Apr 26, 2016

Event update: The air out there: Traffic, pollution and children’s health

View event video, live tweet feed, questions, answers and more about air pollution and children's health.

On Sunday April 24, 2016 the SC-CEHC co-sponsored the event: The air out there: Traffic, pollution and children’s health with southern california public radio station KPCC. USC Keck Professor Jim Gauderman participated in the panel discussion lead by KPCC Early Childhood Development correspondent Deepa Fernandez. This time provided many great questions and insights into the health effects of air pollution as well as community perspectives and experiences as awareness about how pollution affects health continues to grow in the Southern California region.

KPCC live tweeted the event via @KPCCInPerson. The event can be viewed in full below, including a question/answer session from the audience. 




Apr 22, 2016

Earth Day 2016

The faculty and staff at the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, are glad this is a day to bring attention to our earth and the ways that we can take action to help sustain it in the present and especially the future.

Today, over 170 at the United Nations are signing a historic climate agreement. You can watch their live and recorded coverage below. 

To take action on a local level in California, you can click through to this website and find out what is going on in your local area. For events in the Los Angeles area, the Los Angeles Times provides some suggestions here.





Apr 21, 2016

SCEHSC Seminar May 6: Field and Laboratory Evaluation of 'Low-Cost' Air Quality Sensors

The SCEHSC Seminar Series presents

Andrea Polidori, PhD
Quality Assurance Manager
Science & Technology Advancement
South Coast Air Management Quality District
Diamond Bar, CA

"Field and Laboratory Evaluation of 'Low-Cost' Air Quality Sensors"

Friday, May 6, 2016
11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Soto Street Building, Room 115
2001 North Soto Street
Los Angeles, CA 90032

To sign up for the FREE seminar, please email jacy@usc.edu.

Dr. Andrea Polidori is the Quality Assurance Manager for Science & Technology Advancement at SCAQMD and is responsible for the development and implementation of quality assurance control methods, plans, procedures, and programs. He is also involved in the analysis of data collected from numerous field activities and air monitoring projects, and is currently leading the design, development and implementation of AQ-SPEC and of SCAQMD’s fenceline monitoring program.

Prior to joining the SCAQMD, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles where he taught courses and conducted extensive research on the relationships between indoor and outdoor air pollutants, and the health impacts caused by exposure to air toxics. He has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed journal publications and one book chapter.

Visitor parking at the Soto Street Building is limited. If you are planning to park at the Soto building during the seminar please contact Marissa Jacy for more information. If you are a USC employee, please plan to take the free USC shuttle to our seminars whenever possible. Information about the USC shuttle can be found at http://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/bus-map-schedules/.






Location:

Apr 12, 2016

New Research published from the CHS: Less pollution = improvement in children's respiratory health

Bronchitic symptoms on the decline as pollution levels drop in Los Angeles region over the past two decades  #CleanAir

PRESS COVERAGE: Press Enterprise, New York Times, U.S.News, HealthDay, United Press International, Medical News Today, Eureka Alert
JAMA Coverage:  News Release and Video Author Interview Video
Storify: Press and social media coverage of this study all in one place.

A USC study that tracked Southern California children over a 20 year period has found they now have significantly fewer respiratory symptoms as a result of improved air quality.

The finding expands on the landmark USC Children’s Health Study, which a year ago reported that kids’ lungs had grown stronger over the past 20 years as pollution levels in the Los Angeles Basin declined. In the current study, USC researchers examined a health issue that makes many parents anxious while pulling at their pocketbooks: bronchitic symptoms that could land otherwise healthy children in a doctor’s office or hospital.

The research appears in the April 12, 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

To assess respiratory symptoms, USC scientists studied children in eight California communities and defined bronchitic symptoms over the preceding year as a daily cough for at least three consecutive months, congestion or phlegm not related to a cold, or inflammation of the mucous membranes, according to Kiros Berhane, lead author and a professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Click to enlarge

“This is one of the few times that we have been able to report good news, and this is very likely a direct result of the science-­‐‑based policies that have been put in place,” Berhane said. “The message that clean air leads to better health in children should be taken seriously because it has implications for how we live and how productive we become.”

