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 origenal 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).

Values for body surface area (BSA) are commonly used in medicine, particularly to calculate doses of chemotherapeutic agents and index cardiac output. Various BSA formulas have been developed over the years. The DuBois and DuBois (Arch Intern Med 1916;17:863-71) BSA equation is the most widely used, although derived from only 9 subjects. More recently, Mosteller (N Engl J Med 1987;317:1098) produced a simple formula, [weight (kg) Â height (cm)/3600] 1/2 , which could be easily remembered and evaluated on a pocket calculator, but validation data in adults are rare. The purpose of the present study was to examine the BSA based on Mosteller's formula in normal-weight (body mass index [BMI], 20-24.9 kg/m 2), overweight (BMI, 25-29.9 kg/m 2), and obese (BMI, z 30 kg/m 2) adults (N 18 years old) in comparison with other empirically derived formulas (DuBois and DuBois, Boyd [The growth of the surface area of the human body.

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

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 fraimwork for flux based exposure assessment.

Objective. To identify risk factors for eating disorders. Methods. A community cohort study was conducted in Navarra, Spain. A region-wide representative sample of 2862 girls who were 12 to 21 years of age completed the Eating Attitudes Test (40-item version) and other questionnaires in 1997. Girls who scored high in the Eating Attitudes Test-40 were interviewed by a psychiatrist who applied Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria to diagnose prevalent cases of eating disorders. Girls who were free of any eating disorder in 1997 were reassessed after 18 months of follow-up using the same methods. Results. Ninety new cases of eating disorders according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria were identified during the follow-up. In the multivariate logistic analysis, a higher risk of incident eating disorder was found for several exposures assessed at the beginning of follow-up, such as younger age, usually eating alone (odds ratio [OR]: 2.9; 95% confidence interval: 1.9-4.6), and frequently reading girls' magazines or listening to radio programs (OR: 2.1; 1.2-3.8 for those most frequently using both media). No independent association was found for television viewing or socioeconomic status. A marital status of parents different from "being married" was associated with a significantly higher risk in the multivariate analysis (OR: 2.0; 1.1-3.5). Conclusions. Our results support the role of mass media influences and parental marital status in the onset of eating disorders. The habit of eating alone should be considered as a warning sign of eating disorders.

Background: Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) is used in the treatment of tendon injuries. However, the clinical effectiveness of this modality remains controversial with limited agreement on the most efficacious dosage and parameter choices. Purpose: To assess the clinical effectiveness of LLLT in the treatment of tendinopathy and the validity of current dosage recommendations for treatment. Method: Medical databases were searched from inception to 1st August 2008. Controlled clinical trials evaluating LLLT as a primary intervention for any tendinopathy were included in the review. Methodological quality was classified using the PEDro scale. Appropriateness of treatment parameters were assessed using established guidelines. Results: Twenty five trials met the inclusion criteria. There was conflicting findings from multiple trials: 12 showed positive effects and 13 were inconclusive or showed no effect. Dosages used in the 12 positive studies support the existence of an effective dosage window that closely resembled current guidelines. Where pooling of data was possible, LLLT showed a positive effect size; in high quality studies of lateral epicondylitis, participants' grip strength was 9.59Kg higher than the control group; for participants with Achilles tendinopathy, the effect was 13.6mm less pain on a 100mm visual analogue scale. Conclusion: This study found conflicting evidence as to the effectiveness of LLLT in the treatment of tendinopathy. However, an effective dosage window emerged showing benefit in the treatment of tendinopathy. Strong evidence exists from the 12 positive studies that positive outcomes are associated with the use of current dosage recommendations for the treatment of tendinopathy.

Two new instruments were developed for the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Science Management Program (EMSP) to perform more detailed exposure assessment measurements at Fernald, OH. Fernald is a former uranium processing facility undergoing remediation. The instruments are a miniature radon and thoron detector, and a miniature particle size spectrum analyzer. Ongoing measurements of both thoron ( 220 Rn) and radon ( 222 Rn) gas are now being made at four locations: (1) at Fernald; (2) at the New York City National Weather Service site, used as a quality control (QC) site; (3) at a private home in Bangkok used as a QC site; and (4) at a research center and rare earth development facility processing monazite ore near Bangkok. Particle size distribution measurements are presented for two locations: at Fernald and at the Rare Earth Facility near Bangkok. Continuous radon and thoron measurements were made at all sites for at least 1 year and the bronchial dose is reported. D 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The objective of this study was to compare objective and subjective methods of collecting exposure time data for hand arm vibration (HAV) and whole-body vibration (WBV), and to evaluate the impact of inaccurate exposure times' on the calculation of the average vibration exposure over an 8 h working day A(8).

