title: Human Arsenic exposure via dust across the different ecological zones of Pakistan.
abstract: The present study aims to assess the arsenic (As) levels into dust samples and its implications for human health, of four ecological zones of Pakistan, which included northern frozen mountains (FMZ), lower Himalyian wet mountains (WMZ), alluvial riverine plains (ARZ), and low lying agricultural areas (LLZ). Human nail samples (N=180) of general population were also collected from the similar areas and all the samples were analysed by using ICP-MS. In general the higher levels (p<0.05) in paired dust and human nail samples were observed from ARZ and LLZ than those of other mountainous areas (i.e., WMZ and FMZ), respectively. Current results suggested that elevated As concentrations were associated to both natural, (e.g. geogenic influences) and anthropogenic sources. Linear regression model values indicated that As levels into dust samples were associated with altitude (r(2)=0.23), soil carbonate carbon density (SCC; r(2)=0.33), and population density (PD; r(2)=0.25). The relationship of paired dust and nail samples was also investigated and associations were found for As-nail and soil organic carbon density (SOC; r(2)=0.49) and SCC (r(2)=0.19) in each studied zone, evidencing the dust exposure as an important source of arsenic contamination in Pakistan. Risk estimation reflected higher hazard index (HI) values of non-carcinogenic risk (HI>1) for children populations in all areas (except FMZ), and for adults in LLZ (0.74) and ARZ (0.55), suggesting that caution should be paid about the dust exposure. Similarly, carcinogenic risk assessment also highlighted potential threats to the residents of LLZ and ARZ, as in few cases (5-10%) the values exceeded the range of US-EPA threshold limits (10(-6)-10(-4)).
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, PR China.
authors.forename: Ambreen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alamdar
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, PR China; Public health and Environment Division, Department of Biosciences, COMSAT Institute of Information & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: ali_ebl2@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Syed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ali Musstjab Akber Shah Eqani
authors.affiliation: Public health and Environment Division, Department of Biosciences, COMSAT Institute of Information & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Waqar Ali
authors.affiliation: Public health and Environment Division, Department of Biosciences, COMSAT Institute of Information & Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sohail
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstrasse 7, 76829 Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.
authors.forename: Avit Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bhowmik
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cincinelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Marghoob
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Subhani
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Bushra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ghaffar
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Rizwan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ullah
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, PR China. Electronic address: hqshen@iue.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Heqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis*; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D055669:Ecological and Environmental Phenomena; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009262:Nails / Q000737:chemistry; D010154:Pakistan; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D004391:Dust; D012987:Soil; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Arsenic; Dust; Human health; Nail; Pakistan