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TWELVE days ago, the Treasury disclosed plans to widen importantly its efforts to liberalize depreciation allowances. The program was effectively launched earlier this year with swifter write-offs for...

The ability of certain components of particulate matter to induce oxidative stress through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in vivo may be one mechanism accounting for observed linkages between ambient aerosols and adverse health outcomes. A variety of assays have been used to measure this so-called aerosol oxidative potential. We developed a semi-automated system to quantify oxidative potential of filter aqueous extracts utilizing the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay and report here the development of a similar semi-automated system for the ascorbic acid (AA) assay. Approximately 500 PM2.5 filter samples collected in contrasting locations in the southeastern US were analyzed for a host of aerosol species, along with AA and DTT activities. We present a detailed contrast in findings from these two assays. Water-soluble AA activity was higher in summer and fall than in winter, with highest levels near heavily trafficked highways, whereas DTT activity was higher in winter compared to summer and fall and more spatially homogeneous. AA activity was nearly exclusively correlated with water-soluble Cu (r- = -0.70-0.94 at most sites), whereas DTT activity was correlated with organic and metal species. Source apportionment models, positive matrix factorization (PMF) and a chemical mass balance method with ensemble-averaged source impact profiles (CMB-E), suggest a strong contribution from traffic emissions and secondary processes (e.g., organic aerosol oxidation or metals mobilization by secondary acids) to both AA and DTT activities in urban Atlanta. In contrast, biomass burning was a large source for DTT activity, but insignificant for AA. AA activity was not correlated with PM2.5 mass, while DTT activity co-varied strongly with mass (r- = -0.49-0.86 across sites and seasons). Various linear models were developed to estimate AA and DTT activities for the central Atlanta Jefferson Street site, based on the CMB-E sources. The models were then used to estimate daily oxidative potential at this site over the 1998-2009 period. Time series epidemiological analyses were conducted to assess daily emergency department (ED) visits data for the five-county Atlanta metropolitan area based on the estimated 10-year backcast oxidative potential. Estimated AA activity was not statistically associated with any tested health outcome, while DTT activity was associated with ED visits for both asthma or wheeze and congestive heart failure. The findings point to the importance of both organic components and transition metals from biomass burning and mobile sources to adverse health outcomes in this region.

Oxidative potential (OP) has been proposed as a measure of toxicity of ambient particulate matter (PM). Our goal was to address an important research gap by using daily OP measurements to conduct population-level analysis of the health effects of measured ambient OP. A semi-automated dithiothreitol (DTT) analytical system was used to measure daily average OP (OP ) in water-soluble fine PM at a central monitor site in Atlanta, Georgia, over eight sampling periods (a total of 196 d) during June 2012-April 2013. Data on emergency department (ED) visits for selected cardiorespiratory outcomes were obtained for the five-county Atlanta metropolitan area. Poisson log-linear regression models controlling for temporal confounders were used to conduct time-series analyses of the relationship between daily counts of ED visits and either the 3-d moving average (lag 0-2) of OP or same-day OP . Bipollutant regression models were run to estimate the health associations of OP while controlling for other pollutants. OP was measured for 196 d (mean=0.32 nmol/min/m , interquartile range=0.21). Lag 0-2 OP was associated with ED visits for respiratory disease (RR=1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.05 per interquartile range increase in OP ), asthma (RR=1.12, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.22), and ischemic heart disease (RR=1.19, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.38). Same-day OP was not associated with ED visits for any outcome. Lag 0-2 OP remained a significant predictor of asthma and ischemic heart disease in most bipollutant models. Lag 0-2 OP was associated with ED visits for multiple cardiorespiratory outcomes, providing support for the utility of OP as a measure of fine particle toxicity. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1545.

Background: Few epidemiologic studies have investigated health effects of water-soluble fractions of PM2.5 metals, the more biologically accessible fractions of metals, in their attempt to identify health-relevant components of ambient PM2.5.Objectives: In this study, we estimated acute cardiovascular effects of PM2.5 components in an urban population, including a suite of water-soluble metals that are not routinely measured at the ambient level.Methods: Ambient concentrations of criteria gases, PM2.5, and PM2.5 components were measured at a central monitor in Atlanta, Georgia, during 1998–2013, with some PM2.5 components only measured during 2008–2013. In a time-series framework using Poisson regression, we estimated associations between these pollutants and daily counts of emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular diseases in the five-county Atlanta area.Results: Among the PM2.5 components we examined during 1998–2013, water-soluble iron had the strongest estimated effect on cardiovascular outcomes [R͡R=1.012 (95% CI: 1.005, 1.019), per interquartile range increase (20.46 ng/m3)]. The associations for PM2.5 and other PM2.5 components were consistent with the null when controlling for water-soluble iron. Among PM2.5 components that were only measured during 2008–2013, water-soluble vanadium was associated with cardiovascular ED visits [R͡R=1.012 (95% CI: 1.000, 1.025), per interquartile range increase (0.19 ng/m3)].Conclusions: Our study suggests cardiovascular effects of certain water-soluble metals, particularly water-soluble iron. The observed associations with water-soluble iron may also point to certain aspects of traffic pollution, when processed by acidifying sulfate, as a mixture harmful for cardiovascular health.

