Aerobiologia 2.0: a software program for processing aeropollen data.

"Aerobiologia 2.0" is a simple computer program created to handle the pollen data collected every 2 hrs and daily by aerobiological monitoring stations equipped with Hirst-type spore traps. "Aerobiologia 2.0" runs on Windows 3.1 and is compatible with other programs that run on this operating system. The program was developed to store and process pollen data through a few straightforward operations. An unlimited calendar automatically calculates the day of the week. The pollen dictionary, which can hold up to 1216 different pollen types, may be modified or changed completely. Concentrations for every pollen type (in pollen grains/m3) are automatically recorded daily and every 2 hrs. 10-day and monthly sums are also calculated. The percentage of selected types, groups, or families of pollen collected each day, every 10 days, and monthly is quickly available. Pollen calendars and spectra in 24-hr, 10-day, monthly, tri-monthly, half-year, and yearly periods are readily produced. As soon as it is entered, the pollen data are saved on hard disk. A year's worth of data can be saved on a single 1.44 M byte floppy disk. Aerobiologia 2.0 is being used successfully to process the aeropollen data collected at the two monitoring stations managed by our Palynological Laboratory.

A study of airborne Ulmaceae pollen in Modena (northern Italy).

We examined Ulmaceae airborne pollen at the Modena-Geophysical Observatory monitoring station in 1993. The pollen trap was placed 15 m above the ground. 365 daily slides were fully analyzed to obtain daily and bi-hourly pollen concentrations. Morphological analysis on native and introduced Ulmaceae pollen was also conducted between February 3rd and May 17th. Five pollen types were identified: Celtis cf. australis, Ulmus glabra, Ulmus cf. laevis, Ulmus cf. minor, and Ulmus minor/laevis. Pollen concentrations and percentages showed that the Elm family contributed little pollen to the air (about 1% of the total pollen recorded), Ulmus and Celtis being 0.9% and 0.04%, respectively. The maximum levels were 30 p/m3/24 hr and 118 p/m3/ 2 hr (Ulmus) and 4 p/m3/24 hr and 13 p/m3/2 hr (Celtis). The highest levels of Ulmus were during the morning and afternoon, while the afternoon was highest for Celtis. In general, Ulmaceae trees appear worth planting in urban areas, but Celtis pollen should also be monitored at human height.

[Pollen granules and other plant findings in cervico-vaginal smears]. / Granuli pollinici ed altri reperti vegetali in strisci cervico-vaginali.

42 cervico-vaginal out of 20,000 smears were singled out with extraneous structures of vegetable kind. Botanic analysis showed fragments of tracheae, fibres, etc., and mainly many pollen grains. The reports, accompanied by a set of pictures, are showed. Some hypotheses are presented concerning their origin. Some suggestions are proposed in order to reduce this kind of contamination which, mainly because of pollens, may lead to erroneous diagnoses.