FAIR environmental and health registry (FAIREHR)- supporting the science to policy interface and life science research, development and innovation.

The environmental impact on health is an inevitable by-product of human activity. Environmental health sciences is a multidisciplinary field addressing complex issues on how people are exposed to hazardous chemicals that can potentially affect adversely the health of present and future generations. Exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology are becoming increasingly data-driven and their efficiency and effectiveness can significantly improve by implementing the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles for scientific data management and stewardship. This will enable data integration, interoperability and (re)use while also facilitating the use of new and powerful analytical tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in the benefit of public health policy, and research, development and innovation (RDI). Early research planning is critical to ensuring data is FAIR at the outset. This entails a well-informed and planned strategy concerning the identification of appropriate data and metadata to be gathered, along with established procedures for their collection, documentation, and management. Furthermore, suitable approaches must be implemented to evaluate and ensure the quality of the data. Therefore, the 'Europe Regional Chapter of the International Society of Exposure Science' (ISES Europe) human biomonitoring working group (ISES Europe HBM WG) proposes the development of a FAIR Environment and health registry (FAIREHR) (hereafter FAIREHR). FAIR Environment and health registry offers preregistration of studies on exposure sciences and environmental epidemiology using HBM (as a starting point) across all areas of environmental and occupational health globally. The registry is proposed to receive a dedicated web-based interface, to be electronically searchable and to be available to all relevant data providers, users and stakeholders. Planned Human biomonitoring studies would ideally be registered before formal recruitment of study participants. The resulting FAIREHR would contain public records of metadata such as study design, data management, an audit trail of major changes to planned methods, details of when the study will be completed, and links to resulting publications and data repositories when provided by the authors. The FAIREHR would function as an integrated platform designed to cater to the needs of scientists, companies, publishers, and policymakers by providing user-friendly features. The implementation of FAIREHR is expected to yield significant benefits in terms of enabling more effective utilization of human biomonitoring (HBM) data.

Analysis of retinal blood vessel diameters in patients with COPD undergoing a pulmonary rehabilitation program.

BACKGROUND: Regular exercise positively affects cardiovascular physiology, translating into the adequate capacity of microvascular blood vessels to dilate in response to acute bouts of exercise. However, this remains unstudied in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who often suffer from cardiovascular comorbidity. Therefore, we studied acute changes in retinal blood vessel diameters in response to high-intensity exercise in patients with COPD. The effect of an exercise-based 8-week pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program was evaluated. We consider changes in these retinal metrics as an indicator of microvascular reactivity. METHODS: Demographics and clinical characteristics of 41 patients were collected at the start and end of the PR program. Patients performed a high-intensity exercise test on a cycle ergometer at the start and end of the PR program, during which we collected retinal images. Fundus images were taken immediately before and 0, 5, 10, 15, and 30 min after the ergometer test. Widths of retinal blood vessels, represented as Central Retinal Arteriolar and Venular Equivalents (CRAE and CRVE), were calculated. RESULTS: Thirty patients with COPD completed the study protocol (57% males; mean age: 64 ± 7 years; mean FEV1: 45 ± 17%pred). We did not observe a change in retinal vessel widths following the ergometer test at the start of the PR program. This null result remained at the end of the 8-week PR program. Our observations did not alter when considering responders and non-responders to PR. CONCLUSION: Retinal blood vessel diameters of patients with COPD did not change following an exercise test on an ergometer. The exercise-based PR program of eight weeks did not counteract the blunted retinal microvascular response.

Physiological Changes Differ between Responders and Nonresponders to Pulmonary Rehabilitation in COPD.

