The fibrous aerosol monitor (FAM) was designed to count fibrous particulates as accurately as the standard method, P & CAM 239, now NIOSH 7400. The Hi-Vol (HV) method, a modification of the standard method, was developed to collect fibers over a shorter time interval (i.e., 10-minutes) with the same accuracy as the standard method. The current study sought to compare the HV method with the FAM to assess its validity in measuring airborne asbestos levels and to assess the importance of short-term variation in asbestos levels in determining appropriate respiratory protection. Correlation between the FAM and HV showed a poor linear relationship in all comparison studies. However, there was good correlation between the average of short-term HV samples and long-term time-weighted average (TWA) samples at reported low levels of airborne asbestos. All membrane filter techniques showed strong correlation with each other, but were weakly correlated with the FAM. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

This diploma thesis deals with issue of agriculture brownfields with exposure of asbestos. First part introduces asbestos, it's properties, history, health risks, important legal standards and rules for handling of asbestos waste. Next part includes introduction to brownfields issue. Topic of the agricultural brownfields is connected with asbestos issue. Reader will get the information about brownfields, its definition, categorization and impact on the site. Later on there will be information about financing of brownfields revitalization. Practical party of the thesis is oriented to problem with one concrete brownfield -- former poultry farm in Kotopeky. I describe the history, current status, potential future use and possibilities of financing the revitalization. Last part of this diploma thesis is filled with the manual for people who want to remove asbestos roof on their own.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a locally invasive and highly aggressive cancer arising on the mesothelial surface of organ cavities (mainly pleural) as a direct result of asbestos exposure. The latency period of MM is long (20-50yrs) after initial asbestos exposure, and the prognostic outcomes are dismal with median life expectancy of 6-12 months post-diagnosis. There are no useful biomarkers for early MM diagnosis, no successful therapeutic interventions. These vast voids of knowledge led to our hypotheses that secreted vesicles, termed exosomes, play an important role in MM development and tumorigenic properties. Exosomes are nano-sized particles secreted from all cell types and carry biologically active cargo in the form of proteins, RNA, and lipids that can potently act as intercellular messengers in both healthy settings and disease states. We are the first to have conducted studies implicating the roles of exosomes in MM pathogenesis. Firstly, we analyzed the proteomic signature of exosomes from asbestos exposure models, in vitro and in vivo. Our in vitro data demonstrated that asbestos exposed lung epithelial cells and macrophages secrete exosomes with differentially abundant proteins compared to non-exposed controls and some of these proteins are relevant to asbestos exposure toxicology and MM development. Additionally, the exosomes from asbestos exposed cells significantly modulated the gene expression of target mesothelial cells in a way that reflected epithelial to mesenchymal transition and other tumorigenic properties. The in vivo mouse studies illustrated that mouse serum exosomes house differentially abundant proteins after asbestos exposure and this is measurable at an organism wide scale. Secondly, we assayed the miRNA composition of MM tumor exosomes compared to healthy mesothelial cell exosomes and found signature differences in miRNA abundances, particularly that MM tumor cells had significantly higher amounts of tumor suppressor miRNA, particularly miR-16-5p, in their exosomes. This led to the hypothesis that MM tumor cells preferentially secrete tumor suppressor miRNAs via exosomes to rid themselves of the anti-tumor effects. We employed exosomes secretion inhibitors and exosome force-feeding to demonstrate that MM cells do in fact secrete miR-16-5p (along with other tumor suppressor miRNAs) through exosomes and that this property can be targeted as a potentially novel therapeutic advance. Furthermore, we identified a mechanism of miR-16-5p loading into exosomes by the RNA binding protein HuR, and this mechanism is interestingly regulated by miR-16-5p itself in a negative feedback loop. Our studies thus far provide intriguing evidence on the role of exosomes in asbestos exposure and MM biology. We demonstrated the potential for exosomes as protein biomarkers in asbestos exposure and conduits of tumorigenic information to mesothelial cells. In addition, we incriminate exosomes as vehicles of tumor suppressor removal from MM tumor cells and we can target this as a potential n MM therapy.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on Feb. 3, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Political Science, Public Health Sciences, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.P.H.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-153).

Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η αξιοποίηση και ο οδηγός χρήσης του συστήματος ανάλυσης εικόνας σε περιβαλλοντικές, ορυκτολογικές και πετρογραφικές εφαρμογές. Για να δείξουμε την αξιοποίηση του συστήματος ανάλυσης εικόνας εφαρμόστηκαν μέθοδοι ανάλυσης εικόνας σε εικόνες ηλεκτρονικού και πολωτικού μικροσκοπίου, από λεπτές και στιλπνές τομές, με σκοπό την υποβοήθηση στην επίλυση διαφόρων περιβαλλοντικών ορυκτολογικών και πετρογραφικών προβλημάτων όπως εντοπισμός αμιάντου, υπολογισμός ποσοστιαίας συμμετοχής ορυκτών, υπολογισμός περιφέρειας και εμβαδού κρυστάλλου, υπολογισμός πολυπλοκότητας των ορίων των κρυστάλλων σε λεπτή τομή καθώς και υπολογισμός πορώδους πετρωμάτων. Δόθηκε επίσης οδηγός χρήσης του συστήματος ανάλυσης εικόνας βασιζόμενος στο λογισμικό που χρησιμοποιείται στο Γεωλογικό Τμήμα του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Έγινε αναφορά και δόθηκαν παραδείγματα με εικόνες όλων των μενού και υπομενού του λογισμικού. / Aim of present work is the exploitation and the manual of use of Image analysis in environmental, mineralogical and petrographic applications. In order to show the exploitation Image analysis, applied methods of analysis of picture in pictures of electronic and polotic microscope,from thin and glossy sections, aiming at the assistance in the resolution of various environmental mineralogical and petrographic problems as localisation of asbestos, calculation of percentage attendance mining, calculation of region and area of crystal, calculation of complexity of limits of crystals in thin section as well as calculation porosities of rocks. Also was given a manual of Image analysis based on the software that is used in the Geological Department of Patras University. Reported and given examples with pictures all the menus and submenus of the software.

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