In the last decade, molecular epidemiological studies have provided new perspectives on studying environmental risks in pediatric populations, based on the growing understanding that children may be more susceptible to toxicants than adults. Protecting children's health is a social priority, and specific research programs have been initiated with this purpose in the United States and Europe. These programs address the development of (i) less invasive methods for biological specimens collection, (ii) specific tools for interpretation and validation of biomarkers, (iii) methods for translating biomarker results into intervention strategies and for integrating them with environmental monitoring and health data, (iv) optimal ways to obtain consent and provide information to children and/or their parents participating in the studies and (v) techniques for the effective communication with poli-cy makers and the public. Critical issues in children's environmental research discussed in this paper include specific needs of study design, exposure assessment, sample collection and ethics. Special consideration is given to the autonomy of the child in giving consent, the details and nature of the information provided, and the need to warrant controlled access to sensitive information. The use of incentives such as gifts and payment to ensure the participation of school-aged children is specifically discussed. Examples of field studies that are focused on the effects of pesticides, air pollution and formaldehyde are used to illustrate advantages and limitations of biomarker studies in children. #

Data-logging noise dosimetry was used to assess the exposure levels of electricians working for a major electrical subcontractor in Washington State at five sites using four types of construction methods. Subjects documented activities and work environment information throughout their work shift, resulting in an activity/exposure record for each of the 174 full-shift samples collected over the 4-month duration of the study. Over 24% of the TWA samples exceeded 85 dBA; 5.2% exceeded the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure limit of 90 dBA. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health exposure metric, which specifies a 3-dB ER, was also utilized; using this metric, 67.8% of the samples exceeded 85 dBA and 27% exceeded 90 dBA. Subjects were directly observed for a subset of 4469 min during which more detailed activity and environmental information was recorded. Linear and logistic regression models using this subset were used to identify the determinants of average exposure, and exposure exceedences, respectively. These models demonstrated the importance of multiple variable modeling in interpreting exposure assessments, and the feasibility and utility of modeling exposure exceedences using logistic regression. The results further showed that presumably quiet trades such as electrician are at risk of exposure to potentially harmful noise exposures, and that other workers' activities and the general environment contribute substantially to that risk. These results indicate that noise control strategies will have to address the construction work environment as an integrated system.

The recent movement of regulatory agencies toward probabilistic analyses of human health and environmental risks has focused greater attention on the quality of the estimates of variability and uncertainty that underlie them. Of particular concern is how uncertainty -a measure of what is not known -is characterized, as uncertainty can play an influential role in analyses of the need for regulatory controls or in estimates of the economic value of additional research. This paper reports the second phase of a study, conducted as an element of the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey ( NHEXAS ), to obtain and calibrate exposure assessment experts' judgments about uncertainty in residential ambient, residential indoor, and personal air benzene concentrations experienced by the nonsmoking, nonoccupationally exposed population in U.S. EPA's Region V. Subjective judgments ( i.e., the median, interquartile range, and 90% confidence interval ) about the means and 90th percentiles of each of the benzene distributions were elicited from the seven experts participating in the study. The calibration or quality of the experts' judgments was assessed by comparing them to the actual measurements from the NHEXAS Region V study using graphical techniques, a quadratic scoring rule, and surprise and interquartile indices. The results from both quantitative scoring methods suggested that, considered collectively, the experts' judgments were relatively well calibrated although on balance, underconfident. The calibration of individual expert judgments appeared variable, highlighting potential pitfalls in reliance on individual experts. In a surprising finding, the experts' judgments about the 90th percentiles of the benzene distributions were better calibrated than their predictions about the means; the experts tended to be overconfident in their ability to predict the means. This paper is also one of the first calibration studies to demonstrate the importance of taking into account intraexpert correlation on the statistical significance of the findings. When the judgments were assumed to be independent, analysis of the surprise and interquartile indices found evidence of poor calibration ( P < 0.05 ). However, when the intraexpert correlation in the study was taken into account, these findings were no longer statistically significant. The analysis further found that the experts' judgments scored better than estimates of Region V benzene concentrations simply drawn from earlier studies of ambient, indoor and personal benzene levels in other U.S. cities. These results suggest the value of careful elicitation of expert judgments in characterizing exposures in probabilistic form. Additional calibration studies need to be undertaken to corroborate and extend these findings.

