introduction: hydrogen fluoride is one of the materials which is widely used in making glass, cleaning  silicon, manufacturing florescent lamps, ceramics and also in separating uranium isotopes. on the other hand, exposure to this substance could cause health problems including eye, nose, throat and mucus membranes irritation. this study examines the relationship between fluoride (f) in the uri...

OBJECTIVES A utility-scale wind turbine blade manufacturing plant requested assistance from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in controlling worker exposures to styrene at a plant that produced 37 and 42 m long fiber-reinforced wind turbine blades. The plant requested NIOSH assistance because previous air sampling conducted by the company indicated concerns about...

Perchloroethylene, the most widely used solvent in dry cleaning, is toxic to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system and may be a human carcinogen. An exposure assessment was carried out in 69 dry-cleaning shops using perchloroethylene in Tehran city, Iran. The 8-h time weighted average (TWA) breathing zone air samples and end-exhaled air samples were obtained from 179 workers who worked ...

OBJECTIVE We evaluated the percutaneous absorption of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) in DMF-exposed workers in the summer and winter by assessing their urinary levels of DMF metabolites. METHODS Breathing-zone concentrations of DMF and workers' urinary levels of N-methylformamide (NMF) and N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)-cysteine (AMCC) were simultaneously measured in the summer and winter in 193...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The current study was designed to determine whether the indoor air pollution in a hemodialysis room (HD) was different from that of other comparable areas in a hospital. METHODS Five air monitor samplers were hung on the ceiling and placed on the table in both the HD and general ward nursing stations, respectively. In addition, five samplers were placed in the nurse's breathin...

People spend approximately one third of their life sleeping. Exposure to pollutants in the sleep environment often leads to a variety of adverse health effects, such as development and exacerbation of asthma. Avoiding exposure to these pollutants by providing a sufficient air quality in the sleep environment might be a feasible method to alleviate these health symptoms. We performed full-scale ...

In order to improve arc welding work in a small enclosed workspace, numerical simulations were conducted to find the most appropriate welding and ventilation conditions, such as welding currents, hood position and flow rates with no blowhole formation. In the simulations, distributions of airflow vectors and fume concentrations were calculated for two hood opening positions: one faced a welder'...

This study examined the concentration of heavy metal accumulated in the toenail of welders and compared to the concentration of airborne heavy metal exposure in the breathing zone of the welders. Ten selected welders with adequate toenail growth were asked to clip all ten toenails for analysis. The heavy metal concentration in the welder’s breathing zone was collected by using mixed cellulose e...