人体接触挥发性有机化合物的生物标志物

生物标志物是阐明接触与健康损害之间关系的工具。综述了３７ 篇文献,简单论述了挥发性有机化合物的各种生物标志物,这些生物标志物包括暴露生物标志物,效应生物标志物和易感性生物标志物。还简述了各种生物标志物之间的相互关系,并介绍了各种生物标志物的研究现状和发展前景,以及应用它们来评价ＶＯＣｓ对人体健康的影响。     

Inter-relation between environmental monitoring data,human exposure and health effects

To determine whether a population has been affected by a chemical, evidence of exposure must be established. The mere presence of a chemical in the surroundings of a population may not, in all instances, result in actual exposure. Not all such exposures will cause health effects; nor is it always possible to establish that illness has or will result from exposure to chemicals. The inability to establish health effects in humans cannot a priori be translated to mean that a specific chemical is harmless. On the other hand, it must be determined whether health studies would be fruitful. If exposure was so minimal that no health effects are expected, then no health studies should be conducted.     

The exposure commitment method with application to environmental mercury

Exposure commitment is a measure of the concentration and duration of a pollutant in an environmental medium. It is the basis of a time-independent method of pollutant pathway analysis. Applied to environmental mercury, contributions to concentrations in the human body from inhalation and from ingestion of terrestrial and aquatic foods areevaluated.Staff member of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The author's views do not necessarily represent those of UNEP.     

Screening organic chemicals in commerce for emissions in the context of environmental and human exposure

Quantitative knowledge of organic chemical release into the environment is essential to understand and predict human exposure as well as to develop rational control strategies for any substances of concern. While significant efforts have been invested to characterize and screen organic chemicals for hazardous properties, relatively less effort has been directed toward estimating emissions and hence also risks. Here, a rapid throughput method to estimate emissions of discrete organic chemicals in commerce has been developed, applied and evaluated to support screening studies aimed at ranking and identifying chemicals of potential concern. The method builds upon information in the European Union Technical Guidance Document and utilizes information on quantities in commerce (production and/or import rates), chemical function (use patterns) and physical-chemical properties to estimate emissions to air, soil and water within the OECD for five stages of the chemical life-cycle. The method is applied to 16,029 discrete substances (identified by CAS numbers) from five national and international high production volume lists. As access to consistent input data remains fragmented or even impossible, particular attention is given to estimating, evaluating and discussing uncertainties in the resulting emission scenarios. The uncertainty for individual substances typically spans 3 to 4 orders of magnitude for this initial tier screening method. Information on uncertainties in emissions is useful as any screening or categorization methods which solely rely on threshold values are at risk of leading to a significant number of either false positives or false negatives. A limited evaluation of the screening method's estimates for a sub-set of about 100 substances, compared against independent and more detailed emission scenarios presented in various European Risk Assessment Reports, highlights that up-to-date and accurate information on quantities in commerce as well as a detailed breakdown on chemical function are critically needed for developing more realistic emission scenarios.     

Spatial and temporal properties of environmental exposure assessments related to ground water contamination

This paper describes a new methodology for modeling contaminant transport in ground water for (1) better quantifying the magnitude of exposure in a contaminated aquifer, (2) characterizing the spatial and temporal variation of exposure in a heterogeneous aquifer, and (3) providing more tools for characterizing population exposure. This methodology is also applied to a semi-hypothetical case study.     

Biomarkers of internal dose for the assessment of environmental exposure to benzene

The urinary excretion of t,t-muconic acid (t,t-MA), S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) and urinary benzene and the influence of a smoking habit and of exposure to urban traffic on the urinary excretion of these biomarkers were investigated in 137 male adults from the general population. All subjects were not occupationally exposed to benzene and resident in two cities in Puglia (Southern-Italy). Environmental exposure to benzene was measured using passive personal samplers. The biomarkers t,t-MA, SPMA and urinary benzene were determined in urine samples collected from each subject at the end of the environmental sampling. The percentage of cases above the limit of detection was higher for SPMA and urinary benzene in smokers than in non-smokers, and for airborne benzene and urinary benzene in subjects exposed to urban traffic. Airborne benzene was correlated with the time spent in urban traffic during the environmental sampling. Among the biomarkers, urinary benzene was found to be correlated with airborne benzene only in non-smokers, and with the time spent in urban traffic, both in smokers and non-smokers considered together, and in non-smokers only. Finally, multiple regression analysis showed that the urinary excretion of all the biomarkers was dependent on the number of cigarettes smoked per day and, for urinary benzene, also on the time spent in urban traffic. In conclusion, urinary benzene seems to be a more valid biomarker than t,t-MA and SPMA to assess environmental exposure to extremely low concentrations of benzene. Cigarette smoking prevailed over traffic exhaust fumes in determining the internal dose of benzene.     

