Abstract:
There is emerging evidence that the inhalation of certain components of ambient air PM is associated with adverse health effects (Chen 2009, Bell 2009). These studies, combined with others that looked at the sources of toxicants, specifically implicate traffic markers (Schwartz 2005, Gold 2005). Therefore, there seems to be a shift in attitude towards measuring the chemical components rather than mass concentrations of ambient PM. Additionally, many health effects addressing traffic toxicants have been studied in animal and cell models. These studies often rely on in situ suspensions of ambient PM, which do not account for the complex nature of exhaust emissions (Ning 2010). Thus, more human studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of the health effects related to emissions. I hypothesize that stronger associations between adverse health effects and exposures near heavily traveled roadways are due to greater exposures to traffic-related sources of gases and specific PM chemical components. My proposed study aims to: 1) measure the cardiac function, pulmonary function, an exhaled breath biomarker of lung inflammation and blood inflammatory biomarkers of 34 healthy young adult volunteer subjects as they walk along 3 diverse roadway types; and 2) associate these health-related effects, via chemical and gaseous speciation, with traffic-related air pollutants.
There is emerging evidence that the inhalation of certain components of ambient air PM is associated with adverse health effects (Chen 2009, Bell 2009). These studies, combined with others that looked at the sources of toxicants, specifically implicate traffic markers (Schwartz 2005, Gold 2005). Therefore, there seems to be a shift in attitude towards measuring the chemical components rather than mass concentrations of ambient PM. Additionally, many health effects addressing traffic toxicants have been studied in animal and cell models. These studies often rely on in situ suspensions of ambient PM, which do not account for the complex nature of exhaust emissions (Ning 2010). Thus, more human studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms of the health effects related to emissions. I hypothesize that stronger associations between adverse health effects and exposures near heavily traveled roadways are due to greater exposures to traffic-related sources of gases and specific PM chemical components. My proposed study aims to: 1) measure the cardiac function, pulmonary function, an exhaled breath biomarker of lung inflammation and blood inflammatory biomarkers of 34 healthy young adult volunteer subjects as they walk along 3 diverse roadway types; and 2) associate these health-related effects, via chemical and gaseous speciation, with traffic-related air pollutants.