To better understand the characteristics of ambient abundance of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in Shanghai, one of the biggest metropolis of China, VOCs were measured with a gas chromatography system equipped with a mass-selective detector (GC/MSD) from July 2006 to February 2010. An intensive measurement campaign was conducted (eight samples per day with a 3 hour interval) during May 2009....

ITP is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder characterised by a low platelet count whose cause is uncertain. A possible factor is food intolerance, although much of the information linking this with ITP is anecdotal. The role of food intolerance in ITP was studied by replacing a normal diet with an elemental diet (E028), but this did not increase platelet counts. Clear differences, however, wer...

Leaf damage induces in many plant species the secretion of extrafloral nectar (EFN) and/or the release of specific odours (volatile organic compounds, VOCs). Both traits attract carnivorous arthropods and function as indirect plant defences by increasing the predation pressure on attacking herbivores. We have conducted field experiments in Mexico and found that plants that had been exposed to V...

We show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) based field effect transistor (FET) arrays can serve as excellent chemical sensors for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under confounding humidity conditions. Using these sensors, w/o complementary pattern recognition methods, we study the ability of PAH-FET(s) to: (i) discriminate between aromatic and non-aromatic VOCs; (ii) ...

This study aimed to characterize spatial/temporal variations of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using a community-scale monitoring approach and identify the main sources of concern in Paterson, NJ, an urban area with mixed sources of VOCs. VOC samples were simultaneously collected from three local source-dominated (i.e., commercial, industrial, and mobile) sites in Paterson and one ba...

A surrogate approach was deployed for assessing long-term exposures of multiple chemicals at 8 selected working areas of 3 manufacturing processes located at a clean room of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) industry. For each selected area, 6 to 12 portable photoionization detector (PID) were placed uniformly in its workplace to measure its total VOCs concentrations (CT-V...

Exposure to certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) commonly occurs in industrialized countries. We developed a method for measuring 32 VOCs in 10 mL of whole blood at low concentration. We used this method to determine the internal dose of these compounds in 600 or more people in the US who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. From our study results, we...

This study aimed to determine the effect of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) on some pathogens, these VOCs were emitted during interactions of barley with Fusarium culmorum Schltdl and/or Cochliobolus sativus Shoemaker, two common root rot pathogens. Our work shows that two organic esters: methyl propanoate (MP) and methyl prop-2-enoate (MA) significantly reduced the development of fungi in vi...

In the considered foundry emits offgas containing VOCs (especially ethanol). In order to reduce the VOC content, a compost based biofilter has been installed. In this approach, the polluted air stream enters a pre-conditioning chamber where temperature and humidity is adjusted for asphalt factories. Biofilteration has already been well established as an air pollutant control alternative. There ...