Workplace indoor environmental quality and asthma-related outcomes in healthcare workers.

Background: Asthma-related health outcomes are known to be associated with indoor moisture and renovations. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of these indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors in healthcare facilities and their association with asthma-related outcomes among workers.

Methods: New York City healthcare workers (n = 2030) were surveyed regarding asthma-related symptoms, and moisture and renovation factors at work and at home during the last 12 months.

Peaks, Means, and Determinants of Real-Time TVOC Exposures Associated with Cleaning and Disinfecting Tasks in Healthcare Settings.

Cleaning and disinfecting tasks and product use are associated with elevated prevalence of asthma and respiratory symptoms among healthcare workers; however, the levels of exposure that pose a health risk remain unclear. The objective of this study was to estimate the peak, average, and determinants of real-time total volatile organic compound (TVOC) exposure associated with cleaning tasks and product-use. TVOC exposures were measured using monitors equipped with a photoionization detector (PID).

Clustering asthma symptoms and cleaning and disinfecting activities and evaluating their associations among healthcare workers.

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with varying severity and subtypes. Recent reviews of epidemiologic studies have identified cleaning and disinfecting activities (CDAs) as important risk factors for asthma-related outcomes among healthcare workers. However, the complexity of CDAs in healthcare settings has rarely been examined.

Occupation and task as risk factors for asthma-related outcomes among healthcare workers in New York City.

Background: Previous studies have suggested an association of asthma onset and exacerbation with cleaning and disinfecting activities in a number of industries, including healthcare. The objective of the current study was to investigate the association of asthma and related outcomes with occupations and tasks in urban healthcare workers in the United States.

Methods: A questionnaire was implemented in a sample of workers from nine healthcare occupations in New York City.

Exposures to Volatile Organic Compounds among Healthcare Workers: Modeling the Effects of Cleaning Tasks and Product Use.

Objectives: Use of cleaning and disinfecting products is associated with work-related asthma among healthcare workers, but the specific levels and factors that affect exposures remain unclear. The objective of this study was to evaluate the determinants of selected volatile organic compound (VOC) exposures in healthcare settings.

Methods: Personal and mobile-area air measurements (n = 143) from 100 healthcare workers at four hospitals were used to model the determinants of ethanol, acetone, 2-propanol, d-limonene, α-pinene, and chloroform exposures.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Conventional and High Performance School Buildings in the U.S.

Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been an indoor environmental quality (IEQ) concern in schools and other buildings for many years. Newer designs, construction practices and building materials for "green" buildings and the use of "environmentally friendly" products have the promise of lowering chemical exposure. This study examines VOCs and IEQ parameters in 144 classrooms in 37 conventional and high performance elementary schools in the U.

Association of Environmental Toxins With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Importance: Persistent environmental pollutants may represent a modifiable risk factor involved in the gene-time-environment hypothesis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Objective: To evaluate the association of occupational exposures and environmental toxins on the odds of developing ALS in Michigan.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Case-control study conducted between 2011 and 2014 at a tertiary referral center for ALS.

Measurement and Comparison of Organic Compound Concentrations in Plasma, Whole Blood, and Dried Blood Spot Samples.

The preferred sampling medium for measuring human exposures of persistent organic compounds (POPs) is blood, and relevant sample types include whole blood, plasma, and dried blood spots (DBS). Because information regarding the performance and comparability of measurements across these sample types is limited, it is difficult to compare across studies. This study evaluates the performance of POP measurements in plasma, whole blood and DBS, and presents the distribution coefficients needed to convert concentrations among the three sample types.

Personal exposure to mixtures of volatile organic compounds: modeling and further analysis of the RIOPA data.

Introduction: Emission sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs*) are numerous and widespread in both indoor and outdoor environments. Concentrations of VOCs indoors typically exceed outdoor levels, and most people spend nearly 90% of their time indoors. Thus, indoor sources generally contribute the majority of VOC exposures for most people.

Environmental risk factors and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): a case-control study of ALS in Michigan.

