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Abstract: Objective: Personal exposure to airborne benzene is influenced by various outdoor and indoor sources. The first aim of this study was to assess the benzene exposure of a sample of urban inhabitants living in an inner-city neighborhood of Florence, Italy, excluding exposure from active smoking. The secondary objective was to differentiate the personal exposures according to personal usage patterns of the vehicles. Methods: A sample of 67 healthy non-smokers was monitored by passive samplers during two 4-weekday campaigns in winter and late spring. Simultaneously, benzene measurements were also taken for a subset of participants, inside and outside their houses. A 4-day time microenvironment activity diary was completed by each subject during each sampling period. Other relevant exposure data were collected by a questionnaire before the sampling. Additional data on urban ambient air benzene levels were also available from the public air quality network. The passive samplers, after automated thermal desorption, were analyzed by GC-FID. Results: Benzene personal exposure levels averaged 6.9 (SD=2.1) and 2.3 (SD=0.7) μg/m3 in winter and spring, respectively. Outdoor and indoor levels showed high correlation in winter and poor in spring. In winter the highest benzene personal exposure levels were for people traveling by more public transport, followed by users of only car and by users of only bus respectively. Conclusions: The time spent in-transport for work or leisure makes a major contribution to benzene exposure among Florentine non-smoking citizens. Indoor pollution and transportation means contribute significantly to individual exposure levels especially in winter season. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A qualitative and quantitative method for the analysis of drugs of abuse (cocaine and benzoylecgonine, opiates) and some stimulants in human hair was developed and validated. Hair samples were incubated with phosphate buffer (pH 5.0), chosen as the extraction medium, extracted with Bond Elut Certify cartridges and analyzed by LC–MS–MS and LC–MS3 as confirmation for positive results. The method proved to be specific, accurate and precise across the calibration range (0.1–30ng/mg) where good linearity was observed. Total extraction recovery, intra-assay accuracy and precision, limits of detection and limits of quantitation were estimated. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of hair samples collected from drug abusers and it was suitable for routine analytical applications in the Antidoping Laboratory of Public Health Laboratory. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this study is to optimize the evaluation of the exposure to N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) in synthetic leather factories by diffusive samplers. The DMF exposure was monitored in synthetic leather factories by two sampler types: active and diffusive. Air measurements were carried out using two different personal air samplers, a diffusive and an active one. The diffusive sampling method, TK200 with charcoal filters, was examined in comparison with pumping through NIOSH silica gel tubes workplace air as with the currently available “gold standard”. The evaluation was carried out, in two different years but in the same season, for all the duration of the shift, i. E. 8 h on workers employed in five different factories in the district of Florence and Prato (Italy). The statistical and graphical analysis of data show a good correlation between active and passive samplers ( r = 0. 96, P < 0. 001, n = 91), a good linear regression (DMFdiffusive = 0. 95 DMFactive + 0. 15, R 2 = 0. 92), a not statistically significant difference between data (tested by paired t test and non-parametric Wilcoxon test). Moreover, all these results are confirmed for data lower and higher than TLV-TWA, in particular we found a significant Pearson correlation ( r = 0. 92, P < 0. 001, n = 83; r = 0. 92, P < 0. 05, n = 8, respectively) and a significant linear regression (DMFdiffusive = 0. 88 DMFactive + 0. 73, R 2 = 0. 86; DMFdiffusive = 0. 90 DMFactive + 3. 76, R 2 = 0. 85). Besides, the analysis of graphical representations confirmed the previous evidences. Finally, we can not find a significant difference between different types of job. Due to the good agreement between the two groups of data, the TK200 samplers can be considered as a simpler approach than the pump for screening worker exposures to DMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors evaluated exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in workers exposed to exhaust gas from cars, and they assessed the efficiency of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene as an indicator of exposure to pyrene and PAHs. The authors selected 2 groups of police who worked in 2 areas in the city of Florence: 1 group was highly exposed to high-density traffic emissions during the winter and summer of 1997, and the 2nd group experienced low exposure to traffic emissions during the same period. Ambient monitoring was achieved with personal sampling of airborne PAHs during each workshift. Eight hydrocarbons were used as indicators of pollution caused by PAHs (e.g., pyrene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, dibenzo[a,h]anthracene). Biological monitoring was performed through dosing of 1-hydroxypyrene (pyrene metabolite) in urine samples taken at the end of each workshift. The ambient monitoring revealed that PAH concentrations were influenced by both season of sampling and varying intensities of traffic in the different areas. The median concentration of benzo[a]pyrene in winter was twice as high in the high-density traffic area as in the low-density traffic area (i.e., 4.1 ng/m³ versus 1.8 ng/m³). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]