• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.80-90
• /
• 2000

To determine the effect of air pollutants in Taejon City, we used medical insurance claim data for asthma and the data monitored from telemetry system of Ministry of Environment for air pollutants and meteorological factors. From November 1st, 1997 to October 31th, 1998, 95,629 asthma patients were covered by medical insurance at Taejon City. Subjects were composed of 49,563 males (51.8%) and 46.336 females(48.2%), and among the subjects, the proportion under 15 years old was 62.8% of the total. During the study period, daily mean concentrations of each air pollutants-So2, No2, CO, O3 and TSP-were 9.8 ppb, 17.6 ppm, 1.414 pp, 17.3 ppb and 60.6 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively, which were lower than each of the environmental recommended exposure levels, Through the simple correlation analysis between each air pollutants and meteorological factors, O3 was positively correlated with temperature, but negatively with relative humidity. TSP, SO2, NO2, CO were negatively correlated with meteorological factors, and these air pollutants except O3 were positively correlated with each other, O3 was correlated with TSP positively but the others negatively. Estimating relative risks of each air pollutant with the baseline general additive model, daily mean concentrations of TSP(Lag 0, 1, 4, 5day) were significantly associated with the increase of the asthma admission. Two age subgroups, under 15 and 15~54 have shown various association of all air pollutants concentration with the asthma admission. However, in case of over 54 age subgroup, only TSP(Lag 0 day) among all air pollutants was associated with the asthma admission. Each of ambient outdoor pollutant concentrations in Taejon City are significantly associated with the admission of asthma patients even though all concentrations in Taejon City are significantly associated with the admission of asthma patients even though all concentrations were much lower than the environmental recommended exposure levels. Therefore, continuous effort lowering air pollutant concentration and introducing an active environmental conservation policy should be implanted for preventing hazardous health effects. Considering major proportion of asthma admissions, high susceptibility and less confounding factors among the age subgroup under 15 will be a useful target population for assessing such health effect monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.271-279
• /
• 2009

Vinyl chloride (VC) is a known human carcinogen, and it is released to multi-environmental media via several exposure routes. VC was potentially evaluated as a water quality pollutant based on human health risk assessment in Korean water environments. In this study, we investigated physicochemical and toxicological properties of VC, human health and ecological risk assessment, and the regulation of VC as a water quality pollutant in developed countries. Currently there are no standard or guideline values of VC in Korean legal system for the protection of human health and aquatic ecosystem, except that it is designated as a specific toxic substance and a water quality pollutant. Human health risk assessment of VC was previously performed based on the limited water quality monitoring data. The monitoring level of VC in Korean water system is more higher than other countries'. VC was assessed as potential hazardous chemical based on the US EPA's cancer risk assessment. There were a few ecotoxicity data of VC available using very limited kinds of aquatic organisms, and the toxicity results obtained seem to be overestimated without considering the losses of VC in open exposure system. Therefore it is needed to monitor the VC in various areas and to carry out the ecotoxicity research using multi-level organisms. We expect that these results can be useful information for implementing VC as a water quality pollutant in legal system for the protection of human health and aquatic ecosystem in near future.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.339-346
• /
• 2009

The objectives of this study were to introduce spatial interpolation methods which have been applied in recent papers, to apply three methods (nearest monitor, inverse distance weighting, kriging) to domestic data (Ulsan cohort) as an example of estimating the personal exposure levels. We predicted the personal exposure estimates of 2,102 participants in Ulsan cohort using spatial interpolation methods based on information of their residential address. We found that there was a similar tendency among the estimates of each method. The correlation coefficients between predictions from pairs of interpolation methods (except for the correlation coefficient between nearest montitor and kriging of CO and $SO_2$) were generally high (r=0.84 to 0.96). Even if there are some limitations such as location and density of monitoring station, spatial interpolation methods can reflect spatial aspects of air pollutant and spatial heterogeneity in individual level so that they provide more accurate estimates than monitor data alone. But they may still result in misclassification of exposure. To minimize misclassification for better estimates, we need to consider individual characteristics such as daily activity pattern.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.140-145
• /
• 2006

