Session 51 - ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

[CEST2019_00919] Emissions of volatile organic compounds from flex printing facility
by Savić B., Tanović P., Janjić N.

The present study was undertaken to investigate, the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in working zone of flex printing facility in Novi Sad, Serbia. The levels of VOCs were determined at four sampling positions: at the machine; at a distance of 3 m from the machine; at the outlet of machine, at the entrance of the digester and at the exit of the digester. The quantitative determination of VOCs compounds was performed using portable Voc Pro Photovac. VOCs concentrations varied within the 8h-sampling period and differed between sampling positions. The highest concentration was measured at the outlet of machine, entrance in digester, while the lowest at a distance of 3 m from the machine.
The obtained levels of VOCs exceed the levels advised by OSHA and NIOSH standards. Therefore, this paper provides propositions on improving the process of flexographic printing, and therefore, human health.

Session: 51, Room: C, at Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:36 to 15:39
Flash presentation in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
[CEST2019_00871] Flame Retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, PBDEs) and Organophoshates, OPFRs) In Dust from Canadian Fire Stations
by Brown F.R., Tarrant D.H., Gill R., Dhaliwal J., Sarala R., Patton S., Park J.S., Petreas M.

Dust is a good medium to assess indoor exposures to many persistent organics, including flame retardants. With concerns regarding persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity of many flame retardants, a series of bans and regulations have created shifts in their usage. For firefighters, exposures to flame retardants on and off duty is a high concern. In 2018 we measured flame retardants in Canadian fire station dust and compared our findings with those of our 2015 US fire stations study. We used isotope dilution HRMS for PBDEs and GC-MS/MS for OPFRs. The same flame retardants were present in all stations with high within- and between-station variability. The most prominent among PBDEs was BDE-209, followed by BDE-99. TDCIPP and TPhP were the dominant OPFRs. Overall, data from 2015 (US) and 2018 (Canada) show that OPFRs have surpassed PBDEs in fire station dust, probably reflecting shifts in flame retardant use in consumer products and building materials.

Session: 51, Room: C, at Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:15 to 15:30
Oral presentation in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
[CEST2019_00826] Potential Links between Precipitation and Anthrax Outbreak at North-West Siberia
by Ezhova E., Orlov D., Malkhazova S., Drozdov D., Gennadinik V., Kaverin D., Zilitinkevich S., Kerminen V.-M., Petäjä T., Kulmala M.

West Siberia is a region subject to fast warming and unstable precipitation regime. In 2016, the most devastating anthrax outbreak in seventy years occurred in the northern part of the region. A working hypothesis suggests that permafrost thawing led to an exposure of old infected carcasses. We performed a thorough analysis of climatic factors in the region. Our analysis of soil temperature observations from the last 20 years indeed reveals rapid permafrost thawing near outbreak localization starting from 2010. We further analyzed meteorological observations to estimate the effect of warming and precipitation on permafrost. We showed that permafrost thawing was significantly accelerated during two consequent years with anomalously thick snow cover. Furthermore, spread of the disease was possibly intensified by an extremely dry summer. Precipitation in June-July 2016 did not exceed 10% of the climatological normals in the region. We conclude that epidemiological situation concerning anthrax remains highly unstable in the region due to the drastic decrease in summer precipitation and potential winter precipitation extremes.

Session: 51, Room: C, at Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:00 to 15:15
Oral presentation in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
[CEST2019_00570] Bottled water microbiological quality in Estonia
by Vahur K., Udras H., Keir K.

Nowadays people often prefer to buy bottled water instead of drinking the tap water. Stores are full of different bottled waters and studies have demonstrated that people tend to consider the bottled water to have high quality (Ward et al 2009, Akpinar et al 2014). The aim of this research was to find out the compliance of bottled water sold in Estonia with the established microbiological normatives. The study included bottled drinking water available in retail stores. A total of 63 bottles of water from 21 different sale items were analyzed. These 21 items included also carbonized waters and flavoured waters. All different waters (21 bottles) were analysed for coliforms, E. coli, Enterococcus sp and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (filtration method, cfu/250 mL), and all 63 bottles were analysed for total bacterial count at 22 °C and 37 °C (pour-plate technique, cfu/1mL).

Session: 51, Room: C, at Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:30 to 15:33
Flash presentation in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
[CEST2019_00571] Experimental approach for metabolic disorders as a tool to investigate impact of environment on human health
by Pavlova E., Lakova E., Vladov I., Zapryanova S., Gluhcheva Y., Ivanov I., Svechnikov K., Atanassova N.

The epidemics of obesity and diabetes have occurred contemporaneously with increasing use and exposure to environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals. Metabolic disorders affect male reproductive potential due to low sperm count and quality, reduced sperm motility and suppression of testosterone production. In this respect our study aimed to evaluate testiscular cell populations and steroidogenic function in tandem with expression of cellular marker tACE (testiscular angiotensin converting enzyme) for germ cell development in experimental conditions of diabetes mellitus (DM) induced on day 1 (neonatally, NDM) or on day 10 (prepubertally, PDM) in rats; short and long high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity in rats since puberty. Our data indicate that metabolic disorders (DM and HFD) affected macro-parameters (decreased gonado-somatic index, increased fat accumulation). Long-term obesity negatively influenced Leydig cell number and testosterone production. Expression of tACE in postmeiotic germ cells showed that prepubertal DM but not neonatal DM caused delay in the first spermatogenesis associated with suppressed Leydig cell development and steroidogenesis in adulthood. Our data indicate that metabolic syndrom involving obesity and diabetes exerts negative impact on male reproductive development and function and therefore environmental aspects of endocrine disorders should be considered as a risk factor for male reproductive health.

Session: 51, Room: C, at Sat, 09/07/2019 - 15:33 to 15:36
Flash presentation in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH