Air Pollution Exposure Levels Research Articles

Cytological changes of the respiratory tract in young adults related to high levels of air pollution exposure.

Several histopathological and cytological studies have shown that lesions of the respiratory tract epithelium become increasingly severe with duration of exposure to high levels of urban air pollution as well as with ageing of studied population groups. In this study we investigated and compared findings of cytological abnormalities in sputa of young adults (21-25 years of age) exposed to high levels of air pollution since birth with those who were exposed in the last 2-3 years only. All subjects were non-smokers and were clinically healthy at the time of sampling. No significant differences in the incidence or severity of any of the cytological findings were found. The fact that even 10 times longer exposure to air pollution resulted in no major respiratory tract epithelial changes is, in our opinion, a result of the extremely efficient defence mechanisms and enormous regenerative potential of the respiratory tract of younger people.

Monitoring human lymphocytic DNA-protein cross-links as biomarkers of biologically active doses of chromate.

A simple and sensitive assay for DNA-protein cross-links has been used as a biomarker of chromate exposure and early carcinogenic effects. Pilot studies of DNA-protein cross-links in peripheral blood lymphocytes have been conducted with individuals who had higher exposure to chromate, including welders, and with individuals who had lower levels of exposure such as residents living in a chromium-contaminated area in Jersey City, New Jersey. Studies were also conducted in two Bulgarian cities (Jambol and Burgas) with different levels of air pollution and Cr(VI) exposure and in chrome platers in Bulgaria who had high exposure to chromate. DNA-protein cross-links in U.S. welders and in individuals living in Hudson County, New Jersey around chromium-contaminated areas were significantly higher compared to matched controls. Although blood and urinary levels of chromium were not extensively studied in these populations, we were able to obtain these measurements in the Bulgarian population. Chromium levels in red blood cells of controls living in Burgas were in the order of 1 to 2 ppb chromium, and these individuals had the lowest levels of DNA-protein cross-links. However, the chromium levels in Jambol ranged from about 2 to 7 ppb in red blood cells of city residents to about 22 ppb in chrome platers. DNA-protein cross-links were saturated at about 7 to 8 ppb chromium in the red blood cells, and cross-links correlated well only with chromium levels in red blood cells. Urinary chromium levels did not correlate well with either DNA-protein cross-links or chromium levels in with red blood cells.

Introductory remarks: Conference on pollutants and high risk groups.

In the language and intent of the various laws which EPA implements, Congress has mandated that we consider the issues of the biological basis of hypersusceptibility to pollution. For example, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 require EPA to set ambient air quality standards to protect the public health with a margin of safety, including protection of particularly susceptible groups within the population such as asthmatics and bronchitis. Consequently, EPA's air pollution epidemiological research has focused heavily on relating acute or chronic symptoms in asthmatics, the aging, and other specially susceptible population groups to measured air pollution exposure levels. Symptoms in hypersusceptibles may provide early sentinels of more serious illness in the most sensitive population groups. Such symptoms also often predict that higher levels of exposure-or continued exposure to low levels-will lead to symptoms in much larger proportions of the general population. Additional EPA legislation, such as the 1972 Amendment to the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, require EPA to assess the health risks of chemicals so that these may be balanced against their benefits. A risk estimate implies the need to know the impact of adverse effects of a chemical on entire exposed populations. Such risk estimation demands that we step back from the homogeneous animal strains which we have used to determine effects of chemicals in order to consider the whole range of effects of chemicals on the genetically varied, multiple-exposed species which is modern man. The most meaningful program to assess the health

Application of some Multivariate Analysis Techniques to Data on Effect of Air‐Pollution on Morbidity

AbstractIn this article an attempt has been made to analyze the data obtained from an air‐pollution study to investigate the effects of the levels of air pollution exposure in causing morbidity, using some multivariate statistical techniques. Considering the importance of the theoretical aspect of the problem, the usual theory related to the application of these methods has also been described.