Biologic Markers in Pulmonary Toxicology

Biologic markers - indicators of biological exposure or change - offer the promise of early detection of disease caused by environmental exposure. Offering a comprehensive study of the use of biologic markers, this volume focuses on the respiratory tract as an entryway for airborne pollutants, and reviews various ways of measuring markers.

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Biologic markers—indicators of biological exposure or change—offer the promise of early detection of disease caused by environmental exposure. Researchers have used these markers to discover indications of pulmonary damage from low-level ozone, a finding with serious implications for health professionals and environmental regulators. Biologic Markers in Pulmonary Toxicology is a comprehensive study of this use of biologic markers. Focusing on the respiratory tract as an entryway for airborne pollutants, this volume reviews new ways of measuring markers, the need for markers to indicate dose or exposure levels, noninvasive respiratory function tests for use with healthy humans to detect sensitivity to inhaled pollutants, approaches to evaluating markers down to the cellular and biochemical levels, and more.

Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
1 Introduction
2 Markers of Exposure
3 Markers of Physiologic Effects in Intact Organisms
4 Markers of Altered Structure or Function
5 Markers of Inflammatory and Immune Response
6 Markers of Cellular and Biochemical Response
7 Conclusions and Recommendations
References
Biographies
Index