-
Environment International Dec 2019In this study, the occurrence of 8 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 5 alternative flame retardants (AFRs), and 7 organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) was...
In this study, the occurrence of 8 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 5 alternative flame retardants (AFRs), and 7 organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) was determined in 50 pairs of human fingernail and indoor dust samples. The concentrations in fingernail were 9.79-242 ng/g, 17.7-926 ng/g, and 58.0-590 ng/g for PBDEs, AFRs, and OPFRs. Male fingernail showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher ΣPBDE concentrations than female fingernails, while no significant gender differences were observed for AFRs and OPFRs. Lower ratios of BDE209 to ΣPBDE and DBDPE to ΣAFRs were found in fingernails than in dust. Due to their relatively rapid in vivo debromination, BDE 209 and DBDPE in fingernails were most likely from external sources rather than internal exposure (such as through blood circulation). Similar composition profiles between fingernail and dust were observed for PBDEs (excluding BDE209), AFRs (excluding DBDPE), and OPFRs, indicating that indoor dust may be a significant source for these FRs in human fingernails. Significant correlations between fingernail and dust were observed for BDE 47 (p < 0.01; r = 0.50), TBPH (p < 0.01; r = 0.37) and TBOEP (p < 0.01; r = 0.53). Results in this study provided information about contamination levels and exposure sources of FRs, which is important for long-term biomonitoring and health risk assessment of FRs.
Topics: Air Pollution, Indoor; Dust; Female; Flame Retardants; Humans; Male; Nails
PubMed: 31639601
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105227 -
Journal of Environmental Management Jul 2022Previous studies anticipated that microorganisms and their metabolites in waste will increase as a consequence of a decreased collection frequency and due to differences...
Previous studies anticipated that microorganisms and their metabolites in waste will increase as a consequence of a decreased collection frequency and due to differences in what kind of waste is bagged before collection leading to an increased exposure of workers handling the waste. This study aim was to investigate the microbial contamination present in the waste collection trucks (WCT) and in the support facilities (waste collection station - WCS). It was applied a multi-approach protocol using active (air sampling by impingement and impaction) and passive (surface swabs, electrostatic dust cloths and settled dust) sampling methods. The screening of azole-resistance, the investigation of mycotoxins and the assessment of the elicited biological responses in vitro were also carried out aiming recognizing the possible health effects of waste collection drivers. SARS-CoV-2 detection was also performed. In WCS only air samples had contamination in all the four sampling sites (canteen, operational removal core, operational removal center, and administrative service). Among all the analyzed matrices from the WCT a higher percentage of total bacterial counts and Gram-was detected in swabs (66.93%; 99.36%). In WCS the most common species were Penicillium sp. (43.98%) and Cladosporium sp. (24.68%), while on WCT Aspergillus sp. (4.18%) was also one of the most found. In the azole resistance screening Aspergillus genera was not observed in the azole-supplemented media. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any of the environmental samples collected, but Aspergillus section Fumigati was detected in 5 samples. Mycotoxins were not detected in EDC from WCS, while in WCT they were detected in filters (N = 1) and in settled dust samples (N = 16). In conclusion, our study reveals that a comprehensive sampling approach using active and passive sampling (e.g. settled dust sampling for a representative mycotoxin evaluation) and combined analytic methods (i.e., culture-based and molecular) is an important asset in microbial exposure assessments. Concerning the waste collection exposure scenario, the results of this study unveiled a complex exposure, particularly to fungi and their metabolites. Aspergillus section Fumigati highlight the significance of targeting this section in the waste management industry as an indicator of occupational health risk.
Topics: Aspergillus; Azoles; COVID-19; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Fungi; Humans; Mycotoxins; Occupational Exposure; Portugal; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 35483278
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115086 -
Journal of Exposure Science &... May 2022Soil and dust ingestion can be a primary route of environmental exposures. Studies have shown that young children are more vulnerable to incidental soil and dust...
BACKGROUND
Soil and dust ingestion can be a primary route of environmental exposures. Studies have shown that young children are more vulnerable to incidental soil and dust ingestion. However, available data to develop soil and dust ingestion rates for some child-specific age groups are either lacking or uncertain.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to use the Stochastic Human Exposure and Dose Simulation Soil and Dust (SHEDS-Soil/Dust) model to estimate distributions of soil and dust ingestion rates for ten age ranges from infancy to late adolescents (birth to 21 years).
METHODS
We developed approaches for modeling age groups previously not studied, including a new exposure scenario for infants to capture exposures to indoor dust via pacifier use and accounting for use of blankets that act as a barrier to soil and dust exposure.
RESULTS
Overall mean soil and dust ingestion rates ranged from ~35 mg/day (infants, 0-<6 m) to ~60 mg/day (toddlers and young children, 6m-<11 yr) and were considerably lower (about 20 mg/day) for teenagers and late adolescents (16-<21 y). The pacifier use scenario contributed about 20 mg/day to the median dust ingestion rate for young infants. Except for the infant age groups, seasonal analysis showed that the modeled estimates of average summer mean daily total soil plus dust ingestion rates were about 50% higher than the values predicted for the winter months. Pacifier use factors and carpet dust loading values were drivers of exposure for infants and younger children. For older children, influential variables included carpet dust loading, soil adherence, and factors that capture the frequency and intensity of hand-to-mouth behaviors.
SIGNIFICANCE
These results provide modeled estimates of children's soil and dust ingestion rates for use in decision making using real-world exposure considerations.
IMPACT STATEMENT
The parameterization of scenarios to capture infant soil and dust ingestion and the application of SHEDS-Soil/Dust to a broader age range of children provides additional estimates of soil and dust ingestion rates that are useful in refining population-based risk assessments. These data illuminate drivers of exposure that are useful to both risk management applications and for designing future studies that improve upon existing tracer methodologies.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Child; Child, Preschool; Dust; Eating; Environmental Exposure; Humans; Infant; Soil; Young Adult
PubMed: 35039613
DOI: 10.1038/s41370-021-00406-5 -
Journal of Exposure Science &... Sep 2021Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of over 4700 fluorinated compounds used in industry and consumer products. Studies have highlighted the use of...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of over 4700 fluorinated compounds used in industry and consumer products. Studies have highlighted the use of aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) as an exposure source for firefighters, but little is known about PFAS occurrence inside fire stations, where firefighters spend most of their shifts. In this study, we aimed to characterize PFAS concentrations and sources inside fire stations. We measured 24 PFAS (using LC-MS/MS) and total fluorine (using particle-induced gamma ray emission) in dust from multiple rooms of 15 Massachusetts stations, many of which (60%) no longer use PFAS-containing AFFF at all and the rest of which only use it very rarely. Compared to station living rooms, turnout gear locker rooms had higher dust levels of total fluorine (p < 0.0001) and three PFAS: perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA), perfluoroheptanoate (PFHpA), and perfluorodecanoate (PFDoDA) (p < 0.05). These PFAS were also found on six wipes of station turnout gear. By contrast, the dominant PFAS in living rooms was N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoacetic acid (N-MeFOSAA), a precursor to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) that still persists despite phase-outs almost two decades ago. The Σ PFAS accounted for less than 2% of fluorine in dust (n = 39), suggesting the potential presence of unknown PFAS. Turnout gear may be an important PFAS source in stations due to intentional additives and/or contamination from firefighting activities.
Topics: Alkanesulfonic Acids; Chromatography, Liquid; Dust; Fluorine; Fluorocarbons; Humans; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Water Pollutants, Chemical
PubMed: 33542478
DOI: 10.1038/s41370-021-00288-7 -
Toxicology in Vitro : An International... Apr 2023Epidemiological studies have revealed some alterations in systemic immunity that associate with farm exposure and the risk of respiratory diseases, but in vitro studies...
Epidemiological studies have revealed some alterations in systemic immunity that associate with farm exposure and the risk of respiratory diseases, but in vitro studies focusing on immunological responses in the airways are scarce. Our aim was to assess how cowshed dust affects the integrity and inflammation of human airway tissue in vitro. Cowshed dust samples were collected from four different dairy farms. Lung tissue constructs were exposed to dust samples in air-liquid interface. Transepithelial resistance of the tissue, secreted proteins, and a panel of pro-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, and chemokines were analysed. Cowshed dust stimulation was associated mainly with increased production of IL-13, IL-15, IP-10 and IFN-γ. Some differences between farms were seen. Only one farm dust sample induced a significant change in transepithelial resistance, whereas dust from two of the farms induced the secretion of proteins. The exposure to cowshed dust affected protein and cytokine secretion, but the response profiles were not uniform between farms. The effect on tight junction dynamics was less pronounced, suggesting the relevance of soluble factors in induced responses in the airways. Our results indicate that in addition to farm type, the contribution of cowshed characteristics to dust composition and its immunomodulatory properties should be taken into account.
Topics: Humans; Cattle; Animals; Dust; Farms; Cytokines; Lung; Inflammation
PubMed: 36681285
DOI: 10.1016/j.tiv.2023.105559 -
PloS One 2023Assessing the economic impact of sand and dust storms provides critical insights to policy development and reforms; a subject that is gaining more attention as risk...
