Andrew Hunt | University of Texas at Arlington (original) (raw)
Papers by Andrew Hunt
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2017
The present study is based on a suite of surface samples from exposures of eroded laterite, consi... more The present study is based on a suite of surface samples from exposures of eroded laterite, considered to be Tertiary in age, and nearby soils in the Sahelian region of SW Niger and Burkina Faso. X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, computer‐controlled scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, diffuse UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy and a suite of magnetic measurements have been used to shed light on the origin of the soils and their possible derivation from the adjacent, eroded laterite outcrops. On the basis of the wide range of data obtained, we conclude that the mineralogy and magnetic properties of the soils preclude direct derivation from the laterites without further weathering and modification. Nor does the evidence support the view that the soils have evolved entirely independently, uninfluenced by input from the laterites. The only conclusion that is consistent with all the lines of evidence is that the erosion of the laterites provided at l...
Applied Geochemistry, 2012
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, Dec 1, 2002
GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL (2013 GSA Annual Meeting in ... more GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL (2013 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver: 125th Anniversa... ...[5/21/2015 11:23:49 AM] The Geological Society of America 2013 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver: 125th Anniversary of GSA (27-30 October 2013) Denver, Colorado, USA Start |Author Index | View Uploaded Presentations | Meeting Information Paper No. 33-6 Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL HUNT, Andrew1, ALKANDARY, Dhary2, and SHIRTCLIFF, Benjamin1, (1) Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univesity of Texas at Arlington, Geosciences Building, 500 Yates Street, Arlington, TX 76019, hunt@uta.edu, (2) Earth and Environmental Science, University of Texas at Arlington, Geoscience Building, 500 Yates Street, Arlington, TX 76019 Childhood ingestion of Pb contaminated soil can result in cognitive deficits. The problem posed by Pb in soil is that it is relatively abundant in older urban yard soils, and is an ...
Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), Jan 27, 2017
The adverse health effects resulting from exposure to contaminated soil on internally displaced p... more The adverse health effects resulting from exposure to contaminated soil on internally displaced populations in Mitrovica, Kosovo can be determined by how the potentially harmful elements are bound in the soils. Certainly this was the case for Pb, present at concentrations ranging from 624 to 46,900 mg/kg, and at bioaccessibilities ranging <5% to nearly 90%. To assess why the soil Pb might differ so markedly in terms of its bioaccessibility, computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) was employed to determine how the Pb was associated with other elements at the individual particle (IP) level in soils from the area. It was found that the Pb-bearing particle types were, for the most part, different in each sample. We consider these differences as the main control on Pb bioaccessibility in these soils. Pb solubility at the IP level was evaluated by examining Pb-particles from these soils in the electron microscope before and after successive immersions in a simulated ga...
Scanning microscopy, 1996
Fractal dimension has been used extensively as a descriptor of the rugged outlines of fine-partic... more Fractal dimension has been used extensively as a descriptor of the rugged outlines of fine-particles. Potentially, it may be a useful parameter for characterizing the outlines of fine-particles which have been subjected to some form of chemical degradation. Here, fractal dimension values have been computed for the outlines of microscopic lead fine-particles both before and after weak hydrochloric acid dissolution experiments. Values obtained for the post-dissolution rugged profiles were greater than those of the pristine fracture grains which had a Euclidean form. The profiles of the degraded fine-particles could be characterized by a single fractal dimension value, or they exhibited multifractal behavior. Data from profiles of fine-particles lead from the natural environment of the soil suggest that fractal dimension calculations may provide a useful descriptor for particles which have undergone chemical dissolution and transformation in such an environment.
Scanning microscopy, 1991
Over 400 cases with data from in situ electron microprobe quantitation of non-fibrous inorganic p... more Over 400 cases with data from in situ electron microprobe quantitation of non-fibrous inorganic particles (e.g., silica, alumino-silicates, talc, metals) in pulmonary tissue sections, and data from quantitative digestion analyses for fiber content (e.g., asbestos, silica, alumino-silicates, man-made fibers, talc) comprise an extensive microcomputer data set of lung particle burden. When allied with demographic and histopathologic information the result is a comprehensive database of occupational pulmonary pathology. Examples of the kinds of information which can be extracted from the database include: 1) summary information on the types sizes and associations of particles in lungs with a variety of exposures, 2) concentrations of etiologic particle type in cases with recognized pneumoconioses, and 3) correlations between particle type, pathology, occupation and social history. The database provides a powerful tool for assessing such information on statistically meaningful sample sets.
