A feasibility study of metabolic phenotyping of dried blood spot specimens in rural Chinese women exposed to household air pollution.

Background: Exposure-response studies and policy evaluations of household air pollution (HAP) are limited by current methods of exposure assessment which are expensive and burdensome to participants.

Methods: We collected 152 dried blood spot (DBS) specimens during the heating and non-heating seasons from 53 women who regularly used biomass-burning stoves for cooking and heating. Participants were enrolled in a longitudinal study in China.

Longitudinal evaluation of a household energy package on blood pressure, central hemodynamics, and arterial stiffness in China.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the leading contributors to disease burden in China and globally, and household air pollution exposure is associated with risk of cardiovascular disease.

Objectives: We evaluated whether subclinical cardiovascular outcomes in adult Chinese women would improve after distribution of an energy package comprised of a semi-gasifier cookstove, water heater, chimney, and supply of processed biomass fuel.

Methods: We enrolled 204 households (n = 205 women) from 12 villages into a controlled before- and after-intervention study on cardiovascular health and air pollution in Sichuan Province.

The oxidative potential of PM2.5 exposures from indoor and outdoor sources in rural China.

Background: Airborne particulate matter (PM) is a widespread environmental exposure and leading health risk factor. The health effects of PM may be mediated by its oxidative potential; however, the combustion and non-combustion sources and components of PM responsible for its oxidative potential are poorly understood, particularly in low- and middle-income rural settings where coal and biomass burning for cooking and heating contribute to PM exposure.

Methods: We measured 24-h personal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.

Pollutant emissions and energy efficiency of Chinese gasifier cooking stoves and implications for future intervention studies.

Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is the leading environmental health risk factor globally. In China, almost half of all homes use solid fuel to meet their household energy demands. Gasifier cookstoves offer a potentially affordable, efficient, and low-polluting alternative to current solid fuel combustion technology, but pollutant emissions and energy efficiency performance of this class of stoves are poorly characterized.

A coupled sensor-spectrophotometric device for continuous measurement of formaldehyde in indoor environments.

Despite long-standing awareness of adverse health effects associated with chronic human exposure to formaldehyde, this hazardous air pollutant remains a challenge to measure in indoor environments. Traditional analytical techniques evaluate formaldehyde concentrations over several hours to several days in a single location in a residence, making it difficult to characterize daily temporal and spatial variation in human exposure to formaldehyde. There is a need for portable, easy-to-use devices that are specific and sensitive to gas-phase formaldehyde over short sampling periods so that dynamic processes governing formaldehyde fate, transport, and potential remediation in indoor environments may be studied more effectively.

Indoor air pollution in developing countries: research and implementation needs for improvements in global public health.

Exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) from the burning of solid fuels for cooking, heating, and lighting accounts for a significant portion of the global burden of death and disease, and disproportionately affects women and children in developing regions. Clean cookstove campaigns recently received more attention and investment, but their successes might hinge on greater integration of the public health community with a variety of other disciplines. To help guide public health research in alleviating this important global environmental health burden, we synthesized previous research on IAP in developing countries, summarized successes and challenges of previous cookstove implementation programs, and provided key research and implementation needs from structured discussions at a recent symposium.

Gas-phase formaldehyde adsorption isotherm studies on activated carbon: correlations of adsorption capacity to surface functional group density.

Formaldehyde (HCHO) adsorption isotherms were developed for the first time on three activated carbons representing one activated carbon fiber (ACF) cloth, one all-purpose granular activated carbon (GAC), and one GAC commercially promoted for gas-phase HCHO removal. The three activated carbons were evaluated for HCHO removal in the low-ppm(v) range and for water vapor adsorption from relative pressures of 0.1-0.