13. LIST OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED |
ADI acceptable daily intake comparable with the term tolerable daily intake (TDI). Exposure limit presented in ΅g of contaminants per day and per 1 kg of body weight.
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 01 it is clean atmosphere, 12 acceptable, 23 moderately polluted, 34 polluted, 45 highly polluted, 56 harmful to health.
ARD acute respiratory disease.
ASR Age-standardized rate an adjustment of a rate designed to minimize the effects of differences in age composition when comparing rates (i.e. of incidence or mortality) for different populations; method of direct standardization. Age specified rates are weighted by proportional number of persons in standard population. The most often the European or World Standard are used, it is a fictive population similar to real one.
Basal population minimum minimal requirement for the continuous intake of substance E (nutrient, micronutrient) 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) (see e.g. Environment Health Criteria 155, 1993).
BMI body mass index = body weight/(body height)2 [kg/m2].
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.
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 Statistical Office.
Direct standardization see ASR.
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.
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.
Fatality rate the quality of being able to cause death; number of dead persons from specific disease over a specified period of time per 1,000 or 100,000 diseased persons.
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.
ICD International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision.
IISE Integrated Information System of the Environment.
Index of indirect 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.
IRIS Integrated Risk Information System under the US EPA.
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.
OKEΘ Industrial Classification of Economic Activities.
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 100,000 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.
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.
TOCs Total organic compounds.
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.
VOCs Volatile organic compounds.
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.