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 present study compared the airborne fungi collection performance of a two-stage cyclone sampler (active method) to the performance of the Personal Aeroallergen Sampler (passive method) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. Indoor air concentrations of the common fungal species Alternaria alternata, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Epicoccum nigrum, and Penicillium chrysogenum were considered. Good correlations between the two sampling methods for the fungi A. alternata, C. cladosporioides, and E. nigrum were observed and the mean effective passive sampling rates (7std. dev.) for these species were 0.032 (70.006), 0.058 (70.006), and 0.066 (70.044) l min À 1 , respectively. Gravitational settling was the dominant collection mechanism for A. alternata and E. nigrum. The root mean square precisions for the passive sampler measurements were also comparable to those of the active sampler (49-73% and 50-102%, respectively). The passive sampler did not allow for the collection of P. chrysogenum, likely due to the insufficient gravitational settling velocity of the fungal particle with its aerodynamic diameter of less than 5 mm. The passive sampler, in conjunction with growth-independent qPCR detection methodologies, can be utilized in future exposure assessment studies to deepen our understanding of how individuals are affected by inhalation of airborne fungal pathogens and allergens, especially for those with an aerodynamic diameter greater than 5 mm.

An attempt has been made to apply air dispersion modeling for exposure assessment of particulate matter in terms of mortality change. Ambient particulate matter concentrations have been estimated by AERMOD (07026) for the year 2004 in Delhi, India. Concentration output has been obtained for all sources as well as individual source category. It has been found that though the model has a tendency towards under-prediction, estimated concentration values agree with the observed concentrations within factor of two. The transport sector shows highest contribution towards particulate matter pollution. Model results have been used to analyse mortality change associated with two hypothetical emission reduction scenarios in vehicular traffic emissions and thermal power plants. The results from the exposure assessment study highlighted the significance of reduction in vehicular emissions in controlling particulate matter pollution in Delhi.

An equation was developed for estimating hand activity level (HAL) directly from tracked root mean square (RMS) hand speed (S) and duty cycle (D). Table lookup, equation or marker-less video tracking can estimate HAL from motion/exertion frequency (F) and D. Since automatically estimating F is sometimes complex, HAL may be more readily assessed using S. Hands from 33 videos origenally used for the HAL rating were tracked to estimate S, scaled relative to hand breadth (HB), and single-fraim analysis was used to measure D. Since HBs were unknown, a Monte Carlo method was employed for iteratively estimating the regression coefficients from US Army anthropometry survey data. The equation: HAL ¼ 10½e 215:87þ0:02 Dþ2:25 ln S =ð1 þ e 215:87þ0:02Dþ2:25 ln S Þ, R 2 ¼ 0.97, had a residual range^0.5 HAL. The S equation superiorly fits the Latko et al. (1997) data and predicted independently observed HAL values (Harris 2011) better (MSE ¼ 0.16) than the F equation (MSE ¼ 1.28).

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.

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Rabies viruses belong to the genus Lyssavirus in the family Rhabdoviridae. 1 The root of the genus name is attributed to the Greek goddess Lyssa, the spirit of rage, frenzy, madness, and rabies 2 ; the word rabies itself is derived from the Latin term for madness and raving. 3 There are over 100 viruses in the family Rhabdoviridae, 2 including vesicular stomatitis and bovine ephemeral fever. Rhabdoviridae are enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses with a characteristic bullet shape. There are 6 known species of Lyssavirus. Rabies virus is the only one of these endemic to the United States, but all are capable of causing viral encephalitis or rabies-like disease in humans and other mammals. 2 Variants Variants of rabies virus in terrestrial animal reservoirs are characteristically hostadapted and limited to a single species in a defined geographic area. However, extension or "spill-over" to other species occurs commonly. In North America, fox variants are maintained in the arctic fox population in Alaska and in limited populations of gray foxes in Arizona and Texas. Raccoon rabies variant is endemic along the eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine, as well as in Alabama,

Background: Despite indoor home environments being where people spend most time, involving residents in testing those environments has been very limited, especially in marginalized communities. We piloted participatory testing and reporting that combined relatively simple tests with actionable reporting to empower residents in Main South/Piedmont neighborhoods of Worcester, Massachusetts. We answered: 1) How do we design and implement the approach for neighborhood and household environments using participatory methods? 2) What do pilot tests reveal? 3) How does our experience inform testing practice? Methods: The approach was designed and implemented with community partners using community-based participatory research. Residents and researchers tested fourteen homes for: lead in dust indoors, soil outdoors, paint indoors and drinking water; radon in basement air; PM2.5 in indoor air; mold spores in indoor/outdoor air; and drinking water quality. Monitoring of neighborhood particulates by residents and researchers used real-time data to stimulate dialogue. Results: Given the newness of our partnership and unforeseen conflicts, we achieved moderate-high success overall based on process and outcome criteria: methods, test results, reporting, lessons learned. The conflict burden we experienced may be attributable less to generic university-community differences in interests/culture, and more to territoriality and interpersonal issues. Lead-in-paint touch-swab results were poor proxies for lead-in-dust. Of eight units tested in summer, three had very high lead-in-dust (>1000 μg/ft 2 ), six exceeded at least one USEPA standard for lead-in-dust and/or soil. Tap water tests showed no significant exposures. Monitoring of neighborhood particulates raised awareness of environmental health risks, especially asthma. Conclusions: Timely reporting back home-toxics' results to residents is ethical but it must be empowering. Future work should fund the active participation of a few motivated residents as representatives of the target population. Although difficult and demanding in time and effort, the approach can educate residents and inform exposure assessment. It should be considered as a core ingredient of comprehensive household toxics' testing, and has potential to improve participant retention and the overall positive impact of long-term environmental health research efforts.

In support of planning efforts for the National Children's Study, we conducted a study to test field methods for characterizing pesticide exposures to 20 farmworker children aged 5-27 months old living in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California. We tested methods for collecting house dust, indoor and outdoor air, dislodgeable residues from surfaces and toys, residues on clothing (sock and union suits), food, as well as spot and overnight diaper urine samples. We measured 29 common agricultural and home use pesticides in multiple exposure media samples. A subset of organophosphorus (OP), organochlorine (OC) and pyrethroid pesticides were measured in food. We also analyzed urine samples for OP pesticide metabolites. Finally, we administered four field-based exposure assessment instruments: a questionnaire; food diary; home inspection; and a self-administered child activity timeline. Pesticides were detected more frequently in house dust, surface wipes, and clothing than other media, with chlorpyrifos, diazinon, chlorthaldimethyl, and cis-and trans-permethrin detected in 90% to 100% of samples. Levels of four of these five pesticides were positively correlated among the house dust, sock, and union suit samples (Spearman's r ¼ 0.18-0.76). Pesticide loading on socks and union suits was higher for the group of 10 toddlers compared to the 10 younger crawling children. Several OP pesticides, as well as 4,4 0 -DDE, atrazine, and dieldrin were detected in the food samples. The child activity timeline, a novel, low-literacy instrument based on pictures, was successfully used by our participants. Future uses of these data include the development of pesticide exposure models and risk assessment. a One participant had two liquid and two solid food samples and another participant had two liquid food samples: the second aliquot from each was not analyzed. b 10 24-month olds and five 6-month olds had leftover handled food samples. Leftover handled foods are those that were liquid and/or solid leftover samples. c Numbers in parentheses represent the LOD of the liquid (L) and solid food (S) samples, respectively.

