Bioaerosol data distribution: probability and implications for sampling in evaluating problematic buildings.

For the first time, the presence of synthetic musks is confirmed and investigated in air samples. New analytical methods are described developed for the purpose of ultra trace analysis of synthetic musks in low contaminated samples including ambient air. In order to achieve the lowest possible detection limits and avoid sample and laboratory contamination, a rigid quality control/quality assurance program must be followed for the analytical methods of synthetic musks. Standard analytical methods for the determination of persistent organic pollutants (POP) in ambient air were adapted to the need of quantifying synthetic musks. In addition, a new method was developed and applied in a first pilot study for the determination of synthetic musk in Norwegian indoor air. High resolution gas chromatography coupled to low resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/LRMS) was used for the quantification of the Norwegian outdoor and indoor air samples. Considerable levels of synthetic musks found in outdoor air from Kjeller (taken close to the Norwegian capital Oslo) confirm the importance of densely populated human settlements as primary source for synthetic musks. As already found for other matrices, polycyclic musks were dominating the air samples whereas the nitro musks musk xylene and musk ketone were lower concentrated contaminants. Surprisingly high concentrations of synthetic musks were found in Norwegian indoor air samples with the highest concentration values for HHCB and AHTN in the atmosphere of a hairdresser shop (HHCB: 44 ng m–3). Clear differences in the distribution patterns were found for nitro musks in outdoor and indoor air samples. In outdoor air samples, MX was found to contribute with 7–11% to the total synthetic musks burden whereas 0.5–3% only could be related to MX in indoor air. Based on the data presented here, a first assessment of uptake into the human body from the surrounding air was undertaken. For HHCB a 10–40 times higher average uptake was calculated compared to MX.

A critical assessment of passive air samplers for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances

Sick buildings throughout the nation have been vacated, demolished, or totally refurbished at costs that often exceed the original cost of the building because of indoor air quality (IAQ) issues. A valuable commercial building in South Florida sits vacant today because it's contaminated with anthrax. New exclusions are appearing on insurance contracts for architects, engineers, and contractors, as well as homeowners—mold, an IAQ issue. IAQ is today becoming one of the biggest concerns of a building's occupants, its owners, and its managers, as well as architects, engineers, and the construction industry. The recent increase in litigation related to mold, an IAQ issue, combined with the September 11th attacks and the bioterrorism events of the following October, has raised the issue of building air quality safety to the highest level. While IAQ and mold issues are today not regulated by governmental agencies, building owners, managers, design professionals, and constructors are being held responsible for the health and safety of the air quality in buildings. Both OSHA and EPA have established guidelines and recommendations related to IAQ issues, and several organizations, including CDC, NIOSH, and USACE, are in the process of developing guidelines for “protecting” a building's indoor air quality. Today, it is absolutely essential that those responsible for buildings take actions to ensure that workplace air quality is maintained so as to be safe and secure from health hazards. Events of 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax incidents, combined with the aging of our buildings and litigation related to mold and other IAQ issues, have made it apparent that the air quality in our buildings is not as safe and secure as it should be. Given the present status of IAQ litigation and the heightened concerns of terrorism and other extreme incidents which could impact a building's air quality, action is required. Unfortunately, while a great deal of attention is being focused on the general infrastructure and responder training since 9/11, little attention is being focused on protection of our workplace's most critical asset—its people and the air they breathe in the workplace. In order to fully address the health and safety of a building's air quality, an indoor or building air quality safety program is required. An IAQ safety program would be expected to provide the engineering controls and systems capable of protecting a building's air quality, in addition to the policies and training procedures of building operators, maintenance personnel, managers, and occupants in maintaining safe air quality in buildings and initiating appropriate response actions to protect occupants in the event of an IAQ incident or threat. This article, while presenting information on addressing the typical issues related to IAQ concerns, discusses protecting the air quality in buildings and developing the safety programs, plans, and procedures along with the engineering controls necessary to help ensure the health and safety of air quality in buildings. The proactive and protective recommendations discussed in this article, starting with the installation of a dedicated outdoor air system designed to pre-condition the fresh air that enters a building, and development of an IAQ safety program can be readily implemented in any C & I facility. The concept of an IAQ safety program is not new. Some forward-thinking organizations have implemented such plans, even though it is not required by regulatory authorities (OSHA, EPA, or AHJs). The IAQ safety program recommended herein is intended to address conventional IAQ issues of mold, ventilation, and contamination, etc., but goes a step further and addresses the vulnerability of the BAQ from unexpected incidents including spills, fires, explosions or chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) issues which, in our present environment, must be addressed. This article also describes a dedicated outdoor air system intended to function as a BAQ protection system (building air quality protection system) designed to pre-treat all the fresh air to a building and protect a building's air quality from external sources of contamination. The BAQ protection system, a dedicated outdoor air system which functions as an outdoor air pre-treatment system with control dampers and associated interlocks capable of sealing the building's outdoor air ducts for protection, serves to address humidity levels and building pressurization in both new and existing buildings. The BAQ protection system significantly reduces HVAC system energy for both heating and cooling by eliminating the latent (moisture) load from the building's HVAC system. This system has been identified as one of the most promising energy savings technology by USDOE.

