Implementation of smoking ban: a survey in a public hospital setting.

Smoking in hospitals is banned in most of European countries; nevertheless, implementing a total smoking ban is particularly difficult and policy breaches are frequent. Aim of our study was to monitor the compliance with the smoke-free policy within a hospital district by measuring particulate matters (PM2.5). We designed an observational study and identified six sensitive locations within the hospitals: surgical units, administrative offices, hall, outdoor main entrances and as controls an outdoor and an indoor area. To rule out potential confounders we included in the evaluation the roadways surrounding the hospital district. PM2.5 median concentrations observed in outdoor main entrances and in hall were significantly higher (16.4 and 13.4 µg m(-3)), as compared with the other settings (P < 0.0001). This data warrant an implementation of current policies to protect patients, visitors and employees from passive second-hand smoke leading to a smoking prohibition in any hospital surroundings.

Air pollution/working activity correlation: a case study in a dental hospital.

The paper deals with a multidimensional approach demonstrating a direct link between the entity of ongoing dentistry activity (number and kind of interventions) and specific pollution components. Simultaneously indoor/outdoor air concentrations of a set of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and activity variables, describing the amount and nature of ongoing dentistry activities, were monitored over a year at a dental hospital located in an urban area. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to single out mutually orthogonal pollution components which were then correlated to "pathology" factors arising from the analysis of dentistry activity indexes. The use of a multidimensional perspective allowed us to obtain a statistically significant model of the link between level of pollution and dentistry activity. In particular, the correlation approach linking pollution results to pathological variables allows us to establish a causative link even in the presence of sub-threshold concentrations of pollutants.

[Formaldehyde in air of indoor and outdoor environments of urban area, relationships man's exposure]. / Formaldeide in aria di ambienti interni ed esterni di un'area urbana, in relazione all'esposizione dell'uomo.

This study presents the results of man's exposure to formaldehyde, carried out in indoor and outdoor environments in the city of Ferrara. The processes were obtained on average concentration measurements carried out for one month by indoor, outdoor and personal samplings. Concentration values obtained by personal samplings (PE) were compared to both outdoor and indoor values, the latter including domestic and working environments. The results showed that there was a significant difference between formaldeyde concentrations outdoor and PE (p = 0,03 < alpha = 0,05), while a significant difference was not found between indoor and PE. Indoor values (values as average of 38 samples) were 19,5 microg/m3, outdoor ones were 6,9 microg/m3 and PE 19,9 microg/m3. The average indoor value in domestic environments (20,7 microg/m3) was higher than the value found in working environments (17,9 microg/m3). Binary comparisons showed that indoor and outdoor, together with indoor and personal samplings, display the same variability of formaldehyde concentrations.

[Seasonal trends of some volatile organic compounds inside and outside private apartments located in areas characterized by different vehicular traffic intensity of Rome]. / Andamenti stagionali di alcuni composti organici volatili all'interno ed all'esterno di abitazioni situate in zone caratterizzate da differenti intensità di traffico veicolare nella città di Roma.

This study was aimed at determining volatile organic compounds concentrations in indoor and outdoor sites located in Rome characterized by different traffic intensity. Indoor and outdoor air passive samplings were effected in private locations during four seasonal periods. In all sites about 50 pollutants were determined qualitatively and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes were determined quantitatively. The analytical results generally showed a dependence of indoor and outdoor pollutant concentrations on traffic density and a seasonal variability. Moreover, many sites were characterized by the presence of toluene and xylenes indoor concentrations higher than outdoors indicating indoor sources.

Correction: Fuselli, et al. A Three Year Study on 14 VOCs at One Site in Rome: Levels, Seasonal Variations, Indoor / Outdoor Ratio and Temporal Trends. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2010, 7, 3792-3803.

[This corrects the article on p. 3792 in vol. 7.].

A three year study on 14 VOCs at one site in Rome: levels, seasonal variations, indoor/outdoor ratio and temporal trends.