Human exposure, health hazards, and environmental regulations

United States environmental regulations, intended to protect human health, generally fail to address major sources of pollutants that endanger human health. These sources are surprisingly close to us and within our control, such as consumer products and building materials that we use within our homes, workplaces, schools, and other indoor environments. Even though these indoor sources account for nearly 90% of our pollutant exposure, they are virtually unregulated by existing laws. Even pollutant levels found in typical homes, if found outdoors, would often violate federal environmental standards. This article examines the importance of human exposure as a way to understand and reduce effects of pollutants on human health. Results from exposure studies challenge traditional thinking about pollutant hazards, and reveal deficiencies in our patchwork of laws. And results from epidemiological studies, showing increases in exposure-related diseases, underscore the need for new protections. Because we cannot rely solely on regulations to protect us, and because health effects from exposures can develop insidiously, greater efforts are needed to reduce and prevent significant exposures before they occur. Recommendations include the development and use of safer alternatives to common products, public education on ways to reduce exposure, systematic monitoring of human exposure to pollutants, and a precautionary approach in decision-making.     

Air pollution exposure monitoring and estimation. Part IV. Urban exposure in children

In the winter of 1994, 2300 school-age children in Oslo participated in a panel study of the role of traffic pollution on the exacerbation of diseases of the respiratory system and other symptoms of reduced health and well being in children. The children filled out a diary daily with information for five time points over six weeks. In order to quantify exposure-effect relationships for the symptoms, individual exposure to NO2 and particulate matter (PM2.5) was estimated, using the DINEX method a combination of information from the diary as to the children's whereabouts during the five time points each day, coupled with continuous dispersion modelling. An individual exposure estimate for each time point for each child was defined. Individual exposure estimated using dispersion modelling can be used to examine patterns of exposure such as isolating geographic areas with higher concentrations or describing concentrations of pollution by time of day. The diary allowed the time-use of the children to be described.     

Relationship between environmental exposure to toluene,xylene and ethylbenzene and the expired breath concentrations for gasoline service workers

This study evaluated the relationship between the breath concentrations of, and personal exposure to, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene of thirty workers from ten gasoline stations. Personal exposure air samples and workplace samples were collected simultaneously. Each subject provided a sample of exhaled breath after his or her personal exposure air was sampled. Twenty-five personal air, 17 workplace and 30 breath samples were collected in this study. Results indicated that breath concentrations of toluene and xylene were significantly correlated with personal monitoring concentrations. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis showed that exhaled toluene levels were highly influenced by personal toluene concentrations and the amount of personal gasoline sold (r2 = 0.762), while exhaled xylene levels depended on wind speed and personal xylene exposure concentrations (r2 = 0.665). Exhaled ethylbenzene levels were too low to present a relationship between concentrations and personal exposure levels. The exhaled toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene concentrations ranged from 4.3 to 41.8, 0.9 to 13.9, and 0.2 to 6.5 ppb, and the corresponding personal monitoring concentrations ranged from 60.3 to 572.3, 16.4 to 156.6, and 10.7 to 136.6, respectively. The average number of symptoms per person, according to neurotoxic questionnaire 16 (abbreviated as Q16) was 4.1 and six workers showed over six symptoms in Q16. This study suggests that exhaled toluene and xylene levels are suitable for use as biological exposure indices even at the ppb-level of exposure. Gasoline service workers are exposed to high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the potential threats to their neurological systems deserve further investigation.     

Benchmarking environmental and economic impacts from the HSR networks considering life cycle perspectives

This paper unprecedentedly benchmarks the environmental and economic impacts of notable High-speed rail (HSR) networks. The goals are to (i) point out the environmental impacts from the HSR networks and (ii) evaluate the whole life cycle cost of HSR systems. The emphasis of this study is placed on five HSR networks from five countries to depict the effectiveness of sustainable transport policies in each particular country. Both life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC) models are adopted for a new critical framework capable of benchmarking the lifecycle sustainability of HSR networks. The new findings exhibit that CRC's system is the leader in energy-saving, who consumes only 67.55 GJ/km yearly, and emits lowest CO₂ at an amount of 77,532.32 tCO₂/km annually. These impressive results are stemmed from key enabling policies related to eco-friendly rolling stock design, sustainable construction, and green energy grids. With respect to the LCC analysis, the SCNF network takes advantage in the economy of scale and unleashes the lowest cost among other networks. It estimates that the SNCF network spends approximately 1,990,599.51 £/km annually at a % discount rate. The implications of these finding are discussed that the initial project has a high chance to be successful on economic than the late project due to an influence of the time value of money.     

Monitoring and assessment of daily exposure of roadside workers to traffic noise levels in an Asian city: a case study of Bangkok streets

Four noise monitoring sites were strategically established to evaluate average noise level and audiometric assessment at various traffic zones of Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR). During the monitoring period, noise levels were found to be 72.8–83.0 dBA during day time and 59.5–74.5 dBA during night time. The finding also indicated that traffic noise levels depend on distance from roadside, diurnal variation and character of the traffic and street configuration. Audiometric measurement of 4000 persons was carried by four major hospitals in Bangkok to study the relationship between traffic noise exposure of groups of people working in the streets and hearing loss. Four different categories of occupational people, i.e., drivers, street vendors, traffic officers and dwellers were selected and were further classified into age groups (16–25, 26–35, 36–45 and 46–55 years old) to monitor the traffic noise induced hearing loss throughout their everyday lives. The control group was deliberately chosen to screen out the effects of traffic noise. According to the audiometric investigation, it was revealed that hearing capacity of the daily noise exposure groups living in the three urban sites (Yaowarat Road, Din Daeng Road and Ratchaprarop Road) were noticeably poorer than those who were living in suburban site (Phahonyothin Road). It was noted that the mean hearing threshold level (HTL) of the 16–25 years old groups were found to have better hearing capacity than those older adults of 46–55 years old. In particular the mean HTL dropped at the frequency of 4000 Hz. Among the occupational population who were living in the urban monitoring sites, the driver groups were found to have the highest risk of traffic noise induced hearing loss.     

Determination of exposure to lead of subjects from southwestern Poland by human hair analysis

The aim of the present work was to investigate the exposure to lead from various sources by investigation of mineral composition of human scalp hair. The research was carried out on hair sampled from 267 young adults living in Wroc?aw (southwest Poland). The effect of the place of residence, diet, and lifestyle on lead content in hair was examined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Lead was determined at the wavelength 220.353 nm. These outcomes were reached by linking the results of lead level in hair with the results of questionnaire survey. The mean lead level in hair of the whole examined population was 2.01?±?2.10 mg kg^?1. Lead can enter the human body mainly by inhalation and gastrointestinal absorption. It was found that consuming cheese, fish, and lettuce caused increased level of lead in hair. On the other hand, drinking of milk, tea, coffee, or lemon resulted in decreased content of lead in hair. Additional source of exposure to lead could be cigarette smoking, distance to the traffic road, painting the walls, amalgam filling. Based on the results, it can be concluded that exposure to lead can occur mainly from eating habits and environmental exposure.     

Human health risk assessment of environmental and dietary exposure to natural radionuclides in the Catalan stretch of the Ebro River, Spain

This study was aimed at assessing the levels of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po concentrations as well as gross alpha and beta activities in environmental monitors from the Catalan stretch of the Ebro River (Spain), potentially influenced by the presence of sediments with high concentrations of ²³⁸U and its decay chain daughters in the Flix reservoir. The chronic daily intake of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po through ingestion and inhalation of soils was evaluated, and the derived non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were characterized. The low concentration of radioisotopes in soils resulted in a negligible annual effective dose. The levels of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po were determined in various groups of highly consumed food (fish and seafood, vegetables, fruits, and rice), and their dietary intake was calculated. The annual effective dose for the adult people from food intake was estimated in 3.3 × 10^???2 mSv, mostly due to ²¹⁰Po. Overall, the current radioactivity levels in the Catalan stretch of the Ebro River should not mean any additional health risk for the population living nearby. However, an integral assessment of the risks derived from exposure to other pollutants (e.g., metals and organochlorine compounds) jointly with radionuclides could be of great interest.     

