Histamine in homes: Exposure risks and health effects

暴露于室内环境污染物是一个主要的健康风险因素，特别是与过敏性疾病和 哮喘仅在美国，每年就有超过5000万人患有过敏症，估计每年的费用 超过180亿美元尽管室内已发现大量污染物，但在大多数情况下，缓解措施是可能的 因为它们的来源、化学特性、传播和健康影响已经确定。的污染物 管理起来尤其具有挑战性的是那些尚未查明或我们不完全了解的问题。 在过去的20年里，臭虫在全球范围内死灰复燃，严重影响了弱势群体的生活质量。 社区.我最近在臭虫出没的家中发现并量化了大量的组胺。虽然 组胺作为鱼和酒精饮料中的食物污染物，长期暴露于 组胺没有被考虑，因为组胺从未被检测为家庭中的污染物。组胺是 哺乳动物免疫反应的下游调节剂，通常用于激发试验，包括 支气管激发试验和皮肤试验。家庭灰尘中大量组胺沉积物的存在及其多重临床意义 效果（例如，血管舒张、炎症、神经调节）预测皮肤和呼吸道暴露于组胺 可能会对健康构成严重威胁因此，我假设组胺在臭虫出没的家庭中无处不在， 特别是在市中心的低收入住宅中，并且长期暴露于组胺对人类造成严重的健康风险。 我提出了一个综合的和跨学科的方法来了解贡献的臭虫组胺残留 在家庭中，组胺在室内环境中的渗透性和空间分布，以及组胺的作用 对人类健康的影响。如果成功，该项目将确定一种新的未被发现的环境污染物， 近二十年来从未减弱。为此，我将讨论以下具体目标： 1.定量臭虫组胺生产和确定其他节肢动物组胺生产的程度。 2.描述臭虫出没的房屋中组胺的空间分布特征。 3.将环境组胺与臭虫复发和不良健康结果相关联 4.确定臭虫来源的组胺的生物活性和临床相关性 目前，没有程序提供机会进行尖端研究的交叉室内昆虫学 和公共卫生。因此，为了解决上述问题，我要求研究独立性。这个奖， 在我所在机构的重大承诺的支持下，将为我提供基础设施和指导， 迅速成长为独立研究员。我准备好绕过传统的博士后阶段，因为 我的经验工作的项目，跨越几个层次的生物组织，我的领导在国际 合作项目，几个本科生的导师，强大的出版记录，以及我证明的能力， 协调大型多学科研究。我在毕业期间获得的经验和我的工作效率 培训超过了许多科学家在博士后培训的前3-5年所取得的成就。

Exposure to indoor environmental contaminants is a major health risk factor, particularly in relation to allergic disease and asthma. In the United States alone, over 50 million people suffer from allergies each year, with an estimated annual cost of over $18 billion. Although numerous contaminants have been identified indoors, mitigation in most cases is possible because their sources, chemical characteristics, dissemination, and health effects have been identified. Contaminants that tend to be particularly challenging to manage are those that either remain un-identified or that we do not fully understand. Bed bugs have resurged globally during the last 20 years, severely affecting the quality of life in disadvantaged communities. I recently discovered and quantified large amounts of histamine in bed bug-infested homes. Although histamine has been extensively investigated as a food contaminant in fish and alcoholic beverages, chronic exposure to histamine has not been considered because histamine has never been detected as a contaminant in homes. Histamine is a downstream modulator in the mammalian immune response, and it is routinely used in provocation tests, including bronchial challenge and skin tests. The presence of large histamine deposits in household dust and its multiple clinical effects (e.g., vasodilation, inflammation, neuromodulation) predict that dermal and respiratory exposure to histamine could constitute a serious health risk. I therefore hypothesize that histamine is ubiquitous in bed bug infested homes, particularly in inner-city low-income residences, and chronic exposure to histamine poses serious health risks to humans. I propose an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to understand the contribution of bed bugs to histamine residues in homes, the pervasiveness and spatial distribution of histamine in the indoor environment, and the effects of histamine on human health. If successful, this project will identify a new environmental contaminant that has gone undetected and unabated for almost two decades. To this end, I will address the following specific aims: 1. Quantify bed bug histamine production and determine the extent of histamine production in other arthropods. 2. Characterize the spatial distribution of histamine in bed bug infested homes. 3. Correlate environmental histamine with the bed bug resurgence and adverse health outcomes 4. Determine the bioactivity and clinical relevance of bed bug derived histamine Presently, no programs offer the opportunity to conduct cutting edge research at the intersection of indoor entomology and public health. Therefore, to address the problems outlined above, I require research independence. This award, supported by significant commitments from my host institution, will provide me with the infrastructure and mentoring to rapidly develop into an independent researcher. I am well-prepared to bypass the traditional post-doctoral phase because of my experience working on projects that span several levels of biological organization, my leadership in international collaborative projects, mentorship of several undergraduate students, strong publication record, and my proven ability to coordinate large-scale multi-disciplinary studies. The experience I have gained and my productivity during my graduate training surpasses what many scientists achieve during the first 3–5 years of post-doctoral training.