PURPOSE: Not all patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience similar benefits after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). This pre-post PR study used a large sample of patients with COPD to determine whether PR-induced changes of oxygen uptake (V˙O2) kinetics and exercise responses of V˙O2, carbon dioxide output (V˙CO2), minute ventilation (V˙E), V˙E/V˙CO2, breathing frequency, and tidal volume differed between responders and nonresponders to PR. METHODS: Responders to PR were defined as patients with a minimal clinically important increase in endurance time of 105 s. Isotime (=180 s) values of V˙O2, V˙CO2, V˙E, V˙E/V˙CO2, breathing frequency, and tidal volume; gains of V˙O2, V˙CO2, and V˙E; and V˙O2 mean response time of 183 patients with COPD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s: 56% ± 19% predicted) were compared between pre- and post-PR constant work rate tests. RESULTS: After PR, only the group of responders significantly decreased V˙O2 mean response time (P < 0.05), V˙CO2 gain, V˙E gain, and isotime values of V˙CO2, V˙E, and V˙E/V˙CO2 (all, P < 0.001), while also improving their breathing pattern (e.g., decreased breathing frequency isotime value; P < 0.0001). These changes were not observed in the group of nonresponders. Changes in physiological exercise responses were correlated with changes in physical performance (e.g., correlation between changes in V˙O2 mean response time and endurance time: P = 0.0002, r = -0.32). CONCLUSIONS: PR-induced changes in physiological exercise responses differed between responders and nonresponders. Physiological changes are relevant to explain the variable improvements of physical performance after PR in patients with COPD.

The AppNL-G-F mouse retina is a site for preclinical Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and research.

In this study, we report the results of a comprehensive phenotyping of the retina of the AppNL-G-F mouse. We demonstrate that soluble Aß accumulation is present in the retina of these mice early in life and progresses to Aß plaque formation by midlife. This rising Aß burden coincides with local microglia reactivity, astrogliosis, and abnormalities in retinal vein morphology. Electrophysiological recordings revealed signs of neuronal dysfunction yet no overt neurodegeneration was observed and visual performance outcomes were unaffected in the AppNL-G-F mouse. Furthermore, we show that hyperspectral imaging can be used to quantify retinal Aß, underscoring its potential as a biomarker for AD diagnosis and monitoring. These findings suggest that the AppNL-G-F retina mimics the early, preclinical stages of AD, and, together with retinal imaging techniques, offers unique opportunities for drug discovery and fundamental research into preclinical AD.

Combination of snapshot hyperspectral retinal imaging and optical coherence tomography to identify Alzheimer's disease patients.

INTRODUCTION: The eye offers potential for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with retinal imaging techniques being explored to quantify amyloid accumulation and aspects of neurodegeneration. To assess these changes, this proof-of-concept study combined hyperspectral imaging and optical coherence tomography to build a classification model to differentiate between AD patients and controls. METHODS: In a memory clinic setting, patients with a diagnosis of clinically probable AD (n = 10) or biomarker-proven AD (n = 7) and controls (n = 22) underwent non-invasive retinal imaging with an easy-to-use hyperspectral snapshot camera that collects information from 16 spectral bands (460-620 nm, 10-nm bandwidth) in one capture. The individuals were also imaged using optical coherence tomography for assessing retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL). Dedicated image preprocessing analysis was followed by machine learning to discriminate between both groups. RESULTS: Hyperspectral data and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness data were used in a linear discriminant classification model to discriminate between AD patients and controls. Nested leave-one-out cross-validation resulted in a fair accuracy, providing an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.74 (95% confidence interval [0.60-0.89]). Inner loop results showed that the inclusion of the RNFL features resulted in an improvement of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: for the most informative region assessed, the average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.70 (95% confidence interval [0.55, 0.86]) and 0.79 (95% confidence interval [0.65, 0.93]), respectively. The robust statistics used in this study reduces the risk of overfitting and partly compensates for the limited sample size. CONCLUSIONS: This study in a memory-clinic-based cohort supports the potential of hyperspectral imaging and suggests an added value of combining retinal imaging modalities. Standardization and longitudinal data on fully amyloid-phenotyped cohorts are required to elucidate the relationship between retinal structure and cognitive function and to evaluate the robustness of the classification model.