The Holocene, 2014
Interest in identifying a geological marker signifying the starting point for the Anthropocene ha... more Interest in identifying a geological marker signifying the starting point for the Anthropocene has prompted an exploration of the stratigraphic record of inorganic particulates generated by industrial activities. Magnetic measurements of recent lake sediments and ombrotrophic peats are here used to reconstruct the history of deposition of inorganic fly-ash spheres resulting mainly from solid fuel combustion and metal smelting. The chronologies used have been based on moss-increment counting, radioisotope dating and pollen analysis. The sites come from the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and North America. In several cases where detailed chronologies of both fly-ash deposition and local industry can be compared, the sequence of concentration-linked magnetic measurements appears to capture accurately the record of industrial development despite incontrovertible evidence from other peat-based records for some selective dissolution of magnetic minerals. The dates at which magnetic concentra...
Transactions in GIS, 2007
Positional error is the error produced by the discrepancy between reference and recorded location... more Positional error is the error produced by the discrepancy between reference and recorded locations. In urban landscapes, locations typically are obtained from global positioning systems or geocoding software. Although these technologies have improved the locational ...
Science of The Total Environment, 2006
Inadvertent soil ingestion, especially by young children, can be an important route of exposure f... more Inadvertent soil ingestion, especially by young children, can be an important route of exposure for many environmental contaminants. The introduction of exterior soil into the interior environment is a significant element of the exposure pathway. The unintentional collection of outside soil on footwear followed by subsequent deposition indoors is a principal route of soil ingress. Here we have investigated likely rates of dry and wet soil deposition on indoor hard surface flooring as a result of mass transfer from soiled footwear. In this pilot study, testing involved both single track-in events (with deposition resulting from a single progression of transfer steps) and multiple tracking actions (with deposition and dispersion resulting from repeated transfer steps). Based on soil mass recovery from the floor surface it was found that any contamination introduced by one-time track-in events was of limited spatial extent. In contrast, under repeated tracking conditions, with multiple soil incursions, widespread floor surface contamination was possible. Soil mass recovery was accomplished by brushing, by vacuum cleaner removal and by wet wiping. All the clean-up methods operated imperfectly and failed to remove all initially deposited soil. The level of floor surface soiling that resulted from the track-in tests, and the incomplete clean-up strongly suggest that under unrestricted transfer conditions rapid accumulation and dispersal of soil on indoor flooring is likely.
Science in China Series C: Life Sciences, 2005
A program of house dust sample collection and analysis has begun in Syracuse, New York, USA, in o... more A program of house dust sample collection and analysis has begun in Syracuse, New York, USA, in order to determine the feasibility of a geography-based exposure assessment for urban metals. The sampling program, and the protocols it employs, is described for two different types of wipe media, Ghost Wipes and Whatman Filters. Preliminary results show that strong spatial patterns of floor dust loading (mg dust per square foot) can be observed for data aggregated at a spatial scale of about 1600 m (~2.5 km 2). Floor dust metal concentrations were similar to those found in other urban environments, with some regional variation. The median floor dust Pb concentration was ~108 mg•kg −1 for this initial data set of ~264 sampled residential locations, and varied from 50 to 1100 mg Pb•kg −1 .
Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2006
The Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project is a birth cohort st... more The Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project is a birth cohort study of wheezing in the first year of life in a low-income urban setting. Such studies are important because of the documented serious risks to children's health and the lack of attention and published work on asthma development and intervention in communities of this size. We studied 103 infants of mothers with asthma, living predominantly in inner-city households. Our study combines measurements of a large panel of indoor environmental agents, in-home infant assessments, and review of all prenatal and postnatal medical records through the first year of life. We found multiple environmental pollution sources and potential health risks in study homes including high infant exposure to tobacco smoke. The prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy was 54%; postnatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure was nearly 90%. The majority (73%) of homes showed signs of dampness. Part...
Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology, 2010
In studies worldwide, respiratory outcomes such as cough, wheeze and asthma have been consistentl... more In studies worldwide, respiratory outcomes such as cough, wheeze and asthma have been consistently linked to mold exposure. Young children spend most of their time indoors and may be particularly vulnerable. We evaluated the associations between exposure to airborne fungal levels and episodes of wheezing in a cohort of 103 infants at risk for asthma (due to maternal history of asthma), living primarily in low-income urban settings. Using a new protocol that facilitates identification of rare and slow-growing fungi, we measured the type and concentration of cultured fungi in home air samples taken early in the infant's first year of life. We also inspected the homes for visible mold, water damage and other housing and environmental conditions. All homes had measurable indoor airborne fungi and 73%, had some sign of mold, water damage, dampness or a musty odor. One or more episodes of wheeze during the first year of life were observed in 38% of infants. Multiple logistic regressi...
GeoJournal, 2008
A paucity of literature currently exists pertaining to the high-resolution geographic distributio... more A paucity of literature currently exists pertaining to the high-resolution geographic distribution of metal contaminants across urban areas. Thousands of soil samples were collected across Syracuse, NY to secure empirical evidence about such geographic distributions. Metal measurements were made with XRF technology, with quality assessments based upon replicate samples as well as ICP technology summarized here. Both metal covariations and
Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2008
Residential floor dust loading was measured on the smooth floor surface of 488 houses in Syracuse... more Residential floor dust loading was measured on the smooth floor surface of 488 houses in Syracuse, New York, during the summers of 2003 and 2004. Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wipe methods, pre-weighed Ghost Wipes, Lead Wipes, or Whatman Filters were employed to collect duplicate samples from (predominantly) kitchens. The collection efficiency of the various media was determined from multiple wipe tests and side-by-side comparisons. The results were normalized and aggregated at the census tract level to determine whether spatial patterns of dust loading could be observed. Loading was found to be log-normally distributed, with a geometric mean value of 0.311 g m-2 (29 mg of dust per square foot of floor); 95% of the observations fell in the range of 0.042-2.330 g m-2 (4-216 mg foot-2). The sampling for floor dust loading shows some bias for day of the week in which visits to the residential properties were made. After a first-order correction for this effect, results were aggregated by census tract and mapped in a geographic information system (GIS); strong spatial patterns can be identified in an inverse distance weighted mapping. The geographic patterns exhibit a strong correlation with socio-economic/ demographic covariates extracted from the 2000 census summaries. Dust mass on the floors is positively correlated with renter-occupied properties and family size; it is negatively correlated with measures of household income.
Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2008
In the indoor environment, settled surface dust often functions as a reservoir of hazardous parti... more In the indoor environment, settled surface dust often functions as a reservoir of hazardous particulate contaminants. In many circumstances, a major contributing source to the dust pool is exterior soil. Young children are particularly susceptible to exposure to both outdoor derived soil and indoor derived dust present in the indoor dust pool. This is because early in life the exploratory activities of the infant are dominated by touching and mouthing behavior. Inadvertent exposure to dust through mouth contact and hand-to-mouth activity is an inevitable consequence of infant development. Clean-up of indoor dust is, in many circumstances, critically important in efforts to minimize pediatric exposure. In this study, we examine the efficiency of vacuum cleaner removal of footwear-deposited soil on vinyl floor tiles. The study utilized a 5 9 10 foot (c. 152.5 9 305 cm) test surface composed of 1-foot-square (c. 30.5 9 30.5 cm) vinyl floor tiles. A composite test soil with moderately elevated levels of certain elements (e.g., Pb) was repeatedly introduced onto the floor surface by footwear track-on. The deposited soil was subsequently periodically removed from randomly selected tiles using a domestic vacuum cleaner. The mass and loading of soil elements on the tiles following vacuuming were determined both by wet wipe collection and by subsequent chemical analysis. It was found that vacuum cleaner removal eliminated much of the soil mass from the floor tiles. However, a small percentage of the mass was not removed and a portion of this residual mass could be picked up by moistened hand-lifts. Furthermore, although the post-vacuuming tile soil mass was sizably reduced, for some elements (notably Pb) the concentration in the residual soil was increased. We interpret this increased metal concentration to be a particle size effect with smaller particles (with a proportionately higher metal content) remaining in situ after vacuuming.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