Airborne bacteria and fungi in hospital environments are of great concern due to their potential role as a source of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate concentration and diversity of airborne bacteria and fungi in relation to particle mass concentration in sensitive wards of a pediatric hospital. The study was performed in the cardiac care unit (CCU), the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the cancer blood ward (BW), the ENT (ear, nose, throat) operation room (OT1) and the eye operation room (OT2). The air samples were collected by impaction using the single-stage Andersen sampler. The flow rate and sampling time of the pump were adjusted to 28.3 l/min for 5 min. The mean concentration of indoor airborne fungi and bacteria ranged from 0–63 to 19–356 CFU/m3, respectively. OT2 and CCU wards were the most contaminated wards for airborne bacteria and fungi, respectively (243 ± 77 vs. 30 ± 7 CFU/m3). The airborne Gram-positive cocci (Staphylococcus and Micrococcus) were the most detected bacterial genera (75%) in all indoor air samples, and the most prevalent genera in indoor environment were Cladosporium spp. (19%) followed by Penicillium spp. (16%), Aspergillus spp. (16%) and Paecilomyces spp. (10%). Results showed that the outdoor airborne bacteria and PM concentration at different sizes were significantly higher than indoors, suggesting that the indoor airborne particle may have originated from the outdoor air. There were significant positive relationships between indoor airborne fungi concentrations with indoor PM2.5 and PM10.

Environmental and occupational allergies

Introduction. With rising energy prices and stricter environmental regulations, it is critical to find hidden savings economy. Recently, for improving building energy efficiency the preference is given to intermittent operation heating systems among which low-frequency fluctuation of the coolant temperature in the heating system circuits occupies a special place. The Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at evaluating the effect of an increase in outdoor air temperature and the coolant temperature fluctuation on a decrease in the density of heat flow through the envelopes of an individual design constructed building. Materials and Methods. The experimental study was conducted during increasing outdoor air temperature under the influence of solar radiation and coolant temperature fluctuation. Low-frequency coolant temperature fluctuation mode in the building heating system was simulated using the patented technology. To the heating system circuits, there was periodically supplied hot or cooled coolant, the frequency of which varied within 0.001–0.003 Hz and amplitude varied within 10–20 °C depending on the coolant temperature, and the outdoor and indoor air temperatures in a separate room of the residential building. The heating system was additionally equipped with a three-way control valve, a control unit with sensors for measuring coolant temperature in the supply and return pipes, and outdoor air temperature. The parameters of the coolant, the temperatures of the outdoor and indoor air in the room at the measuring points were monitored using an automated measuring system. The Results of the Study. With the traditional method of coolant supplying to heating circuits, the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor air decreases by 4.6 °C, and with a fluctuation of the coolant temperature by 6.9 °C. When using the traditional method of supplying coolant to the heating system circuits, in the zones of measuring the envelope surface temperatures the excess of the average values of the heat flux density over the average values of the heat flux during the coolant fluctuation ranges from 34.49% for the zone 2.5 m from the floor to 47.42% for the zone behind the heater. Discussion and Conclusion. During the study, it was found that the decrease in heat flux density during the coolant fluctuation depends on the temperature measurement zone of the surface of the building envelope; the maximum value is fixed behind the heating device. Therefore, heating devices should be located on the internal building envelope.

Typically, studies on indoor fungal growth in buildings focus on structures with known or suspected water damage, moisture, and/or indoor fungal growth problems. Reference information on types of culturable fungi and total fungal levels are generally not available for buildings without these problems. This study assessed 50 detached single-family homes in metropolitan Atlanta, Ga., to establish a baseline of "normal and typical" types and concentrations of airborne and dustborne fungi in urban homes which were predetermined not to have noteworthy moisture problems or indoor fungal growth. Each home was visually examined, and samples of indoor and outdoor air and of indoor settled dust were taken in winter and summer. The results showed that rankings by prevalence and abundance of the types of airborne and dustborne fungi did not differ from winter to summer, nor did these rankings differ when air samples taken indoors were compared with those taken outdoors. Water indicator fungi were essentially absent from both air and dust samples. The air and dust data sets were also examined specifically for the proportions of colonies from ecological groupings such as leaf surface fungi and soil fungi. In the analysis of dust for culturable fungal colonies, leaf surface fungi constituted a considerable portion (>20%) of the total colonies in at least 85% of the samples. Thus, replicate dust samples with less than 20% of colonies from leaf surface fungi are unlikely to be from buildings free of moisture or mold growth problems.