A database of avian blood spot examinations for exposure of wild birds to environmental toxicants: the DABSE biomonitoring project

DABSE, a database for avian blood spot examination for exposure to toxicants, is a new biomonitoring project in wild birds that has the goal of providing reference values of harmful agents, as measured in whole blood stored as dried blood spots. Once these "normal" values have been established, the diagnosis of environmental contaminant-mediated ill-health (such as manifestations of sickness, increased mortality, a reduction in population, poor breeding success, abnormal behavior) in an individual bird or in a population could be facilitated by comparing exposure values in the investigation to reference values of the same species in the database. One might then identify the cause and pave the way for a mitigating response. The toxicant component of DABSE is being examined at the low ng ml(-1) level in 200 μl of whole blood. As these analyses are invariably very costly, an effort has been made to lower these costs and so enable more testing by quantitating representative compounds as markers for the whole group. These markers are invariably found in birds' blood at the highest concentration of all the constituents in that group. The toxicant groups comprise:- (a) elements-arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and selenium; (b) organochlorine pesticides, markers being p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, β-HCH, HCB and oxychlordane; (c) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the marker being congener 153; (d) polybrominated diphenyl esters (PBDEs), the marker being congener 47; (e) perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), the markers being perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). DABSE will be expanded to determine exposure to infectious diseases and perhaps acute toxicoses.     

A program-level management system for the life cycle environmental and economic assessment of complex building projects

Climate change has become one of the most significant environmental issues, of which about 40% come from the building sector. In particular, complex building projects with various functions have increased, which should be managed from a program-level perspective. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a program-level management system for the life-cycle environmental and economic assessment of complex building projects. The developed system consists of three parts: (i) input part: database server and input data; (ii) analysis part: life cycle assessment and life cycle cost; and (iii) result part: microscopic analysis and macroscopic analysis. To analyze the applicability of the developed system, this study selected ‘U’ University, a complex building project consisting of research facility and residential facility. Through value engineering with experts, a total of 137 design alternatives were established. Based on these alternatives, the macroscopic analysis results were as follows: (i) at the program-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in ‘U’ University were reduced by 6.22% and 2.11%, respectively; (ii) at the project-level, the life-cycle environmental and economic cost in research facility were reduced 6.01% and 1.87%, respectively; and those in residential facility, 12.01% and 3.83%, respective; and (iii) for the mechanical work at the work-type-level, the initial cost was increased 2.9%; but the operation and maintenance phase was reduced by 20.0%. As a result, the developed system can allow the facility managers to establish the operation and maintenance strategies for the environmental and economic aspects from a program-level perspective.     

Organophosphate pesticide environmental exposure: analysis of salivary cholinesterase and carboxilesterase activities in preschool children and their mothers

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of salivary cholinesterase and carboxylesterase as biomarkers of exposure to environmental organophosphate pesticides. Ninety samples were obtained from women and 62 samples from their preschool-aged children who live near an agricultural area of the Upper Valley of the Negro River (Patagonia, Argentina) where pesticides are applied 6 months a year. Each participant donated two samples under similar conditions: one in the pre-exposure period and another during the pulverization period. Demographic information, potential confounders, and risk behaviors were registered. Active or passive smoking had no effect on these enzyme activities in either group. During the pulverization period, cholinesterase activity was not detectable in 76% of the children's samples and 23% of the mothers' samples. Comparing samples collected during the pulverization period with respect to the pre-pulverization period, the average mother and child cholinesterase activity decreased by 65.7% (p < 0.001) and 85.8% (p < 0.001), respectively. Also, mother and child carboxylesterase activity decreased by 27.5% (p < 0.001) and 41.9% (p < 0.01), respectively. Child carboxylesterase activity in the pulverization period was associated to the habit of eating dust outdoors (p < 0.01). The most frequent inhibition levels observed for cholinesterase and carboxylesterase activity were between 70–100% and 0–29%, respectively, in both groups studied. This shows that at the same level of exposure, cholinesterase was more sensitive to inhibition than carboxylesterase. Therefore, carboxylesterase might more properly reflect the degree of environmental organophosphate exposure and may have potential as a novel tool for biomonitoring.