• 한국환경보건학회지
• /
• 제49권1호
• /
• pp.48-56
• /
• 2023

Background: Few studies have assessed exposure to chemicals in the context of environmental vulnerability with a focus on exposure among populations living in certain geographical areas. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate cadmium exposure levels and kidney damage indices in environmentally and socioeconomically vulnerable populations, with further subgrouping according to economic status. Methods: Four areas were selected to represent geographical vulnerability (two environmentally vulnerable populations and two socioeconomically vulnerable populations). Among them, population groups with lower socioeconomic status (SES) were separately classified. Urinary cadmium (UCd), beta2-microglobulin (β2-MG), and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) levels were analyzed in samples from 245 residents of these four areas. Results: Geometric means of concentrations of UCd (0.97~2.02 ㎍/g creatinine) in all selected populations (N, 245; mean age, 67.8~70.9 years old) were higher than the national reference values (0.39 for adults and 0.78 ㎍/g creatinine for people in their 60s). Participants with a lower SES had higher UCd and NAG concentrations than did non-low SES participants. In the lower SES group, there was a significant association between UCd and NAG concentrations; however, there was no such correlation in the non-low SES group. Conclusions: Consistent with the findings of previous studies evaluating chemical exposure and associated health effects in specific populations, the findings of this study suggest that individuals with a low SES may be more vulnerable to exposure and related health effects.

• 한국환경과학회지
• /
• 제16권3호
• /
• pp.323-331
• /
• 2007

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are well known for strong carcinogen. However, the human exposure analysis of PAHs is quite difficult and unreliable because of hard for estimation of actual expose dose. Then urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) has been a biological marker of exposure to PAHs. The purpose of this study was to investigate total amount from exposure to PAHs soused by indoor occupational exposure, and residence at Seoul metropolitan area and Kyeonggi province in Korea. Thirty-five housewives were included in this study from April 2003 through February 2004. Dietary habit and general characteristics such as age, type of building, existence of passive smoking, period of residence, fuel type for heating and ventilation type were obtained by self administered questionnaire. Urine samples were collected at morning and freeze quickly. Urinary creatinine was measured for converting into 24 hr urine. Concentration of the indoor PAHs was examined by NIOSH method number 5506. Urinary 1-OHP and PAHs were analysed by HPLC. Correlation coefficient between urinary 1-OHP levels and pyrene concentration of indoor air was 0.66 and statistically significant(P<0.01). The difference of urinary 1-OHP level due to dietary habits were not significant. Urinary 1-OHP level of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter were $0.21{\pm}0.12,\;0.10{\pm}0.17,\;0.16{\pm}0.12,\;0.17{\pm}0.14{\mu}g/g$ cr, respectively. The arithmetic means of urinary 1-OHP for four season tee $0.16{\pm}0.14 {\mu}g/g$ cr. There was a trend that urinary 1-OHP level of residents who dwelling in apartment were higher compared with detached home, Comparison of 1-OHP level between heating by kerosene and LPG, Much higher gas heating type than kerosene type (P<0.05). This result implies that the urinary 1-OHP can be applied as the PAHs exposure indices.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제11권3호
• /
• pp.212-218
• /
• 2001

This study was performed to estimate environmental and biological monitoring of workers exposed to methyl bromide through quarantine fumigation. Airborne methyl bromide and it's metabolites were analyzed by gas chromatography and ion chromatography, respectively. The results are as followings; airborne concentration of methyl bromide(TWA) was $2.08{\pm}1.56ppm$(N=8). Dispersion and setting/degas groups were $0.67{\pm}0.12ppm$(N=2) and $2.54{\pm}1.53ppm$(N=6), respectively. Bromide ion concentration in serum was $23.40{\pm}14.91mg/{\ell}$(N=10) in the exposed workers and $4.74{\pm}0.82mg/{\ell}$(N=21) in the non-exposed workers. Bromide ion concentration in urine was $35.56{\pm}26.89mg/{\ell}$(N=11) in exposed group and $6.62{\pm}2.31mg/{\ell}$(N=21) in non-exposed group. Good correlation was observed between concentration of serum and urine ($r^2$=0.890 p<0.01). No significant correlations of other determinants were observed. Calculated from a regressive curve, the biological half lifes of serum and urine were 10.7 and 5.9 days. In these results, biological monitoring of bromide ion of serum and urine provided useful information for evaluating exposure of workers to methyl bromide, so that an availability of bromide ion of biological samples was showed as biological monitoring indices for methyl bromide.

