• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.43-57
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• 1996

To characterize worker's exposure to glass fibers, to find the correlation between airborne total dust concentrations and fiber concentrations and to recommend an appropriate evaluation method for worker's exposure to fibrous dusts in glass wool industry, we carried out this study. Average respirable fiber levels at five factories were 0.013-0.056 f/cc, and fairly below the OSHA PEL, 1 f/cc. A factory showed the lowest airborne fiber level, 0.013 f/cc, which was different significantly from those of other factories of which average fiber concentration was 0.046 f/cc. The cutting and grinding operations of insulation products resulted in higher airborne fiber cocentrations than any other processes(p<0.05). To characterize airborne fiber dimension, fiber length and diamter were determined using phase contrast microscope. The geometric means of airborne fiber lengths were $42-105 \mu m$. One factory had airborne fibers whose length distribution(GM = $105 \mu m$) was different from those of other factories(GM = $42-50 \mu m$). The percentages of respirable fibers less thinner than 3 gm were 38.9-90.9% at four factories, and two factories of them had the higher percentages than others. The findings explain for variation of airborne fiber diameters between factories. On the other hand, between the processes were the difference of fiber-length distributions observed. The cutting and grinding operations showed shorter fiber-length distributions than the fiber forming one. However, fiber-diameter distributions or respirable fiber contents were similar in all processes. The airborne fiber concentrations and the dust concentrations had relatively weak correlation(r=0.25), thus number of fibers couldn't be expected reliably from dust amount. Fiber count is appropriate for assessing accurate exposures and health effects caused by fibrous dusts including glass fibers. Ministry of Labor have established occupational exposure limit to glass fibers as nuisiance dust, but should establish it on the basis of respirable fiber concentration to provide adequate protection for worker's health

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 2005

Penetration and health effect of fibers was related with their diameters and length. The purpose of this study is to characterize and compare the diameter and length of airborne man-made mineral fibers(MMMF) or synthetic vitreous fibers in the related industries. The average fiber length of the continuous filament glass, rock wool, refractory ceramic, and glass wool fibers production industries approximately 27, 28, 35, $50-105{\mu}m$. Airborne glass fibers were longest in all the type of MMMFs. The average diameters of airborne fibers generated from refractory ceramic, rock wool, glass wool, continuous filament glass fibers production industries were approximately 1.0, 1.6, 1.5-4 and $10{\mu}m$, respectively. The percentages of respirable fibers(<$3{\mu}m$) were 94% for RCFs, 73% for rock wool fibers, 61.0% for glass fibers, and 1.6% for filament glass fibers. The length of glass fibers were the longest in all types of fibers, and length of the others were similar. The refractory ceramic fibers were smallest in diameters and highest in fraction of respirable fibers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.221-231
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• 2005

In this study, occupational exposures to man-made mineral fibers (MMMFs) including glass wool, rock wool, and continuous glass filament fibers were determined and evaluated on the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Value (TLV). A total of 171 personal samples collected from 4 glass wool fiber, 2 rock wool fibers, 4 continuous filament glass fiber products manufacturing and a glass fiber and rock wool insulations using industries, and determined respirable fibers concentrations using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Method 7400, "B counting rule. The fiber concentrations of samples from workers installing thermal insulations in a MMMF using industry showed the highest value: geometric mean (GM) = 0.73 f/cc and maximum = 2.9 f/cc, 70% of them were above the TLV, 1 f/cc. Workers' exposure level (GM= 0.032 f/cc) in the rock wool manufacturing industries was significantly higher than those of glass wool (GM=0.012 f/cc) and continuous filament glass fibers (GM=0.010 f/cc) manufacturing industries (p<0.01). No samples were more than the TLV in the MMMF manufacturing industries. There was a significant difference among companies in airborne fiber levels.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1994

Sungnam city, as a major satellite town, is located in the southeast of Seoul. Atmospheric conditions are so stable that air pollutants from various emissions are tend to resist change because Sungnam city is located in the Namhansansung valley. The industrial distribution of Sungnam city are composed of various manufactories such as foods, fibers, chemicals, machinery and electronics etc. The heavy metal concentrations and size distribution are the most important parameters influencing among the way in which respirable suspended particulate matter interact with the human respiratory system. Respirable suspended particulate matter was collected on glass fiber filters from April 1993 to February 1994 according to particle size using Anderson sampler during 10 days per month at Sungnam city. 6 heavy metals, Fe, Zn, Pb Mn, Cu and Cd, were analyzed by particle size with atomic absorption spectrophotometry . The results could be summarized as follows: 1. The annual arithmetic mean concentration of total suspended particulate was 116.3$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ m', seasonal variation was the highest in spring season(196.5$\mu $g/m$^{3}$) and the lowest in Summer Season(72.9$\mu $g/m$^{3}$). 2. The ratio of airborne particulate concentrations respirable to nonrepairable( Res/Non- Res) of annual arithmetic mean value was 5.8'1, seasonal variation was highest in the spring season(6.3 : 1) and lowest in the summer season(4.6 : 1). 3. During the spring season the shape of the size distribution was trimodal which showed peaks at 3 size groups, which were below of 0.43$\mu $m, 3.3∼4.7$\mu $m and above of 11.0$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ respectively. 4. Respirable suspended particulate matter concentrations of Zn, Pb Cu and Cd were the highest in below of 0.43$\mu $m as follows; 0.517$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.411 $\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.062$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.0310$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ , respectively, Fe and Mn were the highest in the particle size range of 4.7 ∼ 7.0$\mu $m as follows; 2.504$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.095$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, respectively. 5. The Pt Cd, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations of annual arithmetic mean value respirable to non- respirable( Res/Non- Res ) were 33.65, 19.27, 17.74, 10.54, 3.20 and 5.20, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.21-28
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• 2000

