scholarly journals Short-term Psychological Effects of Forest Therapy: Early Evidence in Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Meneguzzo ◽  
Lorenzo Albanese ◽  
Michele Antonelli ◽  
Rita Baraldi ◽  
Francesco Riccardo Becheri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Volatile Organic

Immersion in forest environments was shown to produce beneficial effects to human health, in particular psychophysical relaxation, so much that this practice is increasingly recognized as a form of integrative medicine. Limited evidence exists about both statistical significance and size of the effects conditioned on personal characteristics, as well as on the main external variables. The primary purpose of this study was to substantiate the very concept of forest therapy by means of the quantification and significance of the psychological effects, stratified by gender, age groups and place of residence. A preliminary qualitative analysis of the main determinants, in particular the method of conducting, the meteorological comfort and the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the forest atmosphere, was afforded. Seven forest therapy sessions were performed in late summer though early fall, resulting in 150 psychological self-assessment questionnaires administered before and after each session. The results were comparable or even better than others reported in the international literature. Moreover, preliminary evidence arose about different functionality towards specific psychological indexes conditioned at least on gender and age groups, as well as meteorological comfort, structured programs and, possibly, volatile organic compounds showed an impact on the outcomes.

scholarly journals Rats Sniff off Toxic Air

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoxuan Chen ◽  
Xinyue Li ◽  
Maosheng Yao
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Carbon Disulfide ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Online Monitoring ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Human Need

AbstractBreathing air is a fundamental human need, yet its safety, when challenged by various harmful or lethal substances, is often not properly guarded. For example, air toxicity is currently monitored only for single or limited number of known toxicants, thus failing to fully warn against possible hazardous air. Here, we discovered that within minutes living rats emitted distinctive profiles of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) via breath when exposed to various airborne toxicants such as endotoxin, O3, ricin, and CO2. Compared to background indoor air, when exposed to ricin or endotoxin aerosols breath-borne VOC levels, especially that of carbon disulfide, were shown to decrease; while their elevated levels were observed for O3 and CO2 exposures. A clear contrast in breath-borne VOCs profiles of rats between different toxicant exposures was observed with a statistical significance. Differences in MicroRNA regulations such as miR-33, miR-146a and miR-155 from rats’ blood samples revealed different mechanisms used by the rats in combating different air toxicant challenges. Similar to dogs, rats were found here to be able to sniff against toxic air by releasing a specific breath-borne VOC profile. The discovered science opens a new arena for online monitoring air toxicity and health effects of pollutants.TOC

scholarly journals Temporal and Spatial Variability of Volatile Organic Compounds in the Forest Atmosphere

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (24) ◽  
pp. 4915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Meneguzzo ◽  
Lorenzo Albanese ◽  
Giorgio Bartolini ◽  
Federica Zabini
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Hiking Trails ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Variability ◽  
Early Afternoon ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Total Volatile Organic Compounds

The healing effects of the forest are increasingly being valued for their contribution to human psychological and physiological health, motivating further advances aimed at improving knowledge of relevant forest resources. Biogenic volatile organic compounds, emitted by the plants and accumulating in the forest atmosphere, are essential contributors to the healing effects of the forest, and represent the focus of this study. Using a photoionization detector, we investigated the high frequency variability, in time and space, of the concentration of total volatile organic compounds on a hilly site as well as along forest paths and long hiking trails in the Italian northern Apennines. The scale of concentration variability was found to be comparable to absolute concentration levels within time scales of less than one hour and spatial scales of several hundred meters. During daylight hours, on clear and calm days, the concentration peaked from noon to early afternoon, followed by early morning, with the lowest levels in the late afternoon. These results were related to meteorological variables including the atmospheric vertical stability profile. Moreover, preliminary evidence pointed to higher concentrations of volatile organic compounds in forests dominated by conifer trees in comparison to pure beech forests.

scholarly journals Volatile Organic Compounds Profile in White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) Caviar at Different Stages of Ripening by Multiple Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalaura Lopez ◽  
Mauro Vasconi ◽  
Federica Bellagamba ◽  
Tiziana Mentasti ◽  
Mario Pazzaglia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Solid Phase Microextraction ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
White Sturgeon ◽  
Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction ◽  
Fresh Fish ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Few Data

Caviar is considered a delicacy by luxury product consumers, but few data are available about its flavour chemistry to date. In this study, a multiple headspace-solid phase microextraction (MHS-SPME) followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) approach was developed and employed to identify and quantitatively estimate key volatile organic compounds (VOCs) representative in white sturgeon (A. transmontanus) caviar at five different stages of ripening: raw eggs (t0), after 60 days (t1), 120 days (t2), 180 days (t3), and 240 days (t4) of ripening. The method showed the ability to detect and estimate the quantity of 25 flavour compounds, without any severe alteration of the matrix before the analysis and in a short time. The VOCs detected as representative in caviar samples were primarily aldehydes and alcohols, already well known as responsible of fresh fish and seafood flavours, and mainly deriving from lipid peroxidation processes and microbial activity against lipids and amino acids. We found a significant (p < 0.01) increase in the amount of total aldehydes within t0 (29.64 ng/g) and t4 (121.96 ng/g); moreover, an interesting, great arise of 3-hydroxy-2-butanone at the final stage of storage (48.17 ng/g) was recorded. Alcohols were not detected in raw eggs (t0) and then a decrease from t1 (17.77 ng/g) to t4 (10.18 ng/g) was recorded in their amount, with no statistical significance.

scholarly journals Temporal and Spatial Variability of Volatile Organic Compounds in the Forest Atmosphere

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Meneguzzo ◽  
Lorenzo Albanese ◽  
Giorgio Bartolini ◽  
Federica Zabini
Keyword(s):  
Volatile Organic Compounds ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Hiking Trails ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Variability ◽  
Early Afternoon ◽  
Volatile Organic ◽  
Total Volatile Organic Compounds

Forest healing effects are increasingly valued for their contribution to human psychological and physiological health, motivating further advances aimed at improving the knowledge of the relevant forest resources. Biogenic volatile organic compounds, emitted by the plants and accumulating in the forest atmosphere, are essential contributors to the forest healing effects, and represent the focus of this study. Using a photoionization detector, we investigated the high frequency variability, in time and space, of the concentration of total volatile organic compounds, on a hilly site, as well as along forest paths and long hiking trails on Italian northern Apennines. The scale of concentration variability was found to be comparable to absolute concentration levels, within time scales of less than one hour, and spatial scales of several hundred meters. During daylight hours, the concentration peaked from noon to early afternoon, followed by early morning, with lowest levels in late afternoon. Based on a conceptual model, these results were related to meteorological variables, including the atmospheric vertical stability profile. Moreover, preliminary evidence pointed to higher concentration of volatile organic compounds in forests dominated by conifer trees, in comparison with pure beech forests.

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