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，估计每年的成本 超过180亿美元。虽然已经在室内发现了许多污染物，但在大多数情况下，缓解是可能的。 因为它们的来源、化学特征、传播和对健康的影响已经确定。污染物 往往特别具有挑战性的是那些要么身份不明，要么我们不完全理解的人。 在过去的20年里，床虱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。我最近在满是臭虫的家里发现并量化了大量的组胺。虽然 组胺作为鱼类和酒精饮料中的一种食物污染物已被广泛调查，长期接触 组胺没有被考虑，因为从来没有在家里检测到组胺是一种污染物。组胺是 哺乳动物免疫反应中的下游调节剂，通常用于激发试验，包括 支气管镜和皮试。家居粉尘中大量组胺沉积及其多重临床表现 效应(如血管扩张、炎症、神经调节)预测皮肤和呼吸道暴露于组胺 可能会构成严重的健康风险。因此我假设组胺在臭虫出没的家庭中无处不在， 尤其是在市中心的低收入居民中，长期接触组胺对人类健康构成严重威胁。 我提出了一种综合的、跨学科的方法来了解臭虫对组胺残留的贡献。 家庭中组胺在室内环境中的扩散和空间分布，以及组胺的影响 对人类健康的影响。如果成功，该项目将确定一种新的环境污染物，这种污染物尚未被检测到，并 近二十年来有增无减。为此，我将阐述以下具体目标： 1.量化臭虫产生的组胺，并确定其他节肢动物产生组胺的程度。 2.研究臭虫出没房屋中组胺的空间分布特征。 3.环境组胺与臭虫卷土重来和不良健康后果之间的关系 4.确定臭虫源性组胺的生物活性和临床相关性 目前，还没有任何计划提供机会在室内昆虫学的交叉点进行尖端研究 和公共卫生。因此，要解决上述问题，我需要研究独立。这个奖项， 在主办机构的重大承诺的支持下，将为我提供基础设施和指导，以 迅速发展成为独立的研究人员。我已经做好了绕过传统博士后阶段的准备，因为 我在跨越生物组织的几个级别的项目上的工作经验，我在国际社会中的领导地位 合作项目，几个本科生的指导，良好的出版记录，以及我被证明的能力 协调大规模的多学科研究。我在毕业期间获得的经验和我的生产力 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.