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Chemical speciation and oxidative potential of PM10 in different residential microenvironments: Bedroom, living room and kitchen

Publication . Cipoli, Yago Alonso; Vicente, Estela D.; Evtyugina, Margarita; Figueiredo, Daniela R.; Pietrogrande, Maria C.; Lucarelli, Franco; Feliciano, Manuel; Ryšavý, Jiří; Alves, Célia

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) and its chemical constituents in residential microenvironments has become a major health concern worldwide. The oxidative potential (OP) has been proposed as a metric for estimating the PM capacity to induce oxidative stress and, consequently, health effects. In the present study, PM10 was daily monitored simultaneously in the bedroom, living room and kitchen of three dwellings for one week in a small town of Portugal, to perform a detailed characterisation of its organic and inorganic constituents and the determination of the OP. Bedrooms (B) were found to be a hotspot of PM10 concentrations (B1 = 22.7 μg m-3; B2 = 19.5 μg m-3; B3 = 68.1 μg m-3). PM10-bound elements varied significantly between microenvironments in all dwellings. Lower molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were found to be between 14 and 72 times higher than high molecular weight PAHs in bedrooms. The mean volume-normalised OP determined by the dithiothreitol and ascorbic acid assays varied within the 0.01–0.38 nmol min-1 m-3 and 0.03–0.53 nmol min-1 m-3 ranges, respectively. Quinones, oxy-aromatic, aromatic and alkyl-aromatic compounds stood out in bedrooms. Strong and significantly positive relationship between OP and black carbon, Cu and Br were observed, indicating common redox active species mainly associated with traffic emissions. Sr, Fe, Zn and Zr presented higher concentrations in dwelling 3, exhibiting excellent positive correlation with OP, indicating that the Sahara dust intrusion recorded in that house may have contributed to the formation of more redox active species thought to drive antioxidant depletion responses.

2025Journal article

Open access

Swimming speed comparison between two distinct arm pulls during the butterfly swim stroke

Publication . Morais, J. E.; Marinho, D.A.; Neiva, Henrique P.; Moriyama, Shin-Ichiro; Barbosa, Tiago M.

The aim of this study was to compare the butterfly swimming speed during the insweep phase of two distinct arm pull patterns. Ten national-level swimmers (5 males with 17.5 ±0.8-years and 5 females with 16.8±0.9-years) were analyzed while performing butterfly all-out trials based on two distinct arm-pull patterns (“bent” and “straight”). The “bent” armpull refers to the stroke kinematics they use to swim. The “straight” arm-pull refers to a more extended elbow than they used to swim. Based on discrete variables, swimming speed was faster in the “straight” than the “bent” arm-pull, but not significantly (p=0.546). Non-significant differences were also noted for the remaining discrete variables. Conversely, Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM, continuous analysis) identified significant differences in swimming speed between ∼42% and ∼60% (insweep phase and the beginning of the upsweep phase; p=0.001), and ∼83% and ∼87% (halfway through the release and recovery, respectively; p=0.043) of the stroke cycle. SPM was more sensitive in identifying differences in swimming speed between arm pulls. Swimmers were faster while performing the “straight” arm pull than with the “bent” arm pull, predominately based on a faster swimming speed during the insweep phase.

2025Journal article

Open access