T3 - Risk Analysis in Latin America: Training and PracticePueblo 10:30 am - Noon
|
| Chair(s): Christopher Schonwalder
|
T3.1 Capacity Building in Risk Assessment in Latin America. Sarah Felknor*, George Delclos, Maria Morandi, Lawrence Schulze; The University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston sfelknor@sph.uth.tmc.edu
Abstract: The Fogarty Center International Training in Research in Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Texas (UT) School of Public Health includes a critical capacity building and research training component in risk assessment through a pilot research projects grant program. Annually, new investigators in collaborating institutions in Latin America are invited to submit pilot research projects in occupational and environmental health. These applications are externally reviewed for scientific merit and internally reviewed for programmatic relevance. Awards are made based on the availability of funds and merit, and project awards generally range between $5,000 and $10,000. Faculty from the UT Fogarty International Training program are assigned as co-investigators and mentor the Latin American principal investigators (PIs). PIs are required to present the results of their studies at an annual Fogarty program meeting or other scientific conference. To date, ten pilot projects have been funded in four collaborating countries of: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela in the areas of occupational and environmental health. These will be outlined and discussed.
|
T3.2 Assessment of personal exposure to ozone in asthmatic children residing in Mexico City. Matiana Ramirez Aguilar*, Hortensia Moreno, Arthur Winer, Pablo Cicero, Juan Sienra; Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Cuernavaca, Mexico jminclan@prodigy.net.mx
Abstract: This study demonstrates that measured levels at fixed stations do not reflect personal ozone exposure. The study was conducted to evaluate personal exposure including contributing factors among asthmatic children in Mexico City. Asthmatic children (158) were recruited at one of the largest hospitals in the city and followed in groups of 40 for 3 months in different seasons. Passive badges were used to measure personal ozone exposure, and time activity patterns were recorded in a diary. The average personal ozone concentration (O3p) was analyzed using ion chromatography. Daily ambient ozone measurements (O3e) were obtained from the fixed station located nearest each child’s residence. A calculated ozone level (O3w) was based on O3e, weighted by time spent in different microenvironments. The average O3e levels for each sampling period and the calculated O3w levels were modeled separately as independent variables to predict O3p. Findings were that participants spent most of their time indoors (81%) and mean ozone concentrations were 7.8 ppb for O3p, 33.3 ppb for O3e, and 6.6 ppb for O3w. Using a mixed effects model, it was learned that the time spent indoor, distance of the fixed station from the residence, and group of follow-up (overall R2=0.50, p<0.05), as significant explanatory variables for O3p. Thus, studies of susceptible populations should be conducted to include consideration of the factors that influence personal exposure levels to air pollutants.
|
T3.3 Risk Assessment and Transnational Research Training Needs. Maria Morandi; University of Texas Health Sciences Center, SW Center for Ocupational and Environmental Health MMorandi@sph.uth.tmc.edu
Abstract: Quantitative risk assessment is the principal tool for environmental health and ecosystem risk management in developed countries. Increasingly, it is being adopted beyond the confines of these countries because of economic globalization. A consequence for risk scientists and assessors is that several of the underlying assumptions in quantitative risk assessment and risk management, as practiced in the United States, may need to be revisited and modified to accommodate these changes. This effort will require the active participation of scientists intimately familiar with cultures south of the border who are trained in the sciences that support the three pillars upon which quantitative risk analysis rests. The first pillar builds upon the results from in-vivo/ex-vivo animal studies and in-vitro experiments that provide current understanding of the fundamental biological mechanisms leading from intake of xenobiotics to impaired function and disease. The second pillar provides the link between results from these studies and the human epidemiological evidence that, when available, greatly reduces the uncertainties introduced by animal to human and dose-response extrapolation. The third pillar provides needed information on the actual exposure experience of human populations, including the source-related, cultural, and behavioral determinants of exposure, and the factors that can alter the exposure-dose relationship. This presentation will summarize data from two exposure assessment studies undertaken by faculty and trainees of the Fogarty Training Center at the University of Texas School of Public Health as an example of the needs for examining current risk assessment assumptions and for broadening research training in the continent.
|
