Sampling of Atmospheric Precipitation and Deposits for Analysis of Atmospheric Pollution

This paper reviews techniques and equipment for collecting precipitation samples from the atmosphere (fog and cloud water) and from atmospheric deposits (dew, hoarfrost, and rime) that are suitable for the evaluation of atmospheric pollution. It discusses the storage and preparation of samples for analysis and also presents bibliographic information on the concentration ranges of inorganic and organic compounds in the precipitation and atmospheric deposit samples

Increased incidence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in Finland, 2010-2011

Peer reviewe

Effect of Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines on Pneumococcal Meningitis, England and Wales, July 1, 2000–June 30, 2016

We describe the effects of the 7-valent (PCV7) and 13-valent (PCV13) pneumococcal conjugate vaccines on pneumococcal meningitis in England and Wales during July 1, 2000–June 30, 2016. Overall, 84,473 laboratory-confirmed invasive pneumococcal disease cases, including 4,160 (4.9%) cases with meningitis, occurred. PCV7 implementation in 2006 did not lower overall pneumococcal meningitis incidence because of replacement with non–PCV7-type meningitis incidence. Replacement with PCV13 in 2010, however, led to a 48% reduction in pneumococcal meningitis incidence by 2015–16. The overall case-fatality rate was 17.5%: 10.7% among patients 65 years of age. Serotype 8 was associated with increased odds of death (adjusted odds ratio 2.9, 95% CI 1.8–4.7). In England and Wales, an effect on pneumococcal meningitis was observed only after PCV13 implementation. Further studies are needed to assess pneumococcal meningitis caused by the replacing serotypes

Determination of chlorinated solvents in industrial water and wastewater by DAI–GC–ECD

A very simple and quick analytical method, based on direct aqueous injection, for determination of halogenated solvents in refinery water and wastewater, is described. There is a need to determine halogenated solvents in refinery water streams, because they may originate from several processes. There is also a need to develop methods enabling VOX to be determined in samples containing oil fractions. The method described enables simultaneous determination of 26 compounds with low detection limits (sub-μg L−1) and excellent precision, especially for highly halogenated solvents. The matrix effects of four types of sample were evaluated—the method seemed to be relatively insensitive to variations in matrix composition. Deuterated 1,2-dichloroethane was used as internal standard and surrogate compound in quantitative analysis; application of isotopically labelled compounds is rarely reported when non-mass spectrometric detectors are used for analysis. Analysis of real samples showed that the most frequently detected compounds were dichloromethane and 1,2-dichloroethane

Applicability of non-invasively collected matrices for human biomonitoring

With its inclusion under Action 3 in the Environment and Health Action Plan 2004–2010 of the European Commission, human biomonitoring is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention from the scientific community as a tool to better quantify human exposure to, and health effects of, environmental stressors. Despite the policy support, however, there are still several issues that restrict the routine application of human biomonitoring data in environmental health impact assessment. One of the main issues is the obvious need to routinely collect human samples for large-scale surveys. Particularly the collection of invasive samples from susceptible populations may suffer from ethical and practical limitations. Children, pregnant women, elderly, or chronically-ill people are among those that would benefit the most from non-invasive, repeated or routine sampling. Therefore, the use of non-invasively collected matrices for human biomonitoring should be promoted as an ethically appropriate, cost-efficient and toxicologically relevant alternative for many biomarkers that are currently determined in invasively collected matrices. This review illustrates that several non-invasively collected matrices are widely used that can be an valuable addition to, or alternative for, invasively collected matrices such as peripheral blood sampling. Moreover, a well-informed choice of matrix can provide an added value for human biomonitoring, as different non-invasively collected matrices can offer opportunities to study additional aspects of exposure to and effects from environmental contaminants, such as repeated sampling, historical overview of exposure, mother-child transfer of substances, or monitoring of substances with short biological half-lives