Piero Di Carlo

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Chieti-Pescara

The strong Antarctic vortex plays a crucial role in forming an expansive region with significant stratospheric ozone depletion during austral spring, commonly referred to as the Antarctic “ozone hole”. This study examines daily ozone column behavior during this phenomenon using ERA5 reanalysis data and ground-based observations from 10 Antarctic st...

Climate change is reshaping water systems and trends in hydro-climatic variables, such as temperature, precipitation, and river runoff, providing critical insights into the hydrological shifts influenced by climate change. However, the impact of climate variability on these variables varies by geographic location, making it necessary to study hydro...

Precipitation is a critical part of the global hydrological cycle that determines the distribution of water resources. It is also an essential meteorological variable used as input for hydroclimatic models and projections. However, precipitation data frequently lack complete series, especially at daily and sub‐daily precipitation stations, which ar...

Micro- and nano-plastics (MNPLs) can move along the food chain to higher-level organisms including humans. Three significant routes for MNPLs have been reported: ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. Accumulating evidence supports the intestinal toxicity of ingested MNPLs and their role as drivers for increased incidence of colorectal cancer (...

Seasonal variations in glycaemic patterns in children and young adults affected by type 1 diabetes are currently poorly studied. However, the spread of Flash Glucose Monitoring (FGM) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems and of dedicated platforms for the synchronization and conservation of CGM reports allows an efficient approach to the...

The tropospheric production of O3 is complex, depending on nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and solar radiation. We present a case study showing that the O3 concentration is higher in a rural area, 14 km downwind from a coastal town in Central Italy, compared with the urban environment. The hypothesis is that the...

This systematic review assessed to evaluate the potential correlation between oral health and air pollution. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review endeavoring to compare air pollution and oral health. A systematic search was performed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and...

Climate change and land use are major drivers of environmental and socioeconomic transformations in landscapes and in coastal areas. The objective of this study was to present an interdisciplinary and participatory research methodology for analysing the evolutionary process of a coastal case study, the Trabocchi Coast in the Abruzzo Region (Italy),...

Background Nanoplastics, an emerging form of pollution, are easily consumed by organisms and pose a significant threat to biological functions due to their size, expansive surface area, and potent ability to penetrate biological systems. Recent findings indicate an increasing presence of airborne nanoplastics in atmospheric samples, such as polysty...

Background The ubiquity of single-use plastics has led to a global plastic pollution challenge with significant environmental and health consequences. Physical, chemical, and biological processes such as erosion, photo-oxidation, and biodegradation cause the plastic to erode, eventually forming debris in the size range from micro-plastics (MP) to n...

Simple Summary This review article addresses the introduction and mechanism of action concerning the potential health effects of air-born microplastics on lung epithelial cell line A549. Micro- and nanoplastics are air-born pollutants, are inhaled, and cause lung toxicity by becoming internalized in cells, inducing genotoxicity, oxidative stress, i...

The increasing and extreme weather phenomena observed in the Mediterranean basin are only one aspect of the problem which has broader effects on population, structures and infrastructure. Each of these aspects is itself characterized by a wide variety of issues, which are increasingly leading studies toward a multidimensional assessment of impacts...

The response of the ozone column across Europe to the extreme 2020 Arctic ozone depletion was examined by analyzing ground‐based observations at 38 European stations. The ozone decrease at the northernmost site, Ny‐Ålesund (79°N) was about 43% with respect to a climatology of more than 30 years. The magnitude of the decrease declined by about 0.7%...

Ozone (O3) is one of the most harmful urban pollutants, but its biological mechanisms have not been fully elucidated yet. Human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEpC) and human macrophage cells (differentiated human monocytic cell line) were exposed to O3 at the concentration of 240μg/m3 (120 ppb), corresponding to the European Union alert threshold. C...

The level of environmental microplastics in the sea is constantly increasing. They can enter the human body with food, be absorbed through the gut and have negative effects on the organism’s health after its digestion. To date, microplastics (MPs) are considered new environmental pollutants in the air sea and they are attracting wide attention. The...

The chemical pathways for the production of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are influenced by the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx), including the production of organonitrates (ON). Herein, a series of experiments conducted in an environmental chamber investigated the production and partitioning of total organonitrates from α-pinene photo-oxi...

Particular Matter (PM) data are the most used for the assessment of air quality, but it is also useful to monitor VOC and CO. The health impact of PM increases with decreasing aerodynamic dimensions, therefore most of the monitoring is aimed at PM10 (fraction of PM with aerodynamic dimensions smaller than 10 µm) and PM2.5 (fraction with aerodynamic...

Indoor air pollutants (IAP), which can pose a serious risk to human health, include biological pollutants, nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), silica, metals, radon, and particulate matter (PM). The aim of our work is to conduct a multidiscipl...

