In this study, we analyzed the concentration of cadmium and mercury in urine and lead in blood from 668 residents in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang-si and Yeosu-si, from July 2013 to December 2015. According to the lifestyle (past smoking, current smoking, passive smoking, drinking and exercise), the concentration of cadmium in urine was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang. However, the concentration of cadmium in urine according to the lifestyle except drinking was higher in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu. According to the past smoking and current smoking, the concentration of mercury in urine was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang, but the passive smoking, drinking and exercise showed similar concentration levels both in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang. The concentration of mercury in urine according to the past smoking and current smoking was higher in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu, but the concentration of mercury in urine according to the drinking and exercise was lower in the exposed areas than in the compared areas in Yeosu. According to the past smoking, the concentration of lead in blood showed similar concentration levels in the exposed and compared areas in Gwangyang, but regarding current and passive smoking, it was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Gwangyang. Especially, the concentration of lead in blood according to the drinking in Gwangyang showed statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The concentration of lead in blood according to the lifestyle was higher in the compared areas than in the exposed areas in Yeosu.

This study measured and analyzed the heavy metal (Cd, As) content of fine dust in the city of Gwangyang, Jeonnam from September 19 to September 22, 2016. For cadmium, the arithmetic average was 0.21 ng/m3 (0.12~0.49 ng/ m3), which did not exceed the WHO's recommended level. The average of arsenic was 2.41 ng/m3 (0.30~142.08 ng/ m3) and the geometric mean was 11.18 ng/m3, which exceeded the WHO's recommended standard in 16 out of 24 measurements. In the case of cadmium, the CTE of male was 9.22 × 10−8 RME 1.91 × 10−7 and the female CTE was 9.44 × 10−8 RME 1.92 × 10−7, which did not exceed the EPA limit of CTE 2.18 × 10−5 RME 1.51 × 10−4 for men and CTE 2.23 × 10−5 RME 1.51 × 10−4 For women, CTE 2.23 × 10−5 RME 1.51 × 10−4 results were obtained, which exceeded the EPA's recommended limit and also exceeded the maximum allowable limit of 10-4.

We measured VOCs and NO2 in the indoor and outdoor air at 125 houses in Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnamdo, from March 2007 to January 2008. The concentration of benzene measured in the Gwangyang survey group was higher than in Yeosu and Hadong, and showed a statistically significant difference from Yeosu (p<0.05). The concentration of toluene in outdoor air was highest in the Gwangyang survey group. The concentration of NO2 measured in the Yeosu survey group was higher than in Gwangyang and Hadong, and showed a statistically significant difference from Hadong (p<0.01). According to the results of a correlation analysis, VOCs (benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene) exposure of individuals showed a significant correlation with the residential indoor air (p<0.01). Also, VOCs of residential indoor and outdoor air showed a significant correlation (p<0.01). The concentration of NO2 exposure of individuals measured in the Yeosu comparison group showed a high correlation with the residential indoor air.

The concentration of VOCs, NO2 was measured both inside and outside residential homes surrounding an industrial complex. Measurements were performed in the area of the industrial complexes and around 10 km away from the industrial complex area. Benzene did not exceed the air quality standard value. Toluene exhibited a high value of concentration in outdoor Yeosu investigated group. The concentration of NO2 is higher than outside concentrations of houses in both inside housing research group compared with the group of Gwangyang and Yeosu. Benzene and toluene showed high correlation (p<0.001) in the housing interior in Gwangyang, It showed a high correlation (p<0.01) in the housing interior in the comparison group. In Yeosu there was a high correlation (p<0.001) between the inside and outside of the housing in the survey group. In the control group there was only high correlation (p<0.05) in the inside of the housing.

The study measured the volatile organic compounds consistency of the child tympanitis patient family. Benzene, the result which analyzes toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and TVOC consistency, case of personal exposure they were 0.518 μg/m3, 0.909 μg/m3, 1.299 μg/m3, 0.960 μg/m3 and 273.718 μg/m3 respectively, case it appeared with benzene the interior 0.539 μg/m3 and toluene 1.433 μg/m3 and ethylbenzene 1.253 μg/m3 and xylene 1.899 μg/m3 and TVOC 262.132 μg/m3. The consistency of the outdoor benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and TVOC appeared respectively with 0.512 μg/m3, 0.474 μg/m3, 1.177 μg/m3, 0.862 μg/m3 and 22.306 μg/m3. Personal exposure, the residential interior, interrelationship analytical result Benzene of outdoor consistency and Ethyl benzene, Xylene and TVOC personal exposures with the interior and outdoor consistency showed the interrelationship which considers(p < 0.01). VOCs consistency which it follows in residential type the detached home > the multi generation house > the consistency price came out with the apartment order, VOCs consistency which it follows construction year possibility the year valence which is built 4 years at once rises the consistency appeared more highly the case where the case is above 4 years than.