The study, published April 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed 4,602 children in three cohorts as they aged from 5 to 18. During 1993 to 2012, children and their parents from Long Beach, San Dimas, Upland, Riverside, Mira Loma, Lake Elsinore, Alpine and Santa Maria answered questionnaires about children’s health. Air quality was continuously monitored in each community.

“Because of the wide variations in ambient pollution levels among the eight California communities we analyzed, these findings are applicable to other parts of the United States and maybe other parts of the world as well,” Berhane said, adding the results could help with asthma management and the overall respiratory health of children.

How much children’s respiratory health improved

Because bronchitic symptoms are usually about four times higher in children with asthma, the scientists examined associations of air pollution reduction with bronchitic symptoms separately for kids with and without asthma. Researchers also adjusted their analyses for age, gender, race or ethnicity, secondhand tobacco smoke and presence of cockroaches in the home.

“It is important to note that while reductions in bronchitic symptoms were larger in children with asthma, they were still substantial and significant in children without asthma as well — indicating that all children have benefited from the improvement in air quality over the past 20 years,” Berhane said.

The study found that tiny particles called particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5) — which can penetrate deep into lungs and cause serious health problems — dropped by 47 percent from 1992 to 2011 in the study region. USC researchers were able to associate cleaner air with improved children’s respiratory health. Kids with asthma were 32 percent less likely to suffer from bronchitic symptoms, and children without asthma experienced a 21 percent reduction in these respiratory problems.

Moreover, nitrogen dioxide, which can reduce resistance to respiratory infections, decreased by 49 percent in the same two decades. USC researchers linked the drop in nitrogen dioxide with a 21 percent decrease of bronchitic symptoms in children with asthma and a 16 percent decline of bronchitic symptoms in kids without asthma.

“This type of data is important for policymaking and for how clinicians would advise their patients,” Berhane said.

The cost of asthma and sick children

About 1 in 10 children in the United States had asthma in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Medical expenses associated with asthma amounted to $50.1 billion in 2007 and cost the nation about $3,300 per person each year.

“Changes in children’s respiratory health have a ripple effect,” Berhane said. “A child may stay home because of severe bronchitic symptoms. That could mean parents have to call in sick or arrange for a caregiver. Beyond quality of life, childhood asthma and bronchitic symptoms take a toll on children’s school attendance, parental productivity and society in general.”

Asthma is the cause for almost 2 million emergency room visits each year, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Each year, this respiratory condition is the reason for more than 14 million doctor visits and about 439,000 hospital stays.

Frank Gilliland, senior author and a professor of preventive medicine at Keck Medicine of USC, said the USC Children’s Health Study is a unique examination because it has been able to follow children for so many years.

“Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, so the reduction of these symptoms by 16 to 32 percent is a big deal,” Gilliland said. “We studied longitudinal cohorts of children for 20 years using consistent methods and found that decreased levels of air pollutants were associated with a marked decrease in bronchitic-­‐‑related symptoms in children both with and without asthma. No other study has been able to accomplish this.”

Pollution and policy

California cities have consistently topped the American Lung Association’s annual list of most polluted cities by ozone or particulate matter pollution. Historically, Southern California has reported high levels of ambient air pollution because of emissions from vehicles, industrial sources and two of the nation’s largest ports.

“While the reduction in ambient air pollution has been observed during the past 20 years, it was most marked after 2000 and is very likely due to policies that were put in place,” Berhane said. “Even though this is very encouraging, there is still room for improvement. We must recognize that in some cases, the ozone and particulate matter levels in Southern California are still in violation of federal standards.”

