Analysis of inflammatory markers in apparently healthy automobile vehicle drivers in response to exposure to traffic pollution fumes

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate pattern of markers of inflammation in apparently healthy drivers who exposed to traffic fumes. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2016 to January 2017 at Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro. It looked into the effects of traffic pollutants on markers of inflammation including CRP, Leukocytes count, IL-6, TNF-α, TNF-β of healthy human volunteers. Eighty-seven, apparently healthy, non-smoking automobile vehicle drivers, having daily contact of traffic exhaust for at least six hours, aged between 18-40 years recruited for this study. Levels of traffic-generated pollutants P.M2.5, P.M10, NOx were recorded in different areas of Hyderabad City. Results: P.M2.5 found to be positively correlated with markers of inflammation including IL-6 (rs = 0.99), TNF-α (rs = 0.41), CRP mg/dl (rs = 0.99) , neutrophils (rs = 0.29), lymphocytes (rs = 0.31), eosinophils (rs = 0.20), monocytes (rs = 0.42) and basophils (rs = 0.16). Positive correlation present among IL-6 (rs = 0.21), TNF-α (rs = 0.49) and CRP mg/dl (rs = 0.22) (rs = -0.31), Leukocytes (rs = 0.14) neutrophils (rs = 0.31), lymphocytes (rs = 0.21), monocytes (rs = 0.50), basophils (rs = 0.17) with P.M10. NOx showed positive correlation with IL-6 (rs = 0.22), TNF-α (rs = 0.48), CRP (rs = 0.22), neutrophils (rs = 0.31), lymphocytes (rs = 0.13), basophils (rs = 0.17) and monocytes (rs = 0.48). Conclusion: Findings of our study suggest that almost all markers of inflammation are positively correlated with traffic pollutants and this condition might raise the risk of systemic diseases. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2025 How to cite this:Riaz H, Syed BM, Laghari Z, Pirzada S. Analysis of inflammatory markers in apparently healthy automobile vehicle drivers in response to exposure to traffic pollution fumes. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(4):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.4.2025 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Analysis of Atmospheric Pollutants in Bucharest in Correlation with Meteorological Parameters

In this paper we analyze the correlation between meteorological parameters (wind speed and direction, relative humidity, air temperature) and atmospheric pollutants in Bucharest during the cold period 26.02.2018-02.03.2018, which was based on the monitoring of the concentrations of nitrogen oxides, NO2, O3 and SO2 sulfur dioxide within 24 h and the occurrence of exceedances above the prescribed limit. It was found based on the results obtained that the wind direction influences not only the concentrations of pollutants but also the correlation between the pollutants. Traffic pollutants were at the highest concentration when the wind speed was low. We have found that the highest average concentration for NO2, NOx, NO, O3 occurred at 90% indicative humidity for vertical mixing of strong pollutants. Sulfur dioxide did not record exceeding over the limit standard in the analyzed period.