A temporally and spatially explicit, data-driven estimation of airborne ragweed pollen concentrations across Europe.

Ongoing and future climate change driven expansion of aeroallergen-producing plant species comprise a major human health problem across Europe and elsewhere. There is an urgent need to produce accurate, temporally dynamic maps at the continental level, especially in the context of climate uncertainty. This study aimed to restore missing daily ragweed pollen data sets for Europe, to produce phenological maps of ragweed pollen, resulting in the most complete and detailed high-resolution ragweed pollen concentration maps to date. To achieve this, we have developed two statistical procedures, a Gaussian method (GM) and deep learning (DL) for restoring missing daily ragweed pollen data sets, based on the plant's reproductive and growth (phenological, pollen production and frost-related) characteristics. DL model performances were consistently better for estimating seasonal pollen integrals than those of the GM approach. These are the first published modelled maps using altitude correction and flowering phenology to recover missing pollen information. We created a web page (http://euragweedpollen.gmf.u-szeged.hu/), including daily ragweed pollen concentration data sets of the stations examined and their restored daily data, allowing one to upload newly measured or recovered daily data. Generation of these maps provides a means to track pollen impacts in the context of climatic shifts, identify geographical regions with high pollen exposure, determine areas of future vulnerability, apply spatially-explicit mitigation measures and prioritize management interventions.

Bioaerosols on the atmospheric super highway: An example of long distance transport of Alternaria spores from the Pannonian Plain to Poland.

Alternaria spores are pathogenic to agricultural crops, and the longest and the most severe sporulation seasons are predominantly recorded in rural areas, e.g. the Pannonian Plain (PP) in South-Central Europe. In Poland (Central Europe), airborne Alternaria spore concentrations peak between July and August. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the PP is the source of Alternaria spores recorded in Poland after the main sporulation season (September-October). Airborne Alternaria spores (2005-2019) were collected using volumetric Hirst spore traps located in 38 locations along the potential pathways of air masses, i.e. from Serbia, Romania and Hungary, through the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine, to Northern Poland. Three potential episodes of Long Distance Transport (LDT) were selected and characterized in detail, including the analysis of Alternaria spore data, back trajectory analysis, dispersal modelling, and description of local weather and mesoscale synoptic conditions. During selected episodes, increases in Alternaria spore concentrations in Poznan were recorded at unusual times that deviated from the typical diurnal pattern, i.e. at night or during morning hours. Alternaria spore concentrations on the PP were very high (>1000 spores/m3) at that time. The presence of non-local Ambrosia pollen, common to the PP, were also observed in the air. Air mass trajectory analysis and dispersal modelling showed that the northwest part of the PP, north of the Transdanubian Mountains, was the potential source area of Alternaria spores. Our results show that Alternaria spores are transported over long distances from the PP to Poland. These spores may markedly increase local exposure to Alternaria spores in the receptor area and pose a risk to both human and plant health. Alternaria spores followed the same atmospheric route as previously described LDT ragweed pollen, revealing the existence of an atmospheric super highway that transports bioaerosols from the south to the north of Europe.

High Ambrosia pollen concentrations in Poland respecting the long distance transport (LDT).

High Ambrosia pollen concentrations in Poland rather rarely come from the local sources. The aim of this study was to define the temporal and spatial differences of the high Ambrosia pollen concentrations by creating models for the pollen transport from the distant sources. This study was thought to determine the direction of the air masses inflow into Poland, carrying Ambrosia pollen, from areas of the bordering countries with the pollen concentrations higher than iSTOTEN_n Poland. Pollen and meteorological datasets at 8 monitoring sites in Poland, and daily pollen concentrations at 11 sites in the Czech Republic, 5 sites in Slovakia and 3 sites in Ukraine were analysed recently. Days with concentrations ≥10 Pollen/m3 and concurrent meteorological situations were analysed in great deal. The HYSPLIT model was applied to compute backward trajectories up to 4 days backward (96 h) and at three altitudes: 20, 500 and 1000 m above ground level (a.g.l.). High pollen concentrations occur most frequently when the air masses inflow into Poland from southerly (S, SE, SW, 44%) and easterly (E, 6%) directions and in no advection situations (25%). In years with the highest frequency of days over 10 Pollen/m3, the prevailing directions of the pollen influx into Poland were from the South (2004-2006, 2008, 2011) but in one year (2014) from the East. Trajectories for the studied period show that air masses come most frequently from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Sometimes, the Ambrosia pollen transport happens from Ukraine.

Dose-related efficacy and safety of formoterol (Oxis) Turbuhaler compared with salmeterol Diskhaler in children with asthma.

To compare the dose-related bronchodilator efficacy and tolerability of formoterol (Oxis) Turbuhaler with salmeterol Diskhaler and placebo in children with asthma. A single-dose, randomized, double-blind, incomplete crossover study of 68 children (7-17 years), with moderate-to-severe asthma, 82% receiving inhaled corticosteroids. Patients received four of six treatments [4.5, 9, 18, or 36 microg formoterol (6, 12, 24 or 48 microg metered doses), 50 microg salmeterol (metered dose) or placebo] at 12-h visits, separated by > or =3 days. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), pulse, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, adverse events and urine formoterol were assessed. The therapeutic ratio of formoterol vs. salmeterol was estimated from the efficacy and systemic effects results. All active treatments significantly improved FEV1 compared with placebo. Formoterol 9-36 microg provided dose-related increases over salmeterol in lung function: average 12-h FEV1 (increases of 4.9-8.7%, p < 0.001) and FEV1 at 12 h post-dose (7.0-12.2%, p < 0.001). The onset of effect of formoterol was also significantly faster than salmeterol for doses > or =9 microg. Salmeterol 50 microg was estimated to be equieffective to 3.3 microg formoterol for 12-h average FEV1 and the estimated equieffective dose for a variety of systemic effects was 7.8-13.5 microg formoterol. All treatments were well tolerated. Formoterol (Oxis) Turbuhaler 4.5-36 microg provided dose-related improvements in bronchodilator efficacy in children with asthma. Formoterol > or =9 microg provided superior bronchodilator efficacy over 12 h compared with salmeterol Diskhaler 50 microg with no increase in systemic effects.

The role of the IKAP gene polymorphisms in atopic diseases in the middle European population.

Over ten genome-wide screens and many candidate genes studies were performed worldwide to elucidate genetic factors involved in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma and other atopic diseases. Results from these studies were often discordant, which might have reflected complexity and heterogeneity of these multifactorial diseases. Among a variety of other loci, specific variants of the gene for IKAP (IKK complex-associated protein) were shown to be associated with bronchial asthma in children in a Japanese study. To test the possible role of SNPs in the coding region of the IKAP gene in atopic asthma or other atopic phenotypes in a highly homogenous Czech population, a case-control study including 373 patients and 309 healthy control subjects was performed. There were no significant differences in the genotype and allele distributions for any of five SNPs in the IKAP gene (T819C, G2295A, A2490G, T3214A and C3473T) between patients with atopic asthma or other atopic diseases and healthy controls. These results suggest that the polymorphisms in the coding region of the IKAP gene are unlikely to contribute to atopic disease risk in the Czech population.