Exposure Methods

This page has a list of publications and news articles related to Innovative Strategies - Enhanced Exposure Assessment. Find more information on Innovation in HEI's research programs.

Contents: Review of Ultrafine Particles Examines Wide Range of Health Studies; Timely Topics, Great City Highlight HEI Annual Conference; Tool Helps Identify Nanoparticles from Motor Vehicles; Air Pollution Controls During 2008 Beijing Olympics; Science Workshop to Inform European Union Policies; Study Finds Ambient Air Pollution Among Top Global Health Risks; ACES Emissions Testing and Animal Exposures Now Complete

Contents: HEI research contributes to international (IARC) review of diesel and gasoline cancer risk; Annual Conference highlights new PM, diesel, and ozone findings, major issues; Air quality outcomes of national limits on power plant emissions; Study tests potential uses of satellite-based PM measurements.

Research Report 153
James J Schauer
Brian J Majestic
Rebecca J Sheesley
Martin M Shafer
Jeffrey T DeMinter
Mark Mieritz
2010

This report investigates methods with the high sensitivity and low limits of detection needed to analyze a wide range of chemical species in particulate matter collected with personal samplers. Dr. Schauer and colleagues developed sensitive methods to detect trace metals, nonpolar organic compounds, and polar organic compounds in personal samples collected in exposure studies. Methods used in this study are of interest to researchers seeking to gain greater insight into the relationships between the components of inhalable particulates and their health effects.

Research Report 152
Jonathan I. Levy
Jane E Clougherty
Lisa K Baxter
E Andres Houseman
Christopher J Paciorek
2010

This report explores how land-use regression and source-apportionment techniques can be used to characterize individual-level exposure to both indoor and outdoor air pollution sources. Dr. Levy and colleagues utilized health and air monitoring data from an ongoing prospective cohort study on childhood asthma in Boston, Massachusetts to model variability in outdoor and indoor residential air pollution, identify potential sources, and evaluate the effectiveness of various indoor exposure surrogates for predicting childhood asthma development.

Research Report 122
Alison S Geyh
Susanne Hering
Nathan Kreisberg
Walter John
2004

Dr Alison S Geyh and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University evaluated the personal and microenvironmental aerosol speciation sampler (PMASS) prototype developed by Dr. Susanne Hering with HEI funding (HEI Research Report 114). The precision and accuracy of the prototype, which measures PM2.5 mass, elemental and organic carbon, sulfate, and nitrate, was evaluated in two locations with different PM composition. Baltimore, Maryland (outdoors), and Fresno, California (indoors). Geyh and colleagues set a target of 10% precision and 10% accuracy for all species measured.

Research Report 121
Beverly Cohen
Maire SA Heikkinen
Yair Hazi
Hai Gao
Paul Peters
Morton Lippmann
2004

Dr. Beverly Cohen and her colleagues at New York University School of Medicine tested the performance of iron nanofilms to collect and measure sulfuric acid particles of different sizes under a variety of temperature and humidity conditions. The iron nanofilm detector is a thin iron-coated silicon chip. Particles would react with the iron, creating an elevated site or bump on the film surface, which can be visualized using an atomic force microscope.

Research Report 114
Susanne Hering
Nathan Kreisberg
Walter John
2003

Dr. Susanne Hering of Aerosol Dynamics Inc and her colleagues set out to design and validate a personal monitoring sampler for particles smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) that is suitable for subsequent chemical speciation work. The sampler intended to meet the measurement needs for PM2.5 mass concentration and several of its major constituents including elemental carbon, organic carbon, sulfates, and nitrates.

Research Report 81
Ira B Tager
Patrick L Kinney
1998

Dr. Ira Tager and colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), and Dr. Patrick Kinney and colleagues at the School of Public Health, Columbia University objectives were to develop new methods for estimating an individual's past exposure to ozone.

Research Report 63
Jack D Hackney
Petros Koutrakis
Yukio Yanagisawa
1994

Ozone is a highly reactive gas that is a pervasive air pollutant at ground level. It is a major component of urban smog, forming when emissions from mobile and industrial sources interact with sunlight. Assessing the risk of adverse health effects from such exposures is difficult because only limited data are available on the actual ozone concentrations that people experience. Under the HEI ozone sampler program, three studies were designed to advance the development and testing of personal ozone samplers. The studies were conducted by Dr. Hackney and colleagues at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center (Part I), Dr. Koutrakis and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health (Part II), and Dr. Yanagisawa from the Harvard School of Public Health (Part III).