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Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies

With the increasing interest in the potential benefits of nanotechnologies, concern is still growing that they may present emerging risks for workers. Various strategies have been developed to assess the exposure to nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) in the workplace, integrat...

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Autores principales: Boccuni, Fabio, Ferrante, Riccardo, Tombolini, Francesca, Lega, Daniela, Antonini, Alessandra, Alvino, Antonello, Pingue, Pasqualantonio, Beltram, Fabio, Sorba, Lucia, Piazza, Vincenzo, Gemmi, Mauro, Porcari, Andrea, Iavicoli, Sergio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5855571/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29364852
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020349
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author Boccuni, Fabio
Ferrante, Riccardo
Tombolini, Francesca
Lega, Daniela
Antonini, Alessandra
Alvino, Antonello
Pingue, Pasqualantonio
Beltram, Fabio
Sorba, Lucia
Piazza, Vincenzo
Gemmi, Mauro
Porcari, Andrea
Iavicoli, Sergio
author_facet Boccuni, Fabio
Ferrante, Riccardo
Tombolini, Francesca
Lega, Daniela
Antonini, Alessandra
Alvino, Antonello
Pingue, Pasqualantonio
Beltram, Fabio
Sorba, Lucia
Piazza, Vincenzo
Gemmi, Mauro
Porcari, Andrea
Iavicoli, Sergio
author_sort Boccuni, Fabio
collection PubMed
description With the increasing interest in the potential benefits of nanotechnologies, concern is still growing that they may present emerging risks for workers. Various strategies have been developed to assess the exposure to nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) in the workplace, integrating different aerosol measurement instruments and taking into account multiple parameters that may influence NOAA toxicity. The present study proposes a multi-metric approach for measuring and sampling NOAA in the workplace, applied to three case studies in laboratories each dedicated to materials with different shapes and dimensionalities: graphene, nanowires, and nanoparticles. The study is part of a larger project with the aim of improving risk management tools in nanomaterials research laboratories. The harmonized methodology proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been applied, including information gathering about materials and processes, measurements with easy-to-use and hand-held real-time devices, air sampling with personal samplers, and off-line analysis using scanning electron microscopy. Significant values beyond which an emission can be attributed to the NOAA production process were identified by comparison of the particle number concentration (PNC) time series and the corresponding background levels in the three laboratories. We explored the relations between background PNC and microclimatic parameters. Morphological and elemental analysis of sampled filters was done to identify possible emission sources of NOAA during the production processes: rare particles, spherical, with average diameter similar to the produced NOAA were identified in the nanoparticles laboratory, so further investigation is recommended to confirm the potential for worker exposure. In conclusion, the information obtained should provide a valuable basis for improving risk management strategies in the laboratory at work.
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spelling pubmed-58555712018-03-20 Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies Boccuni, Fabio Ferrante, Riccardo Tombolini, Francesca Lega, Daniela Antonini, Alessandra Alvino, Antonello Pingue, Pasqualantonio Beltram, Fabio Sorba, Lucia Piazza, Vincenzo Gemmi, Mauro Porcari, Andrea Iavicoli, Sergio Int J Mol Sci Article With the increasing interest in the potential benefits of nanotechnologies, concern is still growing that they may present emerging risks for workers. Various strategies have been developed to assess the exposure to nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) in the workplace, integrating different aerosol measurement instruments and taking into account multiple parameters that may influence NOAA toxicity. The present study proposes a multi-metric approach for measuring and sampling NOAA in the workplace, applied to three case studies in laboratories each dedicated to materials with different shapes and dimensionalities: graphene, nanowires, and nanoparticles. The study is part of a larger project with the aim of improving risk management tools in nanomaterials research laboratories. The harmonized methodology proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been applied, including information gathering about materials and processes, measurements with easy-to-use and hand-held real-time devices, air sampling with personal samplers, and off-line analysis using scanning electron microscopy. Significant values beyond which an emission can be attributed to the NOAA production process were identified by comparison of the particle number concentration (PNC) time series and the corresponding background levels in the three laboratories. We explored the relations between background PNC and microclimatic parameters. Morphological and elemental analysis of sampled filters was done to identify possible emission sources of NOAA during the production processes: rare particles, spherical, with average diameter similar to the produced NOAA were identified in the nanoparticles laboratory, so further investigation is recommended to confirm the potential for worker exposure. In conclusion, the information obtained should provide a valuable basis for improving risk management strategies in the laboratory at work. MDPI 2018-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC5855571/ /pubmed/29364852 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020349 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Boccuni, Fabio
Ferrante, Riccardo
Tombolini, Francesca
Lega, Daniela
Antonini, Alessandra
Alvino, Antonello
Pingue, Pasqualantonio
Beltram, Fabio
Sorba, Lucia
Piazza, Vincenzo
Gemmi, Mauro
Porcari, Andrea
Iavicoli, Sergio
Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title_full Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title_fullStr Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title_full_unstemmed Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title_short Workers’ Exposure to Nano-Objects with Different Dimensionalities in R&D Laboratories: Measurement Strategy and Field Studies
title_sort workers’ exposure to nano-objects with different dimensionalities in r&d laboratories: measurement strategy and field studies
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5855571/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29364852
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020349
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