13. LIST OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED

ADI – acceptable daily intake comparable with the term tolerable daily intake. Exposure limit presented in ΅g of contaminants per day and per 1 kg of body weight.

Allergenicity – content of guanine in 1 g of dust. This test is used in the evaluation of indoor air quality.

AIM – Automated Immission Monitoring.

AQI – Air Quality Index. The concentrations of contaminants measured are compared with corresponding limit values and transformed into a dimensionless parameter which describes the state of ambient air quality at six levels. For AQI of 0–1 it is clean atmosphere, 1–2 acceptable, 2–3 moderately polluted, 3–4 polluted, 4–5 highly polluted, 5–6 harmful to health.

ARD – acute respiratory disease.

Basal population minimum – minimal requirement for the continuous intake of substance E in the population which is essential for the prevention of pathologically relevant and clinically diagnosable functions that are the consequence of the lack of substance E (WHO, 1996).

Biomarker – whatever measurable characteristic in a biological system which reflects the interaction of the organism and environmental factors (biomarkers of exposure, effect and sensitivity).

BMI – body mass index = body weight/(body height)2 [kg/m]2.

Bound of determination – lowest concentration of a substance that can be determined with an acceptable degree of accuracy and precision. It is usually the lowest point in a calibration curve under exclusion of a blind experiment.

Carency – disorder of nourishment owing to want of some necessary substance in foodstuffs and/or in water.

CFU – microorganism capable to create a colony.

CI – confidence interval – conveys information on what interval with reliability of 1-p (p is significance level) shall contain at least a P quotient of distribution of a random quantity. E.g. an interval that shall contain 90 % of values with a 95% probability. There are defined a unilateral and a bilateral interval around the arithmetical mean.

CINDI – Countrywide integrated noncomunicable diseases intervention program, project managed by WHO.

Clastogenic effect – ability of a substance or mixture to induce chromosomal breaks.

Congener – a member of a class, group or other category, in this case isomer. Isomers are chemical substances of identical empirical (proportional) composition and molecular weight, differing in certain physical or chemical characteristics due to another arrangement of atoms in the molecule.

Correlation – information on the statistic relation between certain characteristics in a sample A. A hypothesis that the characteristics under study is not statistically correlated (there are randomly distributed) and can be tested at a selected level of significance.

Critical value – in this text a value describing the attainment of a limit concentration, exposure limit and exposure dose, respectively, signaling any risk of possible health harm in population scale.

ΘHMΪ – Czech Hydrometeorological Institute.

ΘIA – Czech Institute for Accreditation.

ΘSΪ – Czech Bureau of Statistics.

Direct standardization – method in which relative incidences in each age category in a group under study are applied to numbers of the same age categories in a chosen standard (e.g. European or World Standard Population).

Dose – measure of the amount received by the subject under follow-up, either human or animal.

EPIDAT – database of epidemiological information dealing with infectious diseases in the Czech Republic.

EU – countries of European Union.

Evaluation of living conditions quality – overall evaluation of areas (districts) according to the environmental health level, social conditions and mortality rate. Scale: relatively high level – A, above average – B, mostly below average – C, extremely disrupted – D.

Evaluation of environment quality – worked out for sites according to the environmental health level and of well-being from the point of view of landscape and urban parameters. Scale: high level – I, satisfactory – II, disrupted – III, very disrupted – IV, extremely disrupted – V.

Estimate – a term used namely in mathematical statistics and means that the calculation of a quantity is carried out with a previously defined probability. It does not have anything in common with “estimate” that substitutes the quantitative evaluation of the characteristics of a sample.

Exposure – to be accessible to the influence of a physical, chemical or biological factor or action.

Exposure limits – are defined by the commission of JECFA FAO/WHO as ADI, PTWI, and PMTDI or by US EPA as RfD. In some cases an internationally recognized exposure limit has not been set. Then TDI is temporarily used in national or international levels. The construction of limits is based on an effort to establish an exposure, which probably will not have harmful effects, even not by lifetime exposure.

FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization under the WHO.

Food poisoning – it takes place by transmission through foodstuffs contaminated with toxins of bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tract of healthy animals or in suppurative affections of man. Here belongs botulism, intoxications due to Staphylococcus aureus, enterotoxin, Clostridium perfringens type A and Bacillus cereus.

Genotoxic substance – a substance with the ability to induce various types of damage to the genome of a cell that may lead to an alteration of a genetic information transfer.

Glycemia – level of sugar in blood.

Human alimentary diseases – alimentary infections and intoxications the transmission of which takes place through fecal-oral transfer, hands contaminated by the stool or urine. Here belong e.g. typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, bacillary dysentery, acute diarrhoeal affections, type-A virus hepatitis.

IISE – Integrated Information System of the Environment.

Index of direct standardization – an index that compares the actual and the expected number of cases of a disease in the exposed population. It is usually expressed in percentages and indicates what per cent the actual incidence is either higher or lower than the incidence in the standard population (100 %).

Incidence rate – number of newly occurring affections, e.g. per 1,000 or 100,000 individuals within a defined time period.

Interquartile range – range described by 75% and 25% quantile, it contains 50 % of values from sample under follow-up.

JECFA – Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives

LAeq – permanently continuous sound level of acoustic pressure (A weighed) expressed in dB (decibel).

L90 – 90% quantile of a sound level of acoustic pressure (A weighed) of the total period of measuring expressed in dB (decibel).

