Associations of Personal Hourly Exposures to Air Temperature and Pollution with Resting Heart Rate in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Previous studies linked higher daily ambient air temperature and pollution with increased cardiorespiratory morbidity, but immediate effects of personal, hourly exposures on resting heart rate remained unclear. We followed 30 older former smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Massachusetts for four nonconsecutive 30-day periods over 12 months, collecting 54,487 hourly observations of personal air temperature, fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O), and resting heart rate. We explored the single lag effects (0-71 h) and cumulative effects (0-5 h, the significant lag windows) of air temperature and pollution on resting heart rate using generalized additive mixed models with distributed lag nonlinear models.

Weekly prenatal PM and NO exposures in preterm, early term, and full term infants: Decrements in birth weight and critical windows of susceptibility.

Background: Previous studies have observed associations between birth weight and prenatal air pollution exposure, but there is not consensus on timing of critical windows of susceptibility.

Objective: We estimated the difference in birth weight among preterm, early term and full term births associated with weekly exposure to PM and NO throughout gestation.

Methods: We included all singleton live births in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan (United States) between 2007 and 2012 occurring at or after 32 weeks gestational age (n = 497,897).

Associations between air pollution, residential greenness, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in three prospective cohorts of U.S. adults.

Background: While studies suggest impacts of individual environmental exposures on type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk, mechanisms remain poorly characterized. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a biomarker of glycemia and diagnostic criterion for prediabetes and T2D. We explored associations between multiple environmental exposures and HbA1c in non-diabetic adults.

Impacts of long-term ambient particulate matter and gaseous pollutants on circulating biomarkers of inflammation in male and female health professionals.

Background: Systemic inflammation may serve as a biological mechanism linking air pollution to poor health but supporting evidence from studies of long-term pollutant exposure and inflammatory cytokines is inconsistent.

Objective: We studied associations between multiple particulate matter (PM) and gaseous air pollutants and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines within two nationwide cohorts of men and women.

Methods: Data were obtained from 16,151 women in the Nurses' Health Study and 7,930 men in the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study with at least one measure of circulating adiponectin, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 (IL-6) or soluble tumor necrosis-factor receptor-2 (sTNFR-2).

Long-term impact of PM mass and sulfur reductions on ultrafine particle trends in Boston, MA from 1999 to 2018.

Unlabelled: Ultrafine particles (UFPs) pose a human health risk as they can penetrate deep into the respiratory system. The Harvard supersite in Boston, MA provides one of the longest time series of UFP concentrations. This study examined the hypothesis that long-term reductions in PM mass and sulfur have influenced UFP trends by limiting the ability of UFPs to coagulate onto the accumulation mode via polydisperse coagulation with larger particles.

Breathe easy at home: a web-based referral system linking clinical sites with housing code enforcement for patients with asthma.

Asthma, the most significant cause of pediatric morbidity and mortality, is exacerbated by adverse environmental conditions, especially substandard housing. The clinical care provider is often unable to address housing and environmental trigger issues. In Boston, Massachusetts, a web-based referral system called Breathe Easy At Home has been put in place, through which clinicians can refer patients to have their homes inspected for housing code violations that may be contributing to their asthma.

Impact of gene patents and licensing practices on access to genetic testing for hearing loss.

Genetic testing for heritable hearing loss involves a mix of patented and unpatented genes, mutations and testing methods. More than half of all hearing loss is linked to inherited mutations, and five genes are most commonly tested for in the United States. There are no patents on three of these genes, but Athena Diagnostics holds exclusive licenses to test for a common mutation in the GJB2 gene associated with about 50% of all cases as well as mutations in the MTRNR1 gene.