Skin auto-fluorescence as a measure of advanced glycation end-products is associated with microvascular health in patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. These physiological processes can lead to increased formation and accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), that can play a role in vascular complications. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the association between skin AGEs and microvascular health in patients with COPD. METHODS: Clinical characteristics and cardiovascular parameters, including pulmonary function, metabolic and inflammatory parameters, and blood pressure, were obtained in this observational study with patients with COPD. Skin concentrations of AGEs were assessed non-invasively by measuring skin autofluorescence (AF). Retinal vessel analysis was used as a marker of microvascular health. RESULTS: 62 patients with COPD (52% males; mean age: 64.4 ± 8.4 years; mean FEV1: 45.0 ± 20.7%pred.) were analysed. Mean skin AF was 2.75 ± 0.64 arbitrary units. Skin AF in patients with COPD was negatively associated with retinal arteriolar diameter (ß -0.021, 95% CI -0.040 to -0.002; p = 0.031) and arteriole-to-venular ratio (ß -7.233, 95% CI -9.732 to -4.734; p < 0.001) and positively associated with retinal venular diameter (ß 0.029, 95% CI 0.019 to 0.038; p < 0.001) after adjustment for sex, age, lung function, pack-years of smoking and conventional cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSION: We document for the first time that skin AF in patients with COPD is independently associated with retinal arteriolar and venular vessel diameters, biological indicators for microvascular health. This adds to the evidence that AGEs are an accessible marker of microvascular health.

Kinetic analyses as a tool to examine physiological exercise responses in a large sample of patients with COPD.

Kinetic features such as oxygen uptake (V̇o2) mean response time (MRT), and gains of V̇o2, carbon dioxide output (V̇co2), and minute ventilation (V̇e) can describe physiological exercise responses during a constant work rate test of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study aimed to establish simple guidelines that can identify COPD patients for whom kinetic analyses are (un)likely to be reliable and examined whether slow V̇o2 responses and gains of V̇o2, V̇co2, and V̇e are associated with ventilatory, cardiovascular, and/or physical impairments. Kinetic features were examined for 265 COPD patients [forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1): 54 ± 19%predicted] who performed a constant work rate test (duration > 180 s) with breath-by-breath measurements of V̇o2, V̇co2, and V̇e. Negative/positive predictive values were used to define cutoff values of relevant clinical variables below/above which kinetic analyses are (un)likely to be reliable. Kinetic feature values were unreliable for 21% (= 56/265) of the patients and for 79% (= 19/24) of the patients with a peak work rate (WRpeak)< 45 W. Kinetic feature values were considered reliable for 94% (= 133/142) of the patients with an FEV1 > 1.3 L. For patients exhibiting reliable kinetic feature values, V̇o2 MRT was associated with ventilatory (e.g., FEV1 %predicted: P < 0.001; r = -0.35) and physical (e.g., V̇o2peak %predicted: P = 0.009; r = -0.18) impairments. Gains were mainly associated with cardiac function and ventilatory constraints, representing both response efficiency and limitation. Kinetic analyses are likely to be unreliable for patients with a WRpeak < 45 W. Whereas gains enrich analyses of physiological exercise responses, V̇o2 MRT shows potential to serve as a motivation-independent, physiological indicator of physical performance.NEW & NOTEWORTHY A constant work rate test that is standardly performed during a prerehabilitation assessment is unable to provide reliable kinetic feature values for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with a peak work rate below 45 W. For patients suffering from less severe impairments, kinetic analyses are a powerful tool to examine physiological exercise responses. Especially oxygen uptake mean response time can serve as a motivation-independent, physiological indicator of physical performance in patients with COPD.

Structural analysis of retinal blood vessels in patients with COPD during a pulmonary rehabilitation program.

