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Recent data suggest a general trend in decreased occupational exposure to perchlorethylene (PCE) in the dry-cleaning sector. The aims of this study were to confirm this trend to lower exposure levels in a group of Italian dry cleaners and to evaluate the current occupational PCE exposure in these works using noninvasive biological indices. Environmental exposure was assessed by personal sampling in 60 operators working in 21 dry cleaning shops in North Italy. PCE in the exhaled alveolar air (PCE alv ), urinary concentration of PCE and of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) (PCE u and TCA u respectively), were measured as biological exposure indices. Median PCE environmental concentration in the whole sample was 10.6 mg/m 3 (i.e., less than the 25% of the levels measured in the same area in a previous study). All values were less than 10% of the occupational limits. PCE u measured in samples collected at the end of the work shift resulted the biological markers having the strongest correlation with environmental PCE (r = 0.81). PCE alv also resulted in a high correlation (r = 0.66), while a lower correlation was found for TCA u measured at the end shift (r = 0.32). According to our results, PCE u can be proposed as a valid, noninvasive, and easily reliable exposure index to evaluate PCE exposure at the low levels currently observed in dry cleaners, therefore representing a promising alternative to invasive blood sample collections needed to determine PCE blood concentration.

The occurrence of illicit drugs (cocaine, opioids, amphetamines and cannabis derivatives), some of their metabolites and 48 pharmaceuticals, was investigated in pool and source waters in ten Italian indoor swimming pools. The samples were analyzed by highperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), after solid phase extraction (SPE). Cocaine and its metabolites were found in nine swimming pools, at concentrations from 0.3 to 4.2 ng/L for cocaine, 1.1 to 48.7 ng/L for norcocaine, 0.7 to 21.4 ng/L for benzoylecgonine and 0.1 to 7.3 ng/L for norbenzoylecgonine. Opioids, amphetamines and cannabis derivatives were never detected. The most frequent pharmaceuticals were anti-inflammatory drugs: ibuprofen was found in all the pool waters, with a maximum 197 ng/L and ketoprofen was detected in 9/10 samples (maximum 127 ng/L). Among anticonvulsants, carbamazepine and its metabolite, 10,11-dihydro-10,11dihydroxycarbamazepine, were frequent in swimming pool water (8/10 samples) at concentrations up to 62 ng/L. The cardiovascular drug valsartan was also found frequently (8/10 samples), but at lower concentrations (up to 9 ng/L). Other pharmaceuticals were detected occasionally and at lower concentrations (atenolol, enalapril, paracetamol, hydroclorothiazide, irbesartan and dehydro-erythromycin). Carbamazepine, irbesartan and dehydroerythromycin were detected at very low levels (up to 5 ng/L) in only one of the four source water samples. A quantitative risk assessment showed that the health risk for humans to these substance in swimming pool waters was generally negligible, even for vulnerable subpopulations such as children and adolescents., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the environmental and healthy aspects from a representative sample of indoor swimming pools located in the Emilia Romagna region. During the sampling sessions, the occupational environment was evaluated in terms of microclimate parameters and thermal comfort/discomfort conditions. Moreover the chemical risk was assessed by analyzing from the pool water the presence of disinfection by-products (DBPs), such as: trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), chlorite, chlorate and bromate. The analytical results are in agreement with the Italian legislation (Accordo Stato-Regioni; 2003) even if in some of the sampled indoor swimming pools, the dosed combined chlorine levels, were greater than the Italian limit. With the regard to the microclimate conditions evaluation, the considered thermal indices, Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD%), described a satisfactory occupational environment. Among DBPs, the THMs mean levels (41.4 +/- 30.0 microg/l) resulted close to the values of the current Italian drinking water legislation, and seem to not represent an health issue. The pool waters chlorate levels (range: 5 - 19537 microg/l) need further investigations as recent epidemiological studies on drinking water hypothesized a potential genotoxicity effect of these compounds which are involved in cellular oxidative processes.

We studied the reliability of biologic indices for monitoring perchlorethylene (PCE) exposure at low environmental solvent concentrations. Environmental monitoring was performed by personal sampling, biologic monitoring by measuring PCE in alveolar air (PCE-Alv), blood (PCE-B), and urine (PCE-U) in 26 low-exposed dry-cleaners. Correlation coefficients (r) between environmental PCE and PCE-B, PCE-Alv, and PCE-U were 0.94, 0.81, and 0.67 respectively. A high correlation was also found among biologic indices: r value was 0.96 between PCE-B and PCE-Alv, 0.95 between PCE-B and PCE-U, and 0.87 between alveolar PCE-Alv and PCE-U. The examined biologic indices proved sensitive enough for biologic monitoring of low exposure to PCE and can give substantially similar information in terms of exposure evaluation. PCE-Alv offers some advantages because it correlated better with exposure and is analytically simpler.

Alveolar air samples were collected from 163 subjects at indoor swimming pools and from 77 nonexposed subjects. Chloroform was present in all samples collected from exposed subjects (median = 695.02 nmol/m3). It was found at very low levels in 53% of samples from nonexposed subjects. Alveolar air chloroform levels from people attending indoor swimming pools (mean value within each sampling session) were correlated with environmental air concentration (r = 0.907, p = .002). Analysis of variance showed that levels of chloroform in alveolar air depend on environmental air concentration, age, intensity of the sport activity, and kind of swimming. Chloroform levels in samples collected from competitive swimmers versus nonswimming visitors were different (F = 10.911, p = .001). Moreover, their pattern of swimming may affect chloroform concentration in alveolar air. The analysis of chloroform in alveolar air assesses indoor exposure in healthy subjects simply and at low cost.