Particulate Matter

This page has a list of publications and news articles related to Air Pollution - Particulate Matter. Find more information about our research on Air Pollution.

Research Report 142
Klea Katsouyanni
Jonathan M Samet
H Ross Anderson
Richard Atkinson
Alain Le Tertre
Sylvia Medina
Evangelia Samoli
Giota Touloumi
Richard T Burnett
Daniel Krewski
Timothy Ramsay
Francesca Dominici
Roger D. Peng
Joel Schwartz
Antonella Zanobetti
2009

This report describes a unique collaboration among investigators from Europe, the United States, and Canada using existing data from three geographic areas and supported by HEI in collaboration with the European Commission. APHENA offered a large and diverse data set with which to address methodological as well as scientific issues about the relationships between PM10, ozone, and mortality and morbidity that were the subject of lively debates at the time the project was launched. 

Research Report 140
Daniel Krewski
Michael Jerrett
Richard T Burnett
Renjun Ma
Edward Hughes
Yuanli Shi
Michelle C Turner
C Arden Pope III
George Thurston
Eugenia E Calle
Michael J Thun
et al
2009

This report describes a recent analysis of the original ACS cohort, a large ongoing prospective study of mortality in adults that started in 1982 and has played a central role in the setting of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter pollution in the U.S. as well as assessments of benefits from PM reduction worldwide. The new study describes for the first time work by Dr.

Research Report 141
Robert L Lux
C Arden Pope III
2009

This report describes a study to explore novel electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters to improve our understanding of how air pollution may affect cardiovascular health. Drs. Robert Lux and Arden Pope used ECGs obtained in a previous study by Dr. Pope that found a decrease in heart rate variability associated with increased levels of particulate matter, and analyzed them for changes in novel parameters of another important potential change - ventricular repolarization.

Research Report 139
Bert Brunekreef
Rob Beelen
Gerard Hoek
Leo Schouten
Sandra Bausch-Goldbohm
Paul Fischer
Ben Armstrong
Edward Hughes
Piet van den Brandt
2009

Research Report 139 describes a study in the Netherlands using data from the ongoing Netherlands Cohort Study (NLCS) on diet and cancer. The study is one of the first to systematically assess longer term exposure and mortality in a well characterized European population; it followed a pilot study of 5000 adults randomly selected from the NLCS cohort conducted by the same team of investigators. For the current study, Dr.

Research Report 138
Junfeng (Jim) Zhang
James E McCreanor
Paul Cullinan
Kian Fan Chung
Pamela Ohman-Strickland
In-Kyu Han
Lars Järup
Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen
2009

Research Report 138, Health Effects of Real-World Exposure to Diesel Exhaust in Persons with Asthma, is one part of HEI's larger program on the role of particles in exacerbating asthma and other allergic diseases. This report describes a study to evaluate how inhaling air with a high concentration of diesel exhaust from vehicular traffic while walking on a busy street in Central London might affect people who had either mild or moderate asthma. Dr.

Research Report 136
Ian M Kennedy
Dennis Wilson
Abdul I Barakat
2009

Research Report 136, Uptake and Inflammatory Effects of Nanoparticles in a Human Vascular Endothelial Cell Line, is one part of HEI's larger program on the health effects of particulate matter and its various components. This report describes a one-year study to evaluate which physicochemical characteristics of metal nanoparticles may contribute to their toxicity.

Research Report 135
Kent E Pinkerton
Yamei Zhou
Caiyun Zhong
Kevin R Smith
Stephen V Teague
Ian M Kennedy
Margaret G Ménache
2008

Research Report 135 describes a study to determine whether the biologic response to inhaled ultrafine particles depends on particle composition. Neonatal and young adult rats were exposed to laboratory-generated ultrafine metal particles, either alone or in combination with soot, and their lungs examined for oxidative stress, inflammation, and injury.

Communication 13
Health Effects Institute
2008

The September issue of Environmental Health Perspectives published the first systematic presentation of the HEI-funded PAPA studies in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Wuhan, as well as a combined analysis and accompanying editorial. These articles have been reprinted and are currently available as HEI Communication 13. The detailed studies and accompanying HEI commentaries will be published by the Institute this spring.

Research Report 134
Jonathan Grigg
Neeta Kulkarni
Nevil Pierse
Lesley Rushton
Christopher O'Callaghan
Andrew Rutman
2008

Research Report 134 describes a study that evaluated whether there was an association between particles detectable in the airways of healthy children and a) estimates of local, traffic-derived PM10 at the children's home addresses or b) their lung function. Dr. Jonathan Grigg and colleagues recruited 116 healthy children aged 8 to 15 years who lived in Leicester, UK. In addition to modeling each child's exposure, the investigators measured lung function and evaluated induced sputum for particles in airway macrophages and markers of inflammation.

Communication 12
Scott L Zeger
Aidan McDermott
Francesca Dominici
Roger D. Peng
Jonathan Samet
2006

HEI Communication 12 describes a project by Dr Scott Zeger and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that was funded by HEI to make data and software from the National Morbidity, Mortality, and Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS) available to the wider research and policy communities. This Communication contains the Project Report, which describes the Internet-Based Health and Air Pollution Surveillance System (iHAPSS), along with Comments from some members of the HEI Health Research and Review Committees and other experts who had used the data.