Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene最新文献

{"title":"An investigation on the respiratory deposition of respirable coal mine dust using Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA).","authors":"Sina Siahidouzazar, Angela Nataly Vanegas, Eurico Madureira, Wei-Chung Su, Mohammad Rezaee, Pedram Roghanchi","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2621301","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2621301","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study aims to improve the understanding of respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) particle deposition in the lungs to enhance health and safety measures in coal mining environments. Using the Mobile Aerosol Lung Deposition Apparatus (MALDA) and a wind tunnel, experiments were conducted under simulated mining conditions to evaluate how particle characteristics influence deposition patterns during airflow and activity similar to that of mine workers. The experimental results followed a trend similar to the conventional International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) lung deposition curve but showed higher particle deposition in the gas exchange region, likely due to differences between moving and still air conditions. Irregular coal dust particle shapes may also contribute to the observed discrepancies. The study confirms that smaller particles tend to penetrate deeper into the alveolar region, increasing the risk of developing coal mine dust lung diseases (CMDLDs), including coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP). These findings provide valuable insights into lung deposition dynamics under realistic mine-like airflow conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"351-362"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146226498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating screening test protocols to assess methamphetamine contamination in buildings.","authors":"J E Dennison, M Kim, F Sancier-Barbosa","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2612989","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2612989","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In some states, the discovery of a building where methamphetamine (meth) has been manufactured (cooked) or used triggers a regulatory requirement to perform meth sampling, which may be costly due to the number of mandated samples. Less costly screening tests are sometimes conducted using fewer samples that are collected in a biased manner to minimize false negative (FN) results, but their accuracy has not been previously determined. In this study, results from two screening protocols used in Colorado were compared to results from the more comprehensive Colorado regulatory protocol. Using the results of the comprehensive protocol as the benchmark, the screening tests were evaluated for the frequency of false positive (FP) and FN results. The principal concern is a FN result, where a screening test indicates a lack of significant contamination and a comprehensive test indicates contamination above regulatory standards. Few FNs were found, and the degree of contamination above regulatory standards in those few cases was small. A threshold can be established for specific screening tests that trigger additional testing. Logistic regression was used to determine the FN rates for both screening tests with respect to a range of threshold concentrations. The analysis indicates that both screening tests had FN rates approaching 0% at a threshold lower than the regulatory standard. Location-specific and whole-house average meth concentrations were calculated to identify hotspots where meth concentrations tend to be higher than on other surfaces. Hotspots include kitchen fan/stove areas, bathroom exhaust fans, and furnace/ductwork systems, where concentrations exceed average house concentrations by 41-, 47-, and 17-fold, respectively. These data and analyses demonstrate that simplified and less costly sampling protocols can be a valid screening approach. A sampling protocol for meth screening tests is provided and includes aliquots from the hotspots with the highest concentrations.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"341-350"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146105933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of an animatronic headform test method for determining the efficacy of medical masks and barrier face coverings-part 1: total filtration efficacy.","authors":"Melissa Armistead, Anuja Dandekar, Marc Mathews, Madilynn Smith, Mark Gaskill, Arjunsing Girase, R Bryan Ormond","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2612992","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2612992","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effectiveness of face coverings against respiratory viruses is crucial for public health but often lacks realistic performance assessments of protection and comfort. In this study, a system-level test method was developed using an animatronic headform to incorporate fit and dynamic wear into the assessment of total filtration efficacy of medical masks and barrier face coverings. Six commercially available products were evaluated, including an N95 respirator as the control. Total filtration efficacy was calculated from differential particle counts recorded inside and outside of face coverings each minute. The baseline method was able to statistically differentiate between products to a difference in means of 5% at a particle size of 0.3 μm optical diameter. The 16 and 28 L/min sinusoidal flow rates significantly impacted total filtration efficacy, as did the influence of headform movement and duration of wear for select products. There were statistical differences between operators at both flow rates for the KN95 and surgical style masks that were difficult to don consistently, highlighting the variability in performance due to fit. However, the product type remained the most significant cause of variance in the method at 66.10%, demonstrating that the headform test method was able to repeatedly and reproducibly evaluate the efficacy of various face coverings. Furthermore, there were significant decreases in filtration when the facepiece was not sealed properly due to poor fit. This highlights the importance of evaluating these source control devices, including barrier face coverings and public use of medical masks, as they are intended to be worn to incorporate their fit into the reported results.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"363-377"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146125212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Call to action: Youth and filtering facepiece respirator (FFRs).","authors":"Jenna L Gibbs","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2609711","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2609711","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic significantly heightened public awareness of respiratory protection, yet a critical gap persists in evidence-based guidance and appropriately designed filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), such as N95s, for youth (≤18 years of age) in the U.S. This commentary, informed by the author's international experiences training agricultural youth living and working on farms and insights gleaned from a systematic review, highlights an urgent need for better FFR solutions for this population. Acknowledging the sensitive nature of this topic and the early stage of the science, the evidence suggests that current FFR designs and regulatory frameworks are predominantly adult-centric, neglecting the unique physiological and anthropometric characteristics of growing children and adolescents. Industrial hygienists, health care providers, and public health professionals have crucial roles to play in advocating for youth-specific FFR designs, standardized fit-testing protocols, and ethical pediatric medical evaluations.