Some California regulatory policies that have been implemented include the Low-Emission Vehicle Program, a risk-reduction plan for diesel fueled engines and vehicles, and pollution controls at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

For many years, environmental epidemiologists have reported adverse health effects associated with increasingly polluted air. So the ability to report that Southern California has been on the path to cleaner air and that this reduction in air pollution has led to significant improvement in children’s health is a welcome change, Gilliland said.

Berhane added: “But we must not get complacent. We expect more cars on the road, more ships at our ports and more economic activities in the region. Even if we maintain the current policies and practices in environmental protection, pollution levels could start to rise again because of more cars and economic activities. We have to stay vigilant so that we do not lose current gains in air quality and the associated improvements in our children’s health.”

USC strives to conduct research that could have a global impact. This study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Health Effects Institute and the California Air Resources Board.

Press Release: by Zen Vuong, USC Media Relations




# # #

Kiros Berhane, PhD; Chih-Chieh Chang, PhD; RobMcConnell, MD;W. James Gauderman, PhD; Edward Avol, MS; Ed Rapapport, MPH; Robert Urman, PhD; Fred Lurmann, MS; Frank Gilliland, MD, PhD. Association of Changes in Air Quality With Bronchitic Symptoms in Children in California, 1993-2012. JAMA. 2016;315(14):1491-1501. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.3444

Apr 7, 2016

KPCC documents community monitoring work on “invisible problem” of traffic pollution

A KPCC story today documents the work of health advocates and collaborations to implement community air monitoring of traffic pollution.  Center faculty and staff provided information for this ongoing series by Deepa Fernandes, which raises awareness about the health effects of going to school near busy roads and freeways.  The Community Outreach program partners with organizations who are interested in knowing what they are breathing at the neighborhood level.  The monitors are a valuable tool to understand more about air pollution and research.  Working with youth is also a strategy to encourage interest in science, health, and environmental issues. 

Deepa Fernandez, KPCC

Scott Chan worries a lot about tiny invisible particles that harm kids. He works for an organization that works to prevent childhood obesity, and he realized that there was a deep obstacle to the kids he works with exercising: invisible pollution particles in the air cause kids to get sick when they constantly breathe them in.

“People are asking us what’s better – do I exercise in bad air, or don’t exercise at all?” Chan said. Hearing this question repeatedly pushed him to look for a third way: “We really want to make sure that those are not the only two options.”

Finding a solution to an invisible problem is hard. And it can be harder to motivate people to look for solutions to a problem that no one can readily see. Chan's organization, the Asian Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance (APIOPA), wanted community members to get a visceral sense of what the air contained, so they began working in schools to do pollution air monitoring.

Despite efforts to protect children's health from the damaging effects of air pollution, thousands of children in Los Angeles still attend school dangerously close to highly-trafficked roads and freeways.

In 2003, lawmakers banned school districts from opening new K-12 schools within 500 feet, or about one city block, from a major roadway. But a KPCC analysis found nearly 90 K-12 schools still operating closer than that distance to a highly-trafficked road in Los Angeles County.

(KPCC identified highways in Los Angeles County that have 100,000 or more cars zipping through them on an average day, at several different points in the county—the 2003 law uses 100,000 cars a day as the threshold for a busy roadway. KPCC then used data on K-12 schools from the California Department of Education to find sites within 500 feet of those highways.)

And that's in addition to the 169 preschools, which were not included in the 2003 law, located closer than 500 feet to a major road.

It's unlikely that an established school can move, Chan said. So he began to think about how to empower students and their families to protect themselves.

APIOPA partnered with the University of Southern California's environmental health science centers’ community outreach and engagement program, which has developed a training program for community members on how to use portable air monitoring devices and evaluate the results. With APIOPA's help, the researchers brought the air monitoring devices to high schools. ...READ the rest of the story on the KPCC website.

LISTEN to audio from this story. 

Outreach staff Carla Truax pictured with APIOPA during an air monitoring project at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, CA.

Apr 5, 2016

Children's Health Center to co-sponsor forum on health and air pollution

The Community Outreach team of the Southern California Children's Environmental Health Center is co-sponsoring an event with local radio station KPCC on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The expert panel that has been assembled will include Jim Gauderman and community partners that the Community Outreach team has worked with over the years: Scott Chan and Elisa Nicholas.

