Research Reports

This document contains two reports by Drs. McCool and Samet and their colleagues who were funded to develop and test methods for measuring ventilation in freely mobile subjects at home or at work. Drs. Dennis McCool and Domyung Paek at the Memorial Hospital in Rhode Island measured ventilation with a body surface displacement (BSD) model. Each subject wore wide elastic bands containing coated wire coils around the chest and abdomen and had special magnets affixed to the breastbone and navel, which yielded data about their breathing patterns, breath frequency, and ventilation. In the second study, Dr. Jonathan Samet and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University wanted to develop methods for estimating ventilation from heart rate for future epidemiologic studies. They used the Heartwatch, a portable, commercial device combining a small transmitter worn on the subject's chest with a wristwatch-style receiver that records heart rate.

Ozone and nitrogen dioxide are significant outdoor and indoor air pollutants that can cause lung damage. Both are termed oxidant gases because the oxygen atoms they contain react with a variety of lung components and produce injury. Dr. Bruce Freeman and colleagues at the University of Alabama, Birmingham examined oxidant injury to alveolar epithelial cells and tested whether supplementing the levels of antioxidants would modify the cells' resistance to damage.

Drs. Chaitman and coworkers at the St. Louis University School of Medicine examined whether there is a link between carbon monoxide exposure and arrhythmias in subjects with coronary artery disease. Carbon monoxide is a ubiquitous air pollutant. It is found in cigarette smoke and emissions from motor vehicles, industrial processes, and poorly ventilated combustion sources. The investigators studied 25 men and 5 women, aged 45 to 77 years, all of whom were nonsmokers with stable coronary artery disease and who had moderate levels of ventricular arrhythmias.

Ozone is a highly reactive gas that is a pervasive air pollutant at ground level. It is a major component of urban smog, forming when emissions from mobile and industrial sources interact with sunlight. When inhaled, ozone can cause cough, shortness of breath, and transient changes in breathing patterns; however the health significance of these effects is unknown. Dr. David Thomassen and coworkers examined the ability of ozone to alter the structure and growth characteristics of epithelial cells from rat tracheas in ways consistent with precancerous changes.