• 한국산업보건학회지
• /
• 제24권1호
• /
• pp.52-58
• /
• 2014

Objectives: Using laborers participating in the petrochemical factory turnaround process as subjects, this study aims to identify exposure to benzene in the air and examine the relationship between exposure and the excretion of urinary metabolites by measuring concentrations of urinary trans, trans-muconic acid (t,t-MA). Methods: A passive sampler was used to measure the level of benzene in the air. In order to analyze urinary metabolites, the urine of laborers participating in the turnaround process was collected twice daily, both before and after work. In addition, a survey was conducted on work factors and lifestyle habits as factors affecting the concentration of urinary metabolites. Results: During the survey period, benzene was detected in the samples from all workers, and its average concentration was $0.16{\pm}0.22ppm$. The average concentration of t,t-MA after work was $1.20{\pm}1.86mg/g$ creatinine, and the results of analyzing urinary metabolites concentration before and after work showed statistically significant differences(p=0.003). There was also a statistically significant correlation (r=0.52, p=0.002) between benzene in the air and the concentration of after-work urinary t,t-MA. Conclusions: During the turnaround process, the average benzene concentration in workers was $0.16{\pm}0.22ppm$, which was below the exposure limit. However, their average t,t-MA concentration was $1.20{\pm}1.86mg/g$ creatinine, which exceeded the exposure limit of 1mg/g creatinine. The characteristics of turnaround process work require considerations such as underestimating the passive sampler being used and the skin absorption of benzene, and there needs to be a simultaneous assessment of working environment measurements and biological monitoring.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제37권3호
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 2004

Objectives : This study was performed to examine the influence of smoking on the blood cadmium concentration in university students. Methods : The study included 300 university students. A questionnaire interview was used to collect data. The urine cotinine and blood cadmium levels were measured as biological exposure indices. The data were analyzed using t-tests ANOVA and ANCOVA. Results : The median value of blood cadmium concentration was equal in both males and females ($0.8{\mu}g/l$). This level was relatively low in comparison with the reference value suggested by WHO (2001). ANCOVA showed that smoking related variables, urine cotinine and smoking amount, were significantly associated with the blood cadmium level (P=0.004, 0.015). However, the values with regard to traffic related air pollution were not significantly associated with the blood cadmium level. Conclusions : Smoking is an important source of nonoccupational cadmium exposure in young people. The Blood cadmium level is at least 10% higher in active smokers than in passive or nonsmokers. The level of urine cotinine can be used as an indicator of non-occupational exposure of respirable cadmium due to smoking, as there is a good correlation bestween smoking amount and the urine cotinine level.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• 제30권1호
• /
• pp.109-117
• /
• 2008

해양환경 건강성 평가에서 바이오마커의 적용은 상대적으로 새로운 분야이다. 국립학술원 및 세계보건기구에 따르면 바이오마커는 노출바이오마커, 영향바이오마커 및 민감바이오마커 등 3가지로 나누어진다. 해양생태계에 대한 환경오염물질의 노출 및 영향을 평가하기 위하여 다음과 같은 바이오마커들이 시험되고 있다: 해독, 산화스트레스, 분해산물, 스트레스 반응, 세포사멸, 물질대사, 신경반응, 생식, 스테로이드 호르몬, 항산화물질, 유전적 변형. 1990년대 초부터 여러 바이오마커 연구그룹들은 해양생물의 건강지수를 개발하여 해양환경의 상태를 평가하기 위한 수단으로 활용해 왔다. 바이오마커 지수는 생물학적 효과에 대한 모니터링활동으로부터 얻어진 자료의 해석에 사용될 수 있다. 본 총설에서는 이제까지 보고된 바이오마커 지수 관련 연구 중 대표적인 건강평가지수(Health assessment Index), 바이오마커 지수(Biomarker Index), 생물영향평가지수(Bioeffect Assessment Index) 및 일반화된 선형모델(Generalized Linear Model) 등의 연구를 요약하였다. 오염된 지역에 서식하는 해양생물의 바이오마커 반응 측정 및 바이오마커 지수 개발은 다양한 측면의 해양생태계 위해성 평가를 위해 고안된 환경모니터링 프로그램에 공헌할 수 있는 정보를 제공해 줄 수 있을 것이다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제30권4호
• /
• pp.741-751
• /
• 1997

