A community study of the effect of particulate matter on blood measures of inflammation and thrombosis in an elderly population

BACKGROUND: The mechanism behind the triggering effect of fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution on cardiovascular events remains elusive. We postulated that elevated levels of PM would be associated with increased blood levels of inflammatory and thrombotic markers in elderly individuals. We also hypothesized that elevated PM would increase levels of cytokines in individuals with heart disease. METHODS: We measured these blood markers in 47 elderly individuals with (23) and without (16 COPD and 8 healthy) cardiovascular disease (CVD) on 2 or 3 mornings over a 5 or 10-day period between February 2000 and March 2002. Blood measures were paired with residence level outdoor PM measured by nephelometry. Analyses determined the within-individual effect of 24-hour averaged outdoor PM on blood measures. RESULTS: Analyses found no statistically significant effect of a same day 10 ug/m(3 )increase in fine PM on log transformed levels of CRP 1.21 fold-rise [95% CI: 0.86, 1.70], fibrinogen 1.02 fold-rise [95% CI: 0.98, 1.06], or D-dimer 1.02 fold-rise [95% CI: 0.88, 1.17] in individuals with CVD. One-day lagged analyses in the CVD subgroup found similar null results. These same models found no change in these blood markers at the same-day or 1-day lag in the group without CVD. In 21 individuals with CVD, a 10 μg/m(3 )increase in same-day PM was associated with a 1.3 fold-rise [95% CI: 1.1, 1.7] in the level of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. CONCLUSION: We did not find consistent effects of low ambient levels of PM on blood measures of inflammation or thrombosis in elderly individuals

Modeling the Residential Infiltration of Outdoor PM2.5 in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution (MESA Air)

Background: Epidemiologic studies of fine particulate matter [aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5)] typically use outdoor concentrations as exposure surrogates. Failure to account for variation in residential infiltration efficiencies (Finf) will affect epidemiologic study results

Coherent state quantization of a particle in de Sitter space

We present a coherent state quantization of the dynamics of a relativistic test particle on a one-sheet hyperboloid embedded in a three-dimensional Minkowski space. The group SO_0(1,2) is considered to be the symmetry group of the system. Our procedure relies on the choice of coherent states of the motion on a circle. The coherent state realization of the principal series representation of SO_0(1,2) seems to be a new result.Comment: Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, vol. 37, in pres

Association of FEV1 in asthmatic children with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been shown to exacerbate children's asthma, but the exposure sources and temporal characteristics are still under study. Children's exposure to PM is likely to involve both combustion-related ambient PM and PM related to a child's activity in various indoor and outdoor microenvironments. Among 19 children with asthma, 9-17 years of age, we examined the relationship of temporal changes in percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) to personal continuous PM exposure and to 24-hr average gravimetric PM mass measured at home and central sites. Subjects were followed for 2 weeks during either the fall of 1999 or the spring of 2000, in a southern California region affected by transported air pollution. FEV(subscript)1(/subscript) was measured by subjects in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Exposure measurements included continuous PM using a passive nephelometer carried by subjects; indoor, outdoor home, and central-site 24-hr gravimetric PM2.5 (PM of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 microm) and PM10; and central-site hourly PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. Data were analyzed with linear mixed models controlling for within-subject autocorrelation, FEV1 maneuver time, and exposure period. We found inverse associations of FEV1 with increasing PM exposure during the 24 hr before the FEV1 maneuver and with increasing multiday PM averages. Deficits in percent predicted FEV1 (95% confidence interval) for given PM interquartile ranges measured during the preceding 24-hr were as follows: 128 microg/m3 1-hr maximum personal PM, -6.0% (-10.5 to -1.4); 30 microg/m3 24-hr average personal PM, -5.9% (-10.8 to -1.0); 6.7 microg/m3 indoor home PM2.5, -1.6% (-2.8 to -0.4); 16 microg/m3 indoor home PM10, -2.1% (-3.7 to -0.4); 7.1 microg/m3 outdoor home PM2.5, -1.1% (-2.4 to 0.1); and 7.5 microg/m3 central-site PM2.5, -0.7% (-1.9 to 0.4). Stronger associations were found for multiday moving averages of PM for both personal and stationary-site PM. Stronger associations with personal PM were found in boys allergic to indoor allergens. FEV1 was weakly associated with NO2 but not with O3. Results suggest mixed respiratory effects of PM in asthmatic children from both ambient background exposures and personal exposures in various microenvironments

Living near Main Streets and Respiratory Symptoms in Adults: The Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults

The Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA), conducted in 1991 (SAPALDIA 1) in eight areas among 9,651 randomly selected adults aged 18-60 years, reported associations among the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, nitrogen dioxide, and particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μg/m3. Later, 8,047 subjects reenrolled in 2002 (SAPALDIA 2). The effects of individually assigned traffic exposures on reported respiratory symptoms were estimated, while controlling for socioeconomic and exposure- and health-related factors. The risk of attacks of breathlessness increased for all subjects by 13% (95% confidence interval: 3, 24) per 500-m increment in the length of main street segments within 200 m of the home and decreased in never smokers by 12% (95% confidence interval: 0, 22) per 100-m increment in distance from home to a main street. Living within 20 m of a main street increased the risks of regular phlegm by 15% (95% confidence interval: 0, 31) and wheezing with breathing problems by 34% (95% confidence interval: 0, 79) in never smokers. In 2002, the effects related to road distance were different from those in 1991, which could be due to changes in the traffic pollution mixture. These findings among a general population provide strong confirmation that living near busy streets leads to adverse respiratory health effect

A comparison of spectroscopic methods for detecting starlight scattered by transiting hot Jupiters, with application to Subaru data for HD 209458b and HD 189733b

The measurement of the light scattered from extrasolar planets informs atmospheric and formation models. With the discovery of many hot Jupiter planets orbiting nearby stars, this motivates the development of robust methods of characterisation from follow up observations. In this paper we discuss two methods for determining the planetary albedo in transiting systems. First, the most widely used method for measuring the light scattered by hot Jupiters (Collier Cameron et al.) is investigated for application for typical echelle spectra of a transiting planet system, showing that detection requires high signal-to-noise ratio data of bright planets. Secondly a new Fourier analysis method is also presented, which is model-independent and utilises the benefits of the reduced number of unknown parameters in transiting systems. This approach involves solving for the planet and stellar spectra in Fourier space by least-squares. The sensitivities of the methods are determined via Monte Carlo simulations for a range of planet-to-star fluxes. We find the Fourier analysis method to be better suited to the ideal case of typical observations of a well constrained transiting system than the Collier Cameron et al. method. We apply the Fourier analysis method for extracting the light scattered by transiting hot Jupiters from high resolution spectra to echelle spectra of HD 209458 and HD 189733. Unfortunately we are unable to improve on the previous upper limit of the planet-to-star flux for HD 209458b set by space-based observations. A 1{\sigma}upper limit on the planet-to-star flux of HD 189733b is measured in the wavelength range of 558.83-599.56 nm yielding {\epsilon} < 4.5 \times 10-4. Improvement in the measurement of the upper limit of the planet-to-star flux of this system, with ground-based capabilities, requires data with a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and increased stability of the telescope.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. Accepted 2011 March 17. Received 2011 March 17; in original form 2010 June 2

Transportation Noise and Blood Pressure in a Population-Based Sample of Adults

Background: There is some evidence for an association between traffic noise and ischemic heart disease; however, associations with blood pressure have been inconsistent, and little is known about health effects of railway noise

Physical activity monitoring: Addressing the difficulties of accurately detecting slow walking speeds

OBJECTIVE: To test the accuracy of a multi-sensor activity monitor (SWM) in detecting slow walking speeds in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). BACKGROUND: Concerns have been expressed regarding the use of pedometers in patient populations. Although activity monitors are more sophisticated devices, their accuracy at detecting slow walking speeds common in patients with COPD has yet to be proven. METHODS: A prospective observational study design was employed. An incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) was completed by 57 patients with COPD wearing an SWM. The ISWT was repeated by 20 patients wearing the same SWM. RESULTS: Differences were identified between metabolic equivalents (METS) and between step-count across five levels of the ISWT (p < 0.001). Good within monitor reproducibility between two ISWT was identified for total energy expenditure and step-count (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The SWM is able to detect slow (standardized) speeds of walking and is an acceptable method for measuring physical activity in individuals disabled by COPD

Ampullary cancers harbor ELF3 tumor suppressor gene mutations and exhibit frequent WNT dysregulation

The ampulla of Vater is a complex cellular environment from which adenocarcinomas arise to form a group of histopathologically heterogenous tumors. To evaluate the molecular features of these tumors, 98 ampullary adenocarcinomas were evaluated and compared to 44 distal bile duct and 18 duodenal adenocarcinomas. Genomic analyses revealed mutations in the WNT signaling pathway among half of the patients and in all three adenocarcinomas irrespective of their origin and histological morphology. These tumors were characterized by a high frequency of inactivating mutations of ELF3, a high rate of microsatellite instability, and common focal deletions and amplifications, suggesting common attributes in the molecular pathogenesis are at play in these tumors. The high frequency of WNT pathway activating mutation, coupled with small-molecule inhibitors of β-catenin in clinical trials, suggests future treatment decisions for these patients may be guided by genomic analysis