The present study discusses the effect of the ozone depletion that occurred over the Arctic in 2020 on the ozone column in central and southern Europe by analysing a data set obtained from ground-based measurements at six stations placed from 79 to 42°N. Over the northernmost site (Ny-Ålesund), the ozone column decreased by about 45% compared to th...

The monitoring of surface albedo using radiometric measurements is a simple but effective way to study variations in snow cover and melt timing in the high northern latitudes, where there is a clear indication of warming in response to the changing global climate. In this paper, we investigate these phenomena in the Northwest region of Svalbard usi...

The potential risks of environmental nanoparticles (NPs), in particular Polystyrene Nanoparticles (PNPs), is an emerging problem; specifically, the interaction of PNPs with intestinal cells has not been characterized so far. The mechanism by which polystyrene particles are transferred to humans has not yet been clarified, whether directly through i...

The novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has renewed attention to aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). Dental-care workers are at high risk of contamination by SARS-CoV-2. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of standard saliva ejectors and natural ventilation in reducing particulate matter (PM) concentration during dif...

This study tests the release of SARS-CoV-2 RNA into the air during normal breathing, without any sign of possible risk of contagion such as coughing, sneezing or talking. Five patients underwent oropharyngeal, nasopharyngeal and salivary swabs for real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Direct SARS-CoV-2 release du...

Transmission pathways of SARS-CoV-2 are aerosol, droplet and touching infected material. The diffusion of the virus contagion among people is easier in indoor location, but direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air or on surfaces is quite sparse, especially regarding public transport, while it would be important to know how and if it is safe to use the...

The correlation between SARS-CoV-2 and oral manifestations is still controversial. The aim of this observational study was to determine the oral manifestation of the hospitalized patients for COVID-19. A total of 20 patients met the inclusion criteria and gave their signed informed consent. A questionnaire of 32 questions regarding the oral and sys...

Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in the respiratory system are involved in lung inflammation and tumorigenesis. Ozone (O3) is one of the main components of air pollution in urban areas able to act as strong pro-oxidant agent, however its effects on human health is still poorly investigated. In this study the effect of O...

The structural analysis has been carried out on Dabbar Anticline using D.E.M. data (digital elevation model) derived from Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) of 12.5 m resolution. The main structure is interpreted as upright, asymmetrical, gentle anticlinal fold based on stereographic analysis. A total of three hundred (300)...

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected lives and professions worldwide. We aimed to determine the behavior of dentists during the lockdown in Central Italy through an online survey. We demonstrated that the most frequent of urgencies, not otherwise manageable through telemedicine, was dental pulp inflammation. Although a statistically significant incre...

Transmission pathways of SARS-CoV-2 are through aerosol, droplet and touching infected material. Indoor locations are more likely environments for the diffusion of the virus contagion among people, but direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air or on surfaces is quite sparse, especially regarding public transport. In fact, an important demand is to know...

In July 2017 three research flights circumnavigating the megacity of London were conducted as a part of the STANCO training school for students and early career researchers organised by EUFAR (European Facility for Airborne Research). Measurements were made from the UK's Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146-301 atmospheric...

This article reports fractal dimension analysis applied to soil CO2 fluxes measured in an Italian seismic area. The work was carried out with the use of a calibrated flux chamber unit. The fractal dimension (FD) from isotropic variograms was used as a method to understand related scale-dependent phenomena. The aim was to investigate the spatial var...

Measurements of nitrogen oxide (NO), ozone (O3), and meteorological parameters have been carried out between September and November 2013 in a high mountain site in Central Italy at the background station of Mt. Portella (2401 m a.s.l.). Three NO plumes, with concentrations up to about 10 ppb, characterized the time series. To investigate their orig...

In the framework of the National Project of Interest NextData, we developed automatic procedures for the flagging and formatting of trace gases, atmospheric aerosols and meteorological data to be submitted to the World Data Centers (WDCs) of the Global Atmosphere Watch program of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO/GAW). In particular, the a...

Uno dei problemi fondamentali della scienza è la comprensione della coscienza. In questo testo coscienza e spazio-tempo vengono congiunti in un'unica visione generando una teoria che unisce la Teoria dell'Informazione Integrata (IIT) di Giulio Tononi alle nozioni fondamentali di spazio e tempo derivanti dalla Teoria della Relatività Ristretta. Vist...

Abstract. In July 2017 three research flights circumnavigating the megacity of London were conducted as a part of the STANCO training school for students and early career researchers organised by EUFAR (European Facility for Aircraft Research). Measurements were made from the UK’s Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146-301 At...

Several studies have provided information on environmental nanoplastic particles/debris, but the in vitro cyto-genotoxicity is still insufficiently characterized. The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of polystyrene nanoparticles (PNPs) in the Hs27 cell line. The viability of Hs27 cells was determined following exposure at different time...

