The risk of exposure to nanoparticles (NPs) has rapidly increased during the last decade due to the vast use of nanomaterials (NMs) in many areas of human life. Despite this fact, human biomonitoring studies focused on the effect of NP exposure on DNA alterations are still rare. Furthermore, there are virtually no epigenetic data available. In this study, we investigated global and gene-specific DNA methylation profiles in a group of 20 long-term (mean 14.5 years) exposed, nanocomposite, research workers and in 20 controls. Both groups were sampled twice/day (pre-shift and post-shift) in September 2018. We applied Infinium Methylation Assay, using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChips with more than 850,000 CpG loci, for identification of the DNA methylation pattern in the studied groups. Aerosol exposure monitoring, including two nanosized fractions, was also performed as proof of acute NP exposure. The obtained array data showed significant differences in methylation between the exposed and control groups related to long-term exposure, specifically 341 CpG loci were hypomethylated and 364 hypermethylated. The most significant CpG differences were mainly detected in genes involved in lipid metabolism, the immune system, lung functions, signaling pathways, cancer development and xenobiotic detoxification. In contrast, short-term acute NP exposure was not accompanied by DNA methylation changes. In summary, long-term (years) exposure to NP is associated with DNA epigenetic alterations.

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Please cite this article as: Chatoutsidou SE, Mašková L, Ondráčková L, Ondráček J, Lazaridis M, Smolík J, Modeling of the aerosol infiltration characteristics in a cultural heritage building: The Baroque Library Hall in Prague, Building and Environment (2015), doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. A dynamic mass balance model was introduced taking account particle penetration from outdoors and indoor losses (deposition, ventilation). The model was used to determine deposition rate k and penetration efficiency P in 13 discrete size intervals. Model performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R 2 ) by selecting different pairs of k and P. No unique solution found, thus, averaged values of k and P from the best correlated pairs were used to estimate infiltration factor. Good agreement between infiltration factor and I/O ratio confirmed that modeled k and P were well-estimated. The deposition rate was found to depend strongly on particle size with higher rates for ultrafine and coarse particles. Penetration efficiency, on the other hand, was not clearly related with particle size. The infiltration factor varied substantially with particle size with less effective removal for accumulation fraction (0.1-0.7 µm). Higher infiltration factor for ultrafine particles, compared to coarse particles, indicates that enrichment of the library at this size is caused by penetration from outdoors. On the other hand, human presence during visiting hours found to contribute significantly to coarse particles by increasing the indoor number concentration by a factor of 3, 3.2 and 2 during spring, summer and winter respectively.

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