In this study, this researcher measured the indoor concentration of radon in elementary schools located in Chungcheongnamdo, and conducted a questionnaire survey from June 2008 to June 2011. Indoor radon densities of elementary schools by season were 86.4 Bq/m3 in winter, 71.2 Bq/m3 in fall, 61.1 Bq/m3 in spring, and 40.5 Bq/ m3 in summer in order. Among flooring materials by construction material, the radon level of concrete was 57.8 Bq/ m3, and cement was 71.5 Bq/m3. For exterior wall materials, it was established that the density of cement, concrete, wood, and soil was 102.9 Bq/m3, 64.4 Bq/m3, 51.0 Bq/m3, and 48.7 Bq/m3, respectively. In addition, for radon densities according to distances between a detector and floors, 150 cm and under was recorded at 99.3 Bq/m3, 151 to 200 cm was recorded at 62.6 Bq/m3, and 201 cm and more was recorded at 59.2 Bq/m3 sequentially. From the results of analyzing correlations between radon concentrations and factors affecting the indoor radon concentrations in elementary schools, it was discovered that the nearer the distances to floors were and the older the construction was(r = 0.300), the higher were indoor radon concentrations. With regard to factors influencing the indoor radon concentrations in elementary schools, derived from multiple regression analysis, it was revealed that distances from floors has the greatest influence(β = 0.354, p < 0.05). And it was determined that the construction year was also a factor contributing to indoor radon levels. This had an explanation power of 27.9%.

Indoor pollutants seem to have a negative affect on people from vulnerable households who are considered to be weak by the department of environmental health, such as the elderly, infants, children, patients, and pregnant women. In this study, the concentrations of pollutants were measured, especially those pollutants that endanger vulnerable households such as PM10, HCHO, TVOCs, TBC and fungi. The measurements were taken from September to October of 2013 in the Chungnam area. The results were as follows: PM10 33.2 μg/m3, HCHO 20.35 μg/m3, VOCs 132.30 μg/m3, TBC 562.71 CFU/m3 and fungi 362.04 CFU/m3. In the case of TBC and fungi, there were excessive concentrations at 30.9% and 49.3% compared to the standards set by WHO. In the case of fungi, buildings built before the 1980s showed a concentration of 446.23 CFU/m3, those built in the 1980s and 1990s had a concentration of 320.21 CFU/m3 and those built in the 2000s had a concentration of 313.43 CFU/ m3 indicating that fungi concentration was higher when the building was older. The correlation analysis between indoor air pollutants and factors affecting indoor concentrations indicate that HCHO (r = 0.423), TVOCs (r = 0.329), and humidity (r = 0.359) showed a significant difference (p < 0.01). The current study focused on vulnerable households that were unable to protect themselves from indoor pollutants and where poor living circumstances prevailed such as households that do not receive much sunlight; thus, more attention and focus needs to be given to these particular households

In this study, the concentration distribution of radon, we analyzed from 55 house, 37 government office, 54 schoolfrom June 2008-June 2011 in Chungnam area. From the result of surveying indoor radon degree of 146 facilities,the annual average geometric concentration of indoor radon was 69.4Bq/m³, 40.5Bq/m³, 51.4Bq/m³ in house,government office, school respectively. As for distribution of concentration based on seasons, the radonconcentration showed the highest concentration in winter in all facilities. According to the result of the analysisby dividing the construction year, into before 60s, 60-70s, 80-90s and 2000s, the radon concentration was lowerin all the newly constructed facilities. As for difference in radon concentration due to the presence or absence ofbasement, concentration of house, government office and schools having basement was 52.2Bq/m³, 44.5Bq/m³,36.4Bq/m³ that of having no basement was 75.2Bq/m³, 53.6Bq/m³, 67.4Bq/m³ respectively. Place having nobasement tend to show higher concentration.