A number of studies have shown variable grades of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in in vitro cell cultures, laboratory animals and humans when directly exposed to particle debris generated from tires. However, no study has compared the effects of particles generated from passenger tires with the effects of particles from truck tires. The aim of this...

Changes in regional climate are causing disruptions in global agriculture, including wineries that produce premium wines. Temperature is the key factor influencing the growth stages of wine grapes worldwide and its recent increase is causing early harvests, affecting the quality and quantity of premium wine. Water availability is the other importan...

One of the fundamental problems of science is the difficulty in understanding the relationships that interconnect consciousness with space and time. The objective of this article is to describe the relationship between consciousness and space-time by relating the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of Giulio Tononi with the fundamental notions of s...

One of the fundamental problems of science is the difficulty in understanding the relationships that interconnect consciousness with space and time. The objective of this article is to describe the relationship between consciousness and space-time by relating the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of Giulio Tononi with the fundamental notions of s...

One of the fundamental problems of science is the difficulty in understanding the relationships that interconnect consciousness with space and time. The objective of this article is to describe the relationship between consciousness and space-time by relating the Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of Giulio Tononi with the fundamental notions of s...

Methods and practice of adaptation to climate change in a mountain region are presented. In particular, the application of the Budoia Charter as a regional case-study for local adaptation action in the Alps. We try to set up a modular method to perform a local analysis of climate change impacts, targets and governance in the Alpine environment base...

Long-term and high quality instrumental air temperature data are important for reducing the uncertainty of past temperature trends at local and global scales, and for the projection of future expected changes. Currently this type of data is limited in the Mediterranean, which is particularly important since this region is considered a hot spot for...

The Mediterranean basin is considered a global hot-spot region for climate change and air quality, especially concerning summer-time ozone (O3). Previous investigations indicated that the Mediterranean basin is a preferred region for stratosphere-to-troposphere exchange (STE) and deep stratospheric intrusion (SI) events. The Lagrangian tool STEFLUX...

In the framework of the National Project of Interest Nextdata, we developed procedures for the automatic flagging and formatting of trace gas, atmospheric aerosol and meteorological data to be submitted to Global Atmosphere Watch programme by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO/GAW). In this work, we describe a first prototype of a centraliz...

Per molti anni l’idea che la coscienza non potesse essere oggetto di ricerche scientifiche è stata predominante. Solo negli ultimi decenni, l’evoluzione delle neuroscienze, ha consentito l’adozione di un approccio più scientifico a tale problema. Il problema di fondo sembra risiedere nella struttura del metodo scientifico che tende a separare l’oss...

Relationships between meteorological factors and airborne pollen concentrations at high altitudes are virtually unknown. We used cross-correlation analyses to test the relationships between daily variation in meteorological factors (i.e. temperature, humidity and wind speed) and airborne pollen concentration, diversity (number of families and Shann...

Previous studies show variable ozone cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in cell cultures, laboratory animals and humans directly exposed to tropospheric ozone. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate and compare the cyto and genotoxic effects of ozone using adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells A549 and normal human fibroblasts...

Previous studies show variable ozone cytotoxicity and genotoxicity in cell cultures, laboratory animals and humans directly exposed to tropospheric ozone. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate and compare the cyto and genotoxic effects of ozone using adeno-carcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells A549 and normal human fibroblast...

Celltiter viability luminescent. Viability test in A549 and in Hs27 cells. (PDF)

Micronuclei. Micronuclei induction in A549 and Hs27. (PDF)

CBPI and RI. Cytokinesis Block Proliferation Index (CBPI) and Replication Index in A549 and Hs27 cells. (PDF)

Data Comet test. Genotoxic effect of ozone on A549 and Hs27 cells as determined by Comet test. (XLSX)

Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) is one of the pollutant that may have a significant impact on human health. Data collected during three years in an urban area of the Adriatic coast are analysed using three models: a multiple linear regression model, a neural network model with and without recursive architecture. Measured meteorological paramete...

Total peroxy nitrate ( ∑ PN) concentrations have been measured using a thermal dissociation laser-induced fluorescence (TD-LIF) instrument during the BORTAS campaign, which focused on the impact of boreal biomass burning (BB) emissions on air quality in the Northern Hemisphere. The strong correlation observed between the ∑ PN concentrations and tho...

The alkaline and ultra-alkaline rocks show a great variety of lithotypes that are not classifiable on traditional classification scheme such as TAS, QAPF and R1 - R2. Because, some of these rocks are typical of specific tectonics settings, a correct classification on single diagram, would be very useful to define the unique geologic pattern in the...

The Kathmandu Valley in the Himalayan foothills, considered as one of the global " hot spots " for what concerns air pollution, is currently facing severe air quality problems due to rapid urbanization processes, dramatic land use changes, socioeconomic transformation and high population growth. In this work, we present the first full year (Februar...

