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Background Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) and antigen tests are important diagnostics for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sensitivity of antigen tests has been shown to be lower than that of rRT-PCR; however, data to evaluate epidemiologic characteristics that affect test performance are limited. Methods Paired mid-turbinate nasal swabs were collected from university students and staff and tested for SARS-CoV-2 using both Quidel Sofia SARS Antigen Fluorescent Immunoassay (FIA) and rRT-PCR assay. Specimens positive by either rRT-PCR or antigen FIA were placed in viral culture and tested for subgenomic RNA (sgRNA). Logistic regression models were used to evaluate characteristics associated with antigen results, rRT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values, sgRNA, and viral culture. Results Antigen FIA sensitivity was 78.9% and 43.8% among symptomatic and asymptomatic participants, respectively. Among rRT-PCR positive participants, negative antigen results were more likely among asymptomatic participants (odds ratio [OR] 4.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3–15.4) and less likely among participants reporting nasal congestion (OR 0.1, 95% CI: .03–.8). rRT-PCR-positive specimens with higher Ct values (OR 0.5, 95% CI: .4–.8) were less likely, and specimens positive for sgRNA (OR 10.2, 95% CI: 1.6–65.0) more likely, to yield positive virus isolation. Antigen testing was >90% positive in specimens with Ct values Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 antigen test advantages include low cost, wide availability and rapid turnaround time, making them important screening tests. The performance of antigen tests may vary with patient characteristics, so performance characteristics should be accounted for when designing testing strategies and interpreting results.

Antigen-based tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), are inexpensive and can return results within 15 minutes (1). Antigen tests have received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use in asymptomatic and symptomatic persons within the first 5-12 days after symptom onset (2). These tests have been used at U.S. colleges and universities and other congregate settings (e.g., nursing homes and correctional and detention facilities), where serial testing of asymptomatic persons might facilitate early case identification (3-5). However, test performance data from symptomatic and asymptomatic persons are limited. This investigation evaluated performance of the Sofia SARS Antigen Fluorescent Immunoassay (FIA) (Quidel Corporation) compared with real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 detection among asymptomatic and symptomatic persons at two universities in Wisconsin. During September 28-October 9, a total of 1,098 paired nasal swabs were tested using the Sofia SARS Antigen FIA and real-time RT-PCR. Virus culture was attempted on all antigen-positive or real-time RT-PCR-positive specimens. Among 871 (79%) paired swabs from asymptomatic participants, the antigen test sensitivity was 41.2%, specificity was 98.4%, and in this population the estimated positive predictive value (PPV) was 33.3%, and negative predictive value (NPV) was 98.8%. Antigen test performance was improved among 227 (21%) paired swabs from participants who reported one or more symptoms at specimen collection (sensitivity = 80.0%; specificity = 98.9%; PPV = 94.1%; NPV = 95.9%). Virus was isolated from 34 (46.6%) of 73 antigen-positive or real-time RT-PCR-positive nasal swab specimens, including two of 18 that were antigen-negative and real-time RT-PCR-positive (false-negatives). The advantages of antigen tests such as low cost and rapid turnaround might allow for rapid identification of infectious persons. However, these advantages need to be balanced against lower sensitivity and lower PPV, especially among asymptomatic persons. Confirmatory testing with an FDA-authorized nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), such as RT-PCR, should be considered after negative antigen test results in symptomatic persons, and after positive antigen test results in asymptomatic persons (1).

Petroleum coke (petcoke) is a byproduct of the refinement of tar sands and crude oil, and as a byproduct is not currently regulated as a solid waste by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. When the material is stored outdoors in large uncovered piles, it contributes to nuisance dust and potential health concerns in adjacent communities. Those concerns include risks associated with breathing particulate matter and with petcoke’s constituents, most notably PAHs and toxic metals. Samples from petcoke storage piles and nearby residential window sills and furnace filters were analyzed for PAH by pressurized fluid extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using selected ion monitoring. The relative abundances of 20 PAHs identified in the source material were compared to surface wipe samples from the nearby residential homes and analyzed for a signature PAH fingerprint for the material.