We measured ultrafine particulate material (UFPM) number concentrations in a variety of indoor, p... more We measured ultrafine particulate material (UFPM) number concentrations in a variety of indoor, personal and mobile environments, using a P-Trak condensations particle counter (TSI model 8525). Indoor UFPM levels indicated influx of outdoor air plus indoor combustion sources (e.g. toasting and cooking, yielding UFPM concentrations >500000 particles/cm 3). Influx of UFPM into the indoor environment from unexpected sources (e.g. a home pottery kiln) was readily detected. In a moving passenger car environment, prolonged exposures to UFPM concentrations >100000 particles/cm 3 were observed related to heavy traffic, especially diesel vehicles. Data logging at 1 s revealed transient UFPM peaks not demonstrable with longer interval averaging. Indices of continuous, average and cumulative exposures are presented. This type of sensitive and portable instrumentation should be highly useful in studies of UFPM in mobile and personal micro-environments.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
The lungs act as a continuous sampler of respirable particulate matter in the environment. Quanti... more The lungs act as a continuous sampler of respirable particulate matter in the environment. Quantitative analysis of the retained lung burden of particulate material provides important clues to exposures in individual cases as well as in epidemiological studies. Since 1980 we have developed and utilized microanalytical techniques to identify and quantify the inorganic particles retained in lungs. These results and the cumulative data in the database (initially described in 1991) have had far-ranging diagnostic and research applications. The database contains data from >900 non-fibrous particle analyses and >800 fibre analyses. In this report we summarize and highlight aspects of the database after 20 years.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
We used scanning electron microscopy to investigate autopsy tissue samples from 18 individuals wh... more We used scanning electron microscopy to investigate autopsy tissue samples from 18 individuals who died at the time of the London smog event of 1952. Four lung tissue compartments were specifically targeted for analysis. The greatest diversity of particle types was found in the recent exposure compartment (aggregated in mucopurulent airway exudate). Metal-bearing particles were more common in the recent exposure compartment, while non-metal and Fecontaining particles were more abundant in the longer term retention compartments (lymph nodes and interstitial macrophages). Irrespective of location, these particles were usually associated with a matrix of carbon particles (∼100 nm in size). These data suggest that metal particles were an important part of the London aerosol at the time of the 1952 smog and that such particles are not necessarily preserved long-term in the lung. This lack of biopersistence may be a function of metal solubility and may have important toxicological implications.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1997
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2017
The present study is based on a suite of surface samples from exposures of eroded laterite, consi... more The present study is based on a suite of surface samples from exposures of eroded laterite, considered to be Tertiary in age, and nearby soils in the Sahelian region of SW Niger and Burkina Faso. X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, computer‐controlled scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, diffuse UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy and a suite of magnetic measurements have been used to shed light on the origin of the soils and their possible derivation from the adjacent, eroded laterite outcrops. On the basis of the wide range of data obtained, we conclude that the mineralogy and magnetic properties of the soils preclude direct derivation from the laterites without further weathering and modification. Nor does the evidence support the view that the soils have evolved entirely independently, uninfluenced by input from the laterites. The only conclusion that is consistent with all the lines of evidence is that the erosion of the laterites provided at l...
Applied Geochemistry, 2012
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, Dec 1, 2002
GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL (2013 GSA Annual Meeting in ... more GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL (2013 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver: 125th Anniversa... ...[5/21/2015 11:23:49 AM] The Geological Society of America 2013 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver: 125th Anniversary of GSA (27-30 October 2013) Denver, Colorado, USA Start |Author Index | View Uploaded Presentations | Meeting Information Paper No. 33-6 Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM GEOCHEMICAL OPTIONS FOR IMMOBILIZING LEAD (PB) CONTAMINATION IN SOIL HUNT, Andrew1, ALKANDARY, Dhary2, and SHIRTCLIFF, Benjamin1, (1) Earth and Environmental Sciences, Univesity of Texas at Arlington, Geosciences Building, 500 Yates Street, Arlington, TX 76019, hunt@uta.edu, (2) Earth and Environmental Science, University of Texas at Arlington, Geoscience Building, 500 Yates Street, Arlington, TX 76019 Childhood ingestion of Pb contaminated soil can result in cognitive deficits. The problem posed by Pb in soil is that it is relatively abundant in older urban yard soils, and is an ...
Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987), Jan 27, 2017
The adverse health effects resulting from exposure to contaminated soil on internally displaced p... more The adverse health effects resulting from exposure to contaminated soil on internally displaced populations in Mitrovica, Kosovo can be determined by how the potentially harmful elements are bound in the soils. Certainly this was the case for Pb, present at concentrations ranging from 624 to 46,900 mg/kg, and at bioaccessibilities ranging <5% to nearly 90%. To assess why the soil Pb might differ so markedly in terms of its bioaccessibility, computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) was employed to determine how the Pb was associated with other elements at the individual particle (IP) level in soils from the area. It was found that the Pb-bearing particle types were, for the most part, different in each sample. We consider these differences as the main control on Pb bioaccessibility in these soils. Pb solubility at the IP level was evaluated by examining Pb-particles from these soils in the electron microscope before and after successive immersions in a simulated ga...
Scanning microscopy, 1996
Fractal dimension has been used extensively as a descriptor of the rugged outlines of fine-partic... more Fractal dimension has been used extensively as a descriptor of the rugged outlines of fine-particles. Potentially, it may be a useful parameter for characterizing the outlines of fine-particles which have been subjected to some form of chemical degradation. Here, fractal dimension values have been computed for the outlines of microscopic lead fine-particles both before and after weak hydrochloric acid dissolution experiments. Values obtained for the post-dissolution rugged profiles were greater than those of the pristine fracture grains which had a Euclidean form. The profiles of the degraded fine-particles could be characterized by a single fractal dimension value, or they exhibited multifractal behavior. Data from profiles of fine-particles lead from the natural environment of the soil suggest that fractal dimension calculations may provide a useful descriptor for particles which have undergone chemical dissolution and transformation in such an environment.
Scanning microscopy, 1991
Over 400 cases with data from in situ electron microprobe quantitation of non-fibrous inorganic p... more Over 400 cases with data from in situ electron microprobe quantitation of non-fibrous inorganic particles (e.g., silica, alumino-silicates, talc, metals) in pulmonary tissue sections, and data from quantitative digestion analyses for fiber content (e.g., asbestos, silica, alumino-silicates, man-made fibers, talc) comprise an extensive microcomputer data set of lung particle burden. When allied with demographic and histopathologic information the result is a comprehensive database of occupational pulmonary pathology. Examples of the kinds of information which can be extracted from the database include: 1) summary information on the types sizes and associations of particles in lungs with a variety of exposures, 2) concentrations of etiologic particle type in cases with recognized pneumoconioses, and 3) correlations between particle type, pathology, occupation and social history. The database provides a powerful tool for assessing such information on statistically meaningful sample sets.
The Holocene, 2014
Interest in identifying a geological marker signifying the starting point for the Anthropocene ha... more Interest in identifying a geological marker signifying the starting point for the Anthropocene has prompted an exploration of the stratigraphic record of inorganic particulates generated by industrial activities. Magnetic measurements of recent lake sediments and ombrotrophic peats are here used to reconstruct the history of deposition of inorganic fly-ash spheres resulting mainly from solid fuel combustion and metal smelting. The chronologies used have been based on moss-increment counting, radioisotope dating and pollen analysis. The sites come from the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and North America. In several cases where detailed chronologies of both fly-ash deposition and local industry can be compared, the sequence of concentration-linked magnetic measurements appears to capture accurately the record of industrial development despite incontrovertible evidence from other peat-based records for some selective dissolution of magnetic minerals. The dates at which magnetic concentra...
Transactions in GIS, 2007
Positional error is the error produced by the discrepancy between reference and recorded location... more Positional error is the error produced by the discrepancy between reference and recorded locations. In urban landscapes, locations typically are obtained from global positioning systems or geocoding software. Although these technologies have improved the locational ...
Science of The Total Environment, 2006
Inadvertent soil ingestion, especially by young children, can be an important route of exposure f... more Inadvertent soil ingestion, especially by young children, can be an important route of exposure for many environmental contaminants. The introduction of exterior soil into the interior environment is a significant element of the exposure pathway. The unintentional collection of outside soil on footwear followed by subsequent deposition indoors is a principal route of soil ingress. Here we have investigated likely rates of dry and wet soil deposition on indoor hard surface flooring as a result of mass transfer from soiled footwear. In this pilot study, testing involved both single track-in events (with deposition resulting from a single progression of transfer steps) and multiple tracking actions (with deposition and dispersion resulting from repeated transfer steps). Based on soil mass recovery from the floor surface it was found that any contamination introduced by one-time track-in events was of limited spatial extent. In contrast, under repeated tracking conditions, with multiple soil incursions, widespread floor surface contamination was possible. Soil mass recovery was accomplished by brushing, by vacuum cleaner removal and by wet wiping. All the clean-up methods operated imperfectly and failed to remove all initially deposited soil. The level of floor surface soiling that resulted from the track-in tests, and the incomplete clean-up strongly suggest that under unrestricted transfer conditions rapid accumulation and dispersal of soil on indoor flooring is likely.
