Diesel fumes

Matthew is especially reactive to soy products, dairy, chocolate, preservatives, fragrances, formaldehyde and diesel fumes. As a small boy he would develop a stuffy nose within minutes of eating dairy products, and by morning he would have a sinus infection. Other foods and chemicals—soy, chocolate and formaldehyde, for example—caused him to behave violently. His tolerance to those triggers has improved by taking antigens. 

Selection of on-site analytical techniques involves evaluation of many factors including the specific objectives of this work. Numerous instrumental techniques, GC, GC-MS, GC-MS-TEA, HPLC, HPLC-MS-MS, IR, FTIR, Raman, GC-FTIR, NMR, IMS, HPLC-UV-IMS, TOF, IC, CE, etc., have been employed for their laboratory-based determination. Most, however, do not meet on-site analysis criteria, (i.e., are not transportable or truly field portable, are incapable of analyzing the entire suite of analytes, cannot detect multiple analytes compounded with environmental constituents, or have low selectivity and sensitivity). Therefore, there exists no single technique that can detect all the compounds and there are only a few techniques exist that can be fielded. The most favored, portable, hand-held instrumental technique is ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), but limitations in that only a small subset of compounds, the inherent difficulty with numerous false positives (e.g., diesel fumes, etc.), and the length of time it takes to clear the IMS back to background are just two of its many drawbacks. 

I ll never forget the time I had to work on a computer that had been used on the manufacturing floor of a large equipment manufacturer. The computer and keyboard were covered with a black substance that would not come off. (I later found out it was a combination of paint mist and molybdenum grease.) There was so much diesel fume residue in the power supply fan that it would barely turn. Also, the insides and components were covered with a thin, greasy layer of muck. To top it all off, it smelled terrible ... 

Despite all this, the computer still functioned. However, it was prone to reboot itself every now and again. The solution was (as you may have guessed by now) to clean every component thoroughly and replace the power supply. The muck on the components was actually able to conduct a small current. Sometimes that current would go where it wasn t wanted and zap —a reboot. Also, the power supply fan is supposed to partially cool the insides of the computer. In this computer, it was actually detrimental to the computer since it got its cooling air from the shop floor, which contained diesel fumes, paint fumes, and other chemical fumes. Needless to say, those fumes aren t good for computer components. 

Burnt chlorofluorocarbons Burnt paint fumes Carpet emissions Cigarette smoke Cleaning products Diesel fumes Epoxies Mixed solvents Paint fumes Pesticide sprays... 

Lung cancer has also been attributed to diesel fume exposures. I47 Diesel fumes are composed of a complex mixture of lipophilic and hydrophilic species, including some that are individually carcinogenic (e.g., PAHs). 

Human noses do need to tire imagine walking off the busy street into a chemist s shop. One would immediately detect the odour of the perfumes, fragranced toiletries and other goods, but the outside smells would be very much in the background. However, an instrument just inside the door would still be picking up the exhaust and diesel fumes of the passing cars and buses. In many applications of an ideal artificial nose, this needs to be catered for. Currently, the only answer is to ensure no extraneous odours or non-odorants enter the machine. 

Like salts, hydrocarbons in the form of oils and grease also come from a variety of sources diesel fumes, either from passing traffic or stationary equipment motors lubricating oils from compressors and power tools grease or oil in contaminated blasting abrasive oil on operators hands and so on. As mentioned above, the presence of oils and grease on the surface to be painted prevents good adhesion. 

Several studies have demonstrated adverse respiratory effects on humans following inhalation of ultrafine particles associated with air pollution and diesel fumes [19-24], The smdies cited clearly demonstrate that nanoparticulates inhaled from ambient air are toxic to the respiratory system, hi these studies, however, the chemical nature of the NPs was only generally described. A study of lung disease following inhalation of particulates by responders to the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster on September 11, 2001 provides valuable information regarding pulmonary responses to identified inhaled nanoparticulate mixtures [24]. These results are described as follows. 

This polyolefin family polymer has a specific gravity of 0.88 and floats on water. It burns with a blue flame with a yellow tip and gives off an acrid odor similar to diesel fumes. The material is soluble in hot toluene. Polypropylene is positively identified by an infrared spectrometer. 

Howe GR, Fraser D, Lindsay J, Presnal B, Yu SZ. Cancer mortality (1965-77) in relation to diesel fume and coal exposure in a cohort of retired railway workers. J Natl Cancer Inst 1983 70 1015-1019. 

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