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Biomedical subjects

J Q Xiong

Publications and source records attributed to J Q Xiong.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Development of a continuous monitoring system for PM10 and components of PM2.5.

While particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters below 10 and 2.5 microns (PM10 and PM2.5) correlate with excess mortality and morbidity, there is evidence for still closer epidemiological associations with sulfate ion, and experimental exposure-response studies suggest that the hydrogen ion and ultrafine (PM0.15) concentrations may be important risk factors. Also, there are measurement artifacts in current methods used to measure ambient PM10 and PM2.5, including negative artifacts because of losses of sampled semivolatile components (ammonium nitrate and some organics) and positive artifacts due to particle-bound water. To study such issues, we are developing a semi-continuous monitoring system for PM10, PM2.5, semivolatiles (organic compounds and NH4NO3), particle-bound water, and other PM2.5 constituents that may be causal factors. PM10 is aerodynamically sorted into three size-fractions: (1) coarse (PM10-PM2.5); (2) accumulation mode (PM2.5-PM0.15); and (3) ultrafine (PM0.15). The mass concentration of each fraction is measured in terms of the linear relation between accumulated mass and pressure drop on polycarbonate pore filters. The PM0.15 mass, being highly correlated with the ultrafine number concentration, provides a good index of the total number concentration in ambient air. For the accumulation mode (PM2.5-PM0.15), which contains nearly all of the semivolatiles and particle-bound water by mass, aliquots of the aerosol stream flow into system components that continuously monitor sulfur (by flame photometry), ammonium and nitrate (by chemiluminescence following catalytic transformations to NO), organics (by thermal-optical analysis) and particle-bound water (by electrolytic hygrometer after vacuum evaporation of sampled particles). The concentration of H+ can be calculated (by ion balance using the monitoring data on NO3-, NH4+, and SO4=).

Air Pollution, Indoor↗
PubMed2000

Detecting H+ in ultrafine ambient aerosol using iron nano-film detectors and scanning probe microscopy.

Recent epidemiological evidence strongly suggests that ambient-particle-associated acidity is more closely correlated with total mortality and hospital admissions for respiratory disease than indices of total particulate mass. In addition, evidence is accumulating to support the hypothesis that the number of ultrafine (d < or = 200 nm) acid particles, rather than ambient mass, is an important determining factor affecting lung injury. Both outdoor and indoor air environments are dominated by nanometer-sized particles. However, no data are currently available on the size distribution or number concentration of acidic ambient ultrafine particles largely because there are no suitable methods for measuring these important quantities. We have developed a method to accomplish these measurements based on the use of iron nano-films for detection of acid droplets. Detectors were prepared by vapor deposition of iron onto 12-mm-diameter glass cover slips. The detectors develop reaction sites when exposed to H2SO4 or NH4HSO4 particles. Exposures to non-acidic particle (NaCl and [(NH4)]2SO4) result in no detectable surface deformations. The nano-films are examined with scanning probe microscopy (SPM) for the enumeration of reaction sites. Until recently, direct visualization of individual objects smaller than 200 nm has been possible only with electron microscopy. The advancement of SPM provides the opportunity to examine the detector surface features with high quality three dimensional imaging.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1998

A portable vapor/particle sampler.

The airborne particle and vapor phases of a volatile organic chemical (VOC) often coexist in the real workplace environment. Assessment of worker exposure to a VOC requires measuring not only the total airborne concentration but also the phase distribution because the deposition efficiency of the material in the respiratory tract will depend on the form in which it is inhaled. A prototype portable vapor/particle sampler (PVPS) has been designed for sampling and quantifying the phase distribution of volatile components in micrometer-sized airborne particles and coexisting gaseous phase based on differential inertia. The sampler was laboratory tested and validated. Tests included sampler performance assessment and comparison with current sampling methods for particles and organic vapors, i.e., glass fiber filter, charcoal sorbent tube, and diffusion monitors. The PVPS is a low-cost and lightweight device that can be driven by a single standard personal sampling pump. The mass quantities of materials collected by the sampler can be determined by standard analytical procedures. Combined with an appropriate size-selective inlet, the PVPS may be used as a personal inhalable or respirable volatile aerosol sampler for occupational VOC exposure assessment, especially in industrial, or household, spray work environments where the particle sizes are frequently large.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1998

Deposition of charged particles on lung airways.

The effect of a single electric charge on the efficiency with which ultrafine particles deposit in human airways has been investigated. When inhaled short-lived radon progeny are attached to electrically neutral particles their deposition efficiency is controlled by diffusion. But most ambient particles carry one, or a few, charges. We measured and compared the deposition (DE) of singly charged, charge-neutralized, and zero-charge 20-nm and 125-nm particles in hollow-cast models of human airways. These particle sizes were selected because they are about where modal peaks occur for the activity of the short-lived radon progeny in indoor air. For singly charged 20-nm particles deposition (+/- standard error) in the casts was 3.4 +/- 0.3 times that for charge neutralized aerosols and 5.3 +/- 0.3 times the amount deposited for zero-charged particles. Corresponding ratios for the 125-nm particles were 2.3 +/- 0.3 and 6.2 +/- 0.7. Since most ambient particles are charged this effect must be considered when models are used to predict dose from inhaled ultrafine particles.

Adult↗