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.

Influence of point mutations on the flexibility of cytochrome b5: molecular dynamics simulations of holoproteins.

Two membrane-bound isoforms of cytochrome b5 have been identified in mammals, one associated with the outer mitochondrial membrane (OM b5) and the other with the endoplasmic reticulum (microsomal, or Mc b5). The soluble heme binding domains of OM and Mc b5 have highly similar three-dimensional structures but differ significantly in physical properties, with OM b5 exhibiting higher stability due to stronger heme association. In this study, we present results of 8.