Biomedical subjects

D E Little

Publications and source records attributed to D E Little.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Exposures of older adults with chronic respiratory illness to nitrogen dioxide. A combined laboratory and field study.

We combined field and laboratory experimentation to evaluate the effects of nitrogen dioxide in a panel of Los Angeles area residents with chronic respiratory illness, 15 men and 11 women aged 47 to 69. All had heavy smoking history, chronic symptoms, and low FEV1; some also had low FVC. During the fall-winter high-NO2 season, they monitored themselves for 2-wk periods using spirometers in the home, passive NO2 sampling badges, and diaries to record time and activity patterns and clinical status. In the middle of each self-monitoring week they were exposed in a chamber, once to clean air and once to 0.3 ppm NO2. Chamber exposures were double blind, lasted 4 h, and included four 7-min exercise sessions with average ventilation rates near 25 L/min. Symptom reports and hourly forced expiratory function tests showed no statistically significant differences between clean air and NO2 chamber exposures, although peak flow showed a approximately 3% loss with NO2 relative to clean air during the first 2 h of exposure only (p = 0.056). No significant overall differences were found between field self-measurements and measurements of lung function in the chamber or between field measurements in clean air and NO2 exposure weeks. Field data showed that group average lung function and symptom levels were worse in the morning than later in the day (p < 0.005) but otherwise were stable over 2 wk. Even though most subjects smoked and stayed indoors 80 to 90% of the time, personal NO2 exposures correlated significantly with outdoor NO2 concentrations as reported by local monitoring stations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

PubMed1991

Activity patterns in a panel of outdoor workers exposed to oxidant pollution.

We investigated summer activity patterns in a panel of volunteers drawn from a population segment with potentially high exposure to ambient oxidant pollution. The subjects were 15 men and 5 women aged 19-50, all of whom worked outdoors in the Los Angeles area at least 10 hr per week. The general approach was to (i) calibrate the relationship between ventilation rate (VR) and heart rate (HR) for each subject in controlled exercise; (ii) have subjects monitor their own normal activities with diaries and electronic HR recorders; (iii) estimate VR from HR recordings; and (iv) relate VR with diary descriptions of activities. Calibration data were fit to the equation log (VR) = (intercept) + (slope x HR), intercept and slope being determined separately for each individual to provide a specific equation to predict her/his VR from measured HR. Individuals' correlation coefficients relating log (VR) with HR ranged from 0.83 to 0.95. Subjects monitored themselves for three 24-hr periods during one week, including their most active work day and their most active non-work day. They wore Heart Watch(R) athletic training instruments which recorded HR once per minute; and recorded each change in their activity, location, or breathing rate in diaries. Breathing rates were classified as sleep, slow (like slow or normal walking), medium (like fast walking), or fast (like running). Diaries showed that sleep occupied about 33% of subject's time, slow activity 59%, medium 7%, and fast 1%. Fast activity was reported only at leisure, never at work. For the group, arithmetic means and standard deviations of predicted VR were 7 +/- 3 L/min for sleep, 12 +/- 7 for slow activity, 14 +/- 8 for medium, and 44 +/- 36 for fast. For the group and for most individuals, distributions of predicted VR within a given activity level (breathing rate) were approximately lognormal, with many values in a narrow range below the arithmetic mean and fewer values in a broader range above it. In the most active individuals, predicted VR exceeded 100 L/min for a total of 5 to 30 min during the three days. These data should prove useful in estimating outdoor workers' inhaled doses of ambient pollutants at existing or projected levels of air quality. Activity diary records are of significant value in pollutant dose estimation, but concurrent heart rate recording improves the estimates substantially.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Experimental exposures of young asthmatic volunteers to 0.3 ppm nitrogen dioxide and to ambient air pollution.

Asthmatic volunteers aged 8 to 16 (N = 34) were exposed on separate occasions to clean air (control), to 0.30 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in otherwise clean air, and to polluted Los Angeles area ambient air on summer mornings when NO2 pollution was expected. Exposures lasted 3 hr, with alternating 10-min periods of exercise and rest. In ambient pollution exposures, 3-hr average NO2 concentrations ranged from 0.01 to 0.26 ppm, with a mean of 0.09 ppm. Ambient exposures did not significantly affect lung function, symptoms, or bronchial reactivity to cold air, relative to the control condition. Responses to 0.3 ppm NO2 exposures were equivocal. Asthma symptoms were more severe during 1-week periods before 0.3 ppm exposures, and lung function was decreased immediately before 0.3 ppm exposures, compared to other conditions. Lung function declined slightly during the first hour at 0.3 ppm, but improved over the remaining 2 hr. Compared to other conditions, symptoms were not increased during 0.3 ppm exposures, but were increased during 1-week periods afterward. These observations may reflect untoward effects of 0.3 ppm NO2, or may reflect chance increases in asthma severity prior to 0.3 ppm exposures.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1988

Respiratory dose-response study of normal and asthmatic volunteers exposed to sulfuric acid aerosol in the sub-micrometer size range.

