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| 42. |
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| 43. |
- Isaxon, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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A call for action : Air Pollution, a serious health and economic hazard suffocating Africa
- 2022
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Ingår i: Clean Air Journal. - 1017-1703. ; 32:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Air pollution research has been conducted in Europe and North America as well as in Asia and South America for decades, but there has, so far, only been a limited amount of studies on air pollution and its health effects conducted in Africa. Until recently, global inventories of pollutants from North America Europe and Asia have been used for air quality and climate change modelling in Africa (Bond et al., 2004, Streets et al., 2004, Bond et al., 2007, Klimont et al., 2009, Klimont et al., 2013, Lamarque et al., 2010). Research in air pollution has, however, been lagging far behind in African countries, despite the increasing health and economic impact associated with air pollution in these nations, since systematic monitoring in Africa is often lacking. The health impact of air pollution in African cities has only been sparsely studied: a review from 2018 (Coker and Kizito, 2018) found only 3 studies outside South Africa. Earlier last year, a study showed that air pollution was responsible for 1.1 million deaths across Africa in 2019, with household air pollution—driven largely by solid biofuel used in indoor cook stoves—accounting for 697 000 fatalities (64% of the total), while increased outdoor air pollution claimed 394 000 lives (36% of the total) (Fisher et al., 2021).
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| 44. |
- Isaxon, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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A Novel System for Source Characterization and Controlled Human Exposure to Nanoparticle Aggregates Generated During Gas–Metal Arc Welding
- 2013
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Ingår i: Aerosol Science and Technology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1521-7388 .- 0278-6826. ; 47:1, s. 52-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract in Undetermined The aim of this study was to achieve a method to perform detailed characterization and human exposure studies of nanosized and nanostructured aerosol particles. The source chosen was mild steel, active gas, arc welding fume. The setup consisted of a generation chamber, where welding can be performed, connected to an airtight stainless steel 22 m(3) exposure chamber. Instrumentation, consisting of a tapered element oscillating microbalance, a scanning mobility particle sizer, and a sampler for electron microscopy and particle-induced X-ray emission analysis was connected to the stainless steel chamber. The feasibility of the system for human exposure studies was evaluated by exposing 31 human volunteers, in groups of three, to a test aerosol containing 1 mg/m(3) welding fumes and to conditioned, filtered air. The results show that an aerosol that accurately represents dilute welding fume exposures that occur in workplaces can be produced in a controlled manner, and that the experimental setup can be used for 6 h, double-blind, exposures of human subjects. Particle mass concentration levels could be varied from <5 mu g/m(3) to more than 1000 mu g/m(3). Fumes from metal active gas welding showed a unimodal size distribution with a mean mobility diameter of 160 nm, transmission electron microscopy showed aggregates with a clearly nanosized structure.
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| 45. |
- Isaxon, Christina
(författare)
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Aerosol characterization in real life and a methodology for human exposure studies in controlled chamber settings
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Airborne particles are everywhere around us, and have always been. Particles generated by human activities has increased drastically since industrialization, and several epidemiological studies have shown that inhaled particles can cause adverse health effects. The concern about health effects have during the last decade shifted towards fine and ultrafine particles, not least due to the emerging field of nanotechnology. Of special interest are the particles to which we are exposed indoors – in the industrialized part of the world we spend around 90% of our time indoors (at home and at workplaces/schools). Particles generated in these environments often cause intense peaks in concentration, and are often consequences of our own activities. Especially combustion/thermal processes (such as welding, frying, burning candles etc.) cause peaks in number concentration, often more than an order of magnitude higher than ambient concentrations. We have conducted time-resolved particle measurements in several homes which confirm this. From these measurements, we have been able to show just how much occupants' activities affect the indoor concentration of ultrafine particles compared to outdoor concentrations. We have also estimated e.g. total integrated daily exposure. Exposure and emission measurements have also been conducted at a carbon nanotube producing facility, and a method for counting particles containing carbon nanotubes has been suggested and validated. Why certain particles are more dangerous than others is often investigated in animal exposure studies, where exposure levels are unrealistically high. For several reasons, the results of such studies are not simple to translate to the human system. To increase our understanding of which particle properties can cause effects in humans, a methodology for conducting human exposure studies have been developed and validated. In a controlled chamber we have exposed human test subjects to normal concentrations of common particle types; candle smoke, particles from terpene–ozone reactions and welding fume. Together with medical expertise, we have been looking for effects of these exposures. By using non-invasive tests (e.g. urine and blood samples and ECG) biochemical markers of exposure, and changes in heart rate variability (HRV) have been studied. A significant increase in the high frequency domain of the HRV during exopsure for candle smoke was found.