Assessing the economic impact of sand and dust storms provides critical insights to policy development and reforms; a subject that is gaining more attention as risk management becomes the dominant approach for hazard mitigation policies. To assess the causal impact of sand and dust storms on agriculture, specifically on crop and livestock revenue and physical production, random year-to-year variations in dust exposure were analyzed using a fixed effect regression. To complete this analysis, weather and climate data from the on-ground meteorological stations was combined with the household level socioeconomic surveys conducted by Mongolia's National Statistics Office (NSO) over a decade. The descriptive statistics of the meteorological data collected over the eight years period show that, on average, 29 dust events have occurred every year across the country, with greater variation among provinces (Aimags) and regions, reaching up to 108 events in a year in some provinces. The overall trend reveals a slight decrease in the dust events from 2009 to 2019. The econometric results show that value of crop and livestock production (gross income) and physical yields significantly decline in response to higher frequencies of sand and dust storms events. During this period, Mongolia experienced a 2.7% decline in crop revenue as a result of additional sand and dust storms. Assuming 2.7% constant decline in revenues across all agricultural sub-sectors and regions or Aimags, this could lead to about $37.8 million in losses to the economy, which is equivalent to about 0.27% of the national GDP of Mongolia. Increases in the frequency of sand and dust storms could reduce agricultural productivity by between 1.5% to 24%, depending on the crop. Estimates from the modelling exercise are robust to potential endogeneity bias in the measure of sand and dust storms; different specification and identification approaches accounting for the endogeneity bias consistently reveal negative and qualitatively similar impacts of sand and dust storms on crop and livestock productivity.
Topics: Sand; Mongolia; Dust; Weather; Agriculture
PubMed: 36745629
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269271 -
Environment International Jun 2024Fusion energy investigation has stepped to a new stage adopting deuterium and tritium as fuels from the previous stage concentrating hydrogen plasma physics. Special... (Review)
Review
Fusion energy investigation has stepped to a new stage adopting deuterium and tritium as fuels from the previous stage concentrating hydrogen plasma physics. Special radiation safety issues would be introduced during this stage. In addition to industrial and military uses, tungsten is also regarded as the most promising plasma facing material for fusion reactors. During the operation of fusion reactors, tungsten-based plasma facing materials can be activated via neutron nuclear reaction. Meanwhile, activated tungsten dust can be produced when high-energy plasma interacts with the tungsten-based plasma facing materials, namely plasma wall interaction. Activated tungsten dust would be an emerging environmental pollutant with radiation toxicity containing various radionuclides in addition to the chemical toxicity of tungsten itself. Nonetheless, the historical underestimation of its environmental availability has led to limited research on tungsten compared to other environmental contaminants. This paper presents the first systematic review on the safety issue of emerging activated tungsten dust, encompassing source terms, environmental behaviors, and health effects. The key contents are as follows: 1) to detail the source terms of activated tungsten dust from aspects of tungsten basic properties, generation mechanism, physical morphology and chemical component, radioactivity, as well as potential release pathways, 2) to illustrate the environmental behaviors from aspects of atmospheric dispersion and deposition, transformation and migration in soil, as well as plant absorption and distribution, 3) to identify the toxicity and health effects from aspects of toxicity to plants, distribution in human body, as well as health effects by radiation and chemical toxicity, 4) based on the research progress, research and development issues needed are also pointed out to better knowledge of safety issue of activated tungsten dust, which would be beneficial to the area of fusion energy and ecological impact caused by the routine tungsten related industrial and military applications.
Topics: Tungsten; Dust; Humans
PubMed: 38810497
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108774 -
Journal of Exposure Science &... Jul 2023Non-targeted analysis (NTA) and suspect screening analysis (SSA) are powerful techniques that rely on high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and computational tools to... (Review)
Review
Non-targeted analysis (NTA) and suspect screening analysis (SSA) are powerful techniques that rely on high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and computational tools to detect and identify unknown or suspected chemicals in the exposome. Fully understanding the chemical exposome requires characterization of both environmental media and human specimens. As such, we conducted a review to examine the use of different NTA and SSA methods in various exposure media and human samples, including the results and chemicals detected. The literature review was conducted by searching literature databases, such as PubMed and Web of Science, for keywords, such as "non-targeted analysis", "suspect screening analysis" and the exposure media. Sources of human exposure to environmental chemicals discussed in this review include water, air, soil/sediment, dust, and food and consumer products. The use of NTA for exposure discovery in human biospecimen is also reviewed. The chemical space that has been captured using NTA varies by media analyzed and analytical platform. In each media the chemicals that were frequently detected using NTA were: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and pharmaceuticals in water, pesticides and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil and sediment, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in air, flame retardants in dust, plasticizers in consumer products, and plasticizers, pesticides, and halogenated compounds in human samples. Some studies reviewed herein used both liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC) HRMS to increase the detected chemical space (16%); however, the majority (51%) only used LC-HRMS and fewer used GC-HRMS (32%). Finally, we identify knowledge and technology gaps that must be overcome to fully assess potential chemical exposures using NTA. Understanding the chemical space is essential to identifying and prioritizing gaps in our understanding of exposure sources and prior exposures. IMPACT STATEMENT: This review examines the results and chemicals detected by analyzing exposure media and human samples using high-resolution mass spectrometry based non-targeted analysis (NTA) and suspect screening analysis (SSA).
