PILOT STUDIES ON THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF DIESEL EXHAUST PARTICULATE EXPOSURES

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We propose pilot sudies in the diesel exhaust (DE) exposure system to demonstrate feasibility, logistics, and preliminary measures of effect at suggested levels. These are controlled exposure crossover experiments, in which asthmatic subjects are exposed to diluted DE or filtered air, and then are evaluated to determine exposure-effect relations on sub-clinical measures of asthma control. Pilot studies will determine whether experimental procedures can be conducted as planned, tolerability of exposures, occurrence of symptoms, and success of exposure blinding efforts. They will also assess, in an exploratory manner, dose-response relationships between DE and effects that can be used to plan and justify future choices of exposure dose and outcomes, and to assess outcome variance in order to make sample size calculations. Outcomes include symptoms, spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide, and induced sputum measures of inflammation, oxidative stress and early gene transcription.