Heart Attacks from Diesel Exhaust
Atherosclerosis is a condition when fat such as cholesterol builds up in the walls of arteries. With this plaque building up, bloodflow is reduced and it creates many health problems. By simply hardening the arteries it brings high blood pressure, strokes, and heart attacks. Hundreds of millions of dollars in the healthcare industry is used to deal with these ailments. An example would be cholesterol and triglyceride reduction medication. Did you know that cholesterol with diesel exhaust may lead to atherosclerosis.
There are particles in diesel exhaust at about 2.5 micrometers in diameter that cause harmful effects when with cholesterol. A link is shown between these particles and increased harm, but how it works is unknown. It is suggested that the diesel particles allow free radicals to enter into the blood vessels. Immunologist Andre Nel of the University of California, Los Angeles has exposed human vascular tissue to soot and LDL cholesterol separately then together. The result was that when combined the genes that promote atherosclerosis are set off.
To see if this would result in the living, mice with high cholesterol levels were placed in three different environments. Group one was exposed to filtered air, group two to the fine particles in diesel exhaust, and group three with both fine and intermediate size particles. When examined the results showed that group two and three that were exposed to diesel exhaust particles were damaged and had similar gene activation patterns as the tissue samples.
In the future particular antioxidants may be found to protect damage from diesel exhaust. Maybe in the future a simple DNA test could identify people with a high susceptibility to the effects of air pollutants.
Peter Lau (wk. 5)
posted by PWH @ 11:40 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
I think of diesel exhaust as a pollutant with more impact on the lungs than the heart. It's interesting how the small particles trigger changes in DNA activation - do they know anymore in depth mechanism? I wonder if there are other such pollutants like normal gas exhaust or vapors from electrical or coal plants that have effects on things other than the lungs.
[Nathan Beck]
I'm glad I got rid of my diesel truck this past summer! I agree with the above comment that it seems as though it would effect your lungs more than anything else. Pretty scary.
[Emily Bell]
I take this to mean that if you have high cholesterol and are exposed to a large amount of diesel particles either through work or in your environment, you are more susceptible to heart attacks. It would be interesting to note how this will change preventative health measures in the future. Perhaps now, if you have a family history of high cholesterol and either live in a city or work with air pollutants that your health insurance could be raised at any age because you are at a higher risk for heart attack in the future.
- Maura Mulvey
I'm curious as to how much exhaust it would take to increase the chances of this DNA activation occurring, or given a certain amount of exhaust, how much higher your chances would be. Are we all at risk if we live in the city, or is it just in cases of extreme exposure?
(Nicholas Skvir)
Interesting article. I bet there must be other pollutants that would have similar effects. Maybe one day we could scan these pollutants for something. I wonder if pollutants play a significant role the high rate in heart disease in the past decade. I wonder if the effect of exposure is an accumulative one? Also with this recent find I wonder if they will create tighter regulations on diesel fuel operated machinery.
-Alex Pavidapha
Peter,
I read in an article that diesel exhaust contains hundreds of different organic and inorganic compounds that were detected as toxic air pollutants (sciencedirect). Also, I agree with Nathan’s statement: “I think of diesel exhaust as a pollutant with more impact on the lungs than the heart.” Whether it is diesel or octane, exhaust emissions have led to the depletion of the Ozone.
Saad Choudhry
Peter,
It is so intense that something you are so exposed to can change DNA activation. I understand some people can reduce their cholesterol by a simple change in diet, but many people are just genetically prone to high cholesterol, and the combination, could literally kill them! That is very unnerving. I also agree that the above statement that diesel would have a greater impact on the lungs. I’m sure it does, but we just didn’t focus on the other aspects of our bodies that it could affect. I wonder how else it is affecting people, and how can those who are more prone to heart attacks can help themselves.
Sarah Bello
This article is interesting knowledge for many reasons. It is important because many Americans have high cholesterol and could be susceptible to the gene causing atherosclerosis activating if exposed to diesel exhaust. Which is especially concerning because many vehicles have exhaust engines. So there is a high level of exposure to diesel exhaust and there is certainly many people with high cholesterol so this is a serious issue.
Emily Ayotte
I think this is further incentive to move away from fossil fuels such as diesel or coal. Would the increase in heart attack be that much that maybe new filters are needed or insurance agencies charge you more due to the abundance of diesel and your heightened level of cholesterol.
-Conor Stenerson
There have been talks on bringing "cleaner" diesel vehicles into the states. Apparently they're pretty common throughout Europe. This is a good article to go against this, also I am pretty sure any type of radical molecules has a negative effect on DNA because of their dissociation qualities.
-Julio Rodriguez.
Post a Comment
<< Home