Have you ever wondered how the air we breathe can cause respiratory irritation? What is in that haze or smog that sometimes blankets urban cities? Sure, it probably contains chemicals and maybe even smoke - but there's a lot more to it than just a chemical soup. In today's Livestream we're going to deep dive into particulate matter, or PM and review what's known about the fungal contribution. Then we're going to look at the inflammatory potential of mould fragments in the PM2.5 and PM10 and ultra-small size ranges (yes, even down to the nanoscale).
If we use molecular methods to investigate what's in the air, we quickly discover that there's a lot of mould in the air. Some scientists have been able to fractionate those fungi present in the PM2.5 and PM10 size range and relate this with 'hazy' and 'non-hazy' atmospheric conditions. This visual picture (called a heatmap) shows how the different fungi are distributed across the size range we typically use to describe the haze.
Then we'll look at how cytokines are involved.
What's fascinating is that the hyphal fragments are able to elicit in some cases and even stronger effect than the intact spores.
From this perspective, we'll then look into the connection between particulate matter and the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 infection levels. There's some excellent emerging research saying that the worse the PM, the higher the number of cases of COVID-19. Watch the livestream to see if it's just the presence of PM that causes for example an immune reaction, perhaps pre-disposing people to SARS-CoV-2 or if the particles themselves are transmitting the virus.
SARS-Cov-2 RNA Found on Particulate Matter of Bergamo in Northern Italy: First Preliminary Evidence
Leonardo Setti, Fabrizio Passarini, Gianluigi De Gennaro, Pierluigi Baribieri, Maria Grazia Perrone, Massimo Borelli, Jolanda Palmisani, Alessia Di Gilio, Valentina Torboli, Alberto Pallavicini, Maurizio Ruscio, PRISCO PISCITELLI, Alessandro Miani
medRxiv 2020.04.15.20065995; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.15.20065995
Posted April 18, 2020
The Potential role of Particulate Matter in the Spreading of COVID-19 in Northern Italy: First Evidence-based Research Hypotheses
Leonardo Setti, Fabrizio Passarini, Gianluigi De Gennaro, Pierluigi Barbieri, Maria Grazia Perrone, Andrea Piazzalunga, Massimo Borelli, Jolanda Palmisani, Alessia Di Gilio, PRISCO PISCITELLI, Alessandro Miani
medRxiv 2020.04.11.20061713; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.11.20061713
Posted April 17, 2020.
Initial evidence of higher morbidity and mortality due to SARS-CoV-2 in regions with lower air quality
Riccardo Pansini, Davide Fornacca
medRxiv 2020.04.04.20053595; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.04.20053595
Posted April 16, 2020.
An effect assessment of Airborne particulate matter pollution on COVID-19: A multi-city Study in China
Bo Wang, Jiangtao Liu, Shihua Fu, Xiaocheng Xu, Lanyu Li, Yueling Ma, Ji Zhou, Jinxi Yao, Xingrong Liu, Xiuxia Zhang, Xiaotao He, Jun Yan, Yanjun Shi, Xiaowei Ren, Jingping Niu, Bin Luo, Kai zhang
medRxiv 2020.04.09.20060137; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.09.20060137
Posted April 14, 2020
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