Global Health

Stephen Holgate and his colleagues at the University of Southampton proposed that inflammatory changes in lung fluids and blood from humans exposed to PM were related to the chemical composition of the particles. He obtained samples from two human studies in which participants were exposed to diesel exhaust and concentrated ambient particles (CAPs). At a Swedish laboratory 25 healthy and 12 asthmatic participants were exposed to diesel exhaust or filtered air on separate days. At a US laboratory, 12 healthy participants were exposed to filtered air and 30 different healthy participants were exposed to a range of CAPs concentrations. All participants underwent bronchoscopy to obtain lung tissues and fluids to analyze inflammatory markers, including numbers of specific white blood cells, expression of activation markers, and levels of cytokines in addition to analysis of lung function, lung fluids, and blood.

Dr. Albertini and colleges organized a group of researchers from the United States, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to determine whether biomarkers in the blood and urine of workers exposed to butadiene in occupational settings correlated with their personal exposure. Samples were collected from male workers employed either in a plant that used butadiene and styrene to produce rubber polymer in Prague. They also collected blood and urine from male administrative workers at the plant who had no direct occupational exposure to butadiene and served as control subjects.

This report describes two studies that measured emissions in roadway tunnels. Dr. Alan Gertler and colleagues at the Desert Research Institute studied particulate matter emissions in the Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel located on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Dr Daniel Grosjean and colleague at DGA, Inc studied carbonyl emissions in the Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel and in the Caldecott Tunnel in California. The unique environment in tunnel studies allows the investigators to measure emission rates averaged over many vehicles, to determine the physical and chemical character of emissions under ambient conditions, and in some instances to compare current emissions with past emissions at the same location. Both groups of investigators also measured emissions at times when the proportions of gasoline engine vehicles and diesel engine vehicles differed, allowing them to estimate the differences between emissions from the two sources.

Dr H-Erich Wichmann and colleagues at the National Research Center for Environment and Health in Germany prospectively studied the association of daily mortality data with the number and mass concentrations of ultrafine and fine particles in Erfurt, Germany. Concentrations were measured near a road and a time-series approach was used to look at short-term changes in particle concentration and concurrent deaths due to cardiovascular and respiratory causes over a period of 3.5 years.