The East Bay Diesel Exposure Project: a biomonitoring study of parents and their children in heavily impacted communities.

Background: Diesel exhaust (DE) exposures pose concerns for serious health effects, including asthma and lung cancer, in California communities burdened by multiple stressors.

Objective: To evaluate DE exposures in disproportionately impacted communities using biomonitoring and compare results for adults and children within and between families.

Methods: We recruited 40 families in the San Francisco East Bay area.

Differences in Fine Particle Exposure and Estimated Pulmonary Ventilation Rate with Respect to Work Tasks of Wildland Firefighters at Prescribed Burns: A Repeated Measures Study.

Wildland firefighters (WLFFs) are exposed to a mixture of chemicals found in wildland fire smoke and emissions from nonwildland-fuel smoke sources such as diesel. We investigated compositional differences in exposure to particulate matter and explored differences in ventilation rate and potential inhaled dose relative to the work tasks of WLFFs. Repeated measures on ten professional and two volunteer firefighters were collected on prescribed burn and nonburn days.

An ultra low-cost smartphone device for in-situ monitoring of acute organophosphorus poisoning for agricultural workers.

In this work, we present an ultra-low-cost smartphone device for in situ quantification of OP poisoning severity. The performance of the lens-less smartphone spectrum apparatus (LeSSA) is evaluated using standard human Interleukin-6 (IL-6) immunoassay kits. Upon dose-response curve fitting, LeSSA demonstrates an accuracy of 99.

Evaluation of 1-Nitropyrene as a Surrogate Measure for Diesel Exhaust.

We investigated the viability of particle bound 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) air concentration measurements as a surrogate of diesel exhaust (DE) exposure, as compared with industry-standard elemental carbon (EC) and total carbon (TC) measurements. Personal exposures are reported for 18 employees at a large underground metal mine during four different monitoring campaigns. Full-shift personal air exposure sampling was conducted using a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) compliant diesel particulate matter (DPM) impactor cassette downstream of a GS-1 cyclone pre-selector.

From the Cover: Cadmium Exposure Differentially Alters Odorant-Driven Behaviors and Expression of Olfactory Receptors in Juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch).

Salmon exposed to waterborne metals can experience olfactory impairment leading to disrupted chemosensation. In the current study, we investigated the effects of cadmium (Cd) on salmon olfactory function by modeling an exposure scenario where juvenile salmon transiently migrate through a polluted waterway. Coho were exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of waterborne Cd (2 and 30 µg/L) for 48 h and (0.

Urinary metabolites of 1-nitropyrene in US-Mexico border residents who frequently cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Diesel exhaust presents a community exposure hazard, but methods to measure internal exposure are lacking. We report results from a community-based study using 1-nitropyrene (1-NP) and its urinary metabolites as markers of exposure to traffic-related diesel particulate matter (DPM). The study participants were Tijuana, Mexico residents who commuted on foot into San Diego, California for work or school using the International San Ysidro Port of Entry, placing them within feet of idling traffic (referred to as border commuters).

Chemical characterization and in vitro toxicity of diesel exhaust particulate matter generated under varying conditions.

Epidemiologic studies have linked diesel exhaust (DE) to cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality, as well as lung cancer. DE composition is known to vary with many factors, although it is unclear how this influences toxicity. We generated eight DE atmospheres by applying a 2×2×2 factorial design and altering three parameters in a controlled exposure facility: (1) engine load (27 vs 82 %), (2) particle aging (residence time ~5 s vs ~5 min prior to particle collection), and (3) oxidation (with or without ozonation during dilution).