Cardiovascular diseases are frequently present in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Population-based studies found associations between retinal vessel diameters and cardiovascular health, but it is unknown whether this also applies to COPD patients. Therefore, we measured retinal vessel diameters in COPD patients and aimed to determine the association with cardiovascular risk factors, lung function, and functional outcomes. In addition, we investigated whether an exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program would change retinal vessel diameters, as a proxy for improved microvascular health. Demographics and clinical characteristics, including pulmonary function, exercise capacity, blood pressure, blood measurements and level of systemic inflammation were obtained from 246 patients during routine assessment before and after PR. Retinal vessel diameters were measured from digital retinal images. Older age and higher systolic blood pressure were associated with narrower retinal arterioles (ß: -0.224; p = 0.042 and ß: -0.136; p < 0.001, respectively). Older age, higher systolic blood pressure and lower level of systemic inflammation were associated with narrower retinal venules (ß: -0.654; -0.229; and -13.767, respectively; p < 0.05). No associations were found between retinal vessel diameters and lung function parameters or functional outcomes. After PR, no significant changes in retinal venular or arteriolar diameter were found. To conclude, retinal vessel diameters of COPD patients were significantly associated with systolic blood pressure and systemic inflammation, whilst there was no evidence for an association with lung function parameters, functional outcomes or other cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, an exercise-based PR program did not affect retinal vessel diameter.

Development of a land use regression model for black carbon using mobile monitoring data and its application to pollution-avoiding routing.

Black carbon is often used as an indicator for combustion-related air pollution. In urban environments, on-road black carbon concentrations have a large spatial variability, suggesting that the personal exposure of a cyclist to black carbon can heavily depend on the route that is chosen to reach a destination. In this paper, we describe the development of a cyclist routing procedure that minimizes personal exposure to black carbon. Firstly, a land use regression model for predicting black carbon concentrations in an urban environment is developed using mobile monitoring data, collected by cyclists. The optimal model is selected and validated using a spatially stratified cross-validation scheme. The resulting model is integrated in a dedicated routing procedure that minimizes personal exposure to black carbon during cycling. The best model obtains a coefficient of multiple correlation of R=0.520. Simulations with the black carbon exposure minimizing routing procedure indicate that the inhaled amount of black carbon is reduced by 1.58% on average as compared to the shortest-path route, with extreme cases where a reduction of up to 13.35% is obtained. Moreover, we observed that the average exposure to black carbon and the exposure to local peak concentrations on a route are competing objectives, and propose a parametrized cost function for the routing problem that allows for a gradual transition from routes that minimize average exposure to routes that minimize peak exposure.

Wearable Finger Pulse Oximetry for Continuous Oxygen Saturation Measurements During Daily Home Routines of Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Over One Week: Observational Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients can suffer from low blood oxygen concentrations. Peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), as assessed by pulse oximetry, is commonly measured during the day using a spot check, or continuously during one or two nights to estimate nocturnal desaturation. Sampling at this frequency may overlook natural fluctuations in SpO2. OBJECTIVE: This study used wearable finger pulse oximeters to continuously measure SpO2 during daily home routines of COPD patients and assess natural SpO2 fluctuations. METHODS: A total of 20 COPD patients wore a WristOx2 pulse oximeter for 1 week to collect continuous SpO2 measurements. A SenseWear Armband simultaneously collected actigraphy measurements to provide contextual information. SpO2 time series were preprocessed and data quality was assessed afterward. Mean SpO2, SpO2 SD, and cumulative time spent with SpO2 below 90% (CT90) were calculated for every (1) day, (2) day in rest, and (3) night to assess SpO2 fluctuations. RESULTS: A high percentage of valid SpO2 data (daytime: 93.27%; nocturnal: 99.31%) could be obtained during a 7-day monitoring period, except during moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (67.86%). Mean nocturnal SpO2 (89.9%, SD 3.4) was lower than mean daytime SpO2 in rest (92.1%, SD 2.9; P<.001). On average, SpO2 in rest ranged over 10.8% (SD 4.4) within one day. Highly varying CT90 values between different nights led to 50% (10/20) of the included patients changing categories between desaturator and nondesaturator over the course of 1 week. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous SpO2 measurements with wearable finger pulse oximeters identified significant SpO2 fluctuations between and within multiple days and nights of patients with COPD. Continuous SpO2 measurements during daily home routines of patients with COPD generally had high amounts of valid data, except for motion artifacts during MVPA. The identified fluctuations can have implications for telemonitoring applications that are based on daily SpO2 spot checks. CT90 values can vary greatly from night to night in patients with a nocturnal mean SpO2 around 90%, indicating that these patients cannot be consistently categorized as desaturators or nondesaturators. We recommend using wearable sensors for continuous SpO2 measurements over longer time periods to determine the clinical relevance of the identified SpO2 fluctuations.