We measured activities of the ubiquitous tripeptide non-protein thiol (L-${\gamma}$-glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine), glutathione (GSH), which is believed to playa fundamental role in detoxifying xenobiotics in biological systems, as a metabolic biomarker for benzo(${\alpha}$)pyrene and Aroclor 1254 exposure in the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. Reproductive oysters were exposed to the pollutants for 50 days by the algal vectoring method in which the oysters were fed with concentrated standard algal foods grown in culture media containing Aroclor 1254 (0, 5, 50, 500 ng/g) or benzo(${\alpha}$)pyrene (0, 10, 100, 1,000 ng/g). Both pollutants induced maternal GSH activities in 10 days in a dosage-dependent manner (p<0.05), although Aroclor 1254 was stronger. The pollutant-driven GSH elevation persisted for 20 to 30 days depending on the pollutants and concentrations. Thereafter, a drastic decline in the GSH activity was observed due to metabolic failure, after which the oyster GSH remained at low levels throughout the remainder of the experiment. The pollutant exposures influenced maternal reproductive output in terms of fertilization, hatching, and morphology. These results imply that changes in activity of the GST-catalyzing molecule can be used as an oyster biomarker for Aroclor 1254 and benzo(${\alpha}$)pyrene exposure.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.71-76
• /
• 2002

Recently, much attention has been paid to the problem such as sick building syndrome, which caused by the air pollutant indoor. In addition, Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs) has been paid attention to as one of the main reason that causes air pollutant indoor, and the exposure of VOCs indoor is recognizes as an important factor which have an effect on the health of resident. In this study, measuring of VOCs in newly houses, and the results are as follows; 1)TVOC(Total Volatile Organic Compounds) indoor is detected high concentration(11314$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎤). 2)There are detected acetaldehyde, methylenechloride, benzene, trichloroethylene and styrene that have to take precaution against human carcinogenicity

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.101-113
• /
• 2015

Air quality index (AQI) or air pollution index (API) is commonly used to report the level of severity of air pollution to public. A number of methods were developed in the past by various researchers/environmental agencies for determination of AQI or API but there is no universally accepted method exists, which is appropriate for all situations. Different method uses different aggregation function in calculating AQI or API and also considers different types and numbers of pollutants. The intended uses of AQI or API are to identify the poor air quality zones and public reporting for severity of exposure of poor air quality. Most of the AQI or API indices can be broadly classify as single pollutant index or multi-pollutant index with different aggregation method. Every indexing method has its own characteristic strengths and weaknesses that affect its suitability for particular applications. This paper attempt to present a review of all the major air quality indices developed worldwide.

• Journal of the Korean Medical Association
• /
• v.61 no.12
• /
• pp.749-755
• /
• 2018

Particulate matter is an air pollutant emitted from both natural and anthropogenic sources, and its adverse health effects have been well documented in time-series analyses and cohort studies. The effect size of particulate matter exposure-a roughly 0.5% increase in mortality for each $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increment of short-term exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ${\leq}10{\mu}m$ and approximately a 10% increase for each $10{\mu}g/m^3$ increment of long-term exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ${\leq}2.5{\mu}m$-is small compared to other risk factors, but the exposure is involuntary and affects the entire population, which makes particulate matter pollution an important public health issue. The World Health Organization and Korean government have both established guidelines for particulate matter concentrations, but the Korean guideline is less stringent than that of the World Health Organization. The annual mean concentration of particulate matter in Korea is decreasing, but the trend seems to be slowing. In addition to policy efforts to reduce particulate matter emission, personal approaches such as the use of face masks and air purifiers have been recommended. Personal approaches may not solve the fundamental problem, but can provide temporary mitigation until efforts to reduce emission make progress.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.625-631
• /
• 2000