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"337-340"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145917812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"The Action Level^®\".","authors":"J Thomas Pierce","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2687364","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2687364","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"D15-D16"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148277710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mathematical optimization of filters used in N95 filtering facepiece respirators.","authors":"Patrick T O'Shaughnessy","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2659853","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2026.2659853","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The filter used in an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) has a collection efficiency and pressure drop that are primarily influenced by filter depth and solidity, as well as the average diameter and electrostatic charge of its fibers. A sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the influence of each property on particle collection efficiency at the most penetrating particle size (MPPS) and pressure drop using previously verified N95 FFR filter performance models. Collection efficiency was most influenced by changes in filter solidity and least influenced by fiber charge. Likewise, pressure drop was most influenced by fiber diameter, least influenced by changes in filter depth, and was not affected by fiber charge. Given the competing desire for low pressure drop and high collection efficiency, the use of a quality factor demonstrated that increasing filter charge and fiber diameter had a nearly equal positive association with overall filter efficacy. A filter optimization process was also conducted that employed a non-linear optimization routine to first determine the filter depth required to obtain a collection efficiency criterion of ≥ 95% collection efficiency at the MPPS for sets of fiber diameter and filter solidity values, and to determine the pressure drop resulting from each combination of the three property values while holding fiber charge constant. This analysis demonstrated that filters with low solidity, high fiber diameter, and high depth produce the lowest pressure drop. However, all combinations of filter properties within the ranges analyzed produced acceptable pressure drops, indicating that an upper limit on filter depth can be applied based on N95 FFR design constraints and still maintain a reasonable pressure drop. To aid filter design efforts, linear regression models were developed to first predict the filter depth needed to meet the efficiency criterion given known fiber diameter and filter solidity, and then to predict the pressure drop from those three properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148055017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PFAS co-positivities identified in more than 10,000 serum/plasma samples.","authors":"Laura M Labay, Lee M Blum","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2601605","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2601605","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are environmentally persistent chemicals to which nearly all humans have detectable exposure. Although clinical interpretation of PFAS biomonitoring data often focuses on individual analytes, emerging toxicological evidence indicates that PFAS mixtures may exert additive or synergistic effects relevant to health outcomes. To characterize PFAS co-positivity patterns, we evaluated PFAS combinations in 10,566 human serum/plasma samples analyzed by targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) between December 2023 and December 2024. Results from two different PFAS panels offered by the testing laboratory were evaluated: a 13-analyte panel (Panel 1, <i>n</i> = 10,478) and an 18-analyte panel (Panel 2, <i>n</i> = 88). Overall, 98.8% of samples (<i>n</i> = 10,436) contained at least one PFAS. Only 19 samples (0.18%) contained a single PFAS above the lower limit of quantification (0.1 ng/mL). In contrast, most samples showed complex mixtures: 58 unique PFAS combinations were identified in Panel 1 and 16 in Panel 2. Across both panels, the most common combination, PFHxS, linear PFOA, linear and branched PFOS, PFNA, and PFHpS, was detected in 2,754 samples (26.1%). Among the additional PFAS included in Panel 2, 9CI-PF3ONS, HFPO-DA, and PFOSA were not detected in any sample. ADONA was not detected in either panel. These findings reinforce that PFAS exposure in the U.S. population rarely occurs as isolated compounds. Instead, individuals typically carry body burdens comprising five or more PFAS with differing bioaccumulation properties and half-lives. The high prevalence and consistency of specific PFAS combinations highlight the importance of mixture-based interpretation in biomonitoring, particularly given PFAS' potential endocrine-disrupting activity and the possibility of additive or synergistic biological effects. This large dataset provides a practical reference for identifying prevalent PFAS co-positivity patterns and can inform the design of experimental mixture studies, risk-assessment strategies, and clinical guidance that better reflect PFAS chemical exposures. Continued evaluation of analytical scopes will be essential for characterizing PFAS mixtures as new analogs emerge.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"257-262"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147774146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Activated carbon fiber (ACF) as a dual respirator media for particulate matter (PM) filtration and volatile organic compound (VOC) adsorption.","authors":"Brie M McMahan, Jonghwa Oh, Renjith Pillai, Vinoy Thomas, Mary Appah, Claudiu T Lungu","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2602760","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2025.2602760","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM) can cause adverse health effects such as pneumoconiosis-like symptoms, acute toxicity, and carcinogenesis. The present work aimed to test activated carbon fiber (ACF) as air-purifying media capable of dual-protection from both PM and VOC and evaluated the interaction between filtration efficiency (FE) and VOC retention by using breakthrough times. The first set of experiments exposed ACF 1200 (1,200 m²/g nominal surface area) to the VOC toluene at the permissible exposure limit (200 ppm) prior to introducing PM (NaCl, 200 mg/m³) into the airstream, and the second set of experiments introduced VOC into the airstream after PM exposure. Study findings suggest that ACF 1200 demonstrated a somewhat greater adsorption capacity (g/g) for toluene when PM was present, recording a value of 0.319 g/g, compared to 0.213 g/g in its absence. A slight decline in FE was observed in 1, and 4-layer combinations following initial exposure to VOCs. These findings suggest that the presence of PM may enhance ACFs' adsorption of VOCs; however, the presence of toluene seemed to affect ACF filtration performance to a lesser degree. Understanding these interactions is necessary for the ongoing development of ACF as dual respirator media for both PM and VOCs.</p>","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"275-285"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146018953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction.","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2674540","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2674540","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147941580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction.","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2674542","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15459624.2026.2674542","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16599,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene","volume":" ","pages":"335"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147941587","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}