Science in China Series C: Life Sciences, 2005
A program of house dust sample collection and analysis has begun in Syracuse, New York, USA, in o... more A program of house dust sample collection and analysis has begun in Syracuse, New York, USA, in order to determine the feasibility of a geography-based exposure assessment for urban metals. The sampling program, and the protocols it employs, is described for two different types of wipe media, Ghost Wipes and Whatman Filters. Preliminary results show that strong spatial patterns of floor dust loading (mg dust per square foot) can be observed for data aggregated at a spatial scale of about 1600 m (~2.5 km 2). Floor dust metal concentrations were similar to those found in other urban environments, with some regional variation. The median floor dust Pb concentration was ~108 mg•kg −1 for this initial data set of ~264 sampled residential locations, and varied from 50 to 1100 mg Pb•kg −1 .
Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2006
The Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project is a birth cohort st... more The Syracuse AUDIT (Assessment of Urban Dwellings for Indoor Toxics) project is a birth cohort study of wheezing in the first year of life in a low-income urban setting. Such studies are important because of the documented serious risks to children's health and the lack of attention and published work on asthma development and intervention in communities of this size. We studied 103 infants of mothers with asthma, living predominantly in inner-city households. Our study combines measurements of a large panel of indoor environmental agents, in-home infant assessments, and review of all prenatal and postnatal medical records through the first year of life. We found multiple environmental pollution sources and potential health risks in study homes including high infant exposure to tobacco smoke. The prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy was 54%; postnatal environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure was nearly 90%. The majority (73%) of homes showed signs of dampness. Part...
Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology, 2010
In studies worldwide, respiratory outcomes such as cough, wheeze and asthma have been consistentl... more In studies worldwide, respiratory outcomes such as cough, wheeze and asthma have been consistently linked to mold exposure. Young children spend most of their time indoors and may be particularly vulnerable. We evaluated the associations between exposure to airborne fungal levels and episodes of wheezing in a cohort of 103 infants at risk for asthma (due to maternal history of asthma), living primarily in low-income urban settings. Using a new protocol that facilitates identification of rare and slow-growing fungi, we measured the type and concentration of cultured fungi in home air samples taken early in the infant's first year of life. We also inspected the homes for visible mold, water damage and other housing and environmental conditions. All homes had measurable indoor airborne fungi and 73%, had some sign of mold, water damage, dampness or a musty odor. One or more episodes of wheeze during the first year of life were observed in 38% of infants. Multiple logistic regressi...
GeoJournal, 2008
A paucity of literature currently exists pertaining to the high-resolution geographic distributio... more A paucity of literature currently exists pertaining to the high-resolution geographic distribution of metal contaminants across urban areas. Thousands of soil samples were collected across Syracuse, NY to secure empirical evidence about such geographic distributions. Metal measurements were made with XRF technology, with quality assessments based upon replicate samples as well as ICP technology summarized here. Both metal covariations and
Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2008
Residential floor dust loading was measured on the smooth floor surface of 488 houses in Syracuse... more Residential floor dust loading was measured on the smooth floor surface of 488 houses in Syracuse, New York, during the summers of 2003 and 2004. Using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wipe methods, pre-weighed Ghost Wipes, Lead Wipes, or Whatman Filters were employed to collect duplicate samples from (predominantly) kitchens. The collection efficiency of the various media was determined from multiple wipe tests and side-by-side comparisons. The results were normalized and aggregated at the census tract level to determine whether spatial patterns of dust loading could be observed. Loading was found to be log-normally distributed, with a geometric mean value of 0.311 g m-2 (29 mg of dust per square foot of floor); 95% of the observations fell in the range of 0.042-2.330 g m-2 (4-216 mg foot-2). The sampling for floor dust loading shows some bias for day of the week in which visits to the residential properties were made. After a first-order correction for this effect, results were aggregated by census tract and mapped in a geographic information system (GIS); strong spatial patterns can be identified in an inverse distance weighted mapping. The geographic patterns exhibit a strong correlation with socio-economic/ demographic covariates extracted from the 2000 census summaries. Dust mass on the floors is positively correlated with renter-occupied properties and family size; it is negatively correlated with measures of household income.
Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 2008
In the indoor environment, settled surface dust often functions as a reservoir of hazardous parti... more In the indoor environment, settled surface dust often functions as a reservoir of hazardous particulate contaminants. In many circumstances, a major contributing source to the dust pool is exterior soil. Young children are particularly susceptible to exposure to both outdoor derived soil and indoor derived dust present in the indoor dust pool. This is because early in life the exploratory activities of the infant are dominated by touching and mouthing behavior. Inadvertent exposure to dust through mouth contact and hand-to-mouth activity is an inevitable consequence of infant development. Clean-up of indoor dust is, in many circumstances, critically important in efforts to minimize pediatric exposure. In this study, we examine the efficiency of vacuum cleaner removal of footwear-deposited soil on vinyl floor tiles. The study utilized a 5 9 10 foot (c. 152.5 9 305 cm) test surface composed of 1-foot-square (c. 30.5 9 30.5 cm) vinyl floor tiles. A composite test soil with moderately elevated levels of certain elements (e.g., Pb) was repeatedly introduced onto the floor surface by footwear track-on. The deposited soil was subsequently periodically removed from randomly selected tiles using a domestic vacuum cleaner. The mass and loading of soil elements on the tiles following vacuuming were determined both by wet wipe collection and by subsequent chemical analysis. It was found that vacuum cleaner removal eliminated much of the soil mass from the floor tiles. However, a small percentage of the mass was not removed and a portion of this residual mass could be picked up by moistened hand-lifts. Furthermore, although the post-vacuuming tile soil mass was sizably reduced, for some elements (notably Pb) the concentration in the residual soil was increased. We interpret this increased metal concentration to be a particle size effect with smaller particles (with a proportionately higher metal content) remaining in situ after vacuuming.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
We measured ultrafine particulate material (UFPM) number concentrations in a variety of indoor, p... more We measured ultrafine particulate material (UFPM) number concentrations in a variety of indoor, personal and mobile environments, using a P-Trak condensations particle counter (TSI model 8525). Indoor UFPM levels indicated influx of outdoor air plus indoor combustion sources (e.g. toasting and cooking, yielding UFPM concentrations >500000 particles/cm 3). Influx of UFPM into the indoor environment from unexpected sources (e.g. a home pottery kiln) was readily detected. In a moving passenger car environment, prolonged exposures to UFPM concentrations >100000 particles/cm 3 were observed related to heavy traffic, especially diesel vehicles. Data logging at 1 s revealed transient UFPM peaks not demonstrable with longer interval averaging. Indices of continuous, average and cumulative exposures are presented. This type of sensitive and portable instrumentation should be highly useful in studies of UFPM in mobile and personal micro-environments.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
The lungs act as a continuous sampler of respirable particulate matter in the environment. Quanti... more The lungs act as a continuous sampler of respirable particulate matter in the environment. Quantitative analysis of the retained lung burden of particulate material provides important clues to exposures in individual cases as well as in epidemiological studies. Since 1980 we have developed and utilized microanalytical techniques to identify and quantify the inorganic particles retained in lungs. These results and the cumulative data in the database (initially described in 1991) have had far-ranging diagnostic and research applications. The database contains data from >900 non-fibrous particle analyses and >800 fibre analyses. In this report we summarize and highlight aspects of the database after 20 years.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 2002
We used scanning electron microscopy to investigate autopsy tissue samples from 18 individuals wh... more We used scanning electron microscopy to investigate autopsy tissue samples from 18 individuals who died at the time of the London smog event of 1952. Four lung tissue compartments were specifically targeted for analysis. The greatest diversity of particle types was found in the recent exposure compartment (aggregated in mucopurulent airway exudate). Metal-bearing particles were more common in the recent exposure compartment, while non-metal and Fecontaining particles were more abundant in the longer term retention compartments (lymph nodes and interstitial macrophages). Irrespective of location, these particles were usually associated with a matrix of carbon particles (∼100 nm in size). These data suggest that metal particles were an important part of the London aerosol at the time of the 1952 smog and that such particles are not necessarily preserved long-term in the lung. This lack of biopersistence may be a function of metal solubility and may have important toxicological implications.
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1997