Pulsations generated by personal sampling pumps modulate the airflow through the sampling trains, thereby varying sampling efficiencies, and possibly invalidating collection or monitoring. The purpose of this study was to characterize pulsations generated by personal sampling pumps relative to a nominal flow rate at the inlet of different respirable cyclones. Experiments were conducted using a factorial combination of 13 widely used sampling pumps (11 medium and 2 high volumetric flow rate pumps having a diaphragm mechanism) and 7 cyclones [10-mm nylon also known as Dorr-Oliver (DO), Higgins-Dewell (HD), GS-1, GS-3, Aluminum, GK2.69, and FSP-10]. A hot- wire anemometer probe cemented to the inlet of each cyclone type was used to obtain pulsation readings. The three medium flow rate pump models showing the highest, a midrange, and the lowest pulsations and two high flow rate pump models for each cyclone type were tested with dust-loaded filters (0.05, 0.21, and 1.25 mg) to determine the effects of filter loading on pulsations. The effects of different tubing materials and lengths on pulsations were also investigated. The fundamental frequency range was 22–110 Hz and the magnitude of pulsation as a proportion of the mean flow rate ranged from 4.4 to 73.1%. Most pump/cyclone combinations generated pulse magnitudes >10% (48 out of 59 combinations), while pulse shapes varied considerably. Pulsation magnitudes were not considerably different for the clean and dust-loaded filters for the DO, HD, and Aluminum cyclones, but no consistent pattern was observed for the other cyclone types. Tubing material had less effect on pulsations than tubing length; when the tubing length was 183 cm, pronounced damping was observed for a pump with high pulsation (>60%) for all tested tubing materials except for the Tygon Inert tubing. The findings in this study prompted a further study to determine the possibility of shifts in cyclone sampling efficiency due to sampling pump pulsations, and those results are reported subsequently.

Mining or processing asbestos minerals can liberate isolated fibers or fiber bundles regulated as airborne asbestos fibers. Coarsely crystalline amphibole minerals are more common than asbestos in many geologic environments, and disturbance can result in the release of prismatic or acicular single crystals or cleavage fragments resembling asbestos fibers or fiber bundles but that are not currently regulated as asbestos. Bulk samples of six coarsely crystalline amphiboles and their five asbestos analogs were processed to maximize the number of particles meeting the criterion for counting under the current U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Method 7400 "A" counting rules (> 5 microm long with an aspect ratio >or= 3:1) and also within the respirable width range, i.e. < 3 microm width. The length distributions of the particles produced showed substantial overlap between cleavage fragments and asbestos fibers. Available data sets generally confirmed the relevance of the size distributions of particles generated from reference materials to airborne particles. The length criterion in the current ASTM International standard D7200-06 causes a large proportion (e.g., 40% grunerite and 39% tremolite) of the non-asbestiform particles to be considered potential asbestos. An alternative procedure may be to use a distinction based on width alone as some, but not the majority of, cleavage fragments were thinner than 1 microm (e.g., 9% of actinolite and 20% of grunerite particles), and not many amphibole asbestos particles were wider (e.g., 5% of crocidolite and 18% of amosite particles). This proposal would need further testing. This research should not be considered as addressing any controversy with regard to the toxicity of non-asbestiform amphibole particles of similar dimensions to asbestos particles.

A study was conducted to evaluate a portable respiratory inductive plethysmograph (RIP) as a means to estimate minute ventilation (V(E)) for use in controlling the flow rate of a physiologic sampling pump (PSP). Specific aims were to: (1) evaluate the ability of the portable RIP system to measure V(E) using a direct (individual) fixed-volume calibration method (Direct RIP model), (2) develop and evaluate the performance of indirect (group) regression models for V(E) prediction using output data from the portable RIP and subject demographic characteristics (Indirect RIP model), and (3) compare V(E) estimates from indirect and direct portable RIP calibration with indirect estimation models published previously. Nine subjects (19-44 years) were divided into calibration (n = 6) and test (n = 3) datasets and performed step-tests on three different days while wearing the portable RIP and breathing through a pneumotachometer (reference). Minute ventilation and portable RIP output including heart rate, breathing rate, and a motion index were recorded simultaneously during the 80 minute sessions. Calibration data were used to develop a regression model for V(E) prediction that was subsequently applied to the test dataset. Direct calibration of the portable RIP system produced highly variable estimates of V(E) (R2 = 0.62, average % error = 15 +/- 50) while Indirect RIP model results were highly correlated with the reference (R2 = 0.80-0.88) and estimates of total volume were within 10% of reference values on average. Although developed from a limited dataset, the Indirect RIP model provided an alternative approach to estimation of V(E) and total volume with accuracy comparable to previously published models.

A laboratory study was performed to measure quartz in coal dust using high-flow rate samplers (CIP10-R, GK2.69 cyclone, and FSP10 cyclone) and low-flow rate samplers [10-mm nylon and Higgins-Dewell type (BGI4L) cyclones] and to determine whether an increased mass collection from high-flow rate samplers would affect the subsequent quartz measurement by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analytical procedures. Two different sizes of coal dusts, mass median aerodynamic diameter 4.48 μm (Coal Dust A) and 2.33 μm (Coal Dust B), were aerosolized in a calm air chamber. The mass of coal dust collected by the samplers was measured gravimetrically, while the mass of quartz collected by the samplers was determined by FTIR (NIOSH Manual of Analytical Method 7603) and XRD (NIOSH Manual of Analytical Method 7500) after one of two different indirect preparations. Comparisons between high-flow rate samplers and low-flow rate samplers were made by calculating mass concentration ratios of coal dusts, net mass ratios of coal dusts, and quartz net mass. Mass concentrations of coal dust from the FSP10 cyclone were significantly higher than those from other samplers and mass concentrations of coal dust from 10-mm nylon cyclone were significantly lower than those from other samplers, while the CIP10-R, GK2.69, and BGI4L samplers did not show significant difference in the comparison of mass concentration of coal dusts. The BGI4L cyclone showed larger mass concentration of ~9% compared to the 10-mm nylon cyclone. All cyclones provided dust mass concentrations that can be used in complying with the International Standard Organization standard for the determination of respirable dust concentration. The amount of coal dust collected from the high-flow rate samplers was found to be higher with a factor of 2-8 compared to the low-flow rate samplers but not in direct proportion of increased flow rates. The high-flow rate samplers collected more quartz compared to low-flow rate samplers in the range of 2-10. There was no significant difference between the per cent (%) quartz in coal dust between the * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +1-304-285-5783; fax: +1-304-285-6041; fwc8@cdc.gov. Disclaimer-The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Reference to the ACGIH TLV does not constitute endorsement by the US federal government. FTIR and XRD analyses. The findings of this study indicated that the increased mass of quartz collected with high-flow rate samplers would provide precise analytical results (i.e. significantly above the limit of detection and/or limit of quantification) compared to the mass collected with low-flow rate samplers, especially in environments with low concentrations of quartz or where short sampling times are desired. HHS Public Access