This review summarises literature concerned with the application of passive dosimeters used for the estimation of the extent of pollution of outdoor and indoor air by organic compounds. The effect of parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, air movement, and fluctuation in the concentration of the analytes during pre-concentration in two fundamental types of dosimeters (diffusion and permeation devices) is discussed. Examples of the use of commercially available dosimeters for air sampling combined with the simultaneous enrichment of the analytes prior to their final determination by various analytical techniques are given.

Introduction outdoor and indoor air pollution - an old and new problem sources, nature and levels of air pollutants sources, nature and levels of indoor air pollutants environmental carcinogens - assessment of exposure and effect experimental evidence for the carcinogenicity of indoor and outdoor pollutants epidemiological evidence on indoor air pollution and cancer epidemiological evidence on outdoor air pollution and cancer the economics of controlling outdoor and indoor air pollution.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in air and snow from Fairbanks, Alaska

Carbonyl levels in indoor and outdoor air in Mexico City and Xalapa, Mexico

Exposure to culturable airborne bioaerosols during noodle manufacturing in central Taiwan

The problem of indoor air quality has in recent times attracted more concern than was the case several decades ago.Morey, (1999) presented some probable reasons why this is so.Construction materials have markedly changed from stones, wood and other 'natural' products to synthetic, pressed wood and amorphous cellulose products, some of which may be less resistant to microorganisms than the earlier ones.The indoor environment is invariably the closest to humans in terms of daily interaction, as a large proportion of man's time is spent indoors, especially in the modern cities and urban societies.There are indications however, that in many parts of the world, our homes, schools and offices are heavily contaminated with airborne molds and other biological contaminants.Biological contaminants of the indoor air include fungi, bacteria, viruses, pollen etc.; and many species of fungi are able to grow wherever there is moisture and an organic substrate.Building materials such as ceiling tiles, wood, paint, carpet rugs, etc., present very good environment for growth of fungi (Robin et al, 2007;Morey, 1999;Heseltine and Rosen, 2009).Water accumulation and moist dirty surfaces also encourage growth of fungi within a building, and contribute to human health problems.Fungi are very successful organisms capable of survival in diverse environments.This is possible because of their physiological versatility and genetic plasticity.Their spores are produced in large quantities and easily spread over a wide area.These spores can remain dormant for a long p e r i o d o f t i m e d u r i n g u n f a v o r a b l e c o n d i t i o n s .F u n g a l s p o r e s a n d p r o d u c t s o f t h e i r metabolism are able to trigger allergic reactions which include hyper-sensitivity pneumonitis, allergic rhinitis and some types of asthma.Infections such as influenza, respiratory fungal infections, mycotoxicoses, and eye irritation by fungal volatile substances, among others, are health risks and challenges to susceptible individuals.Children, the elderly and immuno-compromised persons are at greater risks (Simoni et al, 2003).

Nine organophosphate esters, which are commercially used as plasticizers and/or flame retardants, were identified and quantified in air samples from some common indoor work environments, i.e., an office building, a day care center, and three school buildings. One of the compounds was identified as tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, a substance that has been shown to be a neurotoxic and genotoxic agent. The concentration levels of this substance were found to be as high as 250 ng/m3. In order to examine whether the organophosphates were transferred from the outdoor air, the occurrence of organophosphates in outdoor ambient air was investigated. The levels of the individual compounds in the outdoor air samples were found to be less than 1 ng/m3, which indicates that the main sources of organophosphates in indoor air were located indoors. A comparison between the studied indoor environments showed large differences in the concentration profiles of the nine identified compounds. This was most probably due to the large variation in indoor materials, furniture, and equipment between the different indoor work environments. A method for sampling and analysis is described and evaluated. Samples were collected by pumping air through filter and polyurethane foam plugs. At a low sampling rate, 3 L/min, the organophosphates were strongly associated with the filter, by polar interactions either directly to the filter or to the particulate phase adsorbed on the filter. Ultrasonication was shown to be a fast and efficient extraction method for all of the organophosphates studied.

Research on the Energy Saving Performance of the Enthalpy Recovery Ventilator in Chinese Residential Buildings