• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1608-1614
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• 2004

This study was performed to evaluate the accuracy, validation and applicability of UV spectrophotometer (UV), Ion Chromatography (IC), and Detector tube (DT) methods for measuring ammonia (NH3) concentration in a swine confinement house and swine slurry storage tank. The mean values of $NH_{3}$ emitted from the house and slurry were 5.333 ppm and 42.192 ppm for the IC method; 4.13 ppm and 36.29 ppm for the Detector tube; and 5.417 ppm and 34.193 ppm for the UV method. The accuracy and the correlation of an ammonia level analyzed by the IC method compared to the UV method were 98% and 0.998($R^{2}$) in the swine confinement house and 94% and 0.997($R^{2}$) in the swine slurry storage tank. On the other hand, those of ammonia level measured by the Detector tube compared to the UV method were 77% and 0.957($R^{2}$) in the swine confinement house and 82% and 0.941($R^{2}$) in the swine slurry storage tank. This indicated that the accuracy and the correlation of the IC method compared to the UV method were higher than those of the Detector tube method compared to the UV method. Therefore, it was concluded that the IC method was more accurate in measuring ammonia concentration in a swine house and a swine slurry storage tank. The Detector tube method should not be applied to the swine slurry storage tank in which ammonia concentration is generally higher than 30 ppm because low accuracy is caused by a gross space between scales inscribed in the Detector tube.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.309-315
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• 2012

Objectives: Animal husbandry workers could be exposed to various work hazards including toxic gases, chemicals such as pesticides or organic dust. Immunological evaluation focusing on respiratory allergic hypersensitivity occurrence was under-taken for swine farm workers as a part of the study on immunologic status of dairy barn, swine confinement, and poultry farm workers. Materials and Methods: Peripheral bloods were collected from 25 workers at the year of 2001 and 12 workers at the year of 2012 from swine farms located at Gyeonggi province, Korea. Seven adults not involved with animal husbandry were recruited at the year of 2001 from the same residential area as the swine farm workers'. Level of plasma IgE and 20 respiratory allergen-specific IgE were evaluated using commercially available ELISA kit. Results: Plasma IgE level was approximately five-fold higher in the swine farm workers regardless of the sampling year than the control subjects. Plant allergens from outdoor environments such as golden rod, pigweed, Russian thistle, or ragweed were the major allergens with positive reaction(allergen specific IgE${\geq}$0.7 IU/mL) for the swine farm workers at 2001 year. Meanwhile, house dust mite(Dermatophagoides farinae, D. pteronyssinus) and cockroach, typical indoor allergens in Korea, were the major respiratory allergens for the swine farm workers at 2012 year. Conclusions: Overall, even though our results are primitive, the results suggest that immunological function of swine farm workers could be modulated toward type-2 reactivity.