Sinusitis and rhinitis among US veterans deployed to Southwest Asia and Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.

Background: Post-9/11 veterans were exposed to environmental and occupational pollutants during deployment.

Objective: Our aim was to determine associations between deployment-related exposures and sinusitis and rhinitis.

Methods: Between April 2018 and March 2020, veterans with land-based deployment after 9/11 who were living within 25 miles of 6 Department of Veteran Affairs medical centers were randomly chosen by using a Defense Manpower Data Center roster.

Residential radon decay products are associated with cough and phlegm in patients with COPD.

Radon decay products attach to particulate matter (referred to as particle radioactivity, PR) has been shown to be potential to promote airway damage after inhalation. In this study, we investigated associations between PR with respiratory symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with COPD. 141 male patients with COPD, former smokers, completed the St.

Environmental Toxicant Exposure and Depressive Symptoms.

Importance: Recognizing associations between exposure to common environmental toxicants and mental disorders such as depression is crucial for guiding targeted mechanism research and the initiation of disease prevention efforts.

Objectives: To comprehensively screen and assess the associations between potential environmental toxicants and depressive symptoms and to assess whether systemic inflammation serves as a mediator.

Design, Setting, And Participants: A total of 3427 participants from the 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination and Survey who had information on blood or urine concentrations of environmental toxicants and depression scores assessed by the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were included.

Extreme Temperatures and Stroke Mortality: Evidence From a Multi-Country Analysis.

Background: Extreme temperatures contribute significantly to global mortality. While previous studies on temperature and stroke-specific outcomes presented conflicting results, these studies were predominantly limited to single-city or single-country analyses. Their findings are difficult to synthesize due to variations in methodologies and exposure definitions.

Indoor and ambient black carbon and fine particulate matter associations with blood biomarkers in COPD patients.

Background: Systemic inflammation contributes to cardiovascular risk and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathophysiology. Associations between systemic inflammation and exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM ≤ 2.5 μm diameter; PM), and black carbon (BC), a PM component attributable to traffic and other sources of combustion, infiltrating indoors are not well described.

Radon decay product particle radioactivity and oxidative stress biomarkers in patients with COPD.

Radon decay products include α-radiation emitting radionuclides that attach to airborne particles that have potential to promote oxidative tissue damage after inhalation. To assess associations between α-particle radioactivity (α-PR) with urinary biomarkers of oxidative tissue damage, 140 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had up to four 1-week seasonal assessments (N = 413) of indoor (home) and ambient (central site) PM and black carbon (BC). Following environmental sampling, urine samples were analyzed for total and free malondialdehyde (MDA), biomarkers of lipid oxidation, and 8-hydroxyl-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a biomarker of DNA oxidative damage.

Pulmonary, inflammatory, and oxidative effects of indoor nitrogen dioxide in patients with COPD.

Introduction: Indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO) sources include gas heating, cooking, and infiltration from outdoors. Associations with pulmonary function, systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are uncertain.

Methods: We recruited 144 COPD patients at the VA Boston Healthcare System between 2012 and 2017.

Predicting Monthly Community-Level Radon Concentrations with Spatial Random Forest in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States.

In 1987, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recommended installing a mitigation system when the indoor concentration of radon, a well-known carcinogenic radioactive gas, is at or above 148 Bq/m. In response, tens of millions of short-term radon measurements have been conducted in residential buildings over the past three decades either for disclosure or to initially evaluate the need for mitigation. These measurements, however, are currently underutilized to assess population radon exposure in epidemiological studies.

Early Outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Multisite Prospective Cohort of Inpatient Veterans.

Background: Over 870 000 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections have occurred among Veterans Health Administration users, and 24 000 have resulted in death. We examined early outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized veterans.

Methods: In an ongoing, prospective cohort study, we enrolled veterans age ≥18 tested for SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalized at 15 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers between February 2021 and June 2022.

Indoor (residential) and ambient particulate matter associations with urinary oxidative stress biomarkers in a COPD cohort.

Objectives: Oxidative stress contributes to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathophysiology. Associations between indoor (residential) exposure to particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM) and one of its components, black carbon (BC), and oxidative stress are ill-defined.

Intense solar activity reduces urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in patients with COPD.

Background: Little is known about the link between solar activity and variations in melatonin. In this study, we investigated if melatonin's major urinary metabolite, urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s), is lowest under periods of intense solar activity.

Methods: We investigated associations between high-energy solar particle events [Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) mass, speed and energy] on creatinine-adjusted aMT6s (aMT6sr) concentrations in 140 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using up to four seasonal urine samples (n = 440).

Military deployment-related respiratory problems: an update.

Purpose Of Review: Military personnel deployed to Southwest Asia and Afghanistan were potentially exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter and other pollutants from multiple sources, including dust storms, burn pit emissions from open-air waste burning, local ambient air pollution, and a range of military service-related activities that can generate airborne exposures. These exposures, individually or in combination, can have adverse respiratory health effects. We review exposures and potential health impacts, providing a framework for evaluation.