Measurement of blood lead (PbB) and blood zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) are most common biological indices to identify the individual at risk for excess or the health sequences by lead exposure. Because PbB is known most important and reliable index of lead exposure, PbB is often regarded as a gold standard to detect lead exposure. But in Korea PbB is a secondary test item of detailed health check-up with positive finding of screening test in most occasion. Our lead standard requires all lead workers to take annual heath-check twice a year for investigation of their health effect due to lead exposure. Blood ZPP is one of most important index to detect high lead absorption in lead workers as a screening test. Measurement of blood ZPP is known ,well to correlate with PbB in steady state of exposure in most lead workers and is often used as a primary screening test to detect high lead absorption of lead workers with the advantage of simplicity, easiness, portability and low cost. The current cut-off criteria of blood ZPP for further detailed health check-up is $100{\mu}g/d\ell$ which is supposed to match the level of $40{\mu}g/d\ell$ of PbB according to our standard. Authors tried to investigate the validity of current criteria of cut-off level $(100{\mu}g/d\ell)$ of blood ZPP and possible another better cut-off level of it to detect the lead workers whose PbB level over $40{\mu}g/d\ell$. The subjects in our study were 212 male workers in three small scale storage battery industries. Blood ZPP, PbB and hemoglobin (Hb) were selected as the indices of lead exposure. The results were as follows. 1. The mean of blood ZPP, PbB and Hb in lead workers were $79.5{\pm}46.7{\mu}g/d\ell,\;38.7{\pm}15.1{\mu}g/d\ell,\;and\;14.8{\pm}1.2g/d\ell$, respectively. There were significant differences in blood ZPP, PbB and Hb by industry (P<0.01). 2. The percents of lead workers whose blood ZPP were above $100{\mu}g/d\ell$ in the group of work duration below 1, 1-4, 5-9 and above 10 years were 8.6%, 17.2%, 47.6%, and 50.0%, respectively. The percents of lead workers whose PbB were above $40{\mu}g/d\ell$ in those were 31.4%, 40.4%, 71.4%, and 86.4%, respectively. 3. The percents of lead workers whose PbB were below $40{\mu}g/d\ell$, $40-59{\mu}g/d\ell$ and above $60{\mu}g/d\ell$ were 54.7%, 34.9% and 10.4%, respectively. Those of lead workers whose blood ZPP were below $100{\mu}g/d\ell$, $100-149{\mu}g/d\ell$ and above $150{\mu}g/d\ell$ were 79.2%, 13.7% and 7.1%, respectively. 4. Simple linear regression of PbB on blood ZPP was statistically significant (P<0.01) and as PbB was $40{\mu}g/d\ell$, blood ZPP was $82.1{\mu}g/d\ell$. 5. While the highest sensitivity and specificity of blood ZPP test to detect lead workers with PbB eve. $40{\mu}g/d\ell$ were observed in the cut-off level of $50{\mu}g/d\ell$ and $100{\mu}g/d\ell$ of blood ZPP, respectively, the highest validity (sensitivity+specificity) of blood ZPP to detect lead workers with PbB over $40{\mu}g/d\ell$ was observed in the cut-off level of around $70{\mu}g/d\ell$ of blood ZPP. But even with optimal cut-off level of around $70{\mu}g/d\ell$ of blood ZPP, still 25.0% of false negative and 20.7% false positive lead workers were found. As the result of this study, it was suggested that reconsideration of current blood ZPP cut-off of our lead standard from $100{\mu}g/d\ell$ to somewhat lower level such as around $70{\mu}g/d\ell$ and the inclusion of PbB measurement as a primary screening test for lead workers was highly recommended for the effective prevention of lead workers.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• 제2권1호
• /
• pp.14-30
• /
• 1998