This study is part of a broader evaluation of a low-cost passive VOC sorbent tube sampler which was developed by EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD). This investigation was managed by EPA Region 5 in Chicago with sampling conducted on the basis of a fenceline air monitoring network at the BP Refinery in Whiting, Indiana. BP operates four stations which measure VOCs via continuous gas chromatograph as well as open path transceivers. EPA received permission to collocate passive sorbent tubes and canisters at these stations for weekly sampling between August and October 2014. Thirty complete sets of paired samples were collected, with sorbent tubes analyzed by EPA-ORD and canisters analyzed at EPA Chicago Regional Laboratory (CRL). BP Refinery, EPA-ORD, and EPA-CRL each reported a different list of VOC compounds, ranging in number from four species at BP to 60 at EPA-CRL. All organizations reported benzene and toluene, thus allowing a four-way method comparison for these hazardous air pollutants. EPA scientists made a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the four analytical methods and made recommendations on their appropriate uses in future fenceline and community-based air monitoring studies.

Advances in air pollution sensor technology have enabled the development of small and low-cost systems to measure outdoor air pollution. The deployment of a large number of sensors across a small geographic area would have potential benefits to supplement traditional monitoring networks with additional geographic and temporal measurement resolution, if the data quality were sufficient. To understand the capability of emerging air sensor technology, the Community Air Sensor Network (CAIRSENSE) project deployed low-cost, continuous, and commercially available air pollution sensors at a regulatory air monitoring site and as a local sensor network over a surrounding ∼ 2 km area in the southeastern United States. Collocation of sensors measuring oxides of nitrogen, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and particles revealed highly variable performance, both in terms of comparison to a reference monitor as well as the degree to which multiple identical sensors produced the same signal. Multiple ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide sensors revealed low to very high correlation with a reference monitor, with Pearson sample correlation coefficient (r) ranging from 0.39 to 0.97, −0.25 to 0.76, and −0.40 to 0.82, respectively. The only sulfur dioxide sensor tested revealed no correlation (r r = 0.99) between identical sensors but moderate agreement with a reference PM2.5 monitor (e.g., r = 0.65). For select sensors that had moderate to strong correlation with reference monitors (r > 0.5), step-wise multiple linear regression was performed to determine if ambient temperature, relative humidity (RH), or age of the sensor in number of sampling days could be used in a correction algorithm to improve the agreement. Maximum improvement in agreement with a reference, incorporating all factors, was observed for an NO2 sensor (multiple correlation coefficient R2adj-orig = 0.57, R2adj-final = 0.81); however, other sensors showed no apparent improvement in agreement. A four-node sensor network was successfully able to capture ozone (two nodes) and PM (four nodes) data for an 8-month period of time and show expected diurnal concentration patterns, as well as potential ozone titration due to nearby traffic emissions. Overall, this study demonstrates the performance of emerging air quality sensor technologies in a real-world setting; the variable agreement between sensors and reference monitors indicates that in situ testing of sensors against benchmark monitors should be a critical aspect of all field studies.

Environmental risk factors such as air, water, soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and radiation contribute to more than 100 diseases. Understanding the connection of the environment to health is a critical pathway to address health disparities and poor health outcomes in communities. Purpose: This study investigates environmental determinants for lung cancer mortality among Black men in Berrien County, Michigan. Methods: We examined environmental contaminants in the land, air, and water. Environmental data was obtained from toxic release Inventories (TRI) and brownfields from the US EPA's TRI databases, My Environment, Environmental justice SCREEN websites, ATSDR public health assessment information for contaminated sites in Berrien County and ATSDR Toxicological Profiles and ToxFAQs for common environmental contaminants and associated health concerns. We created GIS maps overlaid with all-cause mortality data. Using the TOXMAP database, we generated Environmental Health Toxmaps for cancer mortality in Berrien County and overlaid with TRI facilities. Results: Age-adjusted mortality among black males for all malignant cancers (208.90) and cancer of the lung and bronchus (110.70) were high compared to national data. An important observation from this analysis indicated that cancer of the lung and bronchus was 110.70 among black males and was 60.20 among white males in Benton Harbor. According to the overlaid GIS maps, zip codes surrounding the Benton harbor area seems to have the highest number of contaminated sites and high mortality rates. Benton Harbor in Berrien County had the second-highest level of summer Action Days (10 days) in the state. We reviewed the Action Days reported on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality website (2019) and found that Benton Harbor typically was in the "top" tier for Action Days for several years. Although health disparities were observed among Black and White males for lung cancer, smoking rates were not elevated among black males as compared to the general population. In conclusion, we suggest that in addition to smoking, environmental, and socioeconomic factors may contribute to high lung cancer rates among Black men in Benton Harbor in Berrien County. Citation Format: Padma P. Tadi Uppala, Brian Wong, Laurel Berman, Motria Caudill, Jean Cadet. Environmental determinants for lung cancer mortality among Black men in Berrien County, Michigan: A Multi-media analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4345.

