| 1. |
- Bohlin, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation and guidelines for using polyurethane foam (PUF) passive air samplers in double-dome chambers to assess semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in non-industrial indoor environments
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7887 .- 2050-7895. ; 16:11, s. 2617-2626
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Indoor air pollution has been recognized as an important risk factor for human health, especially in areas where people tend to spend most of their time indoors. Many semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) have primarily indoor sources and are present in orders of magnitude higher concentrations indoors than outdoors. Despite this, awareness of SVOCs in indoor air and assessment of the link between indoor concentrations and human health have tagged behind those of outdoor air. This is partially related to challenges associated with indoor sampling of SVOCs. Passive air samplers (PASs), which are widely accepted in established outdoor air monitoring networks, have been used to fill the knowledge gaps on indoor SVOCs distribution. However, their applicability for indoor environments and the assessment of human health risks lack sufficient experimental data. To address this issue, we performed an indoor calibration study of polyurethane foam (PUF) PAS deployed in a double-dome chamber, covering both legacy and new SVOC classes. PUF-PAS and a continuous low-volume active air sampler (AAS) were co-deployed for a calibration period of twelve weeks. Based on the results from this evaluation, PUF-PAS in a double-bowl chamber is recommended for indoor sampling and health risk assessment of gas phase SVOCs, including novel brominated flame retardants (nBFR) providing sufficient exposure time is applied. Data for particle associated SVOCs suffered from significant uncertainties caused by low level of detection and low precision in this study. A more open chamber design for indoor studies may allow for higher sampling rates (R-s) and better performance for the particle associated SVOCs.
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| 2. |
- Čechová, Eliška, et al.
(författare)
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An effective clean-up technique for GC/EI-HRMS determination of developmental neurotoxicants in human breast milk
- 2017
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Ingår i: Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. - Heidelberg, Germany : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 1618-2642 .- 1618-2650. ; 409:5, s. 1311-1322
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The increasing number of children suffering from developmental disorders has raised questions regarding their association with the presence of environmental contaminants in mothers and children. We therefore developed a new method for the determination of 78 proven and potential developmental neurotoxicants, including polychlorinated biphenyls, legacy pesticides, pyrethroids, and old and new halogenated flame retardants in breast milk. The essential part of sample preparation was dialysis as a non-destructive clean-up step which was newly used at 10 °C and showed more efficient lipid removal (up to 96%) than the conventional methods such as gel permeation chromatography or freezing-lipid filtration and thus ensured low limits of detection (LOD) by reducing the sample volume prior to injection. Next advantages were significant solvent reduction and no risk of sample cross-contamination. Gas chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) was subsequently used for the separation and compound quantification. The method was validated using breast milk samples fortified with the analyzed compounds. Recoveries for most of the compounds ranged from 63 to 121% with a relative standard deviation of 2-25%, and LODs ranged between 0.001 and 0.87 ng g(-1) lipid weight. The method was applied to breast milk samples from a Dutch birth cohort where 35 out of the 78 compounds were quantified in more than 60% of the samples. For novel flame retardants, the method provides unique results regarding their occurrence in human matrices in Europe. Overall, the analysis of a complex mixture of developmental neurotoxicants could be useful for the assessment of the influence of the studied compounds to child health and development. Graphical abstract Flow diagram of the method and levels of the developmental neurotoxicants in Dutch human milk samples.
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| 3. |
- Okonski, Krzysztof, et al.
(författare)
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Particle size distribution of halogenated flame retardants and implications for atmospheric deposition and transport
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 48:24, s. 14426-14434
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates the distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and a group of novel flame retardants (NFRs) on atmospheric aerosols. Two high volume cascade impactors were used to collect particulate fractions of ambient air over a one year period at urban and rural sites. The majority of FRs were found on the finest aerosols (<0.95 mu m). Concentrations of HBCD were higher than those of SPBDEs. Moreover, we noted seasonality and spatial differences in particle size distributions, yet a large portion of the observed differences were due to differences in particulate matter (PM) itself. When normalized by PM, the size distributions of the FRs exhibited much greater heterogeneity. Differences existed between the FR distributions by molecular weight, with the higher molecular weight FRs (e.g., BDE-209, Dechlorane Plus) distributed more uniformly across all particulate size fractions. The seasonal, spatial, and compound-specific differences are of crucial importance when estimating dry and wet deposition of FRs as smaller aerosols have longer atmospheric residence times. Estimated wet and dry deposition of four representative FRs (BDE-47, BDE-209, HBCD, and Dechlorane Plus) using size-segregated aerosol data resulted in lower deposition estimates than when bulk aerosol data were used. This has implications for estimates of long-range atmospheric transport and atmospheric residence times, as it suggests that without size-specific distributions, these parameters could be underestimated for FRs.
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