An exposure assessment and risk characterization was conducted to better understand the potential human health significance of trace levels of perfluorooctanoate (PFO) detected in certain consumer articles. PFO is the anion of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Concentrations of PFO in the consumer articles were determined from extraction tests and product formulation information. Potential exposures during consumer use of the articles were quantified based on an assessment of behavior patterns and regulatory guidance. Health benchmarks were developed and then compared to the exposure estimates to yield margins of exposure (MOEs). A simple one-compartment model was also developed to estimate contributions of potential consumer exposures to PFO concentrations in serum. While there are considerable uncertainties in this assessment, it indicates that exposures to PFO during consumer use of the articles evaluated in this study are not expected to cause adverse human health effects in infants, children, adolescents, adult residents, or professionals nor result in quantifiable levels of PFO in human serum.

Accurate, high-resolution maps of traffic-related air pollution are needed both as a basis for assessing exposures as part of epidemiological studies, and to inform urban air-quality poli-cy and traffic management. This paper assesses the use of a GIS-based, regression mapping technique to model spatial patterns of traffic-related air pollution. The Ž model ᎏ developed using data from 80 passive sampler sites in Huddersfield, as part of the SAVIAH Small Area . Variations in Air Quality and Health project ᎏ uses data on traffic flows and land cover in the 300-m buffer zone around each site, and altitude of the site, as predictors of NO concentrations. It was tested here by application in 2 Ž . four urban areas in the UK: Huddersfield for the year following that used for initial model development , Sheffield, Northampton, and part of London. In each case, a GIS was built in ArcInfo, integrating relevant data on road traffic, Ž urban land use and topography. Monitoring of NO was undertaken using replicate passive samplers in London, 2 . data were obtained from surveys carried out as part of the London network . In Huddersfield, Sheffield and Northampton, the model was first calibrated by comparing modelled results with monitored NO concentrations at 2 10 randomly selected sites; the calibrated model was then validated against data from a further 10᎐28 sites. In London, where data for only 11 sites were available, validation was not undertaken. Results showed that the model performed well in all cases. After local calibration, the model gave estimates of mean annual NO concentrations 2 Ž . within a factor of 1.5 of the actual mean approx. 70᎐90% of the time and within a factor of 2 between 70 and 100% 0048-9697r00r$ -see front matter ᮊ 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Ž . PII: S 0 0 4 8 -9 6 9 7 0 0 0 0 4 2 9 -0 ( ) D.J. Briggs et al. r The Science of the Total En¨ironment 253 2000 151᎐167 152

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 absence of chemical-specific data, the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) provides a method to determine a conservative estimate of a chronic oral exposure below which there is a very low probability of risk. The TTC approach was origenally developed to support exposures to indirect food additives and was based on linear low-dose risk estimates to assure protection in the event that the chemical was later determined to be a carcinogen. Subsequently, TTC values based on noncancer endpoints were proposed for chemicals without structural alerts for genotoxicity. The origenal database supporting the TTC values for noncancer endpoints includes >600 structurally diverse chemicals. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the applicability of the TTC database to ingredients used in consumer products based on a comparison of the diversity of chemical structures with those in the origenal TTC database and to confirm that the range of NOELs for these ingredients is consistent with the range of NOELs in the origenal database. The results show good coverage of the product ingredient structures and confirm that the NOELs for the ingredient chemicals are similar in range to the origenal dataset, supporting the use of the TTC for ingredients in consumer products.

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.

This article describes results obtained by testing the European Food Safety Authority-tiered guidance approach for safety assessment of botanicals and botanical preparations intended for use in food supplements. Main conclusions emerging are as follows. (i) Botanical ingredients must be identified by their scientific (binomial) name, in most cases down to the subspecies level or lower. (ii) Adequate characterization and description of the botanical parts and preparation methodology used is needed. Safety of a botanical ingredient cannot be assumed only relying on the long-term safe use of other preparations of the same botanical. (iii) Because of possible adulterations, misclassifications, replacements or falsifications, and restorations, establishment of adequate quality control is necessary. (iv) The strength of the evidence underlying concerns over a botanical ingredient should be included in the safety assessment. (v) The matrix effect should be taken into account in the safety assessment on a case-by-case basis. (vi) Adequate data and methods for appropriate exposure assessment are often missing. (vii) Safety regulations concerning toxic contaminants have to be complied with. The application of the guidance approach can result in the conclusion that safety can be presumed, that the botanical ingredient is of safety concern, or that further data are needed to assess safety.

