Contaminant sorption on soil and indoor materials and its possible impact on transients in vapor intrusion- An example based upon trichloroethylene (TCE).

Although building materials are well recognized as potential sources and sinks of indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs), knowledge about how they affect indoor air concentrations and measurements in vapor intrusion scenarios is limited. This study investigates the potential influence of sorption processes on indoor air contamination in vapor intrusion, relying upon laboratory measurements at relevant concentration levels, and applying these in a numerical transient vapor intrusion model. It was found that the sink effect of adsorption on building materials can lower indoor air concentrations or delay their achieving a steady state, thus cautioning that these processes can affect observed indoor air concentration variability. Building materials can also serve as secondary sources of pollutants in vapor intrusion mitigation scenarios, which might affect the evaluation of the efficiency of mitigation efforts. For example, it was predicted that in a cinderblock structure it could take up to 305 hours to reduce indoor trichloroethylene (TCE) concentrations by 50% due to the re-emission of TCE from the cinderblock, whereas it would take only 1.4 hours without the re-emission process.

High-frequency fluctuations of indoor pressure: A potential driving force for vapor intrusion in urban areas.

In this study, we examine the impact of a building's indoor pressure fluctuations in drawing subsurface volatile contaminants into the building, and how the presence of an impervious pavement surrounding the building influences this. Even in the absence of communication between the subsurface soil gas and ambient air fluctuations of building indoor pressure can cause upward advection of contaminated soil gas from the subfoundation zone into a building. For cases with the paved ground surface, the simulated volumetric soil gas entry rates are lower than steady-state cases with constant -5 indoor-outdoor pressure difference, by at least half an order of magnitude. When the indoor pressure fluctuation rate exceeds about 5 Pa/h (which corresponds a sinusoidal fluctuation with a period of 2 h), the predicted indoor air concentration of paved scenarios will be higher than the conventional case. When both the building foundation and surrounding pavement block diffusional escape of the volatile soil gas contaminants to the atmosphere, high subfoundation soil gas contaminant concentrations can exist, and contaminant entry into the building through foundation breaches is enhanced beyond what would be expected from diffusion as the building undergoes normal pressure cycling. Upward advection into the building may be induced even when the indoor pressure appears, based on limited measurements, to be higher than that in the subslab, particularly when the indoor pressure in the building quickly fluctuates. This represents a limitation on VI mitigation approaches that rely on indoor pressurization, if those approaches cannot at the same time control significant fluctuation of indoor pressure.

An examination of the building pressure cycling technique as a tool in vapor intrusion investigations with analytical simulations.

The building pressure cycling (BPC) technique has been developed and applied by vapor intrusion (VI) site investigators to obtain estimates of reasonable maximum exposures and to identify possible background sources of contaminant vapors. This method assumes that by application of consistent indoor depressurization one can increase the average contaminated soil gas entry rate into a building of interest. In this study, a one-dimensional analytical model was developed to examine this assumption and explore the mechanism of BPC application. We have established that contaminant entry rate can typically reach a new pseudo-steady state on a time scale of one day following the imposition of enhanced indoor depressurization. Considering the traditional source-soil-building pathway, the results indicate that BPC can increase building loading rate in the first 3-5 hours, to an extent linearly related to the strength of depressurization, and after half a day, the normalized rate would reach a pseudo-steady state of about twice the value before application of depressurization. More significant and substainble increases in building loading rate indicate alternative pathways such as land drain or sewer pipeline. These findings are fully consistent with available field observations, and could help investigators optimize the performance of the BPC operation.

Investigating two-dimensional soil gas transport of trichloroethylene in vapor intrusion scenarios involving surface pavements using a pilot-scale tank.

In this study, we investigate the soil gas concentration attenuation with diffusive transport in lateral and vertical transport in cases with surface pavements with a pilot-scale tank. Three scenarios were investigated, one with a completely open soil surface and the other two involving partially paved soil surface. The results, on the one hand, indicate that the soil gas concentration generally decreases linearly and exponentially in the vertical and horizontal transport directions, respectively, generally in accordance with available modeling studies. On the other hand, our experiment shows that low-permeability ground covers can increase shallow soil gas concentrations beneath the pavement by at most 3-4 times, inducing higher subslab concentration than that below open ground surface, even if the latter is obtained at a closer location to vapor source. For cases with uniform soil properties, our study suggests exterior soil gas sample should be taken at a depth below the building foundation by half of the building footprint size, if the vapor source is laterally extensive relative to the building footprint, or by 1 m and 2-3 m for slab-on-grade and basement scenarios, respectively, if the vapor source is located laterally away from the building.

The Association between GABA-Modulators and Clostridium difficile Infection - A Matched Retrospective Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, metabolomics studies have suggested that the neurotransmitter γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) may modulate C. difficile infection (CDI) pathogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the association between GABA-modulating pharmaceuticals and CDI development. METHODS: In July-December 2013, we performed a matched, retrospective case-control study in Skåne county, Sweden, to assess the association between the use of GABA-modulators (defined as regular use of at least one of the following: zolpidem, zopiclone, benzodiazepines, gabapentin, pregabalin or baclofen) and CDI. Multivariate regression models, adjusted for known risk factors for CDI, were fitted to assess the associations and a propensity score-adjusted analysis was performed. RESULTS: The study included 292 cases and 292 matched controls. In a multivariate regression model only recent antibiotic use (clindamycin, cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones) and nursing home residency was significantly associated with CDI. The regular use of any GABA-modulator was not associated with CDI (OR = 1.07, 95%CI 0.69-1.66, p = 0.76). The association between regular use of the selective GABA-agonist zolpidem and CDI trended towards significance (OR = 2.31, 95%CI 0.91-5.86, p = 0.078). These associations remained when only cases treated with antibiotics were included. Corresponding findings for zolpidem was observed in a propensity-score adjusted analysis (OR = 2.52, 95% CI 0.91-6.97, p = 0.075). Severe initial CDI was significantly associated with CDI recurrence (OR = 3.77, 95% CU 1.20-11.86, p = 0.023). CONCLUSION: This study did not identify a general association between GABA-modulators and CDI. A trend towards a significant association between zolpidem and CDI was observed, an association that should be re-assessed in a study appropriately powered for this particular hypothesis.