Personal Aerosol Sensor Platform to Link Children's Exposures to Asthma Severity

说明(改编自应用程序)： 这项研究的长期目标包括(1)为肺部疾病开发一个通用的低负担个人气溶胶暴露平台，以采样和感知大小和形态的气溶胶，并将它们与疾病严重程度的选定生物标记物联系起来；(2)在两种暴露类型都适用的情况下，增加平行的急性和慢性结果指标；(3)计划如何在平台上增加平行暴露评估能力，以最终解决已知和潜在的吸入辅助因素，包括臭氧、超细颗粒物、挥发性有机化合物(VOC)、羰基化合物以及混杂的环境烟草烟雾(ETS)；以及(4)开发能够在大规模暴露生物病因学研究中部署个人平台的程序和组件，包括用于相关数据捕获和验证的方法。这项建议的重点领域包括：(1)开发一种极小和轻便的实时气溶胶传感器，具有足够的特异性和灵敏度，以表征儿童呼吸区大小的气溶胶；(2)修改当前RTI MicroPEM(Tm)个人暴露平台的设计，以包括通过通用传感器接口针对急性暴露的新气溶胶传感器；(3)包括对气溶胶质量和内毒素的集成(慢性)收集，同时保持低负担设计；(4)将气溶胶传感器集成到平台中，并允许实时质量和内毒素浓度估计；(5)包括全球定位系统(GPS)、活动水平和佩戴的遵从性传感器；以及(6)纳入并行综合收集，以评估臭氧暴露(作为辅助因素)和ETS(作为混杂因素)。暴露生物学：(1)在有限规模的工作中，展示哮喘儿童或成人的试点队列的尿液LTE4水平如何通过暴露生物学模型与实时和综合气溶胶质量和内毒素个人暴露水平相关联；(2)对于被确定被动暴露于ETS的试点队列的参与者，将尿可替宁水平与综合收集中ETS水平的升高联系起来；以及(3)在模型中将臭氧作为潜在的辅助因素。美国成人和儿童的肺部疾病，特别是哮喘的流行，再加上个人暴露在已知应激源(如气雾剂)和由此导致的生物恶化之间的联系存在的不确定性，充分支持了这项研究。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from application): The long-term objectives of this research include (1) develop a versatile low-burden personal aerosol exposure platform for pulmonary diseases to sample and sense sized and speciated aerosols and link them with selected biological markers of disease severity; (2) add parallel acute and chronic metrics for outcomes where both exposure types apply; (3) plan how to add parallel exposure assessment capabilities to the platform to eventually address known and potential inhalation co-factors, including ozone, ultrafines, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbonyls, as well as the confounder, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS); and (4) develop procedures and components that enable deployment of the personal platform in large-scale exposure biology etiology studies, including the methods for the associated data capture and validation. Focus areas of this proposal include the following: Personal Exposure: (1) develop an extremely small and lightweight real-time aerosol sensor with adequate specificity and sensitivity to characterize sized, breathing zone aerosol for children; (2) modify the design of the current RTI MicroPEM(tm) personal exposure platform to include the new aerosol sensor via a universal sensor interface for acute exposures; (3) include integrated (chronic) collections for aerosol mass and endotoxin while retaining the low-burden design; (4) integrate the aerosol sensor into the platform and allow real-time mass and endotoxin concentration estimates; (5) include global positioning system (GPS), activity level, and wearing compliance sensors; and (6) incorporate parallel integrated collections to assess ozone exposure (as a co-factor) and ETS (as a confounder). Exposure Biology: (1) in a limited-scale effort, demonstrate how urinary LTE4 levels for a pilot cohort of asthmatic children or adults can be related to real-time and integrated aerosol mass and endotoxin personal exposure levels through exposure biology models; (2) for participants in the pilot cohort determined to be passively exposed to ETS, relate urinary cotinine levels to elevated ETS levels in the integrated collection; and (3) include ozone as a potential co-factor in the models. The prevalence of pulmonary diseases, and especially asthma, in the United States for adults and children, combined with the existing uncertainties in linkages between personal exposures to known stressors such as aerosols and the resultant biological exacerbations, fully supports this research.