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Air contaminants databases ease healthy homes planning
February 16, 2007Air pollution sources are everywhere in the home, from the bacon and eggs frying in the kitchen, to the woodburning stove in the family room, the newly painted hallway, and even the carpet in the living room. To help estimate the seriousness of these and other indoor pollutant sources as well as to devise ways to reduce possible health impacts, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed searchable databases of relevant product emission studies.
NIST researchers also have created a software tool called ContamLink that can transfer selected information from the databases into CONTAM, an indoor air quality modeling software program that predicts airflows and contaminant concentrations in multizone building systems. Together—the electronic databases, ContamLink, and the CONTAM program—should significantly accelerate our understanding of indoor air pollution.
The new databases allow investigators to access immediately information that previously was available in scientific literature, but required significant time to locate. The databases include emission rates for consumer products, cooking and combustion appliances (such as gas stoves); and data on contaminant transport mechanisms, including particle deposition, contaminant sorption and different ventilation systems filters. Two of the five databases are from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Research Council of Canada. Researchers can download the databases, and with ContamLink, selectively obtain relevant information for inclusion in CONTAM or other indoor air quality models. Database entries are not intended to be all-inclusive, but rather representative of the literature. Researchers and other practitioners are encouraged to expand the databases with their own data using the data entry format provided.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Contaminant Current Events and Contaminant News RSSNitrate Concentrations of Ground Water Increasing in Many Areas of the United States
Nitrate is the most common chemical contaminant in the world's ground water, including in aquifers used for drinking-water supply.
Sophisticated monitoring array to address mystery of uranium plume
Scientists have puzzled for years about why uranium contamination in groundwater continues to exceed drinking water standards in an area located at the south end of the Hanford Site. The Department of Energy wants answers to why the uranium persists.
Low level cadmium exposure linked to lung disease
New research suggests that cadmium is one of the critical ingredients causing emphysema, and even low-level exposure attained through second-hand smoke and other means may also increase the chance of developing lung disease.
Chemists move closer toward developing safer, fully-synthetic form of heparin
Chemists are reporting a major advance toward developing a safer, fully-synthetic version of heparin, the widely used blood thinner now produced from pig intestines. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration last spring linked contaminated batches of the animal-based product, imported from China, to more than 80 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions among patients exposed to the drug for kidney dialysis and other conditions.
Researchers create safer alternative to heparin
Robert Linhardt has spent years stitching together minuscule carbohydrates to build a more pure and safer alternative to the commonly used and controversial blood thinner heparin.
Using live fish, new tool a sentinel for environmental contamination
Researchers have harnessed the sensitivity of days-old fish embryos to create a tool capable of detecting a range of harmful chemicals.
Mercury contamination found in stranded Victorian dolphins
Monash University research into heavy metal contaminant levels in dolphins from Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes has revealed high mercury levels may be a contributing factor to dolphin deaths.
Deadly dose: Rensselaer heparin expert helps uncover source of lethal contamination
The mysterious death of patients around the world following a routine dosage of the common blood thinner, heparin, sent researchers on a frantic search to uncover what could make the standard drug so toxic.
MIT-led teams unravel heparin death mystery
An international team of researchers led by MIT has explained how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin were able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of patients recently in the United States and Germany.
Omega-3 intake during last months of pregnancy boosts an infant's cognitive and motor development
A study supervised by Université Laval researchers Gina Muckle and Éric Dewailly reveals that omega-3 intake during the last months of pregnancy boosts an infant's sensory, cognitive, and motor development. The details of this finding are published in a recent edition of the Journal of Pediatrics.
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