Topics: Humans; Environmental Pollutants; Exposome; Plasticizers; Soil; Dust; Water
PubMed: 37380877
DOI: 10.1038/s41370-023-00574-6 -
PloS One 2022Coal dust is the main pollutant in coal mining areas. Such pollutants easily diffuse and are difficult to monitor, which increases the cost of environmental pollution...
Coal dust is the main pollutant in coal mining areas. Such pollutants easily diffuse and are difficult to monitor, which increases the cost of environmental pollution control. Remote sensing technology can be used to dynamically monitor mining areas at a low cost, and thus, this is a common means of mining area management. According to the spectral characteristics of various ground objects in remote sensing images, a variety of remote sensing indexes can be constructed to extract the required information. In this study, the Wucaiwan open-pit coal mine was selected as the study area, and the Enhanced Coal Dust Index (ECDI) was established to extract the coal dust pollution information for the mining area. A new mining area pollution monitoring method was developed, which can provide technical support for environmental treatment and mining planning in Zhundong. The results of this study revealed the following: (1) Compared with the normalized difference coal index, the ECDI can expand the difference between the spectral information about the coal dust and the surrounding features, so it has a significant recognition ability for coal dust information. (2) From 2010 to 2021, the coal dust pollution in the study area initially increased and then decreased. With the continued exploitation of the coal mines in the study area, the coal dust pollution area increased from 14.77 km2 in 2010 to 69.49 km2 in 2014. After 2014, the local government issued various environmental pollution control policies, which had remarkable results. The coal dust pollution area decreased to 36.85 km2 and 17.85 km2 in 2018 and 2021, respectively. (3) There was a great deal of pollution around mines and roads, around which the pollution was more serious. Various factors, such as wind, coal type, and the mining, processing, and transportation modes, affect the distribution of the coal dust pollution.
Topics: China; Coal; Coal Mining; Dust; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants; Environmental Pollution; Minerals
PubMed: 35395022
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266517 -
Environmental Science & Technology Dec 2023Although airborne bacteria and fungi can impact human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health, very few studies have investigated the possible impact of their long-range...
Although airborne bacteria and fungi can impact human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health, very few studies have investigated the possible impact of their long-range transport in the context of more commonly measured aerosol species, especially those present in an urban environment. We report first-of-kind simultaneous measurements of the elemental and microbial composition of North American respirable airborne particulate matter concurrent with a Saharan-Sahelian dust episode. Comprehensive taxonomic and phylogenetic profiles of microbial communities obtained by 16S/18S/ITS rDNA sequencing identified hundreds of bacteria and fungi, including several cataloged in the World Health Organization's lists of global priority human pathogens along with numerous other animal and plant pathogens and (poly)extremophiles. While elemental analysis sensitively tracked long-range transported Saharan dust and its mixing with locally emitted aerosols, microbial diversity, phylogeny, composition, and abundance did not well correlate with the apportioned African dust mass. Bacterial/fungal diversity, phylogenetic signal, and community turnover were strongly correlated to apportioned sources (especially vehicular emissions and construction activities) and elemental composition (especially calcium). Bacterial communities were substantially more dissimilar from each other across sampling days than were fungal communities. Generalized dissimilarity modeling revealed that daily compositional turnover in both communities was linked to calcium concentrations and aerosols from local vehicles and Saharan dust. Because African dust is known to impact large areas in northern South America, the Caribbean Basin, and the southern United States, the microbiological impacts of such long-range transport should be assessed in these regions.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Dust; Ecosystem; Texas; Calcium; Phylogeny; Bacteria; Aerosols; Fungi; Environmental Monitoring; Air Microbiology
PubMed: 37943153
DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04158