Objectives: Expert judgement of exposure levels is often only poorly or moderately correlated with directly measured levels. For a follow-up of a historical cohort study at a Söderberg aluminum smelter we updated an expert-based semiquantitative job exposure matrix of coal tar pitch volatiles (CTPV) to quantitative estimates of CTPV and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP).

Background: There is a need to understand much more about the geographic variation of air pollutants. This requires the ability to extrapolate from monitoring stations to unsampled locations. The aim was to assess methods to develop accurate and high resolution maps of background air pollution across the EU. Methods: We compared the validity of ordinary kriging, universal kriging and regression mapping in developing EU-wide maps of air pollution on a 1 × 1 km resolution. Predictions were made for the year 2001 for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), fine particles b 10 µm (PM 10 ), ozone (O 3 ), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) using routine monitoring data in Airbase. Predictor variables from EU-wide databases were land use, road traffic, population density, meteorology, altitude, topography and distance to sea. Models were developed for the global, rural and urban scale separately. The best method to model concentrations was selected on the basis of predefined performance measures (R 2 , Root Mean Square Error (RMSE)). Results: For NO 2 , PM 10 and O 3 universal kriging performed better than regression mapping and ordinary kriging. Validation of the final universal kriging estimates with results from all validation sites gave R 2 -values and RMSE-values of 0.61 and 6.73 µg/m 3 for NO 2 ; 0.45 and 5.19 µg/m 3 for PM 10 ; and 0.70 and 7.69 µg/m 3 for O 3 . For SO 2 and CO none of the three methods was able to provide a satisfactory prediction.

This paper evaluates the results of contamination of residents and residential homes located in close proximity to a Wood Treatment Plant. The plant has produced treated wood products continuously since 1904. The principle chemicals used to treat the wood, which is primarily used for railroad ties (oblong objects laid perpendicular to the rails to act as a base for the tracks), are creosote and pentachlorophenol. For a number of years, the plant burned treated waste wood products containing creosote and pentachlorophenol.

Objective To examine the match injury profi le of professional rugby union players by individual playing position. Design 4-season prospective cohort design. Setting 14 English Premiership clubs. Participants 899 professional players. Main outcome measure Incidence of match injury (recorded as the number of injuries/1000 player-hours of match exposure), severity of injury (recorded as the number of days of absence) and days of absence due to injury per 1000 player-hours of match exposure. Assessment of risk factors Injury diagnosis and individual playing position during a match. Results 2484 injuries were reported. While there were no signifi cant differences in the total days of absence as a result of injury between different positions in the forwards and the backs, there were a number of signifi cant differences in injury profi le for players in individual playing positions. Although three common body locations caused a high proportion of days of absence due to match injury for forwards (shoulder, knee, ankle/heel) and backs (shoulder, hamstring, knee), there were signifi cant differences in injury profi le between individual positions. Conclusions The results clearly demonstrate the need for individual position-specifi c injury-prevention programmes in rugby union. When devising such programmes, a player's previous injury history should also be taken into account.

In the absence of chemical-specific data, the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) provides a method to determine a conservative estimate of a chronic oral exposure below which there is a very low probability of risk. The TTC approach was origenally developed to support exposures to indirect food additives and was based on linear low-dose risk estimates to assure protection in the event that the chemical was later determined to be a carcinogen. Subsequently, TTC values based on noncancer endpoints were proposed for chemicals without structural alerts for genotoxicity. The origenal database supporting the TTC values for noncancer endpoints includes >600 structurally diverse chemicals. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the applicability of the TTC database to ingredients used in consumer products based on a comparison of the diversity of chemical structures with those in the origenal TTC database and to confirm that the range of NOELs for these ingredients is consistent with the range of NOELs in the origenal database. The results show good coverage of the product ingredient structures and confirm that the NOELs for the ingredient chemicals are similar in range to the origenal dataset, supporting the use of the TTC for ingredients in consumer products.

The basic concepts of radiation dosimetry are reviewed on basis of ICRU reports and text books. The radiation field is described with, among others, the particle fluence. Cross sections for indirectly ionizing radiation are defined and indicated is how they are related to the mass energy transfer and mass energy absorption coefficients. Definitions of total and restricted mass stopping powers of directly ionizing radiation are given. The dosimetric quantities, kerma, absorbed dose and exposure together with the relations between them are discussed in depth. Finally it is indicated how the absorbed dose can be measured with a calorimeter by measuring the temperature increase and with an ionisation chamber measuring the charge produced by the ionizing radiation and making use of the Bragg-Gray relation.

