A Comparison of Activity Participation between Children with and without Asthma.

Background: Asthma affects approximately 6 million children in the United States and can greatly impact quality of life and occupational engagement. Although occupational therapists are well-equipped to address participation limitations, insufficient evidence exists to support the role of occupational therapists in asthma treatment.

Method: The purpose of this study was to further understand the occupational limitations experienced by children with asthma.

Physical activity, black carbon exposure, and DNA methylation in the promoter.

Background: Physical activity is associated with improvement in lung function; however, pollution exposure during physical activity can lead to a transient reduction in lung function. This paradoxical relationship may be linked to altered T regulatory (Treg) cell activity, which increases with exercise and suppresses airway inflammation, but decreases in association with exposure to air pollution. To clarify these relationships, we investigated buccal cell DNA methylation of the forkhead box p3 () gene promoter, a proposed biomarker of Treg activity.

Effect of personal exposure to black carbon on changes in allergic asthma gene methylation measured 5 days later in urban children: importance of allergic sensitization.

Background: Asthma gene DNA methylation may underlie the effects of air pollution on airway inflammation. However, the temporality and individual susceptibility to environmental epigenetic regulation of asthma has not been fully elucidated. Our objective was to determine the timeline of black carbon (BC) exposure, measured by personal sampling, on DNA methylation of allergic asthma genes 5 days later to capture usual weather variations and differences related to changes in behavior and activities.

Short-term exposure to PM and vanadium and changes in asthma gene DNA methylation and lung function decrements among urban children.

Background: Both short and long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollutants have been associated with asthma and reduced lung function. We hypothesized that short-term indoor exposure to fine particulate matter <2.5 μm (PM) and vanadium (V) would be associated with altered buccal cell DNA methylation of targeted asthma genes and decreased lung function among urban children in a nested subcohort of African American and Dominican children.