An interim report of a case-control study was conducted to explore the role of environmental factors in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Sixty-six cases and 66 age- and gender-matched controls were recruited. Detailed information regarding residence history, occupational history, smoking, physical activity, and other factors was obtained using questionnaires.

Addressing extrema and censoring in pollutant and exposure data using mixture of normal distributions.

Background: Volatile organic compounds (VOC), which include many hazardous chemicals, have been used extensively in personal, commercial and industrial products. Due to the variation in source emissions, differences in the settings and environmental conditions where exposures occur, and measurement issues, distributions of VOC concentrations can have multiple modes, heavy tails, and significant portions of data below the method detection limit (MDL). These issues challenge standard parametric distribution models needed to estimate the exposures, even after log-transformation of the data.

Modeling and analysis of personal exposures to VOC mixtures using copulas.

Environmental exposures typically involve mixtures of pollutants, which must be understood to evaluate cumulative risks, that is, the likelihood of adverse health effects arising from two or more chemicals. This study uses several powerful techniques to characterize dependency structures of mixture components in personal exposure measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with aims of advancing the understanding of environmental mixtures, improving the ability to model mixture components in a statistically valid manner, and demonstrating broadly applicable techniques. We first describe characteristics of mixtures and introduce several terms, including the mixture fraction which represents a mixture component's share of the total concentration of the mixture.

Determinants of personal, indoor and outdoor VOC concentrations: an analysis of the RIOPA data.

Community and environmental exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been associated with a number of emission sources and activities, e.g., environmental tobacco smoke and pumping gasoline.

In utero exposure to environmental lead and manganese and neurodevelopment at 2 years of age.

Background And Objective: Manganese, lead, arsenic and mercury are common neurotoxic metals in the environment. Nonetheless, the relationship between prenatal exposure to low doses of neurotoxic metals and neurodevelopment in children is not clear. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between in utero exposure to environmental neurotoxic metals and neurodevelopment at 2 years of age.

Extreme value analyses of VOC exposures and risks: A comparison of RIOPA and NHANES datasets.

Extreme value theory, which characterizes the behavior of tails of distributions, is potentially well-suited to model exposures and risks of pollutants. In this application, it emphasizes the highest exposures, particularly those that may be high enough to present acute or chronic health risks. The present study examines extreme value distributions of exposures and risks to volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Trends of VOC exposures among a nationally representative sample: Analysis of the NHANES 1988 through 2004 data sets.

Exposures to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous due to emissions from personal, commercial and industrial products, but quantitative and representative information regarding long term exposure trends is lacking. This study characterizes trends from1988 to 2004 for the 15 VOCs measured in blood in five cohorts of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a large and representative sample of U.S.

Association of daily asthma emergency department visits and hospital admissions with ambient air pollutants among the pediatric Medicaid population in Detroit: time-series and time-stratified case-crossover analyses with threshold effects.

Background: Asthma morbidity has been associated with ambient air pollutants in time-series and case-crossover studies. In such study designs, threshold effects of air pollutants on asthma outcomes have been relatively unexplored, which are of potential interest for exploring concentration-response relationships.

Methods: This study analyzes daily data on the asthma morbidity experienced by the pediatric Medicaid population (ages 2-18 years) of Detroit, Michigan and concentrations of pollutants fine particles (PM2.

Manganese and lead in children's blood and airborne particulate matter in Durban, South Africa.

Despite the toxicity and widespread use of manganese (Mn) and lead (Pb) as additives to motor fuels and for other purposes, information regarding human exposure in Africa is very limited. This study investigates the environmental exposures of Mn and Pb in Durban, South Africa, a region that has utilized both metals in gasoline. Airborne metals were sampled as PM(2.

High perinatal seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus in northern Taiwan.

Aim: The living style, health-care system and socio-economic environments have changed substantially in Taiwan over past 20 years. This study was aimed to estimate the current perinatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) seroprevalence in northern Taiwan.

Methods: In a Taiwan Birth Panel Study, 483 pairs of mothers and neonates were prospectively recruited from one tertiary medical center, one local hospital, and two obstetric clinics located in northern Taiwan from April 2004 through January 2005.