| Taiyuan is an inland heavy industry city, which located at north China. Since the local government and environmental protection agency have taken a series of relevant measures for energy conservation, the emissions of traditional air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and ozone have reduced in recent years. However, the characteristics of atmospheric pollution in Taiyuan have gradually evolved from typical coal-smoke type into coal-smoke and vehicle exhaust pollution because of the fast development of urbanization and motorization. Since the atmospheric pollutant sources and composition are complicated, the first aim of the study was to describe the concentration of PM2.5, as well as the elemental composition of PM2.5. In order to provide theoretical basis for comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of air pollution in Taiyuan, SO2, NO2, O3 and air microorganisms were investigated at the same time. Besides this, Children were young and they spent most of time indoor, adverse health effects of air pollution on children’s respiratory system is extremely serious. Therefore, with the aim of studying the association between air pollutants and students’health, middle schools were selected and students were asked to answere a health questionnaire at the same time.Ten middle schools were randomly selected in urban Taiyuan. The study was surveyed in March,2012. PM25 samples were collected using SKC small-flow rate sampling apparatus (Teflon fiber foils with the diameter of 37 mm was used) and the sampling flow was 2 L/min. Each sample was collected for 72 hours and 10 samples were obtained. Indoor and outdoor levels of SO2, NO2, and O3 were measured by diffusion samplers, and the mass concentration of PM2.5 was monitored by real-time air fine particulate matter reader (TSI-8532), and air microorganism were collected by vacuum cleaner with a special dust filters and petri-dish at the same time. Finally,34 sets of samples were obtained. The elementsal compositions of PM2.5 were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The concentration of SO2, NO2 and O3 were determined by ion chromatography. Microbial components (including endotoxin, muramic acid, and ergosterol) were analyzed by GC-MS and dog and cat allergens were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA). Students were asked to answer a health questionnaire encompassing the sampling time. The questionnaire includes asthma, eczema, allergies, family history, family environment, diet habit and other related information. Association between indoor and outdoor PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, microbial components, dog allergens and cat allergens and students’asthmas, allergies and respiratory symptoms were statistical analyzed by SPSS. The results were as follows:(1) The average concentration of PM2.5 was 162.99±107.43 μg/m3(45.32-411.30 μg/m3) and seasonal variation played a significant influence on the concentration of PM2.5.66 elements were obtained by ICP-MS and element S had the highest concentration level. The concentration of crust elements, such as Si, K, Ca, Fe, Al was followed by S. Coal burring, industrial emissions and motor vehicle could be main pollutants during winter time of Taiyuan City. The average concentration of indoor PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and O3in 10 schools were 67.9μg/m3,264.8 μg/m3,39.4 μg/m3, and 10.1 μg/m3, respectively. The outdoor SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 was 2-3 times,1-1.5 times and 2 times to indoor SO2, NO2 and PM25, respectively, and the concentration of O3 was almost same outdoor and indoor. Generally, the prevalence of symptoms was higher. The allergy, asnasal catarrh, stuffy nose, throat dry and fatigue were 13.7%, 17.6%,16.4%,14.9% and 20.7%, respectively. The concentration and the indoor/outdoor ratio of PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and O3 were significant positively associated with most symptoms, suggesting the adverse effects on students. (3) Indoor microbial components were negatively associated with the skin, mucosal and general symptoms, which means the existence of the indoor microbial may protect the health of students to a certain extent, which is well consistent with the "hygiene hypothesis". In conclusion, the air pollution in winter time of Taiyuan city was still serious and cause problems to student’s health. Therefore, pollution control measures should be taken active and appropriate intervention measures should be involved in school environment improvement and building construction. |
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