망간은 체내 필수원소의 하나이며 주로 간과 뇌의 기저핵게 축적되며 간을 통하여 배설된다. 망간은 체내 대사가 매우 빠르기 때문에 직업적 망간 폭로를 측정하는데 어려움이 있다. 특히 용접공과 같이 망간 폭로가 간헐적이거나 불규칙한 경우에는 혈중 및 요중 망간과 같은 기존 생체폭로지표로는 장기간에 걸친 폭로량을 정확하게 반영하기 힘들다. 뇌자기공명영상이 대두됨에 따랄 뇌내에 축적된 망간을 영상으로 확인하는 것이 가능하게 되었다. 초기에는 만성간부전 및 장기간에 걸친 정맥영양주입환자 등에서 뇌기저부의 고신호간도 소견이 보고되었다. 망간은 상자성 물질로 뇌자기공명영상에서 T1 이완시간을 단축시켜 T1 강조영상에서 고신호강도를 나타난다. 망간축적에 따른 고신호강도는 주로 담창구, 흑질, 피간 및 뇌하수체 등에서 나타난다. 저자들은 최근까지 국내 및 국외에서 직업적 및 비직업적으로 망간에 폭로된 사람에서 보고된 뇌자기공명영상소견을 수집하여 분석하였다. 우선 T1강조영상에서 관찰되는 고신호 강도와 연령, 성별, 직업적 망간 폭로 및 신경학적 이상 유무간의 관계를 분석하였다. 생물학적 폭로지표와 고신호강도간의 관계도 분석하였다. 고신호강도와 뇌내 망간축적, 신경세포손상 및 신경학적 이상간의 관계에 대한 문헌들을 분석하였다. T1강조영상에서 나타나는 고신호강도는 뇌내 망간축적 정도를 반영한다. 이러한 관계를 이용하여 신호강도를 분석하므로써 뇌내 망간축적 정도를 추정할수 있다. 뇌내 망간축적은 기저핵의 신경세포손상을 초래한다. 그러나 신경학적 이상은 비교적 단기간에 걸친 망간 축적과는 무관하게 보인다. 이는 신경학적 이상소견은 마간의 누적축적량과 관련되어 있기 때문인것으로 추정된다. 뇌자기 공명영사에서 관찰되는 고신호강도 소견은 표적 장기의 망간적 축적량을 반영하는데는 충분하지 못한 것으로 보인다. 따라서이러한 놔자기공명영상의 특성 및 비용-효과적인 측면을 고려할 대 망간폭로집안에서의 망간폭로정도를 추정하기 위하여 놔자기공명영상을 사용하는 것은 바람직하지 않다고 보인다. 그러나 망간과 관련된 건강장해가 의심되는 파킨슨증 환자에서 망간폭로를 확인 및 추정하는 데에는 매우 유용하게 활용할 수 있다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.306-312
• /
• 2000

Background : Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are well known environmental pollutants. The measurement of PAH in ambient air is not commonly used, because it is quite difficult to perform and is unreliable. Using biomarkers of PAH can be an alternative approach to this problem. The PAH in ambient air is absorbed in particulate matter. Total suspended particulate(TSP) or particulate matter of less than $10{\mu}m$ in diameter (PM10) can be easily measured. Therefore, TSP or PM10 can be used as a surrogate measurements of ambient air PAH. Objectives : We investigated whether the urinary concentration of two biomarkers of PAH, 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) and 2-naphthol, could reflect the total suspended particulate in the general population. Methods : In order to exclude the effects of occupational exposure and smoking, first grade middle school students were included in this study. Four middle schools within a one kilometer boundary of ambient air monitoring stations were selected. Total suspended particulate was regarded as the marker of airborne PAH. Diet and smoking data were collected by self administered questionnaires, and spot urine samples were collected. Urinary 1-OHP and 2-naphthol were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography. Results : The correlation between urinary 1-OHP, 2-naphthol and passive smoking was not statistically significant. The correlation between urinary 1-OHP and TSP indices was not statistically significant. The correlations between urinary 2-naphthol and TSP of two lag days, one lag day, and zero lag days were statistically significant. The statistical significance of two lag days was the strongest (p=0.001), one lag day was the next (p=0.0275), and zero lag days was the weakest (p=0.0349). Conclusion : Our results imply that the urinary concentration of 2-naphthol can be applied as a PAH exposure marker for the general population with low PAH exposure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• 제26권2호
• /
• pp.295-308
• /
• 2016

This study investigated the effects of a flavonoid-rich ethanol extract of persimmon leaf (PL), an ethanol extract of Citrus junos Sieb (CJS), and a PL-CJS mixture (MPC) on mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). We sought to elucidate the mechanisms of biological activity of these substances using measurements of blood coagulation indices and lipid metabolism parameters. C57BL/6J mice were fed a HFD with PL (0.5% (w/w)), CJS (0.1% (w/w)), or MPC (PL 0.5%, CJS 0.1% (w/w)) for 10 weeks. In comparison with data obtained for mice in the untreated HFD group, consumption of MPC remarkably prolonged the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and prothrombin time (PT), whereas exposure to PL prolonged aPTT only. Lower levels of plasma total cholesterol, hepatic cholesterol, and erythrocyte thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, hepatic HMG-CoA reductase, and decreased SREBP-1c gene expression were observed in mice that received PL and MPC supplements compared with the respective values detected in the untreated HFD animals. Our results indicate that PL and MPC may have beneficial effects on blood circulation and lipid metabolism in obese mice.