Our general goal is to assess and understand the risk to human health from toxic substances in the environment. We approach this goal from the perspective of an interdisciplinary team that will integrate exposure assessment, biologic pathogenesis, and epidemiologic studies. Our specific focus is the assessment of exposure and disease in relation to metals - primarily lead and vanadium. In addition, we will use the model established in the evaluation of metals to develop a research plan that evaluates exposure and health outcome in relation to polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs). The focus on metals relates to work currently underway in our department, and the extension to PCBs recognizes the concern relating to a Superfund site in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Projects 2 and 7 are non-biomedical projects that evaluate ecologic aspects of metals and PCBs in water and soil. The other projects integrate non- biomedical measures of exposure with biomedical measures of disease. Projects 1-2 relate to evaluation of lead in the environment - how it is distributed and how it leads to human exposure. Projects 3-4 relate to lead and other heavy metals in human populations, including mothers, infants, and older men. Projects 5-6 deal with exposure to vanadium at both the cellular and human level; injury will be evaluated at the pulmonary level as well as in other tissues. Projects 7-8 are parellel to projects 2-3 in that non-biomedical and biomedical aspects of PCBs will be evaluated in New Bedford women and infants.
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