Impact of ambient ozone exposure on cardiac biomarkers in heart failure and the role of Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors: Findings from the TRACER-HF trial.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of ambient ozone (O) exposure on changes in cardiac biomarkers in heart failure patients, identify vulnerable populations, and explore potential effect modification by concomitant medications.

Methods: A repeated measures analysis was employed to evaluate the association between O exposure and cardiac biomarkers, including 1038 N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), 692 soluble growth stimulation expressed gene 2 (sST2), and Troponin T measurements from 173 heart failure patients enrolled in the TRACER-HF trial across 10 cities in China. Linear mixed models were applied to assess the exposure-response relationships across multiple lag periods.

AIRWEIGHS: A randomized controlled trial of air cleaners in normal weight and overweight/obese children with asthma.

Background: Overweight and obesity is a risk factor for increased asthma morbidity among children, and overweight/obese children with asthma may be more susceptible to air pollution.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that there would be greater improvement in asthma from an air cleaner intervention to reduce indoor air pollution among overweight/obese children compared to normal weight children.

Methods: AIRWEIGHS is a randomized, placebo-controlled air cleaner trial designed to reduce indoor air pollution and test the differential health impact among overweight/obese children versus normal weight children with asthma.

Calibration of indoor temperature and relative humidity readings in the PurpleAir monitor.

Temperature extremes are associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, but since people living in developed areas of the world spend most of their time indoors, outdoor temperatures are a poor substitute for personal exposure assessment. And the importance of accurate indoor temperature measurement has only become more apparent alongside the growing impact of climate change on the frequency and intensity of temperature extremes on public health. The development and implementation of low-cost sensors have improved economic and practical feasibility of in-home exposure assessment for temperature and a variety of indoor contaminants.

Improving Methodologies for Cumulative Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Noncarcinogenic Health Risks from Volatile Organic Compounds in Fenceline Communities in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Background: Cumulative risk assessment (CRA) is key to characterizing health risks in fenceline and disadvantaged communities, which face environmental pollution and challenging socioeconomic conditions. Traditional approaches for inclusion of mixtures in CRA are limited and only assess the most sensitive target organ system for each chemical.

Methods: We developed an expanded approach to cumulative risk assessment that considers all known target organ systems associated with a chemical.

Longitudinal anemia status and risk for adverse outcomes in former smokers with COPD.

Background: Anemia is a prevalent comorbidity in COPD associated with increased morbidity. However, the significance of longitudinal anemia status and variation in anemia status trends over time in COPD are not known. Furthermore, individuals with COPD and smoking history often have multiple comorbidities, in particular cardiovascular disease.

The Association Between Air Pollution and Lung Function in Sarcoidosis and Implications for Health Disparities.

Background: Sarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease with varying courses of disease progression. Environmental exposures are thought to be contributors to disease onset. Exposure to air pollutants such as fine particulate matter of 2.

Cleaning indoor air-what works for respiratory health: An updated literature review and recommendations.

Indoor air pollution is a growing public health concern globally and is associated with increased respiratory symptoms and morbidity. Individuals spend most of their time indoors, and pollutant-related health effects are often driven by the indoor environment. Understanding effective interventions to improve indoor air quality and their impact on respiratory outcomes is key to decreasing the burden of air pollution for high-risk populations across the life-span.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence by industry, workplace characteristics, and workplace infection prevention and control measures, North Carolina, USA, 2021 to 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected workers in certain industries and occupations, and the workplace can be a high-risk setting for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we measured SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence and identified work-related risk factors in a population primarily working at industrial livestock operations. We used a multiplex salivary SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay to determine infection-induced antibody prevalence among 236 adult (≥18 yr) North Carolina residents between February 2021 and August 2022.

A causal machine-learning framework for studying policy impact on air pollution: a case study in COVID-19 lockdowns.

When studying the impact of policy interventions or natural experiments on air pollution, such as new environmental policies or the opening or closing of an industrial facility, careful statistical analysis is needed to separate causal changes from other confounding factors. Using COVID-19 lockdowns as a case study, we present a comprehensive framework for estimating and validating causal changes from such perturbations. We propose using flexible machine learning-based comparative interrupted time series (CITS) models for estimating such a causal effect.

A DYNAMIC SPATIAL FILTERING APPROACH TO MITIGATE UNDERESTIMATION BIAS IN FIELD CALIBRATED LOW-COST SENSOR AIR POLLUTION DATA.

Low-cost air pollution sensors, offering hyper-local characterization of pollutant concentrations, are becoming increasingly prevalent in environmental and public health research. However, low-cost air pollution data can be noisy, biased by environmental conditions, and usually need to be field-calibrated by collocating low-cost sensors with reference-grade instruments. We show, theoretically and empirically, that the common procedure of regression-based calibration using collocated data systematically underestimates high air pollution concentrations, which are critical to diagnose from a health perspective.

SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence by industry, workplace characteristics, and workplace infection prevention and control measures, North Carolina, 2021 to 2022.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected workers in certain industries and occupations, and the workplace can be a high risk setting for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, we measured SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence and identified work-related risk factors in a population primarily working at industrial livestock operations.