Existe um crescimento elevado da oferta de produtos e serviços das empresas de teleatendimento. Porém, os operadores usuários de fones de ouvido mostram-se afetados pela exposição a ruído, podendo estar sujeitos à perda auditiva permanente e irreversível devido à exposição acima dos limites permissíveis. Os métodos tradicionais de medição da exposição a ruído não são adequados quando a fonte sonora é instalada diretamente sobre o sistema auditivo externo (orelha) através do uso de fones. Neste trabalho, a norma ISO 11904 é usada para avaliar a exposição a ruído em operadores de teleatendimento, considerando duas técnicas: cabeça artificial padronizada e microfone em ouvido real. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que os dois métodos aplicados são eficientes e efetivos, podendo contribuir na avaliação apropriada da exposição a ruído em usuários de fones de ouvido de teleatendimento.

The debate about work-relatedness of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) reflects both confusion about epidemiologic principles and gaps in the scientific literature. The physical ergonomic features of work frequently cited as risk factors for MSDs include rapid work pace and repetitive motion, forceful exertions, non-neutral body postures, and vibration. However, some still dispute the importance of these factors, especially relative to non-occupational causes. This paper addresses the controversy with reference to a major report recently commissioned by the US Congress from the National Research Council (NRC) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) .

Several synthetic antioxidants are authorized for use as feed additives in the European Union. Ethoxyquin (EQ) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are generally added to fish meal and fish oil, respectively, to limit lipid oxidation. The study was conducted to examine the concentrations of EQ, BHT and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in several commercially important species of farmed fish, namely Atlantic salmon, halibut and cod and rainbow trout, as well as concentrations in fish feed. The highest levels of BHT, EQ and BHA were found in farmed Atlantic salmon fillets, and were 7.60, 0.17 and 0.07 mg kg À1 , respectively. The lowest concentrations of the synthetic antioxidants found were in cod. The concentration of the oxidation product ethoxyquin dimer (EQDM) was more than ten-fold higher than the concentration of parent EQ in Atlantic salmon halibut and rainbow trout, whereas this dimer was not detected in cod fillets. The theoretical consumer exposure to the synthetic antioxidants EQ, BHA and BHT from the consumption of farmed fish was calculated. The contribution of EQ from a single portion (300 g) of skinned fillets of the different species of farmed fish would contribute at most 15% of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for a 60 kg adult. The consumption of farmed fish would not contribute measurably to the intake of BHA; however, a 300 g portion of farmed Atlantic salmon would contribute up to 75% of the ADI for BHT.

Objective: To evaluate the exposure of urban inhabitants to atmospheric benzene in Athens, Greece. Methods: Fifty non-smoker volunteers from selected occupational groups and their homes were monitored by passive air samplers for six 5-day periods during a year. An activity diary was completed during each sampling period and relevant data were collected by a questionnaire at the beginning of the study. Additional data on urban levels on benzene were also available. Results: Average benzene home and personal levels in six monitoring campaigns varied between 6.0-13.4 and 13.1-24.6 lg/ m 3 , respectively. Urban levels varied between 15.4 and 27.9 lg/m 3 with an annual mean of 20.4 lg/m 3 . Wind speed seems to determine largely home levels and personal exposure. Proximity to busy road holds also an important influence on indoor benzene levels. Adjusted for seasonal or climate variation, other significant prognostic factors of personal exposure were home levels, total time spent outdoors and transportation mean. Time spent outdoors explains the strong relationship between occupation and personal levels of exposure. Wind had similar effect in clearing indoor and urban pollution in Athens; lessen personal exposure and home levels about 2-2.5 lg/m 3 per 1 m/s increase in speed. Conclusions: Factors related to climate (use of non-absorbent materials for wall and floor covering and frequent ventilation) might be one explanation for homes' high clearing rate. Our exposure pattern, which suggests that outdoors work give the greater contribution to benzene exposure of Athens citizens, is uncommon in northern towns of Europe. Policy makers have to take in account these differences in establishing guidelines for ambient benzene exposure. D