Understanding the Occurrence and Fate of Atmospheric Microplastics and Their Potential Risks to Human Health: Protocol for a Cross-Sectional Analysis
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Plastic pollution has reached an alarming magnitude, defining the contemporary era as the "Plastic Age." Uncontrolled plastic production and inadequate recycling processes have led to widespread contamination of the environment with micro and nanoplastics. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to assess the environmental and human health consequences of exposure to microplastic particles (MPs) and their additives among plastic recycling workers in Dhaka. Specifically, it focuses on mapping the management pathways of plastic waste from collection to disposal, analyzing the types of MPs in the environment, and assessing the potential health impacts on plastic recycling workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional exploratory study design was used, consisting of exposed and nonexposed groups in plastic recycling sites in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study will establish possible associations between different health consequences and microplastic particle exposure with a systematic approach involving plastic recycling hot spot detection, management pathway mapping, and detecting the presence of environmental MP. MPs and heavy metals will be detected from environmental samples using fluorescence microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Human exposure will be assessed by detecting the metabolites of bisphenol and phthalates from urine samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and thoroughly evaluating endocrine, reproductive, respiratory, and renal functions. The sample size was derived from the mean concentrations of urinary bisphenol and phthalates metabolites, requiring the participation of 168 respondents. A 1:1 exposure to nonexposed stratification would be sufficient to meet our study objectives, considering the conventional level of power and confidence interval. This study protocol (PR#22111) has received approval from the Research Review Committee and Ethical Review Committee of the icddr,b. RESULTS: The project was funded in August 2022. We started collecting environmental samples in January 2023 and completed participant enrollment, exposure survey, and biological sample collection by December 2023. We enrolled 84 adult plastic recycling workers with at least 5 years of exposure history and 84 nonexposed participants who were not involved with plastic recycling activities. Data analysis is currently underway, and the first results are expected to be submitted for publication in November 2024. CONCLUSIONS: The findings would provide valuable insights into the adverse impacts of microplastic pollution on both the environment and human health, aiding in better understanding the extent of the issue. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/60289.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.020 | 0.016 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.034 | 0.009 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".