Select volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air were measured at four fenceline sites at a petroleum refinery in Whiting, IN, using modified EPA Method 325 A/B with passive tubes and EPA Compendium Method TO-15 with canister samplers. One-week, time-integrated samplers were deployed for 8 weeks with tubes and canister samplers deployed in duplicate. Good precision was obtained from the duplicate tubes (

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies face a number of challenges in interpreting and reconciling short-duration (seconds to minutes) readings from mobile and handheld air sensors with the longer duration averages (hours to days) associated with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the criteria pollutants-particulate matter (PM), ozone, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides. Similar issues are equally relevant to the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) where chemical-specific health effect reference values are the best indicators of exposure limits; values which are often based on a lifetime of continuous exposure. A multi-agency, staff-level Air Sensors Health Group (ASHG) was convened in 2013. ASHG represents a multi-institutional collaboration of Federal agencies devoted to discovery and discussion of sensor technologies, interpretation of sensor data, defining the state of sensor-related science across each institution, and provides consultation on how sensors might effectively be used to meet a wide range of research and decision support needs. ASHG focuses on several fronts: improving the understanding of what hand-held sensor technologies may be able to deliver; communicating what hand-held sensor readings can provide to a number of audiences; the challenges of how to integrate data generated by multiple entities using new and unproven technologies; and defining best practices in communicating health-related messages to various audiences. This review summarizes the challenges, successes, and promising tools of those initial ASHG efforts and Federal agency progress on crafting similar products for use with other NAAQS pollutants and the HAPs. NOTE: The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessary represent the opinions of their Federal Agencies or the US Government. Mention of product names does not constitute endorsement.

Biomarkers of exposure & early effects: field studiesBiomarker: 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP)Exposure/effect represented: PAHStudy design: cross-sectionalStudy size: 48 children from Mariupol and 42 children from KievAnalytical technique: reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with enzymatic hydrolysis using β- glucuronidase/arylsulfataseTissue/biological material/sample size: urineHalf-life of biomarker: 9.8 hrSurrogate/target tissue relationship: goodRelationship with exposure or effect of interest (including dose-response): 0.69ngr/ml in Mariupol vs 0.34ngr/ml in Kiev, p= 0.0001Factors modulating biomarkers: ETS Keywords classification: analysis;biomarkers of exposure & effect: field studies;Biological Markers;Child,Preschool;Environmental Exposure;Epidemiologic Studies;Female;Humans;Male;Polycyclic Compounds;Public Health;Pyrenes;Research;Safety;urine;Ukraine; Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) is a biomarker of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure. We measured urinary 1-OHP in 48 children 3 years of age in Mariupol, Ukraine, who lived near a steel mill and coking facility and compared these with 1-OHP concentrations measured in 42 children of the same age living in the capital city of Kiev, Ukraine. Children living in Mariupol had significantly higher urinary 1-OHP and creatinine-adjusted urinary 1-OHP than did children living in Kiev (adjusted: 0.69 vs. 0.34 micromol/mol creatinine, p < 0.001; unadjusted: 0.42 vs. 0.30 ng/mL, p = 0.002). Combined, children in both cities exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in their homes had higher 1-OHP than did children not exposed (0.61 vs. 0.42 micromol/mol creatinine; p = 0.04; p = 0.07 after adjusting for city). In addition, no significant differences were seen with sex of the children. Our sample of children in Mariupol has the highest reported mean urinary 1-OHP concentrations in children studied to date, most likely due to their proximity to a large industrial point source of PAHs.