The Outreach team will be publicizing the event and have a booth with resources at the event.

"The air out there: Traffic, pollution and children’s health"
Sunday, April 24, 1:30 - 3:00pm
East Los Angeles Library
4837 E. 3rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90022

To attend the event, sign up here.

From the KPCC event page:
Few would dispute that the air quality in Los Angeles is significantly better than decades past. But for those who live or work  beside some of L.A.’s highly trafficked roadways, air pollution is still a major concern. While it’s hard to get away from traffic pollution in Los Angeles, some areas are worse than others, like along the 710 freeway and East LA.  Health effects associated with air pollution can range from mild to severe asthma to brain damage.
Since there are many schools in Los Angeles near highly trafficked roadways, children are one particular group at risk of the effects of air pollution. Do you worry that your child might attend a daycare or preschool too close to a major freeway or roadway?  Are you concerned about how the air pollution is affecting your health? Is the air quality getting better or worse in your community? What do you think could help improve air quality?
KPCC’s Early Childhood Development Correspondent Deepa Fernandes will explore these questions with a panel of health experts and community members Sunday, April 24 at the East Los Angeles Library.
Panelists: 
Scott Chan, program director Asian and Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance 
James Gauderman, professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Elisa Nicholas, founder and project director of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma and pediatrician
Additional panelists to be announced. 
We would like to thank our engagement partner, Southern California Children’s Environmental Health Center based at USC.

Apr 4, 2016

Center member McConnell: Speaker on April 13, NIEHS/EPA Children’s Centers Webinar Series

NIEHS/EPA Children’s Centers Webinar Series: Stress, Chemical and Non-Chemical Exposures

Topic: Stress, Chemical and Non-Chemical Exposures
Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Time: 10:00-11:30 a.m. PDT / 1 - 2:30 p.m. EDT

FREE: Register Now: CLICK HERE

Speakers:
•    Dr. Rob McConnell, University of Southern California
•    Dr. Greg Diette, Johns Hopkins University
•    Dr. Rachel Morello-Frosch, University of California, Berkeley

Discussion Moderator:
•    Dr. Mark Miller, University of California, San Francisco

The NIEHS/EPA Children’s Centers Program
For many reasons, children are likely to be more vulnerable than adults to the effects of environmental contaminants. To better understand the effects of these exposures on children's health, the NIEHS/EPA Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (Children's Centers) were established in 1998 to explore ways to reduce children's health risks from environmental factors. The webinar series, co-sponsored by the EPA Office of Children’s Health Protection and the National Center for Environmental Research, features presentations and interactive discussions on recent findings and new developments in children’s environmental health research.
The NIEHS/EPA Children’s Centers are part of EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program. The SHC Research Program provides useful science and tools for decision makers at all levels to help communities advance sustainability as well as achieve regulatory compliance. SHC is collaborating with partners to conduct research that will result in science-based knowledge to guide decisions at the federal, regional, state and community level that will better sustain a healthy society and environment in America's communities.

Apr 1, 2016

Center Member Avol Featured in USC Trojan Family Magazine

Keck Medicine of USC's Ed Avol wants to help Angelenos breathe easy

Katharine Gammon, Spring 2016

ED AVOL DIDN’T start out trying to change Los Angeles. After he earned his master’s degree from Caltech in 1974, the engineer used his chemistry and physics background to measure air pollution. Fairly quickly, though, he became interested in the health aspects of the air we breathe. As a Keck School of Medicine of USC professor, Avol has been instrumental in USC’s influential studies on the relationship between air quality and children’s lung health. Despite his knowledge about smog, Avol has also been an avid runner and running coach in LA for decades. Science writer Katharine Gammon recently caught up with him to talk about his personal experiences in environmental health research.

Click here to read the full story on the USC Trojan Family Magazine website.