Twenty-one healthy and 21 asthmatic volunteers were exposed to respirable sulfuric acid aerosol (mass median particle diameter approximately 0.9 micron, geometric standard deviation 2.5) in a chamber at 21 degrees and 50% relative humidity. Measured sulfuric acid concentrations averaged 0, 380, 1060, and 1520 micrograms/m3 (in the occupational range, higher than concentrations observed in ambient air pollution). Exposures to different concentrations occurred in randomized order 1 week apart. They lasted 1 hr and included three 10-min periods of heavy exercise. Healthy volunteers showed no statistically significant changes in pulmonary function, airway reactivity to inhaled methacholine, or overall reporting of irritant symptoms which could be attributed to acid exposure. They did show a slight statistically significant (P less than .01) increase in cough with increasing acid concentration. At the two highest acid concentrations, asthmatics showed significant increases in irritant symptoms and decrements in pulmonary function, without significant changes in airway reactivity. Their function decrements appeared to increase with time during exposure. Previous studies in fog (10 degrees, median particle diameter approximately 10 micron) with similar concentrations of sulfuric acid showed more symptoms but less pulmonary function change, perhaps reflecting different sites of particle deposition in airways and/or different degrees of neutralization by airway ammonia. This and earlier evidence predicts little, if any, acute irritant response in short-term (1 hr or less) exposures to sulfuric acid at concentrations found in ambient air pollution.

Administration, Inhalation↗

PubMed1988

Repeated laboratory ozone exposures of volunteer Los Angeles residents: an apparent seasonal variation in response.

This study was intended to help explain individual differences in susceptibility to irritant effects of ozone (O3), by determining whether prior ambient O3 exposures and/or recent acute respiratory illness modified response to laboratory O3 exposures. Response was measured in terms of lung function changes and irritant symptoms. Initially, 59 adult volunteer Los Angeles area residents underwent screening exposures in spring, before the season of frequent high ambient O3 levels. Unusually responsive and nonresponsive individuals (N = 12 and 13 respectively) underwent followup exposures in autumn (late in the high-O3 season) and in winter (low-O3 season). All exposures were to 0.18 ppm O3 for 2 hr with intermittent heavy exercise at 31 degrees C and 35% relative humidity. Nonresponders tended to remain nonresponsive throughout. In fall, responders had lost much of their reactivity, as if they had "adapted" to summer ambient O3 exposures. They did not regain reactivity by winter. Clinical laboratory findings suggestive of acute respiratory illness did not appear to correlate with O3 response. Eight responders and 9 nonresponders underwent another followup exposure in spring, about 1 yr after screening. By that time most responders had regained their reactivity; individual function changes were significantly correlated with changes 1 yr earlier. These results suggest that response to O3 is a persistent individual characteristic, but can be modified by repeated ambient exposures.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

A comparison of methods for ranking boars from different central test stations.

Data were received from 24 test stations on 3,999 boars tested in fall 1984 and spring 1985. In an effort to increase the connectedness between stations, one reference sire was selected to produce sons (reference boars) through artificial insemination to be tested in the different stations. Fifty-two reference boars were placed across 17 of the test stations. The performance traits analyzed were average daily gain (ADG) and backfat adjusted to 105 kg (ABF). The methods used to rank boars were: 1) individual record (ADG, ABF), 2) individual record deviated from the contemporary group mean, and 3/4) individual record plus performance of relatives (including/excluding reference boars) using expected progeny differences (EPD) estimated from a reduced animal model (RAM) statistical procedure. Ranks of boars using these four methods of genetic evaluation were compared using Spearman rank correlation methodology. The ranks of the boars changed significantly as the complexity of analysis increased for both ADG and ABF. Rank correlations between individual record and contemporary group deviations for ADG and BF were .47 and .20, respectively. Rank correlations between contemporary group deviations and RAM estimates of EPD for ADG and ABF were .53 and .41, respectively. These were significantly different from 1.0. However, there was no significant difference between rankings based on EPD including vs excluding the reference boars. The importance of rank changes coupled with the increased accuracy of these more complex evaluation methods strongly suggest that best linear unbiased predictors of genetic value be utilized in comparing boars in central test stations.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Temporal relationship of the pulsatile fluctuation of luteinizing hormone and progesterone in cattle: a time series cross-correlation analysis.

The temporal relationship between the pulsatile patterns of plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) and progesterone (P4) was studied in mid-luteal (ML) and early-pregnant (EP) dairy cows. Blood samples were collected (via external jugular vein cannulae) at 10-min intervals for 16 h in 5 ML cows (d 10 to 12 of the cycle) and for 10 h in 5 EP cows (d 52 to 56 of gestation). Concentrations of LH and P4 were determined by radioimmunoassays and a time series cross-correlation analysis was utilized to evaluate the temporal relationship between them. A pulsatile pattern was found for both hormones in both groups, and in all animals LH peaks were uniformly followed by P4 peaks. In 80% of the cows in both groups the highest cross-correlation occurred between samples LH(n) and P4 (n + 1) (n = sample number), suggesting that a lag time of about 10 min is necessary for luteal stimulation. Results from both groups demonstrate that P4 is released from the corpus luteum in a pulsatile manner and that its release is at least partially dependent upon the pulsatile pattern of plasma LH. Correlation coefficients between LH and P4 mean level, basal levels, peak frequencies and peak amplitudes obtained in both groups indicate that the conceptus alters the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian relationship found in the ML cows, suggesting the existence of another factor(s) acting along with LH to release P4 in EP cows.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Episodic release of LH during gestation in the cow.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Estimates of genetic and phenotypic parameters associated with pelvic area in Simmental cattle.

Field records (715) of pelvic measurements and growth characteristics were obtained from three herds of Simmental cattle in different areas of the country. Heritabilities for pelvic area, actual pelvic measures (horizontal and vertical measures), ratios of actual pelvic measures, birth weight, adjusted 205-d weaning weight, postweaning average daily gain, adjusted 365-d weight, weight/d of age and relative growth from weaning to 1 yr of age were computed. Genetic, phenotypic and environmental correlations among the various traits were estimated. The heritability of pelvic area was .53 +/- .14, indicating that it is a characteristic that should respond favourably to selection. Positive genetic correlations were found between pelvic area and the various growth characteristics, including birth weight (.73 +/- .25).

Animals↗

PubMed1976