Global Health

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Research Report 127
Bert Brunekreef
Nicole AH Janssen
Jeroen J de Hartog
Marieke Oldenwening
Kees Meliefste
Gerard Hoek
Timo Lanki
Kirsi L Timonen
Marko Vallius
Juha Pekkanen
Rene Van Grieken
2005

Dr. Brunekreef and his colleagues assessed the correlation between personal, indoor, and outdoor PM2.5 concentrations for elderly people with cardiovascular disease living in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Helsinki, Finland. Measurements were taken between November 1998 and June 1999 using fixed monitoring sites near the subjects' residences and inside their homes using the same type of monitor. Personal exposures were monitored with a different type of sampler that the subjects kept with them at all times.

Special Report 15
Health Effects Institute
2004

A Special Report by the HEI International Scientific Oversight Committee of HEI Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) Program (a program of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities). This first publication to come from HEI's PAPA Program was undertaken to help inform the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities. This special report has identified and summarized more than 135 studies of air pollution and health conducted across Asia. In addition, it critically reviews for the first time a key subset of these studies: 28 studies of daily mortality. The report is a valuable resource for policy makers in Asia and beyond.

Research Report 112
Stephen T Holgate
Thomas Sandström
et al.
Stephen T Holgate
Robert B Devlin
et al.
2003

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.

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 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.

Research Report 100
Owen R Moss
Elizabeth A Gross
R Arden James
Derek B Janszen
Paul W Ross
Kay C Roberts
Andrew M Howard
Jack R Harkema
Lilian Calderon-Garciduenas
Kevin T Morgan
2001

Dr. Moss of CIIT evaluated the effects of rats exposed to ambient air in a highly polluted area in southwestern Mexico City. Pathologists have found evidence of cell damage and inflammation in nasal tissue from some human residents of this highly polluted area that was not present in people living in areas of the country with cleaner air and this study sought to determine if those effects could be replicated in rats.

Research Report 98
H-Erich Wichmann
Claudia Spix
Thomas Tuch
Gabriele Wölke
Annette Peters
Joachim Heinrich
Wolfgang Kreyling
Joachim Heyder
2000

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.

Communication 8
Health Effects Institute
1999
Report of the Joint Meeting of the EC and HEI, held in Brussels, Belgium, January 14–15 1999. The following topics were discussed: What Are People Exposed To and Where Do Particles Come From? What Is Known About the Health Effects of PM? What New Research Results Are Emerging? and Outstanding Questions and Gaps for 2003 and Beyond.