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| 46. |
- Isaxon, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Characteristics of Welding Fume Aerosol Investigated in Three Swedish Workshops
- 2009
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Ingår i: Inhaled Particles X. - : IOP Publishing. - 1742-6596 .- 1742-6588. ; 151
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Potentially high human exposures to nanometer sized airborne particles occur due to welding and other thermal processes in industrial environments. Detailed field measurements of physical and chemical particle characteristics were performed in three work-shops in Sweden. Measurements were performed both in the plume 5-20 cm above the welding point and in the background air (more than 5 m away from the nearest known particle source). Particle number and mass concentrations were measured on-line. A low pressure impactor was used for size-resolved chemical particle composition. The in-plume measurements generated the chemical signatures for different welding processes. These signatures were then used to identify contributions from various processes to the particle concentrations in different size classes. The background number and mass concentrations increased by more than an order of magnitude during intense activities in the work-shops compared to low activities during breaks.
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| 47. |
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| 48. |
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| 49. |
- Isaxon, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Contribution of indoor-generated particles to residential exposure
- 2015
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1352-2310 .- 1873-2844. ; 106, s. 458-466
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The majority of airborne particles in residences, when expressed as number concentrations, are generated by the residents themselves, through combustion/thermal related activities. These particles have a considerably smaller diameter than 2.5 mu m and, due to the combination of their small size, chemical composition (e.g. soot) and intermittently very high concentrations, should be regarded as having potential to cause adverse health effects. In this study, time resolved airborne particle measurements were conducted for seven consecutive days in 22 randomly selected homes in the urban area of Lund in southern Sweden. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the influence of human activities on the concentration of particles in indoor air. Focus was on number concentrations of particles with diameters <300 nm generated by indoor activities, and how these contribute to the integrated daily residential exposure. Correlations between these particles and soot mass concentration in total dust were also investigated. It was found that candle burning and activities related to cooking (using a frying pan, oven, toaster, and their combinations) were the major particle sources. The frequency of occurrence of a given concentration indoors and outdoors was compared for ultrafine particles. Indoor data was sorted into non-occupancy and occupancy time, and the occupancy time was further divided into non-activity and activity influenced time. It was found that high levels (above 10(4) cm(-3)) indoors mainly occur during active periods of occupancy, while the concentration during non-activity influenced time differs very little from non-occupancy time. Total integrated daily residential exposure of ultrafine particles was calculated for 22 homes, the contribution from known activities was 66%, from unknown activities 20%, and from background/non-activity 14%. The collected data also allowed for estimates of particle source strengths for specific activities, and for some activities it was possible to estimate correlations between the number concentration of ultrafine particles and the mass concentration of soot in total dust in 10 homes. Particle source strengths (for 7 specific activities) ranged from 1.6.10(12) to 4.5.10(12) min(-1). The correlation between ultrafine particles and mass concentration of soot in total dust varied between 0.37 and 0.85, with an average of 0.56 (Pearson correlation coefficient). This study clearly shows that due to the importance of indoor sources, residential exposure to ultrafine particles cannot be characterized by ambient measurements alone. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
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