The Air (role, properties,

affects)

General Hygiene
 The role of
air
- Without it is impossible to imagine a long keeping
all life functions.
- An active person inhales 10,000-20,000 litres of air
each day - about 7-14 litres per minute.
- Air is the most common media factor, which’s a
change can easily break the harmonic balance of our
body, our health.
- Air media gives oxygen, which is necessary for life.
- Air takes all gases, which are excreted from our
body.
 The air we breathe, composition

Nitrogen ;
78,08

Carbon
Oxygen ;
dioxide ;
Argon ; 0,93 20,95
0,03

Air is the mixture of gases in the lower atmosphere.

Dry air at sea level is composed in volume of
nitrogen (78.08%), oxygen (20.95%), argon (0.93%)
and carbon dioxide (0.03%), together with very
small amounts of other gases. Water vapour is
found in variable concentrations.
 Physical properties of air

Temperature
Humidity
Velocity
Pressure
 Temperature& Humidity
• The temperature is influencing on a body by
certain humidity, wind speed and atmospheric
pressure and so on.
• A combination of high humidity and
temperature, and windless results in decreasing
heat emission and leads to heat stroke
(superheating).
• In conditions of very low temperature people can
get a frost-bite. Chronic cooling or superheating
can lead to lowering of immunological
resistance of a body; this results in infection
diseases, rheumatism, and tuberculosis
 Air pressure
• 760 mm Hg or 100 000 Pa (1000 gPa)
• Daily AP altitude – 4-5 mg Hg, annual altitude –
20-30 mm Hg
• People sensitive to AP changes: with
rheumatism, hypertension, ischemic heart
disease
• In normal conditions, hemoglobin’s saturation
by oxygen is 94-97%, at 2 km high it is 92%, 4
km – 82-85%
 High atmospheric pressure
During diving or caisson work

Pressure is higher than atmospheric on 1 atm

by every 10 m sinking

Caisson sickness:

When the blood “boils”

Air pollution sources
 Dispersal of air pollutants
Once in the environment, air pollutants may be
dispersed via air, water, soil, living organisms and
food.

Pollution dispersal in the air is affected by many

factors:
• meteorological conditions (especially wind speed, wind
direction and atmospheric stability),
• the emission height (e.g. ground level sources such as
road traffic or high level sources such as tall chimneys),
• local and regional geographical features,
• the source (e.g. fixed point, such as a chimney, or a
diffuse number of sources such as cars and solvents).
 Some common air pollutants
Sulphur Dioxide

Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is generated mainly from

the combustion of fossil fuels containing
sulphur.
80% of worldwide emissions come from
burning coal and lignite, 20% from oil.
Coal typically contains about 2% sulphur and
heavy fuel oil about 3% by weight.
Sulphur dioxide in water vapour and clouds
produces acid rain.
 Particulate Matter
• A wide size range of particles occurs in the air and
the way they act is determined by size.
• Larger particles will not stay in the air for very
long and will be deposited close to their source;
they are unlikely to be inhaled. Smaller particles
can be carried long distances and inhaled.
• Particles can cause irritation to the eyes. nose and
throat. Some of the larger particles (> 10 µm
diameter) reaching the nose or throat will be
filtered out by the body's natural defense system.
• Very tiny particles that reach deep into the lung
may be absorbed into the blood stream or cause
lung or other health problems. Such particles are
those less than 10 µm in diameter - hence the term
PM.
 Particle size
Particles are classified into the following categories
* nucleation mode (< 0.2 pm diameter): particles
recently emitted from a process or freshly formed in
the atmosphere; present in large numbers in urban
air.
* accumulation mode (> 0.2 pm - 2 pm diameter):
particles which have grown from nucleation mode by
coagulation or condensation of vapours; stable with
an atmospheric lifetime of 7-30 days; and,
* coarse mode (> 2 pm diameter); mainly formed by
weathering processes, including soil dust. sea spray
and industrial dusts: their large size means the
atmospheric lifetime is short.
It has been shown that particles below 10 pm can be
associated with health effects. Particles over 2 pm
diameter are associated with building soiling and
corrosion.
 Ozone
• There are two sorts of ozone: ozone in the
stratosphere (15-50 km above the earth's surface)
forms what is known as the "ozone layer" and is
essential in limiting the amount of ultraviolet irradiation
reaching the earth's surface.
• However, ozone in the troposphere - the level that
contains the air we breathe - is a pollutant and it can
damage health and vegetation.
• At ground level ozone is a secondary pollutant formed
by the action of sunlight on primary pollutants: these
are nitrogen oxides from vehicle emissions and industry
and volatile organic compounds from vehicles, solvents
and industry. Nitrogen oxides react in sunlight
(photochemical reaction) to form ozone, a major
constituent of photochemical smog.
 Nitrogen Dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is produced both as a
primary and as a secondary pollutant by
combustion processes.
• In many countries some 50% of NO is
produced by motor vehicles. Thus
concentrations tend to be higher in busy
streets than in rural areas.
 Carbon Monoxide
• Carbon monoxide (CO) has an affinity for haemoglobin
(Hb), the substance that carries oxygen around our
bodies in our blood, 200 times greater than that of
oxygen.
• It impairs the oxygen-carrying capacity of blood as
carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb) is formed rather than
oxyhaemoglobin. When too much oxygen is displaced
by CO, it can progressively lead to oxygen starvation.
• Thus at levels of only a few percent COHb effects may
be significant in tissues which are already deprived of
oxygen, perhaps as a result of poor blood supply. The
escalating symptoms of CO poisoning are headache
and vomiting and, in severe cases, collapse and death,
although the effects of brief exposure are reversible.
 Lead
Natural concentrations of lead are low but
exploitation of lead as a useful metal has
increased the level of exposure to this
contaminant.
In those countries which still mainly use leaded
petrol, most of the lead in the air comes from
petrol-fuelled vehicles.
While the dangers of exposure to high levels of
lead are well known, there is very serious
concern that low levels of lead may affect the
mental development of children.
 Exposure pathways and
monitoring
• Pollutants enter the human body in three main
different ways: by inhalation, ingestion or skin
absorption. The amount of any given pollutant
that is received is often termed the dose.
The dose will be dependent on the duration and
intensity of the exposure.
• Target organ dose refers specifically to the
amount that reaches the human organ where the
relevant effects can occur, e.g. the lung.
 Health effects of air pollution
One way of classifying the health effects of pollutants is to make
a distinction between two broad categories:
acute (i.e. short-term). Dust and other polluting particles in air
can have acute effects, such as immediate irritations to eyes
and throat.