Limit – the largest or the lowest quantity or amount allowed.

Limit of detection – lowest concentration of a substance that can still be identified and presented with a 99 % probability. It is determined by analysis in a blind experiment and it is such a concentration of the substance the response of which is equivalent to an average response of a blind experiment plus a three-fold standard deviation estimate.

LSPP – on-duty medical first aid.

LV – limit value is an indicator of water quality, mostly the upper limit of the range of admissible values by the exceeding of which water loses its satisfactory quality as regards the indicator the value of which has been exceeded.

LVRR – limit value of reference risk is the value of quality indicator, usually of delayed toxic effects (carcinogen, mutagen) derived on the principle of non-threshold effect which induces one lethal case more in a population of 100,000 average consumers upon life-long consumption.

Malnutrition – incorrect, unbalanced nutrition lacking in certain essential components.

Median – the value of a set of values for which the cumulative frequency function is equal 0.5. Median = 50% quantile.

Metabolite – a product of metabolic reaction, as a part of the chemical processes that occur in living organism.

Metalloid – a non-metallic element, such as arsenic or silicon, that has some of the properties of a metal.

MLV – maximal limit value is the value of a quality indicator the exceeding of which excludes the use of the water as drinking water.

MVRR – maximal value of reference risk, exceeding of indicator with such limit excludes the use of the water as drinking water.

Mortality rate – number of deceased persons per defined number of individuals:

NIPH – National Institute of Public Health.

Normative population minimum – a requirement for the continuous intake of substance E in the population which is essential for the retainment of tissue and/or other reserve of substance E (WHO, 1996).

Nutrient – substance serving as or providing nourishment, in this case namely chemical elements the presence of which in foodstuffs is important for ensuring a balanced diet.

Odds ratio (questionnaire on health status) – city with minimal incidence rate of evaluated phenomenon is defined as a reference level. Similarly, male population is a reference level for evaluation of genders.

Organoleptic quality – method of sensory assessment of drinking water, foodstuffs, etc. on a professional basis.

PAHs – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Photochemical reaction – type of reaction concerned with the chemical effects of light and other electromagnetic radiation.

PMTDI – provisional maximal tolerable daily intake. Exposure limit presented in micrograms of contaminant per day and per 1 kg of body weight.

PM10 a fraction of particulate matter with mean value of size distribution equals 10 ΅m.

Prevalence – number of registrated cases, e.g. per 10,000 inhabitants to a defined date.

PTWI – provisional tolerable weekly intake. Exposure limit presented in micrograms of contaminant per–week and per 1 kg of body weight.

Quantile (p – percent, percentile) – is that value of a set of values for which the cumulative frequency function equals p % (50% quantile = median).

RDA – recommended daily allowance. Recommended long-term average daily intake covering individual variability in requirements of the majority of normal subjects living in the USA under the usual environmental burden.

RDI – recommended daily intake. Average required intake that takes into consideration individual variability. RDI is considered to be sufficient for maintaining health in the majority of the population.

Revertant – bacteria, that through a back mutation have returned to a former genetic trait, e.g. histidine independence.

RfD – reference dose for chronic oral exposure. Exposure limit defined by US EPA as a daily exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) expressed in micrograms of contaminant per unit of body weight. Meaning: daily exposure (estimated within the range of one order) which on lifelong exposure shall most likely cause no damage to health. It is defined by the share of the maximum dose (NOAEL) at which there is observed at a statistically significant level no unfavorable response in comparison with a control group and by the product of a modifying factor (MF) and factor of uncertainty (UF): RfD = NOAEL/(UF*MF).

Risk – the probability of injury, disease, or death under specific circumstances. In quantitative terms, risk is expressed in values ranging from zero (representing the certainty that harm will not occur) to one (representing the certainty that harm will occur). Individual risk is the probability that an individual person will experience an adverse effect. This is identical to population risk unless specified. The numeric values are identical in both cases, but as a fictitious level of “safety” we consider the value of probability equals 1.0E-04 for individual and 1.0E-06 for population.

Screening – procedure of the active search of sources of infection, early stages of disease, etc.

SOP – Standard operation procedure in QA/QC system.

Standardized mortality – coefficient that determines the mean probability of death in a population of the so-called European standard, i.e. in a population defined by its age structure. This standardization allows the comparison of various populations and various time periods respectively.

System QA/QC – all the planned and systematic activities realized within the framework of the system of quality and applied according to need, necessary to gain adequate confidence that the requirement for quality shall be met. Operation methods and activities used to fill the requirement for quality.

TCDD – 2,3,7,8 - tetrachlorodibenzo(p)dioxine, substance with maximal known toxic effect, used as the standard of toxicity (toxic equivalent) for PCB, dioxines and dibenzofurans.

TDI – tolerable daily intake. It is presented in micrograms of contaminant per day and per 1 kg of body weight.

Toxic equivalent (I-TEQ) – method facilitating a mutual comparison of substances belonging to the same chemical group eliciting various toxic effects and to present them at a comparable level in relation to the most toxic one of the group (e.g. benzo[a]pyrene and TCDD, respective).

TSP – total suspended particles in air.

US EPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency.

ΪZIS – Institute of Health Information and Statistics.

WHO – World Health Organization.

Xenobiotics – extraneous substances for organism. They are not inevitable for its metabolism and they are not customary component of foodstuffs, e.g. drugs, industrial chemicals and poisons.

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