Windsor, Ontario exposure assessment study: design and methods validation of personal, indoor, and outdoor air pollution monitoring

The Windsor, Ontario Exposure Assessment Study evaluated the contribution of ambient air pollutants to personal and indoor exposures of adults and asthmatic children living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In addition, the role of personal, indoor, and outdoor air pollution exposures upon asthmatic children's respiratory health was assessed. Several active and passive sampling methods were applied, or adapted, for personal, indoor, and outdoor residential monitoring of nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter (PM; PM < or = 2.5 microm [PM2.5] and < or = 10 microm [PM10] in aerodynamic diameter), elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, ozone, air exchange rates, allergens in settled dust, and particulate-associated metals. Participants completed five consecutive days of monitoring during the winter and summer of 2005 and 2006. During 2006, in addition to undertaking the air pollution measurements, asthmatic children completed respiratory health measurements (including peak flow meter tests and exhaled breath condensate) and tracked respiratory symptoms in a diary. Extensive quality assurance and quality control steps were implemented, including the collocation of instruments at the National Air Pollution Surveillance site operated by Environment Canada and at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality site in Allen Park, Detroit, MI. During field sampling, duplicate and blank samples were also completed and these data are reported. In total, 50 adults and 51 asthmatic children were recruited to participate, resulting in 922 participant days of data. When comparing the methods used in the study with standard reference methods, field blanks were low and bias was acceptable, with most methods being within 20% of reference methods. Duplicates were typically within less than 10% of each other, indicating that study results can be used with confidence. This paper covers study design, recruitment, methodology, time activity diary, surveys, and quality assurance and control results for the different methods used.     

Examining the relationship between metal exposure (Cd and Hg), subcellular accumulation,and physiology of juvenile Crassostrea virginica

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To assess the toxicity and accumulation (total and subcellular partitioning) of cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg), juvenile eastern oysters, Crassostrea...     

Regulatory focus as a mediator in goal orientation and performance relationships

Chosen goals influence the outcomes a person achieves as well as the behaviors performed to achieve those outcomes. In this study, we propose that three forms of goal orientation: learning, performance‐prove, and performance‐avoid, (VandeWalle, 1997 ) relate to performance, with learning and performance‐prove relating to performance through regulatory foci of prevention and promotion, respectively. Regulatory focus, a type of self‐regulation, entails the implementation of specific strategies in pursuit of goals and thus gives us insight to how a person pursues a chosen goal. In a combination of laboratory and field studies, we examine the role of regulatory focus as a mediator between goal orientation and task performance. We find evidence that regulatory focus strategies differentially mediate the goal orientation/task performance relationship. Theoretical ramifications for these relationships, as well as practical implications, are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integrating attachment style,vigor at work,and extra‐role performance

This paper presents and tests a model of the impact of secure and insecure attachment styles (secure, counterdependent, and overdependent) on citizenship behavior and workplace deviance behavior through vigor at work. Employees who exhibit secure attachment styles are proposed to exhibit more vigor at work because of more effective use of physical, emotional, and cognitive resources which translates into increased organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and decreased deviance. Insecurely attached employees are hypothesized to exhibit the opposite pattern. In a sample of 331 repair generalists in a large building facilities and maintenance organization, results indicate that attachment styles indirectly predicted OCBs and deviance through vigor. Implications of these results for attachment style, vigor at work, OCBs, and deviance are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic coastal dune spit: the impact of morphological change on dune slacks at Whiteford Burrows, South Wales, UK

Whiteford Burrows is a coastal dune spit wetland in South Wales that is susceptible to morphological change. The height of the ridge of groundwater within the sand aquifer is essentially proportional to the width of the spit. The water table elevation impacts both the frequency and duration of slack flooding events and, therefore, slack ecology. A severe late winter storm event on 17 March 1995 caused extensive erosion of the foreshore, reducing the effective width of the dune system by 4 % and the water table elevation by up to 1 m. This observed relationship allows water level elevations in the dune system to be hindcast using historical maps and air photos which record past change in dune morphology. These historical data indicate that the dunes were relatively broad in the nineteenth century and the slacks were humid and liable to regular winter flooding. The system slowly dried out towards the 1940s as the spit thinned, when subsequent widening allowed the water table to rise and once again flood slack floors in winter. Despite these changes, the alkalinity of the Whiteford Burrows dune system has inhibited organic matter accumulation and maintained conditions needed for the persistence of a diverse basiphilous vegetation assemblage in many of the slacks.     

Gamma aminobutyric acid radioreceptor‐assay a possible biomarker for human exposure to certain agrochemicals

Abstract

Cyclodiene insecticides, hexachlorocyclohexanes, pyrethroids, bicyclophosphates, the bicycloorthocarboxylate insecticides and some of their metabolites and environmental degradation products are central nervous system toxicants with high specific binding affinity to the chloride channel of the γ‐ aminobutyric acid (GABA)_A receptor‐ionophore sites. [³⁵S] tertiary‐butylbicyclophosphorothionate (TBPS) with specific activity higher than 60 Ci/mmole has a high binding affinity to the same sites and is now commercially available and can be used to label the GABA_A receptor for the development of a radioreceptor assay technique. The GABA receptor was prepared by ultra centnfugation and dialysis of brain homogenates of either cow, goat, rat or catfish. The receptor was then labeled with [³⁵S] TBPS and the assay was conducted by measuring the displacement of radioactivity following incubation with samples containing the analytes. A radioreceptor assay protocol was developed to measure the amount of the α‐endosulfan in blood samples. The assay was extremely sensitive, and can detect 0.2 nM of endosulfan at a level equivalent to 0.08 ppb or 8x10^‐11 gm of endosulfan in each ml of the blood samples.     

