Recent studies have demonstrated that the amount of specific airborne mold types and their concentrations increase during dust events. This study investigates the seasonal variation of airborne mold concentrations before, during, and after the dust transport in an eastern Mediterranean coastal area, Izmir city, Turkey. A total of 136 airborne mold samples were collected between September 2020 and May 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fact that there are no real borders between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere means that environmental pollution monitoring studies should not only include one of the environmental spheres. Thus, integrated environmental pollution assessment studies conducted in the biosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere promote the "whole system" approach. In this study, the aim was to determine the pollution in the atmosphere, soil, and plants by taking advantage of the high pollution accumulation characteristics of the mosses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomarker measurements can provide unambiguous evidence of environmental exposures as well as the resultant biological responses. Firefighters have a high rate of occupational cancer incidence, which has been proposed to be linked in part to their increased environmental exposure to byproducts of combustion and contaminants produced during fire responses. In this article, the uptake and elimination of targeted volatile organic compounds were investigated by collecting the exhaled breath of firefighters on sorbent tubes before and after controlled structure burns and analyzing samples using automated thermal desorption-gas chromatography (ATD-GC/MS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA non-targeted analysis workflow was applied to analyze exhaled breath samples collected from firefighters pre- and post-structural fire suppression. Breath samples from firefighters functioning in attack and search positions were examined for target and non-target compounds in automated thermal desorption-GC/MS (ATD-GC/MS) selected ion monitoring (SIM)/scan mode and reviewed for prominent chemicals. Targeted chemicals included products of combustion such as benzene, toluene, xylenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) that serve as a standard assessment of exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFew epidemiological studies investigating the association between air pollution and health are available in Turkey. The aim of this cohort-type study is to examine the relationships between ambient air quality, respiratory diseases, and decreases in pulmonary function over a year in three different towns in Canakkale: Canakkale Central town (region I), Lapseki town center (region II), and Can town (region III). Region III had four different sub-regions, which were Can town center (region III-A), and the villages located around Can town, namely Durali (region III-B), Kulfal (region III-C), and Yuvalar (region III-D).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraditionally, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis has used a targeted approach called selected ion monitoring (SIM) to quantify specific compounds that may have adverse health effects. Due to method limitations and the constraints of preparing duplicate samples, the information that could be obtained from separately collecting the full scan chromatogram of the sample has often been sacrificed. However, the hybrid technique called synchronous SIM/scan mode alternates between the two acquisition modes, maintaining the accuracy and sensitivity of SIM for targeted analysis while also providing the full scan chromatogram for discovery of non-target compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: This study was performed to investigate the possible sources as well as seasonal and diurnal variations of indoor air pollutants in widely used four different environments (house, office, kindergarten, and primary school) in which people spend most of their time. Bioaerosol levels and species, volatile organic compound (VOC) levels, and PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe level of carbonyl compounds in indoor air is crucial due to possible health effects and the high prevalence of their potential sources. Therefore, selecting a convenient and rapid analytical technique for the reliable detection of carbonyl compound concentrations is important. The acetyl acetone (acac) method is a widely used standard procedure for detecting gaseous formaldehyde.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF