The Development of a WTC Environmental Health Center Pan-Cancer Database.

(1) Recent studies have reported elevated risks of multiple cancers in the World Trade Center (WTC) affected community members (also called WTC "Survivors"). The large variety of WTC-cancers created a need to develop a comprehensive cancer database. This paper describes the development of a pan-cancer database at the WTC Environmental Health Center (EHC) Data Center.

Characteristics of Cancer Patients in the World Trade Center Environmental Health Center.

The destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on 11 September 2001 released many tons of aerosolized dust and smoke with potential for carcinogenic exposures to community members as well as responders. The WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC) is a surveillance and treatment program for a diverse population of community members ("Survivors"), including local residents and workers, present in the NYC disaster area on 9/11 or in the days or weeks following. We report a case series of cancers identified in the WTC EHC as of 31 December 2019.

Gene-Environment Interaction between the Variants and Childhood Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Asthma Risk.

(1) Background: Variants of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist () gene, encoding an anti-inflammatory cytokine, are associated with asthma. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway influenced by interactions between genetic variants and environmental factors. We discovered a gene-environment interaction (GEI) of polymorphisms with childhood environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure on asthma susceptibility in an urban adult population.

Improvement in severe lower respiratory symptoms and small airway function in World Trade Center dust exposed community members.

Objective: Longitudinal assessment of lower respiratory symptoms (LRS) in community members with World Trade Center (WTC) exposures.

Methods: Adult members of a treatment program with complete standardized visits were evaluated (n = 798). Association of demographic characteristics, mental health symptoms and lung function with trajectory of LRS between initial and monitoring visit was evaluated.

Systemic Inflammation Associated With World Trade Center Dust Exposures and Airway Abnormalities in the Local Community.

Background: Destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on September 11, 2001, released massive dust, gas, and fumes with environmental exposures for community members. Many community members have lower respiratory symptoms (LRSs) that began after September 11, 2001, and remain persistent. We evaluated whether systemic inflammation measured by C-reactive protein was associated with WTC dust exposures, persistent LRS, and lung function.

Application of the asthma phenotype algorithm from the Severe Asthma Research Program to an urban population.

Rationale: Identification and characterization of asthma phenotypes are challenging due to disease complexity and heterogeneity. The Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) used unsupervised cluster analysis to define 5 phenotypically distinct asthma clusters that they replicated using 3 variables in a simplified algorithm. We evaluated whether this simplified SARP algorithm could be used in a separate and diverse urban asthma population to recreate these 5 phenotypic clusters.

Longitudinal spirometry among patients in a treatment program for community members with World Trade Center-related illness.

Objective: The course of lung function in community members exposed to World Trade Center (WTC) dust and fumes remains undefined. We studied longitudinal spirometry among patients in the WTC Environmental Health Center (WTCEHC) treatment program.

Methods: Observational study of 946 WTCEHC patients with repeated spirometry measures analyzed on the population as a whole and stratified by smoking status, initial spirometry pattern, and WTC-related exposure category.

Genetic variants of TSLP and asthma in an admixed urban population.

Background: Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), an IL7-like cytokine produced by bronchial epithelial cells is upregulated in asthma and induces dendritic cell maturation supporting a Th2 response. Environmental pollutants, including tobacco smoke and diesel exhaust particles upregulate TSLP suggesting that TSLP may be an interface between environmental pollution and immune responses in asthma. Since asthma is prevalent in urban communities, variants in the TSLP gene may be important in asthma susceptibility in these populations.

Characteristics of a residential and working community with diverse exposure to World Trade Center dust, gas, and fumes.

Objective: To describe physical symptoms in those local residents, local workers, and cleanup workers who were enrolled in a treatment program and had reported symptoms and exposure to the dust, gas, and fumes released with the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001.

Methods: Symptomatic individuals underwent standardized evaluation and subsequent treatment.

Results: One thousand eight hundred ninety-eight individuals participated in the WTC Environmental Health Center between September 2005 and May 2008.

Asthma is inversely associated with Helicobacter pylori status in an urban population.

Background: Microbial exposures have been suggested to confer protection from allergic disorders and reduced exposures to gastrointestinal microbiota have been proposed as an explanation for the increase in asthma prevalence. Since the general prevalence of Helicobacter pylori has been decreasing, we hypothesized that H. pylori serostatus would be inversely related to the presence of asthma.