In this study, the characteristic of the facilities and indoor environment for the senior citizens nursing facilities of Kyeonggki and Seoul-total 30 facilities;10 facilities in Seoul and 20 facilities in Kyeonggki from January to December in 2007. In the result of surveying indoor and outdoor pollution degree of 30 senior citizens nursing facilities, the average geometric concentration of indoor and outdoor TVOCs were 264.11 ㎍/㎥ and 162.63 ㎍/㎥, respectively. On the other hand, the average geometric concentration of indoor and outdoor HCHO were 22.76 ㎍/㎥ and 9.55 ㎍/㎥, respectively. The concentration ratio of indoor and outdoor air pollutants were 1.21, 1.23, 1.62 and 2.38 for benzene, toluene, TVOCs and HCHO, respectively. The concentrations of toluene, TVOCs and HCHO were 31.40 ㎍/㎥, 274.30 ㎍/㎥ and 24.17 ㎍/㎥ in the building constructed after 2000. On the other hand, The concentrations of toluene, TVOCs and HCHO were 27.99 ㎍/㎥, 248.54 ㎍/㎥ and 20.48 ㎍/㎥ in the building constructed before 2000. As the constructed year was not late, low concentration was indicated. In the facilities using carpet or not, the concentration of toluene, TVOCs and HCHO were 50.50 ㎍/㎥, 342.73 ㎍/㎥ and 32.94 ㎍/㎥, respectively, in the facilities using carpet. On the other hand, the concentration of toluene, TVOCs and HCHO were 29.35 ㎍/㎥, 261.41 ㎍/㎥ and 22.40 ㎍/㎥, respectively, in the facilities using no carpet. The concentrations were presented higher in the facilities where carpet exits.

The National Institute of Environmental Research (3rd KONEHs) conducted a survey of 280 residents in Ulsan, Suwon and Asan, and the concentration of heavy metals in the blood and urine were also analyzed. In case of blood lead concentration, Ulsan 2.27 ㎍/㎗, Suwon 2.08 ㎍/㎗, and Asan 1.75 ㎍/㎗, the high peak in Ulsan, and the low peak in Asan. In case of cotinine concentration, Ulsan smoking(609.16 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(74.07 ㎍/g_ct), as Suwon and Asan smoking(416.72 ㎍/g_ct, 903.21 ㎍/g_ct) is higher than nonsmoking(72.72 ㎍/g_ct, 18.06 ㎍/g_ct), smoking group is higher than nonsmoking group in all areas revealed statistically significant correlation(p<0.01). In considering results synthetically, these study results are an aid to constructing environmental health science-side heavy metal management measure education programs for normal residents.

The assessment of personal exposure is a critical component in population-based epidemiologic studies of air pollution. This study was conducted to apply and compare the four exposure estimation methods of individual-level to air pollution concentration in a cohort including 2,283 subjects in Gwangyang, Korea. Individual-level exposure of air pollution were estimated using multiple approaches, including average across all monitors, nearest monitor, and spatial interpolation by inverse distance weighting and kriging. The mean concentrations of PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, O3 by four exposure estimation methods were slightly different but not significantly different from each other. Cross-validation showed that kriging was more accurate than other exposure estimation methods because kriging has probably predicted individual exposure levels equivalent to residential locations after estimating the parameters of a model according to the spatial surface of air pollution concentration. These data support that spatial interpolation methods may provide better estimates than selecting the value from the nearest monitor and averaging across values from all monitors by reflecting spatial attributes of air pollution on personal level.

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of heavy metal concentrations in the blood and urine of the general population. This research had been conducted from April to December 2008, studying 545 residents of Daejeon and Chungcheong Province. Through the concentrations of heavy metals(Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Mn) in the biota samples and questionnaires, the residents heavy metal exposure level and the influential factors according to personal characteristics or lifestyle were evaluated. As to the heavy metal concentration in the blood and urine of the comparing region, were As and Mn statistically significant(p<0.01, p<0.05). Blood lead and urinary mercury concentrations were higher in males than females. The heavy metal concentration for each age group increased blood mercury. The concentration of all heavy metals were higher in the drinkers than in the non-drinkers. Blood lead and mercury concentrations were higher in the smokers than in the non-smokers, but the urinary cadmium, arsenic and blood manganese was higher in the non-smokers than in the smokers. As to the blood lead and urinary cadmium concentration according to the food preference fish showed high concentration. To clarify the factors affecting the heavy metal concentration in biota among subjects multiple regression analysis was conducted. As a results, it turned out that as to lead content in blood, sex, age and smoking have influence on the subjects with explanatory adequacy of 14.0 %. These results demonstrated that the factors affected the concentrations of heavy metals in blood and urine. The results of this study could be used as the foundational data for setting the health risk assessment.

