International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology , 2 George Street, Brisbane Q 4001, Australia.
Environ Sci Technol. 2013 Sep 3;47(17):9882-90. doi: 10.1021/es4023706. Epub 2013 Aug 22.
Endotoxins can significantly affect the air quality in school environments. However, there is currently no reliable method for the measurement of endotoxins, and there is a lack of reference values for endotoxin concentrations to aid in the interpretation of measurement results in school settings. We benchmarked the "baseline" range of endotoxin concentration in indoor air, together with endotoxin load in floor dust, and evaluated the correlation between endotoxin levels in indoor air and settled dust, as well as the effects of temperature and humidity on these levels in subtropical school settings. Bayesian hierarchical modeling indicated that the concentration in indoor air and the load in floor dust were generally (<95th percentile) <13 EU/m(3) and <24,570 EU/m(2), respectively. Exceeding these levels would indicate abnormal sources of endotoxins in the school environment and the need for further investigation. Metaregression indicated no relationship between endotoxin concentration and load, which points to the necessity for measuring endotoxin levels in both the air and settled dust. Temperature increases were associated with lower concentrations in indoor air and higher loads in floor dust. Higher levels of humidity may be associated with lower airborne endotoxin concentrations.
内毒素会显著影响学校环境中的空气质量。然而，目前还没有可靠的方法来测量内毒素，并且缺乏内毒素浓度的参考值来帮助解释学校环境中的测量结果。我们对室内空气中内毒素浓度的“基线”范围以及地板灰尘中的内毒素负荷进行了基准测试，并评估了室内空气中内毒素水平与沉降灰尘之间的相关性，以及温度和湿度对这些水平在亚热带学校环境中的影响。贝叶斯层次模型表明，室内空气浓度和地板灰尘负荷通常（<95 百分位数）<13EU/m(3)和<24,570EU/m(2)。超过这些水平表明学校环境中内毒素的异常来源，需要进一步调查。荟萃回归表明内毒素浓度与负荷之间没有关系，这表明有必要测量空气和沉降灰尘中的内毒素水平。温度升高与室内空气中的浓度降低和地板灰尘中的负荷升高有关。较高的湿度水平可能与空气中内毒素浓度降低有关。