Peripheral endothelial function is positively associated with maximal aerobic capacity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

BACKGROUND: Patients with COPD are frequently diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Peripheral endothelial dysfunction is an underlying mechanism and can be used as an early marker of cardiovascular impairment. To date, little is known on the association between peripheral endothelial dysfunction, cardiovascular risk factors and measurements of exercise capacity in patients with COPD. Therefore, we aimed to determine the relation between endothelial function and patient characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors and (micro)vascular and functional performance in patient with CODP. METHODS: Clinical and demographic data of patients with COPD were measured during routine pre-rehabilitation assessment. Cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure, ankle brachial index, arterial stiffness and retinal vessel widths were obtained. Peripheral endothelial function was measured using the EndoPAT-2000. Functional performance was assessed using cardiopulmonary exercise test, constant work rate test and six-minute walk test. RESULTS: 40 patients with COPD completed the study protocol (65% males; mean age: 62.8 ±â€¯7.3 years; mean FEV1: 45.8 ±â€¯17.5 %pred). Peripheral endothelial dysfunction was observed in 55% of the patients. Patients with peripheral endothelial dysfunction had significantly worse aerobic exercise capacity and higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Stepwise multivariate regression models identified sex, systolic blood pressure and maximal aerobic capacity as independent correlates of peripheral endothelial function. After correction for sex, age and systolic blood pressure, there was a significant partial correlation between peripheral endothelial function and maximal aerobic capacity (R = 0.51, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Peripheral endothelial function was positively associated with maximal aerobic capacity, when correcting for sex, age and systolic blood pressure. Establishing peripheral endothelial dysfunction as a determinant of impaired aerobic capacity in COPD can be valuable for developing interventions aiming to improve aerobic capacity, and in turn cardiovascular health.

Looking into the eye of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: an opportunity for better microvascular profiling of these complex patients.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disease with many patients suffering from cardiovascular comorbidity. However, cardiovascular diseases remain often undiagnosed in COPD. Assessment of the retinal microvasculature can provide value in cardiovascular profiling of these patients. Retinal microvascular assessment carried out via a noninvasive eye exam represents an easy to use tool when examining patients with COPD. The purpose of this review was to provide an overview of studies assessing structural and functional changes in the retinal microvasculature of patients with COPD. Findings demonstrated that structural and functional microvascular changes were more common and severe in COPD patients as compared to non-COPD controls, although few retinal investigations have been performed in patients with COPD. As cardiovascular comorbidities are highly prevalent in COPD, we advocate more research to investigate the value of an eye exam for microvascular phenotyping of COPD patients.

Oxygen saturation measurements in telemonitoring of patients with COPD: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Telemonitoring applications are expected to become a key component in future healthcare. Despite the frequent use of SpO2 measurements in telemonitoring of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), no profound overview is available about these measurements. Areas covered: A systematic search identified 71 articles that performed SpO2 measurements in COPD telemonitoring. The results indicate that long-term follow-up of COPD patients using daily SpO2 spot checks is practically feasible. Very few studies specified protocols for performing these measurements. In many studies, deviating SpO2 values were used to raise alerts that led to immediate action from healthcare professionals. However, little information was available about the exact implementation and performance of these alerts. Therefore, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the real value of SpO2 measurements. Future research could optimize performance of alerts using individualized, time-dependent thresholds or predictive algorithms to account for individual differences and SpO2 baseline changes. Additionally, the value of performing continuous measurements should be examined. Expert commentary: Standardization of the measurements, data science techniques and advancing technology can still boost performance of telemonitoring applications. All these opportunities should be thoroughly explored to assess the real value of SpO2 in COPD telemonitoring.

