Once an aerosol contaminant is introduced into an indoor environment, it can remain in the air, deposit on interior surfaces or attach to dust particles already present. Human activity, such as walking and cleaning, resuspends contaminated particles, regenerating airborne contaminants. This report is a literature review on the effects of human activity on particle re-suspension in indoor enviro...

BACKGROUND Recent epidemiologic studies have shown that environmental contaminants such as air pollution and tobacco smoke play an important role in the pathophysiology of atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the severity of AD and indoor air pollution. METHODS The study population consisted of 425 children from 9 kindergartens, Ko...

BACKGROUND The quality of air in the environment where one lives or works can have potential effects on human health. There are strong indications that in many parts of the world, our homes, schools and workplaces are heavily contaminated with air-borne molds and other biological contaminants. OBJECTIVES This study was carried out to assess the level of fungal contamination of indoor air, hea...

Exposure to contaminants, generally called pollution, relates back to olden age when the environment was clean and free from chemicals. Knowledge of human exposure to environmental contaminants is an important component of environmental epidemiology, risk assessment, risk management, status and trends analysis. Exposure information provides a critical link between sources of contaminants, their...

Numerous contaminants in indoor air and their potential to cause or exacerbate asthma continue to be a subject of public health concern. Many agents are causally associated with or can exacerbate asthma, particularly in children. For formaldehyde, an established respiratory irritant based on numerous studies, the evidence for an association with asthma is still considered only limited or sugges...

A study of 120 randomly selected classrooms in 30 schools in central and south Texas, USA was conducted to begin assembling baseline information on the condition of indoor air in Texas elementary schools. Part I of the study consisted of questionnaires sent to all teachers and staff in the schools to obtain information about the use of their rooms, room contents and their perceptions of its ind...

The issues of indoor air quality are complex and can be directly influenced by a number of system and building parameters. There are no universal solutions for every problem since there are numerous potential contaminant sources. They may originate from indoors and have a direct impact on indoor environmental quality, or they may originate from outdoors and be transferred by a mechanical or nat...

Environmental carcinogens, in a strict sense, include outdoor and indoor air pollutants, as well as soil and drinking water contaminants. An increased risk of mesothelioma has consistently been detected among individuals experiencing residential exposure to asbestos, whereas results for lung cancer are less consistent. At least 14 good-quality studies have investigated lung cancer risk from out...