Associations Between Extreme Temperatures and Cardiovascular Cause-Specific Mortality: Results From 27 Countries.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Existing studies on the association between temperatures and cardiovascular deaths have been limited in geographic zones and have generally considered associations with total cardiovascular deaths rather than cause-specific cardiovascular deaths.

Methods: We used unified data collection protocols within the Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Network to assemble a database of daily counts of specific cardiovascular causes of death from 567 cities in 27 countries across 5 continents in overlapping periods ranging from 1979 to 2019.

Consensus Statements on Deployment-Related Respiratory Disease, Inclusive of Constrictive Bronchiolitis: A Modified Delphi Study.

Background: The diagnosis of constrictive bronchiolitis (CB) in previously deployed individuals, and evaluation of respiratory symptoms more broadly, presents considerable challenges, including using consistent histopathologic criteria and clinical assessments.

Research Question: What are the recommended diagnostic workup and associated terminology of respiratory symptoms in previously deployed individuals?

Study Design And Methods: Nineteen experts participated in a three-round modified Delphi study, ranking their level of agreement for each statement with an a priori definition of consensus. Additionally, rank-order voting on the recommended diagnostic approach and terminology was performed.

Particle radioactivity from radon decay products and reduced pulmonary function among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.

Background: Radon (Rn) decay products can attach to particles in the air, be inhaled, and potentially cause airway damage.

Research Question: Is short-term exposure to particle radioactivity (PR) attributable to radon decay products emitted from particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM) associated with pulmonary function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients?

Study Design And Methods: In this cohort study, 142 elderly, predominantly male patients with COPD from Eastern Massachusetts each had up to 4 one-week long seasonal assessments of indoor (home) and ambient (central site) PR and PM over the course of a year (467 assessments).

Systemic inflammation after spinal cord injury: A review of biological evidence, related health risks, and potential therapies.

Individuals with chronic traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) develop progressive multi-system health problems that result in clinical illness and disability. Systemic inflammation is associated with many of the common medical complications and acquired diseases that accompany chronic SCI, suggesting that it contributes to a number of comorbid pathological conditions. However, many of the mechanisms that promote persistent systemic inflammation and its consequences remain ill-defined.

Estimation of fine particulate matter in an arid area from visibility based on machine learning.

Background: The absence of air pollution monitoring networks makes it difficult to assess historical fine particulate matter (PM) exposures for countries in the areas, such as Kuwait, which are severe impacted by desert dust and anthropogenic pollution.

Objective: We constructed an ensemble machine learning model to predict daily PM concentrations for regions lack of PM observations.

Methods: The model was constructed based on daily PM, visibility, and other meteorological data collected at two sites in Kuwait.

The role of solar and geomagnetic activity in endothelial activation and inflammation in the NAS cohort.

This study investigated the associations between solar and geomagnetic activity and circulating biomarkers of systemic inflammation and endothelial activation in the Normative Aging Study (NAS) cohort. Mixed effects models with moving day averages from day 0 to day 28 were used to study the associations between solar activity (sunspot number (SSN), interplanetary magnetic field (IMF)), geomagnetic activity (planetary K index (Kp index), and various inflammatory and endothelial markers. Biomarkers included intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), C-reactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen.

Solar and geomagnetic activity reduces pulmonary function and enhances particulate pollution effects.

Background: Increased solar and geomagnetic activity (SGA) may alter sympathetic nervous system activity, reduce antioxidant activity, and modulate physiochemical processes that contribute to atmospheric aerosols, all which may reduce pulmonary function.

Objectives: Investigate associations between forced expiratory volume at 1 s (FEV) and forced vital capacity (FVC) with SGA, and assess whether SGA enhances adverse effects of particulate pollution, black carbon (BC) and particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM).

Geomagnetic disturbances reduce heart rate variability in the Normative Aging Study.

Background: Solar and geomagnetic activity (GA) have been linked to increased cardiovascular (CVD) events. We hypothesize that heart rate variability (HRV) may be the biological mechanism between increased CVD risk and intense geomagnetic disturbances (GMD).

Methods: To evaluate the impact of GA and intense GMD on HRV in 809 elderly men [age mean 74.

Physical Activity, Exercise Capacity, and Body Composition in U.S. Veterans with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Differences in body composition may contribute to variability in exercise capacity (EC) and physical activity (PA) in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Most studies have used bioimpedance-based surrogates of muscle (lean) mass; relatively few studies have included consideration of fat mass, and limited studies have been performed using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to assess body composition. To determine whether DXA-assessed muscle (lean) and fat mass exhibit differential correlations with EC and PA in subjects with COPD.

Tadalafil for veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-pulmonary hypertension: A multicenter, placebo-controlled randomized trial.

Treating Veterans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by pulmonary hypertension (COPD-PH) using phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor pharmacotherapy is common, but efficacy data are lacking. To address this further, patients with COPD-PH from five Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals were randomized (1∶1) to receive placebo or oral tadalafil (40 mg/day) for 12 months. The primary endpoint was changed from baseline in 6-min walk distance at 12 months.