Various man-made mineral fibers(MMMF) including refractory ceramic fiber(RCF) have been used widely in industries as insulation materials. The effect of fibrous dust on human health depends on fiber size, concentration (exposure level), and durability in biological system. Therefore, these parameters should be determined to evaluate accurately the potential risk of fibers on human health. The purpose of this study was to characterize the size of airborne fiber and the workers＇ exposure to airborne fibers in refractory ceramic fiber manufacturing and processing factories. Airborne fibers were collected on 25-mm mixed cellulose ester membrane filters at personal breathing zones, and analyzed by A and B counting rules of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health(NIOSH) Method # 7400. The average ratios of the fiber density by B rule to the fiber density by A rule was 0.84. This result indicates that the proportion of respirable fibers (<3 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ diameter) in air samples was high. The average diameter and length of airborne fibers were 1.05${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ and 35${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, respectively. The average fiber concentrations (GM) of all personal samples was 0.26f/cc, and the average concentration was highest at blanket cutting and packing processes. The fifty seven percent of personal air samples was exceeded the proposed American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists(ACGIH) Threshold Limit Value(TLV), i.e. 0.2 f/cc. It was concluded that the RCF industrial workers had the higher potential health risk due to small fiber diameter, long fiber length, and high exposure level to the airborne fibers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.357-363
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• 2022

Background: Refractory ceramic fibers (RCFs) are a suspected carcinogen but have been widely used as insulations. Depending on the temperature, RCFs can transform into crystalline SiO₂, which is a carcinogen that can be present in the air during bulk RCF handling. This study analyzed the physicochemical and morphological characteristics of RCFs at high temperatures and determined the exposure levels during the semiconductor scrubber maintenance. Methods: Sampling was conducted at a company that manufactures semiconductor scrubbers using RCFs as insulation. Bulk RCF samples were collected both before and after exposure to a scrubber temperature of 700℃. Airborne RCFs were collected during scrubber maintenance, and their characteristics were analyzed using microscopes. Results: The components of bulk RCFs were SiO₂ and Al₂O₃, having an amorphous structure. Airborne RCFs were morphologically different from bulk RCFs in size, which could negatively affect maintenance workers' health. 58% of airborne RCFs correspond to the size of thoracic and respirable fibers. RCFs did not crystallize at high temperatures. The exposure caused by airborne RCFs during the scrubber frame assembly and insulation replacement was higher than the occupational exposure limit. Conclusion: Workers conducting insulation replacement are likely exposed to airborne RCFs above safe exposure limits. As RCFs are suspected carcinogens, this exposure should be minimized through prevention and precautionary procedures.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.45-63
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• 2019

In view of the growing industrial use of Bacterial cellulose (BC), and taking into account that it might become airborne and be inhaled after industrial processing, assessing its potential pulmonary toxic effects assumes high relevance. In this work, the murine model was used to assess the effects of exposure to respirable BC nanofibrils (nBC), obtained by disintegration of BC produced by Komagataeibacter hansenii. Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages ($BMM{\Phi}$) were treated with different doses of nBC (0.02 and 0.2 mg/mL, respectively 1 and $10{\mu}g$ of fibrils) in absence or presence of 0.2% Carboxymethyl Cellulose (nBCMC). Furthermore, mice were instilled intratracheally with nBC or nBCMC at different concentrations and at different time-points and analyzed up to 6 months after treatments. Microcrystaline $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159, a plant-derived cellulose, was used for comparison. Markers of cellular damage (lactate dehydrogenase release and total protein) and oxidative stress (hydrogen peroxidase, reduced glutathione, lipid peroxidation and glutathione peroxidase activity) as well presence of inflammatory cells were evaluated in brochoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids. Histological analysis of lungs, heart and liver tissues was also performed. BAL analysis showed that exposure to nBCMC or CMC did not induce major alterations in the assessed markers of cell damage, oxidative stress or inflammatory cell numbers in BAL fluid over time, even following cumulative treatments. $Avicel-plus^{(R)}$ CM 2159 significantly increased LDH release, detected 3 months after 4 weekly administrations. However, histological results revealed a chronic inflammatory response and tissue alterations, being hypertrophy of pulmonary arteries (observed 3 months after nBCMC treatment) of particular concern. These histological alterations remained after 6 months in animals treated with nBC, possibly due to foreign body reaction and the organism's inability to remove the fibers. Overall, despite being a safe and biocompatible biomaterial, BC-derived nanofibrils inhalation may lead to lung pathology and pose significant health risks.