Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts blog

Anne Sleeuwenhoek and John Cherrie at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh have developed a method to reconstruct exposure to tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO) in plants producing polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

A simple method for assessing exposure was developed which used detailed process information and job descriptions, and the resulting data were used to inform an epidemiological study being carried out to investigate possible risks in workers employed in the manufacture of PTFE and to study trends in exposure over time.

Exposure assessment of tetrafluoroethylene and ammonium perfluorooctanoate 1951–2002
Anne Sleeuwenhoek and John W. Cherrie
DOI: 10.1039/C2EM10930A

William Rittenour et al. have compared three commonly used DNA extraction methodologies used in ITS sequencing of occupational or environmental dust samples, in order to assess fungal diversity and exposure.

Comparison of DNA extraction methodologies used for assessing fungal diversity via ITS sequencing
William R. Rittenour , Ju-Hyeong Park , Jean M. Cox-Ganser , Donald H. Beezhold and Brett J. Green
DOI: 10.1039/C2EM10779A

These hot papers are free to access for the next four weeks (following a simple registration for individual users), so why not take a look?