Hyperspectral analysis of cells and tissue that are exposed to airborne particles

There is a growing awareness that exposure to airborne particles may be a health and environmental problem. It is therefore necessary to study and identify the particle exposure that defence must handle. Defence personnel are exposed to particulate matter in international missions from industrial emissions, detonation products and combustion products. There is an ongoing work to study the life cycle aspects of defense materials (energetic materials, insulation materials, decontamination materials etc.). Internationally, the awareness of environmental and health effects, and its relation to direct and indirect costs, has increased. Little is known about the health effects of fine particles. It is important to highlight these aspects, partly to support risk assessments associated with particle exposure, or consequences of defense work, and partly for the production/procurement of defense materials. An important part of this work is to develop methods to survey particle exposure. This project is a review of particle exposure and its health effects. A selection of particles is emphasized. These are used in the defense or it is expected there is an increased risk of exposure of these. The project has summarized some important techniques for characterizing nanoparticles (<0.1 µm) and ultrafine particles (0.1-1 µm), which are considered most toxic. Hyperspectral data analysis are statistical methods that have the potential to classify health effects of fine particles and possibly to be a complement to traditional toxicological methods. The study shows that the combination of statistical methods and micro spectroscopic methods is an important complement to other methods to characterize the uptake and biological changes in cells and tissues.