Climate change effect on Betula (birch) and Quercus (oak) pollen seasons in the United States.

Climatic change is expected to affect the spatiotemporal patterns of airborne allergenic pollen, which has been found to act synergistically with common air pollutants, such as ozone, to cause allergic airway disease (AAD). Observed airborne pollen data from six stations from 1994 to 2011 at Fargo (North Dakota), College Station (Texas), Omaha (Nebraska), Pleasanton (California), Cherry Hill and Newark (New Jersey) in the US were studied to examine climate change effects on trends of annual mean and peak value of daily concentrations, annual production, season start, and season length of Betula (birch) and Quercus (oak) pollen. The growing degree hour (GDH) model was used to establish a relationship between start/end dates and differential temperature sums using observed hourly temperatures from surrounding meteorology stations.

Computational fluid dynamics modeling of transport and deposition of pesticides in an aircraft cabin.

Spraying of pesticides in aircraft cabins is required by some countries as part of a disinsection process to kill insects that pose a public health threat. However, public health concerns remain regarding exposures of cabin crew and passengers to pesticides in aircraft cabins. While large scale field measurements of pesticide residues and air concentrations in aircraft cabins scenarios are expensive and time consuming, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models provide an effective alternative for characterizing concentration distributions and exposures.

Bayesian Analysis of Climate Change Effects on Observed and Projected Airborne Levels of Birch Pollen.

A Bayesian framework is presented for modeling Effects of climate change on pollen indices such as annual birch pollen count, maximum daily birch pollen count, start date of birch pollen season and the date of maximum daily birch pollen count. Annual mean CO concentration, mean spring temperature and the corresponding pollen index of prior year were found to be statistically significant accounting for Effects of climate change on four pollen indices. Results suggest that annual productions and peak values from 2020 to 2100 under different scenarios will be 1.

A mechanistic modeling system for estimating large scale emissions and transport of pollen and co-allergens.

Allergic airway diseases represent a complex health problem which can be exacerbated by the synergistic action of pollen particles and air pollutants such as ozone. Understanding human exposures to aeroallergens requires accurate estimates of the spatial distribution of airborne pollen levels as well as of various air pollutants at different times. However, currently there are no established methods for estimating allergenic pollen emissions and concentrations over large geographic areas such as the United States.

A unified multiscale field/network/agent based modeling framework for human and ecological health risk analysis.

A conceptual framework is presented for multi-scale field/network/agent-based modeling to support human and ecological health risk assessments. This framework is based on the representation of environmental dynamics in terms of interacting networks, agents that move across different networks, fields representing spatiotemporal distributions of physical properties, rules governing constraints and interactions, and actors that make decisions affecting the state of the system. Different deterministic and stochastic modeling case studies focusing on environmental exposures and associated risks are provided as examples, utilizing the bidirectional mapping between discrete, agent based approaches and continuous, equation based approaches.

Differential gene expression profiling of mouse skin after sulfur mustard exposure: Extended time response and inhibitor effect.

Sulfur mustard (HD, SM), is a chemical warfare agent that within hours causes extensive blistering at the dermal-epidermal junction of skin. To better understand the progression of SM-induced blistering, gene expression profiling for mouse skin was performed after a single high dose of SM exposure. Punch biopsies of mouse ears were collected at both early and late time periods following SM exposure (previous studies only considered early time periods).

Reconstructing population exposures to environmental chemicals from biomarkers: challenges and opportunities.

A conceptual/computational framework for exposure reconstruction from biomarker data combined with auxiliary exposure-related data is presented, evaluated with example applications, and examined in the context of future needs and opportunities. This framework employs physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) modeling in conjunction with numerical "inversion" techniques. To quantify the value of different types of exposure data "accompanying" biomarker data, a study was conducted focusing on reconstructing exposures to chlorpyrifos, from measurements of its metabolite levels in urine.