Exposure Assessment

This study aimed to determine the epidemiological differences between children and adult oral exposures in patients admitted to the busiest emergency department (ED) in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey.
METHODS:
The characteristics of 1950 patients were investigated retrospectively and in a cross-sectional manner in a two-year period.
RESULTS:
The ratio of poisoning exposures among all emergency admissions was 0.6%. Of these, 44.5% were children, and 54.4% were unintentional. The mortality rate was 0.1% and the rate of hospitalization was 14.9%. Among the children and adults, 50.3% and 29.5% were male, respectively. While the first two causes of exposures in both children and adults were licit drugs and foods, there were differences in other causes. Among causes, licit drugs and corrosive materials constituted the forefront in the 0-1 and 1-5-year age groups. In parasuicidal causes, the most common exposure was found to be licit drugs, followed by organophosphates. The most common cause of hospitalization was plants (60.5%). The hospitalization rate was found to be significantly high in males and unintentional exposures. The rate of admissions to the psychiatry polyclinic following exposure was 15%.
CONCLUSION:
This study hereby presents the original findings as to predict the problems in exposures. The distribution of etiological agents and suicidal intent rate may differ among pediatric and adult population (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 50).

Sediment-water fluxes of hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOC) may affect the quality of surface waters. Here, we present an approach to derive such fluxes from (a) in situ HOC concentration gradients measured with passive samplers and (b) mass transfer coefficients measured with a novel flux method using Empore disks. For eight undisturbed sediments, this method identified whether the sediment acted as a source or as a sink for HOCs. The analysis also identified which type of transport resistance governed sediment water exchange. For seven inland locations, exchange was limited by benthic boundary layer transport, showing no dependencies on sediment or chemical properties other than concentration. For one river mouth location, exchange was limited by slow in-bed intraparticle diffusion. A biphasic dual compartment radial diffusion model adequately described the data for this location. Fast desorption was interpreted as molecular diffusion retarded by microscale dual domain sorption to amorphous as well as black carbon (BC). Slow desorption was invariant with LogK(ow) and consistent with intraorganic matter diffusion through BC particles. Finally, it is discussed how these findings can be translated into a general framework for flux based exposure assessment.

Air pollution, being especially severe in the fast-growing developing world, continues to post a threat to public health. Yet, few studies are capable of quantifying well how different groups of people in different places experience different levels of air pollution at the global scale. In this paper, we use worldwide Chinese as a lens to quantify the spatiotemporal variations and geographic differences in PM 2.5 exposures using unprecedented mobile phone big data and air pollution records. The results show that Chinese in South and East Asia suffer relatively serious PM 2.5 exposures, where the Chinese in China have the highest PM 2.5 exposures (52.8 mg/m 3 /year), which is fourfold higher than the exposures in the United States (10.7 mg/m 3 /year). Overall, the Chinese in Asian cities (35.5 mg/m 3 /year) experienced the most serious PM 2.5 exposures when compared with the Chinese in the cities of other continents. These results, partly presented as a spatiotemporally explicit map of PM 2.5 exposures for worldwide Chinese, help researchers and governments to consider how to address the effects of air pollution on public health with respect to different population groups and geographic locations.

The FACET project (Flavours, Additives and food Contact material Exposure Task) is a large project with a total cost in excess of Ä8M, an EU c ontribution of Ä6M, and a pan-European membership of partners and stakeholders. It starte d in 2008 and will run for 4 years. It represents a unique opportunity to take a quantum l eap beyond the state of the art of exposure assessment. This paper gives an overview of the cu rrent situation on estimating exposure to food contact substances and describes the rationale, the design, and the technical, scientific and legislative outcomes expected of this new project.

The recent mining boom in the Northwest of Western Australia had lead to the region experiencing some of the highest rates of growth anywhere in the world. This recent increase in mining activity was in the wake of 10-15 years of lesser activity that resulted in poor maintenance and low grade facility upgrades. The primary restriction to growth industries in this region is in providing accommodation for the massive influx of workers. This investigation was a targeted assessment of the health risk of occupants to mould exposure in mine site accommodation buildings. The buildings are colloquially known as “Singlemens Quarters” or ”Dongas” and were located in the Pilbara Region of North-West Australia. Initial inspections were initiated by a flooding event; however, the investigation of the affected rooms identified several areas of existing mould damage. The main causes of the mould damage were refurbishments of wet bathroom areas into accommodation units and condensation from constant air-conditioning, which resulted in interior finishing’s & materials being below the dew point temperature. Extensive visible mould growth was manifest throughout the accommodation buildings. A detailed scope of works provided step by step instructions for workers with the aim of re-instating the mould affected accommodation to a normal or habitable condition. This study highlighted the need for a methodical and thorough process when assessing risk of mould exposure and in mould mitigation and mould remediation processes. The proper appropriation of resources in this project also established the financial and environmental benefits of this approach.

In the study, first-time personal exposure level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was measured during cooking hours in participants of three different types of kitchen both in the particulate and gaseous phase using traditional and improved cookstoves. Along with that, indoor particulate matter (PM) concentration was also estimated during the cooking hours to examine the impact of intervention in different kitchens. The results of the study clearly revealed that the kitchen characteristics and type of cookstove technology have a significant impact on PM 2.5 , PM 1 and PAHs concentration. Cookstoves intervention has resulted in maximum reduction of PM 1 i.e. 75% in an enclosed kitchen followed by semi-enclosed and open kitchen having 71% and 52%, respectively. In addition, correlation analysis of PM 2.5 and PM 1 with PAHs showed a strong association (r 2 = 0.9), showing the affinity of PAHs to bind to fine range of particles. Health risk assessment was also carried out to assess the PM daily dose and carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk due to inhalation of PAHs. The study confirmed the personal concentration of PAHs compounds was significantly high (p < 0.05) during use of traditional cook-stove compared to improved cookstove among all the three kitchens. Furthermore, to measure the toxicity levels, PAHs concentrations have been converted to benzo[a]pyrene equivalence for calculating cancer and non-cancer effects using toxicity equivalency factors. The overall lifetime carcinogenic risk was the highest 2.5E-03, 6.4E-04 among women who prepared meals in the enclosed kitchen compared to 8.4E-04, 1.3E-04 in semi-enclosed and 2.2E-04, 4.6E-05 in the open kitchen during use of traditional and improved cookstoves, respectively, which exceeded the US EPA standard i.e. 1 × 10 −6. The study underlined the importance of personal monitoring for exposure, and risks-based studies along with the time-activity of user to measure the actual inhalation risk for the participants. These findings indicated that women are exposed to hazardous smoke in the indoor kitchen and are at greater risk of developing cancer, especially in rural areas.