Air Toxics

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Research Report 119
Robert A Yokel
Janelle S Crossgrove
2004

Drs. Yokel and Crossgrove at the University of Kentucky Medical Center studied the mechanisms by which manganese enters and leaves the brain across the blood–brain barrier and, in particular, whether transporter molecules are involved. The investigators used in vivo brain perfusion in rats as well as in vitro tests in several cell lines to assess specific characteristics of manganese transport, such as pH and energy dependence. Manganese transport rates were compared with those of sucrose and dextran, which do not easily cross the blood–brain barrier.

Research Report 115
Qingshan Qu
Roy Shore
Guilan Li
Ximei Jin
Lung Chi Chen
Assieh A Melikian
David Eastmond
Stephen Rappaport
Heyi Li
Doppalapudi Rupa
Suramya Waidyanatha
Songnian Yin
Huifang Yan
Min Meng
Witold Winnik
et al
2003

Dr. Qingshan Qu and colleagues at the New York University School of Medicine recruited 181 healthy workers in several factories in the Tianjin region of China. These subjects formed part of a cohort of thousands identified by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the China Academy of Preventive Medicine for a study to evaluate tumor incidence in benzene exposed workers (NCI/China study).

Research Report 116
Richard J Albertini
Radim J Šrám
Pamela M Vacek
Jeremiah Lynch
Janice A Nicklas
Nico J van Sittert
Peter J Boogaard
Rogene F Henderson
James A Swenberg
Ad D Tates
Jonathan B Ward Jr
Michael Wright
et al
2003

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.

Research Report 116
Richard J Albertini
Radim J Šrám
Pamela M Vacek
Jeremiah Lynch
Janice A Nicklas
Nico J van Sittert
Peter J Boogaard
Rogene F Henderson
James A Swenberg
Ad D Tates
Jonathan B Ward Jr
Michael Wright
et al
2003

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.

Research Report 113
Kenneth W Turteltaub
Chitra Mani
2003
Topics: 

Drs Turteltaub and Mani at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory investigated benzene metabolism in rodents over a large dose range that encompassed concentrations close to those of human ambient exposure. Understanding benzene metabolism at low exposure levels is critical to benzene assessment to determine the shape of the dose-response curve at low concentrations.The investigators administered radioactive benzene to mice and rats and subsequently analyzed bone marrow, liver, urine, and plasma from these animals.

Research Report 108
Genevieve M Matanoski
Xuguang Tao
2002
Topics: 

Drs. Matanoski and Tao at Johns Hopkins University examined the relationship between styrene exposure and heart disease in workers in styrene-butadiene polymer manufacturing plants between 1943 and 1982. Workers who had died from ischemic heart disease were compared to a subgroup of all men employed in two styrene-butadiene polymer manufacturing plants during that time. Individual exposure histories were determined from job records, or constructed using a statistical method to estimate exposure when records were missing.

Research Report 107
Alan W Gertler
et al
Daniel Grosjean
et al
2002

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.

Communication 9
Health Effects Institute
2001

The fuel efficiency and durability of diesel technology are particularly desirable in the transportation and construction industries. Concerns about the health effects of diesel particulate emissions have led to progressively stricter emission standards, which can be met only through new technologic advances and fuel modifications. The cerium-based fuel additive Eolys, used in conjunction with a particulate filter, is one of the approaches being considered. However, this additive will result in emissions of cerium compounds and an increase in cerium in the ambient air and soil.

Research Report 103
David A Eastmond
Maik Schuler
Chris Frantz
Hongwei Chen
Robert Parks
Ling Wang
Leslie Hasegawa
2001
Topics: 

Dr. Eastmond and colleagures at the University of California, Riverside investigated whether chromosomal changes could be used as biomarkers of benzene exposure in mice and humans. The first part of the study involved detecting chromosomal alterations in cells using a modification of a molecular cytogenetic technique known as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Eastmond and colleagues evaluated the frequency of such chromosomal aberrations in the erythrocytes (red blood cells) from the bone marrow of mice exposed to various doses of benzene and for different exposure durations.

Research Report 92
Rogene F Henderson
Leslie Recio
Vernon E Walker
Ian A Blair
James A Swenberg
2000
Topics: 

As part of the Health Effects Institute's air toxics research program, five independent studies were designed to advance our understanding of the roles of different metabolites in 1,3-butadiene (BD)-induced carcinogenesis and of the differences in sensitivity among species, and to develop methods for identifying and measuring biomarkers. The investigators focused on two BD metabolites (1,2-epoxy-3-butene [BDO] and 1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane [BDO2]) that researchers had suspected may play a role in BD carcinogenesis. The studies were conducted by Dr. Rogene Henderson (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute), Dr. Leslie Recio (CIIT), Dr. Vernon Walker (New York State Department of Health), Dr. Ian Blair (University of Pennsylvania), and Dr. James Swenberg (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).