This research had been conducted from May to October 2007, studying 110 residents of G, Y, H industrial area in Jun-nam province. It is designed to understand the difference in levels of indoor, outdoor and personal exposure to VOCs(benzene, toluene, Ethylbenzene) and a health risk assessment was conducted to see if there was any fatal cause from carcinogenic or non - carcinogenic elements from a case group and a control group in all areas as well as each different area. In the case of benzene in the air, the geometric levels for the case group are indoor, outdoor and personal exposure; a higher than for the control group. As a results of the Monte - Carlo study about benzene, it shows that the case group’s carcinogenicity is higher than that of the control group and it also shows that, on the CTE, RME condition and Monte - Carlo analysis, all subjects are seen to exceed the carcinogenicity tolerance 10-6 of US EPA. In the case of toluene, ethylbenzene on the CTE, RME condition and Monte - Carlo analysis, these do not exceed the non - carcinogenic standard of 1, but toluene in RME condition for both groups’ personal exposure and the indoor and personal exposure of ethylbenzene in Monte - Carlo show that these seem to exceed the standard.

Objectives: This study is aimed at identifying the influential factors on the pulmonary function of ordinary residents in the surrounding areas of Yeosu Industrial Complex. Methods: The PFT (Pulmonary Function Test) was conducted on the target residents numbering 989 people (male 361, female 628). The exposed group (813 people) resided within the radius of 5km from Yeosu Industrial Complex and the control group (176 people) resided in the radius of more than 15 km from May 2007 to November 2007. The survey also took into account other factors including personal characteristics, life habits, respiratory diseases and allergic symptoms, medical histories, and the living environments of the residents in order to further identify influential factors on pulmonary function. Result: When comparing the PFT values of the exposure groups to the control group of the same city, values of the exposure groups were meaningfully lower with an %FEV1 of 107.05% and %FVC of 100.28%. Conversely, the control group reported an %FEV1 and %FVC of 107.26% and 102.85% respectively, indicating that ambient air pollutants reduce lung function. The odds ratio of asthma diagnosis history increased when a subjects residence was close to a heavily trafficked road, traffic amount was huge, a bed was used, and the family had less than four members. However the results were not statistically meaningful. The odds ratios of abnormal pulmonary function were statistically higher among those with asthma(OR=4.29, CI=1.75-10.56), wheezing (OR=2.59, CI=1.24-5.41), and nasal congestion (OR=2.87, CI=1.36-6.08) (p<0.01). The factors affecting FEV1 were symptoms including asthma, passive smoking and allergic eye disease (R2=0.049, p<0.001). For the FVC symptoms including asthma (R2=0.014, p<0.001) were measured. The analysis showed that FVC decreased with increases in O3 and CO(p<0.01). Furthermore, FEV1 decreased with increases in O3(p<0.01). Conclusions: These results will provide preliminary data for establishing responsive measures to protect the health of residents in industrial complexes from air pollution, and to develop lasting environmental health policies.

This study was conducted to survey the subjective symptoms of workers and users in selected 5 public facility groups(offices, performance halls, private crammers, wedding halls and indoor sports facilities), located in Seoul, Daejeon and Chungnam Province. Overall as subjective symptoms that were worse at public facilities than those usual, following responses appeared: I have a headache, My eyes are dry or feel irritated or itching, I feel eyestrain or my eyes are bloodshot, My nose was stuffy, I have a cough, I feel dry in the throat or inflammation happens, I feel oppressed in the breast or sometimes have difficulty in breathing, My skin gets dry, My skin is itching or has some spots, I feel like vomiting, I feel easily tired or sleep, I lose my concentration and I feel my memory is falling, I feel dizzy, I feel depressed, I feel being sharp and feel tension, I feel muscular pain or stiffness on shoulders, back and neck. Also, we compare with normal subjective symptoms scores and subjective symptoms scores in public facilities. The highest subjective symptoms score in at normal was my skin gets dry(2.35 points) and subjective symptoms score in public facilities was I feel eyestrain or my eyes are bloodshot(2.61 points).

The study is about variations in Carbonyl compounds concentration within apartment buildings according to pre-residence and residence. We consecutively investigated indoor air pollutants in 120 households in 6 cities at pre-residence and residence. Carbonyl compounds were collected using the 2,4-DNPH cartridge and were analyzed using HPLC. The carbonyls concentration of indoor air in the new apartments before occupation measured formadlehyde(76.0㎍/㎥), acetone(85.9㎛/㎥), acetaldehyde(13.8㎍/㎥). The carbonyls concentration of indoor air in the new apartments after occupation measured formadlehyde(233.1㎍/㎥), acetone(128.9㎍/㎥), acetaldehyde(29.8㎍/㎥), respectively. As a result, the mean concentration of carbonyl compounds within the pre-occupancy stage was lower than those of residence.

