WP1 - From pollution sources to health impacts

WP1.A. Assessment of oxidative potential and chemical composition of PM

The team  will undertake 3 actions within the WP1 of the MobilAir project, with the general objectives to better understand the variability of the OP exposure in the Grenoble area an, including for the first time some experiment for indoor environments.

1.     We will perform a chemical characterization of PM including chemical markers indicative of the sources considered by policy measures, for a one year period in 2018-2019, at 3 sites within the Grenoble area. The oxidative potential of these PM, using three complementary assays, will also be measured. This will allow to evaluate the relative importance of emission sources of PM in various environment of the city, and their share in the OP. The same campaign will be repeated in 2 years to evaluate the environmental effectiveness of the emissions’ reduction plans and to evaluate variations in OP across the city.
2.     OP will be measured on a large share of the exposure filters from the SEPAGES mother-child cohort (484 families), where pregnant women have carried for eight days on two occasions in early and late pregnancy a personal PM sampler in the Grenoble area. We will compare the association between the OP and PM mass and the health of the children assessed at birth and up to three years of age adjusting for the relevant confounders. Health outcomes include children’s respiratory and neurodevelopmental health. In addition, associations with epigenetic marks (genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptomic, already funded) will be characterized, using appropriate data reduction and variable selection models.
3.     several 1-week measurement campaigns will be set up, in summer and winter, at the home of some of the SEPAGE participants, indoor and outdoor, including detailed PM chemistry and OP’s. This will allow to assess for the first time the variability of the OP levels in indoor environments, and to compare with the outdoor level. The PM chemistry should give some hints on the drivers of the OP in indoor environment. This database may allow to conduct a Land Use Regression (LUR) study in the Grenoble area.

WP1.B. Effects of PM oxidative potential and PM chemical species on epigenetic marks and children health in SEPAGES mother-child cohort

In the  SEPAGES mother-child cohort (484 families), pregnant women have carried for eight days on two occasions in early and late pregnancy a personal PM sampler; air samplers are also being used in children around six weeks and filters are stored. Task WP1.B will  assess oxidative potential and several molecular tracers of PM sources (including biomass combustion) on these filters.

We will characterize the association between these components of PM toxicity and the health of the children assessed at birth and up to three years of age adjusting for the relevant confounders]. Health outcomes include children’s respiratory and neurodevelopmental health. In addition, associations with epigenetic marks (genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptomic) will be characterized, using appropriate data reduction and variable selection models.

 

WP1.C: Fine-scale modelling of meteorology and pollution stagnation zones

The strategy to account for both the variability of the weather and the fine-scale spatial resolution required for a proper link between emission and exposure, is based upon the well-de-fined concept of weather types. The key point is to identify for a given region the main classes -or types- of weather experienced by that region. Each type lasts generally for a few days so that the meteorological fields at small scale can be computed for either type. The subsequent use of a chemical model forced by the meteorological fields and by pollutant emissions can then lead to the distribution of pollutant concentration for each type of weather, thus providing a yearly, yet spatially detailed, concentration distribution.

This WP will lead to numerous outcomes. For instance, the fine-scale pollution concentration data will be used to force the dispersion model SIRANE thereby producing 10m horizontal resolution data on pollution transport which are used in exposure prediction models.