In order to achieve the targets underlined in the European Strategy for climate change and energy efficiency, the so called 20-20-20 package, the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to endorse and support the efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy plans, and at the same time contribute to greenhouse gases emissions mitigation. This paper explores how the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) has been adopted in Portugal, and which type of measures are being defined and implemented by the municipalities. For that, all Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) submitted by Portuguese municipalities (124) have been examined, for which a detailed analysis was performed, including the Baseline Emission Inventory (70, i.e., around 50%). The municipalities that submitted SEAP cover 60% of the total population of the country because the main urban centres are a part of the 30% that have signed the CoM. Most common measures are related with changes on behaviour and infrastructure related to energy (such as renewable energies, energy efficiency in buildings, public lighting, etc.), waste and transport (for example optimization of: transport infrastructures, used vehicles and road operations). Public lighting is one of the energy measures present in all submitted SEAP, which plays a key role in energy consumption, reaching values of upwards of 12%, particularly in coastal areas due to higher population density and urban residential areas. Besides all efforts there is still a long way to go in terms of energy consumption reduction at local level.

Due to its dependence on fossil fuel combustion, emissions from the marine transport sector can significantly contribute to air pollution. This work aims to evaluate the impact of maritime transport emissions on air quality in Portugal using a numerical air quality modelling approach, with high-resolution emission data. Emissions from the European TNO inventory were compiled and pre-processed at hourly and high spatial (∼3 × 3 km) resolutions. Scenarios with and without these maritime emissions were then simulated with the WRF-CHIMERE modelling system, extensively tested and validated for Portugal domain, in order to evaluate their impact on air quality. A simulation was performed for one year (2016) and the resulting differences were analysed in terms of spatial distribution, time series and deltas. The main deltas for NO and PM10 are located over international shipping routes and major ports, while O concentrations are impacted in a larger area. The modelling results also indicate that shipping emissions are responsible for deltas in the concentration of NO higher than 20% over specific urban areas located in the west coast of Portugal, and less than 5% for PM10. For O the relative contribution is low (around 2%) but this contribution is also observed at locations more than 50 km from the coast.

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Viridans streptococci are a heterogeneous group of gram-positive bacteria that are normal inhabitants of the mouth. These organisms are thought to contribute significantly to the etiology of infective endocarditis, although recently they have been implicated in serious infections in other settings. Another group of oral bacteria, gram-negative anaerobes, is associated with chronic dental infections, such as periodontal diseases or endodontic lesion formation. We evaluated the ability of the oral pathogens Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas endodontalis to induce a pathogenic response in vivo, with the goal of quantifying the inflammatory response in soft tissue by measuring leukocyte recruitment and hard tissues by measuring osteoclastogenesis. S. mutansinduced a strong inflammatory response and was a potent inducer of osteoclast formation, while P. endodontalis was not. To further study the mechanisms by which P. endodontalis andS. mutans elicit significantly different levels of inflammatory responses in vivo, we tested the capacity of each to induce production of cytokines by mononuclear cells in vitro. S. mutans stimulated high levels of interleukin-12 (IL-12), gamma interferon (IFN-γ), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), all of which are associated with inflammation, enhanced monocyte function, and generation of a Th1 response. In contrast, P. endodontalisstimulated production of IL-10 but not of TNF-α, IL-12, or IFN-γ. These results demonstrate that oral pathogens differ dramatically in their abilities to induce inflammatory and immunoregulatory cytokines. Moreover, there is a high degree of correlation between the cytokine profile induced by these bacteria in vitro and their pathogenic capacity in vivo.

Several emission inventories exist for Europe, which include emissions originating from ship traffic in European sea areas. However, few comparisons of these inventories, in particular focusing on specific emission sectors like shipping, exist in literature. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to review and compare commonly used, and freely available, emission inventories available for the European domain, specifically for shipping and its main pollutants (NOx, SOx and PM10). Five different inventories were considered which include shipping activity: 1) EMEP; 2) TNO-MACC_III; 3) E-PRTR; 4) EDGAR and 5) STEAM. The inventories were initially compared in terms of total emission values and their spatial distribution. The total emission values are largely in agreement (with the exception of E-PRTR), however, the spatial representation shows significant differences in the emission distribution, in particular over the Mediterranean region. As for the contribution of shipping to overall emissions, this sector represent on average 16%, 11% and 5% of total NOx, SOx and PM10 emissions, respectively. Recommendations are given regarding the specific use of each available inventory.