Evaluating the Effects of Three Forms of Marine Reserve on Northern Abalone Populations in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract: Marine reserves have been suggested as tools for assisting the management of fisheries by protecting vulnerable marine species from overexploitation. Although there is a theoretical basis for believing that marine reserves may serve as management tools, there are few marine reserves in the world in which to test their effectiveness. My research evaluated three forms of marine reserve on the south coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. I used northern abalone ( Haliotis kamtschatkana ), a severely depleted shellfish in this region, as an indicator of the effectiveness of the reserves. Abalone populations in eight sites receiving different degrees of spatial protection were counted and measured in situ during the spring of 1996 and 1997. In all sites with enforced harvest closures, populations of abalone were greater, and one site with nearly 40 years of protection had on average much larger (older) abalone. Reproductive output, as a function of abundance and size, was also greater in the enforced reserve areas. Larval dispersal from reserves, and hence the benefit to exploited areas, was not formally surveyed. Nevertheless, the results of my study, combined with knowledge of present abalone populations, life history, and regional hydrodynamics, suggest that establishment of reserves is justified in the absence of perfect knowledge of larval dispersal.     

Posttreatment Tree Mortality After Forest Ecological Restoration,Arizona, United States

Pine–oak forests are of high ecological importance worldwide, but many are threatened by uncharacteristically severe wildfire. Forest restoration treatments, including the reintroduction of a surface fire regime, are intended to decrease fire hazard and emulate historic ecosystem structure and function. Restoration has recently received much management attention and short-term study, but little is known about longer-term ecosystem responses. We remeasured a replicated experimental restoration site in the southwestern United States 5 years after treatments. Basal area, tree density, and canopy cover decreased in the treated units at a faster rate than in controls. Delayed mortality, not evident right after treatment, decreased density modestly (13% in treated units and 10% in controls) but disproportionately affected large trees (“large” ponderosa pines were those with diameter at breast height [dbh] ≥37.5 cm; other species dbh ≥20 cm). In treated units, 10.9 large trees ha^–1 died, whereas 6.2 trees ha^–1 died in control units. Compared with reference conditions, the experimental blocks remained higher in pine density and, in three of the four blocks, in basal area. Pine trees grew significantly faster in treated units than in controls, enough to reach the reference level of basal area in 6 years. Although mortality of large trees is a concern, the treated units have vigorous growth and low density, indicating that they will be relatively resistant to future drought and fire events. Similar treatments may be beneficial in many areas of the United States and in related pine-oak ecosystems elsewhere.     

Optimising the timing for nuchal translucency measurement

It appears from current evidence that the most effective screening strategy for Down syndrome will involve a combination of first trimester nuchal translucency and serum biochemistry, whether performed in the first or second trimester. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum gestation based upon menstrual dates at which to schedule nuchal translucency (NT) measurement for the evaluation of fetal Down syndrome risk. Five thousand eight hundred and thirty-five pregnancies had an ultrasound scan scheduled between 11 and 14 completed weeks of gestation based upon either the last menstrual period (n = 3199) or a prior ultrasound scan (n = 2636). For last menstrual period-based ultrasound scans, with advancing gestation the frequency of missed miscarriage significantly decreased (p = 0.009, chi squared test), as did the need to reschedule a further scan because the gestation of the scheduled scan was too early to measure NT (p < 0.0001, Chi-squared test). In contrast, with advancing gestation the rate of unsuccessful NT measurement because the crown–rump length (CRL) was greater than 84 mm significantly increased (p < 0.0001, Chi-squared test). Of the women who had had an earlier ultrasound, 42 (1.6%) had a missed miscarriage and 9 (0.3%) were over gestation at the time of the NT scan. These data suggest that when only the last menstrual period is known the optimum time to schedule a nuchal translucency measurement is at 12 to 13 weeks' gestation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring individual exposure. Measurements of volatile organic compounds in breathing-zone air, drinking water, and exhaled breath

Methods for determining individual exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC) during normal daily activities were field tested on university student volunteers in Texas and North Carolina. The equipment tested included a personal monitor employing Tenax GC® to collect organic vapors for later analysis by GC-MS, and a specially designed spirometer for collecting samples of expired human breath on duplicate Tenax cartridges. The personal monitor and spirometer proved feasible for collecting abundant quantitative data on most of the 15 target organics. Air exposures to many VOC varied widely, sometimes over three orders of magnitude, among students on the same campus who had been monitored over the same time period and day. A log-linear relationship between breathing-zone air exposures and concentrations in exhaled breath was suggested for three chemicals: tetrachloroethylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and vinylidene chloride. Air was the main route of exposure for all target compounds except the two trihalomethanes (chloroform and bromodichloromethane), which were transmitted mainly through water. Estimated total daily intake through air and water of the target organics ranged from 0.3 to 12.6 mg, with 1,1,1-trichloroethane at the highest concentrations in both geographic areas.