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10020185 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 185

Author(s):

María Fernández-González ◽

Helena Ribeiro ◽

Alba Piña-Rey ◽

Ilda Abreu ◽

F. Javier Rodríguez-Rajo

Keyword(s):

Airborne Pollen ◽

Weather Data ◽

Vitis Vinifera L ◽

Pollen Concentration ◽

Peak Period ◽

Hirst Sampler ◽

Main Pollen Season ◽

Pollen Concentrations ◽

Integral Spin ◽

Bioclimatic Conditions

Phenological, aerobiological, and weather data are useful tools to study local and regional flowering dynamics in crops with economic importance. The present study focuses on four autochthonous grapevine cultivars, namely, ‘Treixadura’, ‘Godello’, ‘Loureira’, and ‘Albariño’ (Vitis vinifera L.), which belong to the Designation of Origin Ribeiro area (located in northwestern Spain) from 2015–2019. The aims of the work were to (1) compare the airborne pollen concentration in the vineyard collected by two different traps, (2) analyze the influence of the main meteorological variables on cultivar phenology and pollen concentration, and (3) test the contribution of the air masses on pollen concentrations in the vineyard. Phenological development has been assessed twice weekly, according to the Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und Chemische Industrie (BBCH) scale. Airborne pollen concentrations were monitored by using two traps during stage 6 (flowering), namely, a Hirst volumetric sampler and a Cour passive trap. The bioclimatic conditions affected the duration of flowering, ranging from 11 and 24 days. The highest seasonal pollen integral (SPIn) was registered in 2016 for the Hirst sampler, with 302 pollen, and in 2019 for the Cour trap, with 1,797,765 pollen/m2/day. The main variables affecting pollen concentrations were average temperature during the main pollen season, as well as, temperatures and dew points during the pre-peak period. The relationship between pollen data registered by both traps and the obtained harvest indicate that the Hirst trap may be more suitable for predicting a local production and that the Cour sampler is more appropriate for forecasting regional productions.

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