chronic (i.e. long-term) effects. For example, deaths from

respiratory failure or heart attacks, caused by severe episodes
of air pollution.

In a given population, not all individuals are affected equally by

the same environmental hazard.

Substantial variations in sensitivity to an exposure may occur,

due to age, nutritional status, genetic predisposition and state of
general health, which are important determinants of individual
vulnerability.
 Risk assessments need to be made for particular high-
risk groups such as:
- infants and young children,
- the elderly,
- pregnant women and their foetuses,
- the nutritionally deprived, and individuals suffering from
some diseases.

It is especially important to identify these high-risk

groups because they will usually be the first to experience
adverse health effects as the level of the pollutant
increases.
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and
determinants of health-related states and events in
populations, and the applications of this study to the
control of health problems.
Epidemiological methods have been widely used to
generate and test hypotheses on cause-effect
relationships and to evaluate health interventions.

There are four main types of epidemiological

studie
• Correlational studies
• Cross-sectional studies
• Case-control studies
• Cohort studies
 Biomarkers: an emerging
indicators.
• Recent advances in molecular biology and analytic
chemistry facilitate development of biomarkers as
measures of dose. The aim is to characterize absorbed
toxins in their most biologically relevant form.
• After absorption, transport, and metabolism, toxins
initiate biological changes. Identifying the transformed
toxin as close as possible to this point of initiation
enhances accuracy in knowing the true biologically active
dose.
• Biomarkers may also be used to characterise the early
biological alterations, thereby increasing the fit between
toxin and response. This method is currently being used
intensively to study the role of some environmental
factors on cancer development.
 Taking actions to improve air quality
• Local authority powers to control sources and levels of air pollution
will often be dictated by international and national policy and laws.
• For example, the way in which an industrial source operates and
the level of permitted emissions will usually be decided nationally
as will standards for vehicle exhaust emissions or measures to
control domestic smoke emissions.
• Often, however, local authorities or regional authorities are
responsible for enforcing legislation, for example issuing permits or
licences for industrial processes under national or international
integrated pollution control legislation.
• Local authorities can also influence local air quality by regulating or
restricting traffic use in specific areas. Planning controls offer
another means of ensuring that potentially polluting or hazardous
processes are not sited in residential or other protected areas.
 Carcinogens as Outdoor Air Pollutants
A considerable number of substances, carcinogenic or
supposedly carcinogenic, occur as outdoor and indoor
air pollutants.

Of these benzene,1,3-butadiene and the polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs) are perhaps
the best known.
 Primary sources of indoor air
quality problems (NIOSH, USA)

• Inadequate ventilation 52%

• Contamination from inside building 16%
• Contamination from outside building 10%
• Microbial contamination 5%
• Contamination from building fabric 4%
• Unknown sources 13%
 Indoor pollutants. Radon

• In specific geographical areas, and in buildings

which have not been designed to be radon-
proof, concentrations of radon gas may reach
levels that cause lung cancer.
• The increased risk of cancer from radon
exposure is strongly enhanced for smokers.

• As for radon, smoking substantially increases

the risk of cancer in asbestos-exposed
populations
 Indoor pollutants. VOC
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) originate mainly from
solvents and chemicals used at home or in offices. The main
indoor sources are: perfumes, hair-spray, furniture polish,
glues, paints, stains and varnishes, wood preservatives,
pesticides, air fresheners, dry cleaning, moth repellents and
many other products.
• The main health effects are eye, nose and throat irritation.
• In more severe cases there may be headaches, loss of
coordination and nausea.
• In the long-term, some of them are suspected to damage
the liver, the kidneys and the central nervous system as well
as being potential carcinogens.
 Tobacco smoke
• Smoking generates a wide range of harmful
chemicals including nicotine, tar, formaldehyde,
oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. It is
now well known that smoking causes cancer.

• It is also well known that passive smoking

causes a wide range of problems to the passive
smoker ranging from being disturbed by the
smell, and eye, nose and throat irritation in
children, to cancer, increased risk of bronchitis
and pneumonia asthma crises, and decreases in
lung function.
 Formaldehyde

• Formaldehyde comes mainly from particle

board; carpets and insulation foams. Beside
eye, nose and throat irritation, it may in some
allergic people cause 'wheezing, coughing,
skin rash and other severe allergic reactions.

• High concentrations may trigger attacks in

people with asthma.
 Biological pollutants

• There is a wide range of biological

pollutants which I includes pollen from
plants, mites, pet hair, fungi, parasites
and some bacteria.
• Most of them are allergens and can cause
asthma, high fever and other allergic
diseases.