Practical devices for measuring personal exposure to nitrogen dioxide(NO$_2$) have been made for epidemiological studies of the health effects of air pollution Standard methods for NO$_2$ measurement such as the chemiluminescent method and Saltzman method are not suitable for personal exposure because they are heavy, large and complicated to operate. In this study, a passive monitor was tested for the measurements of indoor and outdoor NO$_2$ level. Through a comparative analysis of data sets obtained by on-site chemiluminescence system, we assessed the accuracy and precision of NO$_2$ passive monitors. We also examined the possibility of passive monitor in the study of indoor, outdoor and personal NO$_2$ exposure. The accuracy and precision of NO$_2$ passive monitor were analyzed assuming measurements of on-site chemiluminescence system is reference value and using duplicated measure- ments, respectively. From these analysis the NO$_2$ passive monitor was useful for measuring indoor, outdoor and personal exposure. And NO$_2$ level from on-site chemiluminescence systems could not properly represent the personal NO$_2$ exposure as well as indoor and outdoor level of ones house. Personal exposures were correlated more strongly with indoor NO$_2$ concentrations than with outdoor NO$_2$ concentrations. Since activity pattern of each person is different, it was considered that personal daily behavior and life-style might prevent the air pollutant exposure.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.12 no.9
• /
• pp.967-976
• /
• 2003

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are present in essentially all natural and synthetic materials from petrol to flowers. In this study, indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations of houses, offices and internet-cafes were measured and compared simultaneously with personal exposures of each 50 participants in Asan and Seoul, respectively. Also, factors that influence personal VOCs exposure were statistically analyzed using questionnaires in relation to house characteristics, time activities, and health effects. All VOCs concentrations were measured by OVM passive samplers (3M) and analyzed with GC/MS. Target pollutants among VOCs were Toluene, o-Xylene, m/p-Xylene, Ethylbenzene, MIBK, n-Octane, Styrene, Trichloroethylene, and 1,2-Dichlorobenzene. Indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations measured in Seoul were significantly higher than those in Asan except Ethylbenzene. Residential indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratios for all target compounds ranged from 0.94 to 1.51 and I/O ratios of Asan were a little higher than those of Seoul. Relationship between personal VOCs exposure, and indoor and outdoor VOCs concentrations suggested that time-activity pattern could affect the high exposure to air pollutant. Factors that influence indoor VOCs level and personal exposure with regard to house characteristics in houses were building age, inside smoking and house type. In addition insecticide and cosmetics interestingly affected the VOCs personal exposure. Higher exposure to VOCs might be caused to be exciting increase and memory reduction, considering the relationship between measured VOCs concentrations and questionnaire (p<0.05).

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.220-225
• /
• 2017

Background: Benzene is a known occupational and environmental pollutant. Its urinary metabolite trans, trans-muconic acid (tt-MA) has been introduced by some environmental and occupational health regulatory associations as a biological index for the assessment of benzene exposure; however, recently, doubts have been raised about the specificity of tt-MA for low-level benzene exposures. In the present study, we investigated the association between urinary levels of tt-MA and inhalational exposure to benzene in different exposure groups. Methods: Benzene exposure was assessed by personal air sampling. Collected benzene on charcoal tube was extracted by carbon disulfide and determined by a gas chromatograph (gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector). Urinary tt-MA was extracted by a strong anion-exchange column and determined with high-performance liquid chromatography-UV. Results: Urinary levels of tt-MA in intensive benzene exposure groups (chemical workers and police officers) were significantly higher than other groups (urban and rural residents), but its levels in the last two groups with significant different exposure levels (mean = 0.081 ppm and 0.019 ppm, respectively) showed no significant difference (mean = $388{\mu}g/g$ creatinine and $282{\mu}g/g$, respectively; p < 0.05). Before work shift, urine samples of workers and police officers showed a high amount of tt-MA and its levels in rural residents' samples were not zero. Conclusion: Our results suggest that tt-MA may not be a reliable biomarker for monitoring low-level (below 0.5 ppm) benzene exposures.