Measurement of NO2 at low concentrations (tens of ppts) is non-trivial. A variety of techniques exist, with the conversion of NO2 into NO followed by chemiluminescent detection of NO being prevalent. Historically this conversion has used a catalytic approach (molybdenum); however, this has been plagued with interferences. More recently, photolytic...

The total peroxy nitrates (∑PNs) concentrations have been measured using a thermal dissociation laser induced fluorescence (TD-LIF) instrument during the BORTAS campaign, which focused on the impact of boreal biomass burning emissions on air quality in the Northern hemisphere. The strong correlation observed between the ∑PNs concentrations and thos...

The observations collected during the BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants over the Atlantic using Aircraft and Satellites (BORTAS) campaign in summer 2011 over Canada are analysed to study the impact of forest fire emissions on the formation of ozone (O3) and total peroxy nitrates ∑PNs, ∑ROONO2). The suite of measurements on board the BAe-...

The Kathmandu Valley in south Asia is considered as one of the global “hot spots” in terms of urban air pollution. It is facing severe air quality problems as a result of rapid urbanization and land use change, socioeconomic transformation, and high population growth. In this paper, we present the first full year (February 2013–January 2014) analys...

Measurement of NO2 at low concentrations is non-trivial. A variety of techniques exist, with the conversion of NO2 into NO followed by chemiluminescent detection of NO be- ing prevalent. Historically this conversion has used a catalytic approach (Molybdenum); however this has been plagued with interferences. More recently, photolytic conversion bas...

The Kathmandu Valley in South Asia is considered as one of the global "hot spots" in terms of urban air pollution. It is facing severe air quality problems as a result of rapid urbanization and land use change, socioeconomic transformation and high population growth. In this paper, we present the first full year (February 2013–January 2014) analysi...

Observations of Radon-222 taken in the central Italy site of L’Aquila since 2004 have been analysed with simultaneously collected meteorological data and other atmospheric trace gas concentrations to better understand the physical drivers of the seasonal variability of Radon-222 in the atmospheric boundary layer and to assess the role of different...

Airborne measurements of biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) from boreal forest fires reveal highly contrasting properties for plumes of different ages. These measurements, performed using an Aerodyne Research Inc. compact time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (C-ToF-AMS) during the BORTAS (quantifying the impact of BOReal forest fires on Tro...

The observations collected during the BORTAS campaign in summer 2011 over Canada are analysed to study the impact of forest fire emissions on the formation of ozone (O3) and total peroxy nitrates (ΣPNs, ΣROONO2). The suite of measurements on board the BAe-146 aircraft, deployed in this campaign, allows us to calculate the production of O3 and of ΣP...

Three years of measurements of aerosol vertical profiles (2007–2009) made at the lidar station of L'Aquila, a site in central Italy that is part of the EARLINET network, are studied by means of well-tested radiative transfer models to analyse the radiative impact of mineral dust aerosols transported from the Sahara desert. Sixteen major episodes of...

Hourly concentrations of ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have been measured for 16years, from 1998 to 2013, in a seaside town in central Italy. The seasonal trends of O3 and NO2 recorded in this period have been studied. Furthermore, we used the data collected during one year (2005), to define the characteristics of a multiple linear regressi...

Chemical modelling studies have been conducted over north-western Europe in summer conditions, showing that night-time dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) heterogeneous reactive uptake is important regionally in modulating particulate nitrate and has a~modest influence on oxidative chemistry. Results from Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemist...

Airborne measurements of biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) from boreal forest fires reveal highly contrasting properties for plumes of different ages. These measurements, performed using an Aerodyne Research Inc. compact time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (C-ToF-AMS) during the BORTAS (quantifying the impact of BOReal forest fires on Tro...

Earthquakes are among the most destructive natural events. The 6 April 2009, 6.3-Mw earthquake in L'Aquila (Italy) markedly altered the karstic Gran Sasso Aquifer (GSA) hydrogeology and geochemistry. The GSA groundwater invertebrate community is mainly comprised of small-bodied, colourless, blind microcrustaceans. We compared abiotic and biotic dat...

Supplemental Material for Galassi et al., 2014, Earthquakes trigger the loss of groundwater biodiversity; Scientific Reports 4: 6372.

Within the framework of the RONOCO (ROle of Nighttime chemistry in controlling the Oxidising Capacity of the atmOsphere) campaign a daytime flight over the metropolitan area of London were carried out to study the nitrogen oxide chemistry and its role in the production and loss of ozone (O3) and alkyl and multifunctional nitrate (SANs). The FAAM BA...

A summer campaign in Central Italy was carried out to study the impact of fire emissions on the mixing ratios of surface trace gases. Observations with a selective and sensitive instrument that uses the laser induced fluorescence technique for direct measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), show a significant increase of NO2 mixing ratios, in the ev...