Genetic factors explain a majority of risk variance for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for late AMD implicate genes in complement, inflammatory and lipid pathways, the genetic architecture of early AMD has been relatively under studied. We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis of early AMD, including 4,089 individuals with prevalent signs of early AMD (soft drusen and/or retinal pigment epithelial changes) and 20,453 individuals without these signs. For various published late AMD risk loci, we also compared effect sizes between early and late AMD using an additional 484 individuals with prevalent late AMD. GWAS meta-analysis confirmed previously reported association of variants at the complement factor H (CFH) (peak P = 1.5×10(-31)) and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2) (P = 4.3×10(-24)) loci, and suggested Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphisms (rs2075650; P = 1.1×10(-6)) associated with early AMD. Other possible loci that did not reach GWAS significance included variants in the zinc finger protein gene GLI3 (rs2049622; P = 8.9×10(-6)) and upstream of GLI2 (rs6721654; P = 6.5×10(-6)), encoding retinal Sonic hedgehog signalling regulators, and in the tyrosinase (TYR) gene (rs621313; P = 3.5×10(-6)), involved in melanin biosynthesis. For a range of published, late AMD risk loci, estimated effect sizes were significantly lower for early than late AMD. This study confirms the involvement of multiple established AMD risk variants in early AMD, but suggests weaker genetic effects on the risk of early AMD relative to late AMD. Several biological processes were suggested to be potentially specific for early AMD, including pathways regulating RPE cell melanin content and signalling pathways potentially involved in retinal regeneration, generating hypotheses for further investigation.

Quality of life and satisfaction with outcome of treatment were ascertained by questionnaires in men with prostate cancer and their spouses or partners after prostatectomy, brachytherapy, or external-beam radiotherapy (with or without adjuvant hormonal treatment). Each treatment had it own pattern of effects on the quality of life, and in each case, residual effects of treatment caused distress in the patients' partners. Quality of life and satisfaction with outcome of treatment were ascertained by questionnaires in men with prostate cancer and their spouses or partners after prostatectomy, brachytherapy, or external-beam radiotherapy (with or without adjuvant hormonal treatment). Assessment of the outcome of prostate-cancer treatment entails measuring not only the duration of survival but also the health-related quality of life. 1 , 2 Early studies of patient-reported outcomes of prostatectomy or conventional radiotherapy found concern about urinary incontinence, bowel function, and sexual activity. 3 – 5 However, little is known about the quality of life after newer treatments such as brachytherapy and androgen-suppression therapy as an adjunct to radiotherapy. 6 – 8 Single-institution studies and one retrospective analysis of a longitudinal, multicenter cohort used instruments that had been developed for assessment of standard external-beam radiotherapy and prostatectomy to probe the quality of life after . . .

There is increasing evidence that the microcirculation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Changes in retinal vascular caliber reflect early microvascular disease and predict incident cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants associated with retinal vascular caliber. We analyzed data from four population-based discovery cohorts with 15,358 unrelated Caucasian individuals, who are members of the Cohort for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, and replicated findings in four independent Caucasian cohorts (n  =  6,652). All participants had retinal photography and retinal arteriolar and venular caliber measured from computer software. In the discovery cohorts, 179 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) spread across five loci were significantly associated (p<5.0×10(-8)) with retinal venular caliber, but none showed association with arteriolar caliber. Collectively, these five loci explain 1.0%-3.2% of the variation in retinal venular caliber. Four out of these five loci were confirmed in independent replication samples. In the combined analyses, the top SNPs at each locus were: rs2287921 (19q13; p  =  1.61×10(-25), within the RASIP1 locus), rs225717 (6q24; p = 1.25×10(-16), adjacent to the VTA1 and NMBR loci), rs10774625 (12q24; p  =  2.15×10(-13), in the region of ATXN2,SH2B3 and PTPN11 loci), and rs17421627 (5q14; p = 7.32×10(-16), adjacent to the MEF2C locus). In two independent samples, locus 12q24 was also associated with coronary heart disease and hypertension. Our population-based genome-wide association study demonstrates four novel loci associated with retinal venular caliber, an endophenotype of the microcirculation associated with clinical cardiovascular disease. These data provide further insights into the contribution and biological mechanisms of microcirculatory changes that underlie cardiovascular disease.

The International Climate Assessment & Dataset (ICA&D) concept provides climate services on a regional scale for users in participating countries and the broader scientific community. It builds on the expertise gained in Europe, where national meteorological services collaborate by sharing climate data in order to produce regional climate assessments. Universities and data-rescue initiatives have joined this collaboration. The result is a web-based information system that combines quality-controlled daily station data with derived climate indices. Indices are provided for mean and extreme climate conditions including droughts, heat waves, and heavy rainfall events. ICA&D systems currently exist in Europe and in three regions of the world vulnerable to climate change: Southeast Asia, Latin America, and West Africa. Historical perspectives on climate variability and change are integrated with the monitoring of current climate evolution through regular updates of the data series obtained from meteorological observing stations. Web users have access to plots and maps of climate indices, showing time series, trends, or deviations from climatology. All information can be downloaded for noncommercial research and educational purposes, except for a part of the daily data that the data provider does not want to share.

Narrow arterioles in the retina have been shown to predict hypertension as well as other vascular diseases, likely through an increase in the peripheral resistance of the microcirculatory flow. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study in 18,722 unrelated individuals of European ancestry from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium and the Blue Mountain Eye Study, to identify genetic determinants associated with variations in retinal arteriolar caliber. Retinal vascular calibers were measured on digitized retinal photographs using a standardized protocol. One variant (rs2194025 on chromosome 5q14 near the myocyte enhancer factor 2C MEF2C gene) was associated with retinal arteriolar caliber in the meta-analysis of the discovery cohorts at genome-wide significance of P-value <5×10(-8). This variant was replicated in an additional 3,939 individuals of European ancestry from the Australian Twins Study and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (rs2194025, P-value = 2.11×10(-12) in combined meta-analysis of discovery and replication cohorts). In independent studies of modest sample sizes, no significant association was found between this variant and clinical outcomes including coronary artery disease, stroke, myocardial infarction or hypertension. In conclusion, we found one novel loci which underlie genetic variation in microvasculature which may be relevant to vascular disease. The relevance of these findings to clinical outcomes remains to be determined.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1289/EHP1545.].