Endothelial function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review of studies using flow mediated dilatation.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Endothelial function may be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. In contrast to the attention given to pulmonary endothelial dysfunction, little is known about peripheral vascular changes in COPD. Therefore, we reviewed the literature on peripheral endothelial function in COPD. METHODS: Databases were screened for studies using ultrasound-based flow-mediated dilation (FMD), the reference method for assessing peripheral endothelial function, in stable COPD patients. Pooled effect sizes were calculated using random effects model. RESULTS: 17 studies were identified, with a total of 1228 participants (724 COPD patients; 504 controls). Pooled analysis demonstrated an impaired endothelial-dependent FMD (-3.22%; 95% confidence interval (CI) -4.74 to -1.69; p < 0.001; I2 = 96%) and endothelial-independent FMD (-2.86%; 95%CI -5.63 to -0.09; p = 0.04; I2 = 83%) in COPD patients when compared with smoking and non-smoking controls. CONCLUSION: This review provides evidence for impaired peripheral endothelial function in COPD. Since impaired endothelial function may contribute to cardiovascular morbidity, a more comprehensive cardiovascular phenotyping is considered important in COPD to address cardiovascular risk. A high frequency of cardiovascular comorbidity is observed in COPD patients, and therefore well-controlled, larger studies that investigate endothelial function in COPD patients are recommended.

Participatory Patterns in an International Air Quality Monitoring Initiative.

The issue of sustainability is at the top of the political and societal agenda, being considered of extreme importance and urgency. Human individual action impacts the environment both locally (e.g., local air/water quality, noise disturbance) and globally (e.g., climate change, resource use). Urban environments represent a crucial example, with an increasing realization that the most effective way of producing a change is involving the citizens themselves in monitoring campaigns (a citizen science bottom-up approach). This is possible by developing novel technologies and IT infrastructures enabling large citizen participation. Here, in the wider framework of one of the first such projects, we show results from an international competition where citizens were involved in mobile air pollution monitoring using low cost sensing devices, combined with a web-based game to monitor perceived levels of pollution. Measures of shift in perceptions over the course of the campaign are provided, together with insights into participatory patterns emerging from this study. Interesting effects related to inertia and to direct involvement in measurement activities rather than indirect information exposure are also highlighted, indicating that direct involvement can enhance learning and environmental awareness. In the future, this could result in better adoption of policies towards decreasing pollution.

A comparison of strategies for estimation of ultrafine particle number concentrations in urban air pollution monitoring networks.

We propose three estimation strategies (local, remote and mixed) for ultrafine particles (UFP) at three sites in an urban air pollution monitoring network. Estimates are obtained through Gaussian process regression based on concentrations of gaseous pollutants (NOx, O3, CO) and UFP. As local strategy, we use local measurements of gaseous pollutants (local covariates) to estimate UFP at the same site. As remote strategy, we use measurements of gaseous pollutants and UFP from two independent sites (remote covariates) to estimate UFP at a third site. As mixed strategy, we use local and remote covariates to estimate UFP. The results suggest: UFP can be estimated with good accuracy based on NOx measurements at the same location; it is possible to estimate UFP at one location based on measurements of NOx or UFP at two remote locations; the addition of remote UFP to local NOx, O3 or CO measurements improves models' performance.

The Aeroflex: a bicycle for mobile air quality measurements.

Fixed air quality stations have limitations when used to assess people's real life exposure to air pollutants. Their spatial coverage is too limited to capture the spatial variability in, e.g., an urban or industrial environment. Complementary mobile air quality measurements can be used as an additional tool to fill this void. In this publication we present the Aeroflex, a bicycle for mobile air quality monitoring. The Aeroflex is equipped with compact air quality measurement devices to monitor ultrafine particle number counts, particulate mass and black carbon concentrations at a high resolution (up to 1 second). Each measurement is automatically linked to its geographical location and time of acquisition using GPS and Internet time. Furthermore, the Aeroflex is equipped with automated data transmission, data pre-processing and data visualization. The Aeroflex is designed with adaptability, reliability and user friendliness in mind. Over the past years, the Aeroflex has been successfully used for high resolution air quality mapping, exposure assessment and hot spot identification.