Background: Exhaled air contains many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced during human metabolic processes, in both healthy and pathological conditions. Analysis of breath allows studying the modifications of the profile of the exhaled VOCs due to different disease states, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The early diagnosis of COPD is complicated and the identific...

Common household water-use activities such as showering, bathing, drinking, and washing clothes or dishes are potentially important contributors to individual exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs), the major class of disinfection by-products of water treated with chlorine. Previous studies have focused on showering or bathing activities. In this study, we selected 12 common water-use activities an...

We read with interest the paper by ZETTERQUIST et al. [1] in which the levels of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured in a group of asthmatic and cystic fibrosis (CF) patients using two different methods. A new fast-response nondisperse infrared (NDIR) CO analyser was used alongside the old electrochemical method and the results obtained with the two methods were com...

OBJECTIVES Cooking fumes contain aldehydes, alkanoic acids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heterocyclic compounds. The inhalation of cooking fumes entails a risk of deleterious health effects. The aim of this study was to see if the inhalation of cooking fumes alters the expression of inflammatory reactions in the bronchial mucosa and its subsequent systemic inflammatory response in bloo...

BACKGROUND Dermal and inhalation exposure to jet propulsion fuel 8 (JP-8) have been measured in a few occupational exposure studies. However, a quantitative understanding of the relationship between external exposures and end-exhaled air concentrations has not been described for occupational and environmental exposure scenarios. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to construct a physiologically based toxi...

The lungs move air in and out like bellows. Fresh, oxygen-rich air mixes with intrapulmonary air. Oxygen is carried with the circulation and carbon dioxide is excreted with the exhaled air. Various mechanisms maintain the purposeful distribution of ventilation and circulation. Very much of the complicated physiology and pathophysiology is already known, and it has recently become possible to ob...

STUDY OBJECTIVES Nitric oxide (NO), a gas produced by cells lining the respiratory tract, has been reported to be decreased in the exhaled air of cigarette smokers. We hypothesized that smoking cessation would result in an increase in exhaled NO. DESIGN Comparison of exhaled NO measured from nonsmokers, cigarette smokers, and smokers after smoking cessation. SETTING University outpatient sm...

Exhaled acetone is measured to estimate exposure or monitor diabetes and congestive heart failure. Interpreting this measurement depends critically on where acetone exchanges in the lung. Health professionals assume exhaled acetone originates from alveolar gas exchange, but experimental data and theoretical predictions suggest that acetone comes predominantly from airway gas exchange. We measur...

The time-course of the contamination of exogenous hydrogen from cigarette smoke on postprandial breath hydrogen concentration was evaluated in 10 subjects, six regular smokers and four occasional smokers. Breath hydrogen values were determined by gas chromatography 10 min, 5 min, and immediately prior to smoking a filter cigarette; during smoking from a sample of exhaled air containing smoke; a...