Because of the building is made airtight, Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) is go from bad to worse. There are many source of indoor pollution in any home. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. In this study was measured and analyzed VOCs exposure levels and characteristic of Indoor air pollutant from new apartments in Korea. VOCs were measured indoor pre-residential and residential in new apartment and analyzed GC/MS. The concentration levels of indoor respirable TVOC were found to be higher than those of outdoor TVOC for new apartments. Before occupation, the average indoor and outdoor concentrations were 1498.61 ug/m3 and 468.38 ug/m3, respectively. After being occupied, the average indoor and outdoor concentration were 847.04 ug/m3 and 102.84, respectively. The concentrations of TVOC in new apartments before occupation were shown in the order of Toluene(328.12 ug/m3) > m,p-Xylene(163.67 ug/m3) > Ethylbenzene(80.70 ug/m3)>o-XYlene (67.04ug/m3). In addition, the TVOCs concentrations after occupation were also found in the order of Toluene (272.28 ug/m3) > m.p-Xylene(121.79 ug/m3) > Ethylbenzene(53.92 ug/m3)>O-Xylene(24.94 ug/m3). As a result, the concentrations of VOCs in new apartment houses were shown to be affected by indoor environment according activity patterns. So new apartments need to be controled in indoor air quality so that the residents can have more comfortable and healthier living environment.

The results of particulate matters level and heavy metal concentration, which surveyed in Gwang-Yang, Dang-Jin steel industry area, are as follows; The PM2.5, PM10 of exposure area are 22.3μg/m3, 40.4μg/m3 each in Kum-Ho dong, and 28.1μg/m3, 51.5 each in Jung dong. The PM2.5, PM10 of control area are 16.4μg/m3, 29.5μg/m3 each in Bonggang-myeon. The level is higher in exposure area than control area. In case of Dang Jin, the concentration of PM10 and PM2.5 is higher in exposure area than control area (PM2.5-20.4μg/m3, PM10-39.2μg/m3). The Pb level of Dang Jin area is higher in exposure area(0.13μg/m3) than control area(0.1μg/m3), and both Gwang-Yang and Dang-Jin area lower level than the Guideline level of Korea EPA.

In this study, in order to analyze the air quality of the indoor environments of schools, we measured the indoor, outdoor and personal exposure concentration level of PM10 for 40 classrooms(20 old, 20 new) in chungnam area from June 22 to July 19 and from November 21 to December 30, 2003. 1. Old classrooms contained more dust than new classrooms; the average of respirable dust is 43.27 ㎍/㎥ for new classrooms while 53.38 ㎍/㎥ for old one. The exposure concentration level of respirable dust in new classrooms were in summer higher outdoors than indoors. The values were indoors 46.71 ㎍/㎥, outdoors 50.46 ㎍/㎥, and personal 41.62 ㎍/㎥. Meanwhile in winter indoors had a higher concentration level than outdoors, the values being indoors 39.11 ㎍/㎥, outdoors 34.86 ㎍/㎥, and personal 49.01 ㎍/㎥. 2. Cr concentration level within dust was slightly higher in summer indoors (101.50±32.10 ng/㎥) and outdoors (100.89±35.18 ng/㎥) than winter indoors (85.80±48.95 ng/㎥) and outdoors (74.43±38.93 ng/㎥), but in personal concentration level, winter was higher. The results of this research show insufficient understanding of health risks from indoor air pollution, and shows possible health problems to students from school indoor air pollution. As such, a logical and systematic education program for students about the importance of indoor air quality should be carried out. Also the results of PM10 concentration level measurements emphasize the need for regular measurements of indoor / outdoor and personal concentration level. New classrooms in particular needs to be used after measuring pollutants and safety, and requires installation of a ventilation device in all classrooms to improve air quality.

Indoor air quality has been addressed as an important atmospheric environmental issue and has caught attention of the public in recent years in Korea. Good indoor air quality in classrooms favour student's learning ability, teacher and staff's productivity according to other studies. In this study, each classroom at four different schools was chosen for comparison of indoor and outdoor air quality by means of source generation types such as new constructed classroom, using of cleaning agents and purchased furniture. Temperature, relative humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) and particulate matter with diameter less than 10 ㎛ (PM10) were monitored at indoor and outdoor locations during lesson. HCHO was found to be the worst among parameters measured in new constructed classroom, HCHO and TVOCs was worst in classroom with new purchased furniture, and TVOCs was worst in classroom cleaned by cleaning agents. Indoor CO2 concentrations often exceeded 1500 ppm indicating importance of ventilation. Active activity of students during break time made the PM10 concentration higher than a lesson. Improvements and further researches should be carried out considering indoor air quality at schools is of special concern since children and students are susceptible to poor air quality.