Air Pollution: Physiological Effects

Air Pollution—Physiological Effects focuses on the physiological effects of air pollution and reviews research findings concerning physiological responses to air pollutants such as oxidant gases, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulates. Topics range from cellular cytotoxicity and lung infections to carbon monoxide toxicity, deposition of aerosols to the respiratory airway, physiological effects of cotton dusts and lead dusts, and workers' exposure to dust at high altitude. This book is organized in three sections and is comprised of 11 chapters. The discussion begins with an overview of cellular cytotoxicity and the biochemical basis of oxidative cell killing. The reader is methodically introduced to the effects of minute concentrations of pollutants on animal respiratory defenses, air pollution by sulfur products, and mechanisms of carbon monoxide toxicity. Consideration is also given to alterations in airway mechanics that occur with exposures to ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, as well as the mechanisms that might be responsible for these changes in breathing mechanics. The rest of the book discusses both particulate (silica, diesel, cotton, and lead dusts) pollution and the special physiological problems posed by working at high altitudes in dusty environments. This book will be useful not only to environmental health scientists but also to students and researchers in areas peripheral to environmental physiology.