Fourteen volatile organic compounds (VOCs)-twelve hydrocarbons and two organochlorine compounds-were monitored both outdoors and indoors for three years at one site in Rome. Results showed that 118 out of 168 indoor seasonal mean values were higher than the corresponding outdoor concentrations. The most relevant source of outdoor hydrocarbons was automotive exhaust emissions. Due to the enforcement of various measures to protect health and the environment, outdoor levels of monoaromatic hydrocarbons decreased about ten fold over 15 years, and aliphatic hydrocarbons also decreased. With the decrease in these outdoor concentrations, indoor air sources are likely to be more relevant for indoor air exposures. Winter outdoor values for monoaromatic hydrocarbons were generally markedly higher than the summer ones. The gradual replacement of the current fleet of circulating cars with new cars complying with EURO 5 standards, further reducing hydrocarbon emissions, may possibly lead to an increase in the observed indoor/outdoor ratios. It is indeed more difficult to remove indoor sources, some of which are still unknown.

Short-term monitoring of benzene air concentration in an urban area: a preliminary study of application of Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test to assess pollutant impact on global environment and indoor.

In step with the need to develop statistical procedures to manage small-size environmental samples, in this work we have used concentration values of benzene (C6H6), concurrently detected by seven outdoor and indoor monitoring stations over 12 000 minutes, in order to assess the representativeness of collected data and the impact of the pollutant on indoor environment. Clearly, the former issue is strictly connected to sampling-site geometry, which proves critical to correctly retrieving information from analysis of pollutants of sanitary interest. Therefore, according to current criteria for network-planning, single stations have been interpreted as nodes of a set of adjoining triangles; then, a) node pairs have been taken into account in order to estimate pollutant stationarity on triangle sides, as well as b) node triplets, to statistically associate data from air-monitoring with the corresponding territory area, and c) node sextuplets, to assess the impact probability of the outdoor pollutant on indoor environment for each area. Distributions from the various node combinations are all non-Gaussian, in the consequently, Kruskal-Wallis (KW) non-parametric statistics has been exploited to test variability on continuous density function from each pair, triplet and sextuplet. Results from the above-mentioned statistical analysis have shown randomness of site selection, which has not allowed a reliable generalization of monitoring data to the entire selected territory, except for a single "forced" case (70%); most important, they suggest a possible procedure to optimize network design.

Investigation of indoor air volatile organic compounds concentration levels in dental settings and some related methodological issues.

The assessment of indoor air volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentration levels in dental settings has a big health relevance for the potentially massive occupational exposure to a lot of diverse contaminants. The comparison of the VOCs profile relative to indoor conditions and to the corresponding outdoor concentrations, as well as the discovery of possible correlations between specific dental activities and VOCs concentration variations are of utmost importance for offering a reliable characterization of risk for dentists and dental staff health. In this study we review the most relevant environmental studies addressing the VOCs contamination level in dental settings. We analyze the methodological problems this kind of study must face and we report preliminary results of an indoor air investigation, carried out at dental hospital in Italy, the "Ospedale odontoiatrico George Eastman" of Rome, in which general lines for the analysis of dental settings in environmental terms are sketched. The aim of this work is to identify the kind of problems a typical enclosed (non-industrial) environment indoor air investigation has to cope with by means of the analysis of a case study.

PCB, PCDD and PCDF contamination of food of animal origin as the effect of soil pollution and the cause of human exposure in Brescia.

In Brescia a PCB production plant polluted soil and forage of the surrounding fields and caused a significant contamination of meat and milk of the cattle fed with local forage. This in turn induced elevated blood levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and PCBs in the consumers. The contamination levels and profiles measured in the perirenal fat, in the liver and in the milk of the overall 28 contaminated bovines are reported. TEQ levels varied from 30 to 81 pg WHO(2005)-TEQ g(-1) (38-103 pg WHO(1997)-TEQ) for perirenal fat, from 107 to 138 pg WHO(2005)-TEQ g(-1) fat (128-168 pg WHO(1997)-TEQ) for liver and from 45 to 50 pg WHO(2005)-TEQg(-1) fat (56-65pg WHO(1997)-TEQ) for milk; all these values are roughly tenfold higher than the European limits. Non-ortho dioxin-like (dl)PCBs are by far the largest contributors to TEQ and PCDF contribution also largely prevail over PCDD's; both these features are also present in both the contaminated forages and in the serum of consumers of contaminated food. The indicator PCB levels are in the following ranges: 226-664 ng g(-1) for perirenal fat; 929-1822 ng g(-1) fat for liver; 183-477 ng g(-1) fat for milk; their level is about 100 times higher than the regional background. The liver samples displayed an overall TEQ several times higher than the perirenal fat from either the same animal or the same pool of animals; the increase in liver concentration was significantly higher for PCDD and PCDF congeners than for dlPCBs, and it was maximum for OCCD.