Determination of airborne nanoparticles in elderly care centres

According to numerous studies, airborne nanoparticles have a potential to produce serious adverse human health effects when deposited into the respiratory tract. The most important parts of the lung are the alveolar regions with their enormous surface areas and potential to transfer nanoparticles into the blood stream. These effects may be potentiated in case of the elderly, since this population is more susceptible to air pollutants in general and more to nanoparticles than larger particles. The main goal of this investigation was to determine the exposure of institutionalized elders to nanoparticles using Nanoparticle Surface Area Monitor (NSAM) equipment to calculate the deposited surface area (DSA) of nanoparticles into elderly lungs. In total, 193 institutionalized individuals over 65 yr of age were examined in four elderly care centers (ECC). The occupancy daily pattern was achieved by applying a questionnaire, and it was concluded that these subjects spent most of their time indoors, including the bedroom and living room, the indoor microenvironments with higher prevalence of elderly occupancy. The deposited surface area ranged from 10 to 46 mu m(2)/cm(3). The living rooms presented significantly higher levels compared with bedrooms. Comparing PM10 concentrations with nanoparticles deposited surface area in elderly lungs, it is conceivable that living rooms presented the highest concentration of PM10 and were similar to the highest average DSA. The temporal distribution of DSA was also assessed. While data showed a quantitative fluctuation in values in bedrooms, high peaks were detected in living rooms.

Importance of size-selective particle measuring for assessing occupational exposures: a case study “from field to fork”

Sampling the total air concentration of particulate matter (PM) only provides a basic estimate of exposure that normally not allows correlating with the observed health effects. Therefore is of great importance to recognize the particles size distribution and, particularly, the exposure to fine particles (≤ 2.5 μm). This particles dimension corresponds to the respirable fraction, the one that can implicate local and systemic effects due to particle deposition and clearance from the lungs and transport within the organism. This study intended to describe occupational exposure to PM2.5 in three units related with swine production and consumption, namely: feed production, swine production and swine slaughterhouse. A size-selective particle measuring in five to six workplaces of each unit was performed. Measurements of PM were done using a portable direct-reading hand-held equipment (Lighthouse, model 3016 IAQ). Data showed slaughterhouse unit with higher values, with values ranging from 0.030 to 0.142 mg/m3 (0.073 + 0.043), being the cutting room the workplace with higher values. In feed production unit, values were between 0.026 and 0.033 mg/m3 (0.028 + 0.003) with the warehouse of pharmacy products as the workplace with higher values. Finally, in swine unit values ranged from 0.006 to 0.048 mg/m3 (0.023 + 0.017) with the batteries area presenting the higher values. PM can be rich in fungi and bacteria and their metabolites, such as endotoxins and mycotoxins. Previous publications already showed high contamination in these occupational settings and particles can have an important role in exposure since can easily act as carrier of these agents. Data acquired allow not only a better prediction of particle penetration into respiratory regions of the respiratory tract, but also a better estimation of PM health effects. Moreover, data permit to identify the workplaces where investment should be made to prevent and reduce exposure.

Importance of size-selective particle sampling for assessing occupational exposures: results from three different occupational settings

Sampling the total air concentration of particulate matter (PM) only provides a basic estimate of exposure that normally not allows correlating with the observed health effects. Therefore is of extreme importance to know the particles size distribution and, in more detail, the exposure to fine particles (≤ 2.5 µm). This particles dimension corresponds to the respirable fraction. This particle fraction can result, besides local effects, in systemic effects due to particle deposition and clearance from the lungs and transport within the organism. This study intended to describe occupational exposure to PM2.5 in three different units located near Lisbon and related with occupational exposure to organic dust, namely: swine and poultry feed production and waste management.