In this parent grant, we are conducting phase IIa studies to determine if gamma tocopherol (?T) treatment of allergic asthmatics will prevent acute O3 and LPS-induced inflammation, as we have previously shown with inhaled corticosteroids. The next phase of our program to develop Interventions for Environmental Asthma is to test promising interventions to prevent acute pollutant-induced asthma in field settings. However, to demonstrate that these agents are effective, it is crucial that assessments of real time personal O3 exposure and disease outcomes are available. These require instruments that are portable and can transmit data to a central coordinating center. To develop these sensors, we will form a team of physician-scientists at UNC with research engineers at at UVa and NCSU. Engineers at UVa will develop wearable, lightweight, personal sensor arrays (UVa) to provide real time continuous measures of O3, respiratory rate, ECG, ambient temperature, relative humidity, and personal energy expenditure (watts). Engineers at NCSU will develop a handheld portable spirometer to allow for in field assessments of lung function. These sensors will have the capability to transmit data to a smartphone and central database. The UNC team will facilitate validation testing of these instruments and conduct human exposure trials to test their functionality in settings which reproduce real life pollutant exposurs in a laboratory setting. These sensors will then be used in field studies to test the efficacy of either ?T or inhaled corticosteroid for chemoprevention of O3-induced asthma exacerbation.
In this project, a team of engineer and physician scientists from UVa, NCSU and UNC will collaborate to develop and test a wearable, personal O3/environmental and physiological sensor array, and a handheld, portable spirometer. These devices will have the capability to transmit data to smartphones and then to a central database. These sensors will allow researchers and health care providers to examine the effects of personal exposure to pollutants on health outcomes in real-time and test potential interventions directed against environmentally-induced disease.
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