Methods: We used a multiplex salivary SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody assay to determine infection-induced antibody prevalence among 236 adult (≥18 years) North Carolina residents between February 2021 and August 2022.

Evaluation of Calibration Approaches for Indoor Deployments of PurpleAir Monitors.

Low-cost air quality monitors are growing in popularity among both researchers and community members to understand variability in pollutant concentrations. Several studies have produced calibration approaches for these sensors for ambient air. These calibrations have been shown to depend primarily on relative humidity, particle size distribution, and particle composition, which may be different in indoor environments.

Characterizing metals in particulate pollution in communities at the fenceline of heavy industry: combining mobile monitoring and size-resolved filter measurements.

Exposures to metals from industrial emissions can pose important health risks. The Chester-Trainer-Marcus Hook area of southeastern Pennsylvania is home to multiple petrochemical plants, a refinery, and a waste incinerator, most abutting socio-economically disadvantaged residential communities. Existing information on fenceline community exposures is based on monitoring data with low temporal and spatial resolution and EPA models that incorporate industry self-reporting.

Laboratory comparison of field portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (FP-XRF) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for determination of airborne metals in stainless steel welding fume.

Welding fume is a common exposure in occupational settings. Gravimetric analysis for total particulate matter is common; however, the cost of laboratory analyses limits the availability of quantitative exposure assessment for welding fume metal constituents in occupational settings. We investigated whether a field portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (FP-XRF) could provide accurate estimates of personal exposures to metals common in welding fume (chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, vanadium, and zinc).

Indoor Pollution and Lung Function Decline in Current and Former Smokers: SPIROMICS AIR.

Indoor pollutants have been associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease morbidity, but it is unclear whether they contribute to disease progression. We aimed to determine whether indoor particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO) are associated with lung function decline among current and former smokers. Of the 2,382 subjects with a history of smoking in SPIROMICS AIR, 1,208 participants had complete information to estimate indoor PM and NO, using individual-based prediction models, in relation to measured spirometry at two or more clinic visits.

Identifying optimal co-location calibration periods for low-cost sensors.

Low-cost sensors are often co-located with reference instruments to assess their performance and establish calibration equations, but limited discussion has focused on whether the duration of this calibration period can be optimized. We placed a multipollutant monitor that contained sensors that measure particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O), and nitric oxide (NO) at a reference field site for one year.

Laboratory and field evaluation of a low-cost methane sensor and key environmental factors for sensor calibration.

Low-cost sensors enable finer-scale spatiotemporal measurements within the existing methane (CH) monitoring infrastructure and could help cities mitigate CH emissions to meet their climate goals. While initial studies of low-cost CH sensors have shown potential for effective CH measurement at ambient concentrations, sensor deployment remains limited due to questions about interferences and calibration across environments and seasons. This study evaluates sensor performance across seasons with specific attention paid to the sensor's understudied carbon monoxide (CO) interferences and environmental dependencies through long-term ambient co-location in an urban environment.

Association of Occupational Exposures and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Morbidity.

Objective: The aim of the study is to determine whether aggregate measures of occupational exposures are associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) outcomes in the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures in COPD study cohort.

Methods: Individuals were assigned to six predetermined exposure hazard categories based on self-reported employment history. Multivariable regression, adjusted for age, sex, race, current smoking status, and smoking pack-years determined the association of such exposures to odds of COPD and morbidity measures.

A cross sectional pilot study to assess the role of phthalates on respiratory morbidity among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) affects ∼16 million U.S. adults.

Effects of a household air pollution intervention using liquefied petroleum gas stoves, continuous fuel distribution and behavioural messaging on dietary and sodium intake of adult women in Puno, Peru: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: Household air pollution (HAP) is a widespread environmental exposure worldwide. While several cleaner fuel interventions have been implemented to reduce personal exposures to HAP, it is unclear if cooking with cleaner fuels also affects the choice of meals and dietary intake.

Design: Individually randomised, open-label controlled trial of a HAP intervention.

Principal stratification analysis to determine health benefit of indoor air pollution reduction in a randomized environmental intervention in COPD: Results from the CLEAN AIR study.

Background: Indoor air quality represents a modifiable exposure to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) health. In a randomized controlled trial (CLEAN AIR study), air cleaner assignment had causal effect in improving COPD outcomes. It is unclear, however, what is the treatment effect among those for whom intervention reduced air pollution and whether it was reduction in fine particulate matter (PM) or nitrogen dioxide (NO) that contributed to such improvement.

SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Prevalence among Industrial Livestock Operation Workers and Nearby Community Residents, North Carolina, 2021 to 2022.

Industrial livestock operations (ILOs), particularly processing facilities, emerged as centers of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks in spring 2020. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 underestimate true prevalence. To investigate the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, we enrolled 279 participants in North Carolina from February 2021 to July 2022: 90 from households with at least one ILO worker (ILO), 97 from high-ILO intensity areas (ILO neighbors [ILON]), and 92 from metropolitan areas (metro).